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When Your Financial Goals Feel Bigger Than Your Bank Account

Have you ever looked at your financial goals and thought, "Well, apparently I want more out of life than my bank account is prepared to support"?

You want to pay off debt, grow your investments, save for a vacation and maybe enjoy a little breathing room along the way. But when you look at your monthly income, it feels like there simply isn't enough money to make everything happen.

So what's the answer? Give something up? Lower your expectations? Put your dreams on the back burner until some magical day when there's more money?

Not so fast.

In this episode of Naked Money Meetings, Erin Skye Kelly and Keri Blakeney explore what happens when our ambitions outgrow our current financial reality. Through a conversation with community member Jen, Erin challenges the way we think about money, income and the problems we believe we're facing.

And let's just say, the conversation gets a little deeper than the numbers in a bank account.

Are You Solving a Money Problem With Old Thinking?

Jen came to the Naked Money Meetings community feeling like her ambitions were bigger than her financial reality.

She had less than $5,000 left on a line of credit, wanted to continue growing her investments and was hoping to save for a vacation later in the year.

All good goals. All perfectly reasonable things to want.

But trying to accomplish everything with the money currently coming in was leaving her feeling scattered.

Erin's response was a challenge to the way Jen was looking at the situation: What if the problem wasn't that she wanted too much? What if she was trying to solve a new situation with old thinking?

It's an important distinction.

When we feel financially stretched, our first instinct is often to divide up what we already have, cut back and decide which dream gets put on hold.

But what if we're overlooking opportunities to create more?

How Do You Find More Money Without Getting Another Job?

One of the biggest ideas Erin explores is that income isn't always limited to the paycheque that lands in your bank account.

There may be opportunities, resources, assets or creative ways to generate money that you've never considered.

Think about it. How often do we look at the same sources of income, the same budget and the same financial options, expecting a different result?

Erin uses a rather entertaining Oreo analogy to explain why we get stuck fighting over what we already have instead of looking for more resources.

The bigger question becomes: Where is the money you haven't thought to look for?

This is especially relevant if you're working toward becoming debt-free, building wealth or creating more financial freedom.

Erin Skye Kelly, bestselling author of Get the Hell Out of Debt and Naked Money Meetings, brings a different perspective to financial transformation. It's not just about managing the money you have. It's also about questioning the thinking that influences what you believe is possible.

Is It Really a Money Problem, or Something Deeper?

Here's where the conversation takes an interesting turn.

When Erin challenges Jen to imagine needing to find $5,000 immediately, Jen initially considers finding five new clients for her business.

But the thought of putting that kind of pressure on herself brings up a much bigger emotional response.

And suddenly, the conversation isn't really about finding money anymore.

It's about what's happening underneath the surface.

Erin explores how easily we turn uncomfortable feelings, uncertainty and other people's opinions into problems that we believe we need to solve.

For high-achieving people, this can be particularly tricky. If you're naturally good at solving problems, you might find yourself trying to fix absolutely everything.

But does every uncomfortable situation actually require action?

When Does Being Responsible Become Scarcity Thinking?

There's a difference between making responsible financial decisions and automatically assuming you can't have everything you want.

Sometimes what we call being realistic is actually fear dressed up as responsibility.

When we're constantly telling ourselves there's not enough money, not enough time or not enough opportunity, we can end up shrinking our expectations before we've even explored what's possible.

And that mindset doesn't just affect our finances. It can influence our relationships, careers and the way we approach life.

The challenge is learning to recognize when something genuinely requires action and when we're simply uncomfortable with the reality in front of us.

As Erin and Keri explore in this episode, sometimes the most important financial work has very little to do with the numbers.

And that's exactly why this conversation is worth listening to.

Key Takeaways

• Don't automatically shrink your financial goals just because your current income feels limited.

• Look beyond your usual sources of income for opportunities, assets and untapped resources.

• Challenge the belief that wanting more means you're being unrealistic.

• Recognize the difference between a genuine problem that requires action and an uncomfortable feeling that requires acceptance.

• Be careful not to turn every uncertainty, disappointment or uncomfortable situation into something you need to fix.

• Remember that financial transformation involves changing how you think about money, not just changing the numbers.

Are you limiting your financial future because you've convinced yourself there's not enough money?

Listen to the full episode of Naked Money Meetings with Erin Skye Kelly and Keri Blakeney.

You'll hear the conversation with Jen, explore the thinking that can keep us financially stuck, and discover why the answers to our money questions aren't always where we expect to find them.

Because your dreams don't necessarily need to get smaller. Maybe your thinking needs to get bigger.

Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/jen-stop-shrinking-the-dream/id1462338073?i=1000793198512

Resource Links

• Erin Skye Kelly’s Book: Get the Hell Out of Debt
• Erin Skye Kelly’s Book: Naked Money Meetings  

Recommended financial resources:

• Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: Making a Budget 

• FCAC: Paying Back Your Debt 

• FCAC: Financial Goal Calculator 

• Erin Skye Kelly's Website 

To continue the conversation, join us online: Naked Money Meetings Facebook Community