Future Sight for Monthly Encores

Hello there!  This week’s Shadow Sneak Peak focuses on five possible monthly post series.  Read a bit about them and then let me know what you think.

Net Worth Updates:
I enjoy reading other bloggers’ monthly net worth summaries.  For me, watching someone else’s finances rise and fall helps me learn how to watch my own.  I even started tracking my own Net Worth in the beginning of 2015.  My net worth was -94,580.34 that month.

My net worth as of November 2016 is -98,879.70.  Like a metapod battling a metapod, it has not progressed very well.  In my updates, I will break it down to explain what I think happened each month.  I will have sections talking about my income, savings, student loans, credit cards, investments and other irregularities involving my finances.

My goal for this series is to show the ups and downs of my low net worth.  I know there are other people with a negative net worth, or minun, who are looking for support and I want to be there for them.  I also want those who have a positive net worth, or plusle, to also cheer us on as we get back on our feet.

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Guest Financial Pokémon Teams:
What are financial Pokémon?  What is a financial Pokémon team?

A financial Pokémon is a tool like a budget, checking account, savings account, credit card, loan, investment and more that a trainer uses to achieve a financial goal.

A financial Pokémon team explains how the trainer uses different financial Pokémon together, as a team, to achieve the trainer’s financial goals.

For example, in my team, my home checking account receives my paychecks.  Then, using my budget, I move the money from home checking into rent savings, food checking and use it to pay bills.  Here my financial Pokémon are checking accounts, paychecks, budgets and savings.  My financial goals are to be able to eat, pay rent and bills.

My goal for this series is to interview other people about their financial Pokémon teams.  Just like how watching other trainers’ Pokémon teams battle can inspire trainers to grow, I believe the same is true about their financial Pokémon teams.

Budget Updates:
I feel like my budget is a powerful Boldore that is the sturdy foundation to my financial Pokémon team.  Once I found my Roggenrola of a budget and it started to level up, I started to feel my self-confidence level me up into my current stage of adult evolution.

There are budget websites out there like YNAB and even free spreadsheets.  I tried a couple different strategies like those before my Roggenrola but they just didn’t work for me.  My budget stays flexible and makes me feel like I am part of the process.

My goal with this series is to explain and demonstrate how and why my budget adjusts month to month.  I want to inspire others to create their own budgets and figure out what works best for them.

Student Loan Updates:
Honestly, I rarely read other people’s student loan updates.  Why?  Because I am just not interested in reading them.

Because of this personal opinion, I have debated if this is a series I should post monthly.  I assume that the reasons blogs post these updates is because other people read, enjoy and find them helpful.  Student loans are a hot topic right now amongst grown-up Pokémon trainers and I would be pleased to share how my loans are progressing.

My goal for this series is similar to my budget updates, to share how and why I repay them the way I do.  I have been keeping a student loan journal since I graduated and will start from there.

Vocabulary:
Vocabulary has potential to be a monthly series, but I am afraid I may run out of words.  The “vocabulary words” are words, like "afford" or "save", that I feel corporations use wonder room or trick room on to alter their original meanings.

I cannot “afford” these Christmas presents I am paying for with credit.  That’s why I’m using credit.  If I could afford them, I would be using cash.

I did not “save” $12.36 buying groceries.  I just didn’t spend that $12.36 on groceries... yet.  Had I saved that $12.36, it would be locked up secure in a bank somewhere labeled “In Case of Emergency.”

Just realizing and reclaiming one word can change my whole perception of the concept.

Now I want to hear from you.  Please comment below, leave a comment on Facebook or send me a Tweet.  Do you like some of these ideas, but not others?  Do you have any suggestions of what you think would make a good monthly serial?