156. How to Finish the Year Strong With Your Money

Does September feel like a fresh start to you? Between back-to-school routines, new schedules, and the “-ber” months rolling in, fall often feels like a mini New Year. And unlike champagne-fueled January goals, the ones we set in September often stick.

This is the perfect moment to pause and ask: what do you want your money to do for you—not next year, but in the final stretch of this year?

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why September is the best time for a money reset (and why fall goals last longer than New Year’s resolutions)
• How to reflect on your summer spending—wins and regrets—and use that data to shape the rest of your year
• The power of micro goals: how one small target (pay off a credit card, save $1,000) can build clarity, momentum, and confidence
• Simple systems to simplify your money before the holidays: subscriptions, autopays, weekly money check-ins, and meal planning
• Three action steps to finish the year with financial peace and purpose

Your financial story isn’t over yet—you still have time to create real wins before December 31.

Want more support as you reset your money mindset? Join us inside the free Legacy Builders Network Facebook group. We’re gearing up for October’s 7-Day Money Mindset Shift Challenge, the perfect way to finish the year focused and free.

Learn more about working with Laura Sexton

. Join the Facebook group Legacy Builders Network.

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Transcript

Laura: 0:00

January isn't the only time to set goals and fall might actually be better. hello and welcome to money and career mastery from overwhelmed to ownership. I'm Laura Sexton, your abundance and legacy coach here to help you navigate the world of money, debt payoff, and career growth with confidence and clarity. In this podcast, we'll tackle the financial and career challenges, holding you back, optimize your income and build the freedom that comes with true ownership. If you're ready to break free from overwhelm, create a budget that aligns with your values and design a legacy that empowers future generations. You're in the right place. Hey, accelerators. Today I wanna talk to you about how September can sometimes feel like a mini new year. New routines, new school schedules, and I am craving structure. You've probably found yourself reflecting about your own changes in new routines, and if you think honestly about it, your goals. You probably are looking at those differently than you did way back in January. You might even share the same feeling that I'm having where I'm more likely to stick to my goals that I've set in September than the ones I made in the glow of champagne on New Year's Eve. So maybe I was just delirious from sleep deprivation. This is the perfect moment for you to pause and get clear about what you want your money to do for you, not next year, but this quarter. And maybe you're like, Laura, I'm not in business. I don't think of things in quarters. Well, let's just look at things. How they are right now, the year it's coming to an end. I don't know if you're noticing this or not, but we are in the bur months. We are in the middle of September. We are about to hit October, which brings Halloween and November, which brings Thanksgiving and December, which brings Christmas and then a new year. What would it look like for you to just finish this year? Strong finish with clarity, momentum, and financial peace. I find that fall is the perfect time to do a reset. My routines, they're finally stabilizing. Even in my very busy life with five children, yes, I'm still adding things all the time. My oldest daughter decided she wanted to learn how to play the violin, which is probably one of the scariest scratchies things I've ever heard of. This is what she wants to do. And so we are falling into a new routine. Now that we're here in the fall, I like how it hits. We are falling into this new routine of Mondays. New day at school, we're getting things into the rhythm of things. Tuesdays, we have Girl Scouts. Wednesdays I have Bible study. There's so many things that we are falling into and it's starting to feel normal. It's starting to feel routine. This is a great time for me to look and say, okay, what else do I wanna add? What I have been adding is I've been working with a nutritionist to help me create meal plans to help me create smart decisions with my food choices. Also working with a trainer to do some light workouts at home, to work with some of the changes that my body has made after having my fifth child. But now that we're this far into the year, you have some real data about how the year has gone so far. You can sit down and you can look at what worked. You can sit down and look at what didn't. You still have enough time left in your year to make meaningful progress on those things that you said were important to you back in January. So stop. Let's reflect on it, right? Let's look at what we spent. We don't even have to go all the way back to January. Let's go over our summer spending. Summers. Often it's messy and expensive, and sometimes we get so out of our rhythms that we just say, okay, whatever. I don't care, and we start to have some problems. But before we get into the messy and the expensive, I want you to tell yourself what your biggest budget wins were. Look at the last three months. Where did you succeed? That's the first place to look. What went well? What do we want to do again? Because I want you to look at