How Can You Build Confidence in Your Finances (Even If You Feel Clueless)?

Speaker A00:00:00

Have you ever felt like everyone else got the money manual and you didn't? Like, somehow you're supposed to know how budgeting works or how savings work and how all of it works.If you're like most people, you're kind of guessing. And the worst part is, so many of us feel embarrassed about it. So, Fred, let me start off by saying this. Feeling clueless doesn't mean you're doomed.It just means you're ready to learn. And if you're listening right now thinking, yeah, that's me, I want you to hear this. You can do this. You're not behind.You're just untrained, and your training starts today. So here's the question you and I are answering today. How can you build confidence in your finances even when you feel clueless?And I'm going to show you a calm, practical path forward without shame and without pressure. Because, friend, confidence isn't something you wait for. Confidence is something you build. And we're going to start building that on today's show.Hey, friend. Ralph Estep Jr. Here.Welcome to Financially Confident Christian, where we're learning how to walk through life and money with wisdom, with peace, and with a heart anchored in God's truth. My mission is simple.I want to help you break that cycle of financial shame and build steady habits which are rooted in faith and truly become a financially confident Christian. And I am so glad you're here today.Yesterday, you and I talked about breaking that cycle of financial fear once and for all, because fear isn't from God and fear can distort everything in our lives. But today, we're going to build the opposite of fear. We're going to go in the other direction. We're going to build confidence.Now, I'm not talking about the loud kind, not the boisterous kind, not that I've got this all together kind, the steady kind. The kind that grows when you take small steps and you realize, I can do this. And, friend, guess what? You really can do this.I got this question the other day, Ralph, I want to handle money better, but I feel so far behind. I don't understand everything. And I'm afraid of making the wrong moves. How do I build confidence when I truly feel clueless?So, friend, let me start by saying this. Thank you for sending that. Thank you for your. Your being honest in that. Because confidence doesn't begin with knowing everything.Confidence truly begins with being willing to learn. That's the big thing. And if you're willing to learn, you're already moving in the right direction.So if money has felt confusing to you, it can make you want to avoid it. See, you don't check the account if you're worried about it. You don't look at the statements.You don't open the mail right away because you don't want to feel this wave. You don't want to feel like, oh, I should have known about this. Oh, I'm too late. I'm bad at this. See, friend, shame loves hiding places.That's what it does. It hides in the dark. But healing happens in the light. And God is not standing over you with disappointment. He's inviting you into wisdom.So today, if you've been avoiding the numbers, that doesn't make you a failure. It just means you've been overwhelmed. And we can work with overwhelmed one small step at a time. Let me make this simple.Confidence is not some personality trait. It's not something you're born with. Confidence is a byproduct.It grows through reps, kind of like working out your body, just like strength grows in the gym. You don't get confident by thinking about it. You don't sit there and ponder, well, I'm going to get confident today.You get confident by doing small things consistently and seeing that progress over time. So that's a prime for a lot of people, because it takes time. You don't have to do it perfectly. You just have to do it faithfully. I'm Ralph Estep Jr.I'm an accountant, and I've worked with people who felt totally overwhelmed, people who were sure they were bad with money. I don't know how many people I've talked to over the last 30 who said to me, ralph, I am terrible with money, but I've watched them become steady.I've watched them build that confidence. Now, not because they became financial geniuses, but because they took small steps until the steps became normal. It became what they do.And guess what? That's available to you, too, starting today. I remember talking with somebody who told me, ralph, I feel stupid when it comes to money.And I said to him, I said, you're not stupid. You're just untrained. Because no one teaches most of us this thing. We do a terrible job of teaching finances in all cultures.See, we get taught how to work, but we don't get taught how to manage what we earn. We're great. We get taught how to go out and make that buck, but nobody sells. Nobody.Not too many people share with us how to save that dollar for how to put it to work for us.So once I help them start doing one simple thing a day, maybe it's looking at their balance, tracking their spending, or making a plan for payday, they say something I will never forget the rest of my life. Ralph. I'm not scared of money anymore, friend. That's what I want for you today. I don't want perfection. I just want peace.So here's the real question today. What would change for you if you stopped aiming for perfection and started aiming for just progress? What would change if you let small count again?See, it starts here. Your confidence grows as you learn. A lot of people think, well, I'm just going to arrive at confidence. No, it's not the way it works.Confidence comes from understanding, and you're not going to get it all at once. It comes little by little. It comes with one lesson, one habit, one oh, that makes sense. Moment. One of those aha moments.So don't shame yourself for what you don't know. Just start learning what you need next, friend, you don't need the whole manual.Remember when my kids were born, I thought when we were leaving the hospital they better give me a manual for how to do