How to make 2025 Your Year for Financial Success By Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal

You deserve to be rich. You deserve to be able to make a purchase and not hold your breath in fear that your check will go into overdraft. You deserve to go on vacation, simply because you have a headache and need a change of scenery, without having to second-guess your financial decisions for the next year.

This book is our answer to the thousands upon thousands of people who have asked us for a detailed blueprint for earning their leisure. When you read this book, you’ll be able to identify your growing areas that will lead toward financial freedom. People who have been able to secure their financial freedom had to spend time confronting their “money demons” so they wouldn’t jeopardize the wealth they’d begun to create. They also put a team of financial professionals into place who were committed to their financial future. These are some small steps, but they are also major strides toward the life you want, and we’re going to walk you through how to take them:

1. Watch your language. We believe in the power of affirmation and positive thought. Some people call it “faking it till you make it,” but we truly believe it’s important that you are cautious of what you say about yourself and your financial situation. By no means are we telling you to spend what you don’t have. We are, however, encouraging you to be mindful of what you call yourself and the things you say. Instead of saying, “I’m broke,” consider saying, “That’s not in my budget right now.” How you view yourself is a crucial part of your new financial framework.

2. Ask the right questions. For many of us, our relationship with money is rooted in someone else’s relationship with money. We watched our parents and grandparents and either adapted their behaviors or did the exact opposite. Again, just as we can’t blame ourselves, we can’t blame them, either. They likely learned from their parents, and these relationships are a direct response to lived realities. But while the origins of our financial trauma may not be our fault, learning from them is our responsibility. Troy was in his twenties when he learned why his parents had lost the family home. His parents’ vulnerability and honesty enabled him to know what to look for and stay away from when it came to financing his own home. Having conversations about our financial histories creates the blueprint for stronger financial legacies.

3. Put parameters in place. Once you’ve been able to identify the roots of your financial trauma and the behaviors associated with them, instituting boundaries for yourself will be important. Earlier, we offered the suggestion of waiting a specific time period before making a purchase if you’re an emotional shopper. If you spend excessively, you may want to consider switching to prepaid debit cards or setting up spending alerts until you get it under control. If you refuse to spend money and it’s becoming an issue for you or in your relationships, you may consider instituting a “self-care” or “fun” day every few weeks that will get you in the habit of spending money and using it for other purposes. These parameters and boundaries will be unique to you and your situation. But it’s going to be important for you to create and maintain them.

4. Hold weekly or monthly “money meetings” with yourself. More than just going over your monthly or weekly budget, this is also an opportunity to survey your spending and saving habits from the perspective of your experiences and evaluate whether you’re operating from your financial trauma. Instead of just asking why you made or didn’t make a purchase, sit with the emotional patterns and behaviors that ground your decision making. This is the beginning of developing the strategies you need to cultivate a financial freedom that isn’t rooted in your past trauma or mistakes.

5. Start by saving small, and build from there. If saving money has been one of your greatest challenges, start small. It sounds simple because it is. We’ll talk more about building a detailed budget in the next chapter, but for now, consider starting with a small amount—say, £5 to £15—a week. Set a time when you will increase your amount, by either a percentage or a specific amount. This is one of the easiest ways to begin trusting yourself with your own money.

By Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal

Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal are the authors of You Deserve to Be Rich And the founders of Earn Your Lesiure.