those things and I want you to implement them for the rest of the year. I also want you to look at your regrets for the last three months. What did not go well? What are you wanting to change? What do you want to make sure never happens again? And what expenses are no longer relevant now that the season is changing? If you had swim lessons, you're probably not doing that anymore. You had. Extra time at daycare, that's probably not going to happen anymore'cause your kids are back in school. As these seasons are changing, now is the perfect time to decide what's right for you and move forward with it. But since we're into Q4 and we are into the bur months and things are getting close to tricky with holidays coming up, try to set a micro goal for the rest of the year instead of saying, I wanna get out of debt, which is an excellent goal, and I really, really want that for you. Try paying up one credit card, one line of credit, one extra debt that you have. Try to pay off one between now and the end of the year. Instead of, I wanna build wealth, try to save$1,000 towards your emergency fund. These are micro goals, okay? This is a quick win, plus clarity, plus confidence. That's how you get to your micro goals. So, quick wins. Quick wins are so incredibly important. Consider 30, 60, 90 day goals. Okay? If our 100 day goal is at the end of the year and we wanna say, have an extra thousand dollars saved up. Great. That's a thousand dollars by 90 days.$600 by 60 days. That's$250 by 30 days. Get your goals to align with the upcoming holidays because we know that we have some expenses coming up. We know that things are gonna get crazy. Get narrowly focused on what your one goal is going to be between now and the end of the year, and let's tackle it with gusto. One of the things that you can do is simplify your systems. Now, this is something that I am really honing in on on my business, but it's something we need to do in our bank accounts and our auto pays and our subscriptions. All of the things that we have already happening, we need to go in and audit those. We need to say, okay, what of these things are we happy with? How things are going? What are we not happy? What do we need to change? Subscription prices are gonna be going up. They always do in the new year. What is still worth it to you? What is not worth it to you? Check your auto pays. What are important to you to have coming out? Check your bank accounts. What is important to you? Then choose one small habit to restart. These are things that you really need to be doing already, but if you're not doing them, pick one of these and start and use it for the next 90 days. A weekly money check-in, that's every Sunday. My husband and I sit down and see where our money is going, how we feel about it, what's gonna be coming up in the next week. That's really, really important. Track your spending again. I would prefer you budget it and plan it and decide ahead of time. But if you haven't been doing that, go back and track where you've been spending your money.'cause then you can decide how you wanna spend it in the future. Plan your meals or cash out your clutter. These are two things we've been doing inside the Facebook group where we have been focusing on how to win with our money. Meal planning is huge and me and my nutritionist have been working on this both on a nutritional standpoint. Things that we wanna make sure that we are feeding both myself and my children. My husband Fends for himself'cause he's on his own meal plan and cashing out our clutter guys. You have too much stuff in your house, I promise you. We just donated six trash bags full of toys that we no longer need in our house. What was really fun about it was we kept it in the back of the car for a couple of days to see if the kids noticed anything missing. They did not. Here are your action steps for the week. Reflect on what has worked and what hasn't. Figure out what financially this year you've enjoyed, what you haven't enjoyed, and then focus on either continuing to do the things that have worked and discontinuing the things that have not step number two, set one clear small financial goal to finish out this year. And number three, choose one system to simplify this month. Be your subscriptions, your spending, your check-ins, whatever that simple system is for you. Go ahead and get that started. If you're ready to not just set your goals, but reset your mindset, come join us in the free Facebook group, the Legacy Builders Network with Laura Sexton. We are preparing for October's seven day money mindset shift challenge, and is the perfect way for you to finish the year focused and free. The link is down in the show notes, or you can find us on Facebook. Just type in Legacy Builders Network with Laura Sexton. Come back and join us on Monday for a question of the day episode. Until then, go out and make a difference. thank you for spending time with us today on Money and Career Mastery from Overwhelm to Ownership. Remember, your legacy isn't just about financial freedom. It's about living with purpose, taking action, and building a foundation that lasts for generations. Don't just listen, implement what you've learned and share it with someone who could use a financial or career breakthrough. If you found value in today's episode, help us grow by rating, reviewing, and sharing the podcast. I'll be back next week with more strategies to help you master your money and career. Until then take ownership of your future and build your legacy with intention.