Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's Take Control Tuesday and I have Mansa Moussa on the phone with me. Mansa, I took a trip down to Ohio to see my girls. And back and going down, the price of gas was high. Coming back, it was even higher.
And I saw almost $5 getting home. And we're going to talk about today what to do when your cash flow is negative.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Yeah. For a lot of people, they had good budgets, things were working fine. And then all of a sud we've hit this period where costs have gone up, you know, food, transportation, healthcare premiums, etcetera, to where now some people are actually running a negative cash flow.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Every month. And what that means is that more money's going out than coming in. So we're going to talk about how to get back to zero if you find that is your situation.
You know, if your income's not covering your bills every month, that's like I said, you're running a negative cash flow. That's not a discipline problem, that's a math problem. Yeah. And until the math changes, nothing else works.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: So here's the goal. It's not about getting ahead. It's not about paying everything off.
It's about getting back to zero.
Stability first, progress later.
So let's go through steps of things you can do if you find yourself in that situation or you're close to that situation and it may happen to you. So, number one, protect the essentials. You've got to prioritize the money you have.
The essentials are housing, utilities, food, transportation and health care.
If these things fall apart, everything else just gets worse. Step two, stop trying to pay everything.
This is where people lose control. They spread money across every bill and end up behind on all of them.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Instead, prioritize what must be paid, manage what can't. That's controlled. Step three, cut fast but temporarily. You don't need to be perfect. You need breathing room.
So pause. Subscriptions, Any extras?
Non essentials. Just long enough to stabilize. So you got to look at what you're spending money on and cut back hard to reduce the negative cash flow.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: Step four, increase your income. Now, if the math doesn't work, the income has to move. Yeah. So that may mean extra hours, side work, sell some of that stuff you got that you don't use. Yep. This is not forever. It's just a bridge. Step five, and this is an important one, and even though it's the fifth step, if you're in a negative cash flow situation, you might want to do this first and that is, call your creditors early before you fall behind.
Ask for lower payments.
Ask if they have any hardship options.
You have more leverage with your creditors early before you get behind. So call them early. Let them know you're expecting trouble and see what they can do for you. Step six. Shift your mindset. You're not in a payoff mode. You're in a stabilization mode. Stay current where you can avoid fees and slow to damage.
Step 7 Know your number. How negative are you every month? $100? 300? 500?
You can't fix what you don't measure. Final thought.
You don't solve negative cash flow by trying harder. You solve it by changing the structure. Yes.
So this is what you do. Figure out your gap. Take one step to close it.
Because once you get back to zero, you can start moving forward again.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a tough time that we're living in right now, but it's very, very important that we keep a close eye on what is leaving, what's coming in. We'll put this up on the website mantakecontroltuesday.com Please share this with your family and friends so that they can use these tips as well. And Manta, as always, thank you so much.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Thank you.