this. Guess what? There was no manual at checkout. I went home and guess what? I did. I. I learned it one day at a time.One dirty diaper at a time, one bottle feeding, one temper tantrum. Just one thing at a time. They didn't give me a whole manual. I don't have the whole manual now, and my kids are in their 20s.But the truth is, you just need one simple system that you can repeat. You don't need 10 apps. A lot of clowns out there. Well, get this up and get this up and. No, you don't need any of that.You just need one simple system that you can do consistently. And for most people, it's this basic. Here's what you really need to know. What comes in, what goes out, and give every dollar a job.See, a simple plan beats a complicated plan that you're not going to use. So many people buy these apps, especially this time of year. Oh, I'm going to start off the beginning of the year. I'm going to have this great app.I'm going to track everything. They don't do it, but you can do simple, can't you? Because small steps create momentum. Don't start with the hardest thing.So many times in our lives, we start with the hardest thing. Well, I'm going to do this hardest thing because if I can get this one, I can do the rest. Friend. Don't do that. Start with the next thing.Five minutes. Just one category. One bill, one transfer. But you got to realize small steps are not going to feel impressive.They're going to feel like you're not getting anywhere. Just small little baby steps. What they're doing, they're building trust. And they're building the best trust of all.They're building trust in yourself. They're building trust in the progress and trust that you can grow. And, friend, you can grow.See, because confidence is the reward of action, not the requirement of action. If you wait until you feel confident to take action, you're going to be waiting a long time. In fact, you're never going to feel that way.Because confidence is the reward of doing something. It's the reward of action, not the requirement of doing it. See, when you take the next step, then you feel steadier. It's not the other way around.You don't feel steadier, so you take the next step. So, friend, you don't need to feel ready for this. You just need to take one step. You got to understand that your goal is clarity, not control.So many people think confidence means controlling every outcome. I used to think that my wife always said, you're a control freak. You try to control everything. But that's not confidence.I'm going to say something funny. That's anxiety wearing a suit. See, real confidence is this. I can face the truth. I can make a plan. I can adjust when life changes. Because guess what?Life's going to change. That's being mature. That's being studied. That's what you're building today.And see, over time, day in and day out, that consistency builds a new identity. When you practice wise money habits, you start believing something new about yourself. You start to believe, I am a good steward. I'm good with money.I'm learning. I'm not afraid anymore. That doesn't happen overnight. It happens day in and day out.When you make better decisions, when you're building that confidence, when you're taking those steps day after day. And that identity shifts over time. And those shifts are slowly creating peace. And you're realizing, I'm not stuck, I'm becoming.Let's look at Book of James, chapter one, verse five. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.I want you to notice the phrase here, without finding fault, because that's critical here. God's not shaming you for needing wisdom. He's generous with it he wants you to. So ask him. Ask him for help.Ask him for what you need and then take the next step with his help. So here's your action step for today. I want you to take just one financial step today. Just one. Not five, not ten, just one. I want you to choose one.Here's some examples. Look at your budget for just five minutes. Set up a small savings transit. We talked a lot about savings last few days.Write down all your bills in the due dates track one day of spending. Read one short article or a short section about money. Just choose one. Take one financial step today and then say this out loud.People may think you're crazy, but say confidence comes from action. And then tomorrow do one more step because that's how confidence and built one thing at a time, one rep at a time.And if we're being honest with ourselves, we can do one rep, can't we? Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for giving wisdom generously to us. Help us take steps of faith and grow in confidence. Lord.Replace confusion with clarity. Replace our shame with peace. And teach us to be wise, faithful stewards. And for the person listening right now, steady their heart. Lord.Give them courage for just one small step today. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Friend.If you feel clueless and you want a safe place to glow, come join us at financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join again. That's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join. You're going to find encouragement and guidance and a community that will remind you of this.You're not behind, you're becoming. And friend, you don't have to learn this alone. In the end, you don't need to know everything. You just need to take the next step.And God gives wisdom generously. That's what the Bible told us today. Now tomorrow we're going to talk about how you shift from consumer to steward.We're going to talk about a biblical mindset reset. It's going to be a great show. So today if you know somebody else who feels clueless about money, maybe you know, the brain.I got to talk to this person. Share the show with somebody else who feels clueless about money. Show them that there is no financial shame in this. They can walk in wisdom. They can.They can stay financially savvy and they can become a financially confident Christian. God bless you and you have a great day today.