Facing Your Fears

It’s October, the month of Halloween, ghost stories, horror movies, spooks, and scares of all kinds. Everyone has things that they are afraid of, big and small. I recently was in a local town and saw a toddler and his mother talking on the sidewalk. The young boy was having trouble walking past some of the large plastic skeletons (the Halloween lawn decorations), because he is, as he said, “scared of pelicans”.

Many people are afraid of things involving money, for many different reasons. Oftentimes, these fears come from a lack of understanding on how to handle different situations. For example, one prevalent fear is the fear of not having enough money. In a world that runs on money, it’s incredibly easy to see where this fear comes from! It is also a fear that a few of my clients have faced in the past, when they were very scared of not being able to pay off some credit cards. The credit card balances kept increasing every month. What helped them was to develop a plan - we created a cash flow to pay off the highest interest rate credit cards first and steadily work towards paying off the entirety over a period of time. I helped my clients to face those fears, and have plans in place to prevent it from happening again. My clients now know to pay off their credit cards before the interest kicks in. Now they don’t have as much fear over not having enough money.

The role of accountants is to help their clients face those fears around money by helping them understand it better. For example, if a client of mine needs more money, I can show them some strategies on how to get some, such as making a plan to boost their sales or calling their clients that have open invoices and setting up payment plans, so that my client can get the money they are owed.

People are also afraid of not understanding money, or of business owning in general. I, and other accountants, are here to make those fears manageable! Breaking down your fears into chunks can help them seem more approachable. Then you can make a plan to face that fear piece by piece. Oftentimes, we are afraid because we don’t know what we don’t know, so talking to an expert, like an accountant, can help educate you on your fears and help you to face them.

So, whether your fears are decorative skeletons, black cats, or managing your finances, I wish you luck making a plan, talking to experts, and figuring out how to face your fears. Have a Happy Halloween!