Are you caught up in the doom and gloom being prophesied on the news about the financial crisis, the bailout, the meltdown, and the economic collapse we are facing?  Are you feeling the fear of what it means for your family?  For your lifestyle?   

I say, don’t worry, be happy!  This apparent catastrophe is the best thing that could have happened to us.  

Best thing that could have happened?  What you are talking about, you might say.  

Well, for one thing, it’s making us all get a lot more aware of our own financial situations.  

Over the past few years, there was so much available that we didn’t have to pay much attention.  I’ve noticed that in my own life.

When I was in college and law school, waitressing my way through and counting my pennies, I was hyper-aware of my inflow and outflow.  Over the past couple of years as I’ve built my businesses and the income has been plentiful, I’ve gotten lax about what’s going where.

My record keeping system devolved into the following:

Step 1:  Log in to bank account and check bank balance;
Step 2:  Verify there is more than $10,000 in account; if so keep spending and don’t freak out;
Step 3:  If not more than $10,000, stress out, and worry about how to bring in more cash.
Step 4:  Execute plan to bring in more cash.  Repeat step 1.

Call it kamikaze style financial management.

It’s one way to do it, but not at all conscious and frankly, frightening at times. 

About 6 months ago, I decided to embark on a system of conscious bookkeeping.  I switched bookkeepers and CPAs and started tracking my income and outgo with a system I could understand.

It felt good.  Really good.

As a result of the current financial situation, a lot of people are being forced into doing it.  I say good.  

It’s an opportunity for more awareness.  I’m all for that.  No need to resist it.  Go with it.  

Get your financial house in order.  Here are five steps you can take now to bring you comfort during times of trouble and prepare you to make the most of this opportunity for more conscious awareness:

1.    Prepare a Family Wealth Inventory and Assessment (a fancy name for a list of all of your assets) and keep it up to date so you know what you have, what you need and where you are going.

2.    Make sure the money you need liquid and can’t afford to risk is held in FDIC insured accounts.  For a free report on the rules, go to http://www.FamilyWealthMatters.com/fdic.  I’ve distilled all the complicated facts down to 10 pages with easy to follow scenarios.

3.    Create a Map of Intention (a wonderful name for a budget) that will give you clarity about your income and outflow needs each month and how much you need to be putting where.  Read about creating your own map of intention here.  

4.    Create your Family Freedom Notebook.  This is a great way to keep track of everything and helps you to avoid panic in case of a crisis.

5.    Spend some time visioning your future and focus more on who you want to be rather than what you want to have.  The more you are who you want to be, the more you will have that cannot be taken away, no matter what happens to the economy.