Dave Kahle - Q & A Sales People and Personal Finance Challenges

Published: Tue, 10/30/18

Sales People and Personal Finance Challenges

Q & A

By Dave Kahle

Q. Dave, I am finding it difficult to manage my personal finances. As a commissioned sales person, my income varies from month to month. It seems like I’m always struggling with finances. Do you have suggestions for me?

A. Congratulations for having the courage to ask that question. Do I have suggestions? Yep, a bunch of them.

First, a little perspective, so you know from where I’m coming. For almost my entire adult life, I have been a commissioned sales person whose income varied from month to month. Even now, my income varies monthly. So, I can certainly understand your situation on the income side.

On the expense side, there have been times when I had obligations that, at times, seemed overwhelming. My wife was a full-time homemaker, we raised a family of five children, and for many of those years I also had child support payments. Those were heavy financial responsibilities.

In all of this, I have learned some things about managing personal finances. Here are some of the lessons I have learned along the way.

Do your sales people have too much to do and not enough time in which to do it?

Help them sort it out and prioritize their time.

They will be less stressed and more fulfilled, and you’ll see an immediate improvement in their performance.

Subscribe to our Sales Time Management Course.

15 minutes a week, for less than the price of lunch.

Other people can teach you to sell. We empower you to sell better.

Learn More

Sales People and Personal Finances: Avoid Debt

First, as much as possible, avoid debt. Debt adds tremendously to your stress. You know that you must make those payments, or you are going to have lots of unpleasant consequences. That may be constantly on your mind, contributing to sleepless nights and rising blood pressure.

Debt reduces your options. If you have monthly payments, for example, they must be paid even if you have a bad month or two. Without those payments, you can generally find a way to ride out low income months by temporarily reducing your standard of living. You can eat in every day, for example, instead of buying pizza or going out. Without monthly payments, you can even survive a few months of no income at all.

Interest you pay eventually reduces your standard of living, because your interest payments are expenses that bring you no value. So, be careful about putting anything on that charge card. And if you do, try to pay it off each month. Deciding to make just minimum payments is one of the most expensive decisions you’ll ever make.

Also, be careful about any long-term commitments. Instead of a three-year lease on a new car, think about buying used and paying it off in two. Instead of a two-year lease on that apartment, try 12 months.

You may not ever be able to be totally debt free. However, you can make decisions which, over time, will significantly reduce your amount of debt, easing the pressure on you and allowing you more options.

Sales People and Personal Finances: Budget

Second, develop a monthly budget for reasonable living. In good months, don’t spend the excess, put anything you make above that amount into a savings account. In bad months or years, tap into that savings account to meet your budget. At the end of the year, use some of the excess that you’ve build up to make those big purchases that you were tempted to put on a charge card during the year.

For example, say that you set up a budget of $4,000 a month. In January, you take home $4,400. Of that, $400 goes into the savings account, and you live on $4,000. In February, you take home $4,500. You repeat the discipline, putting $500 away. In March, you take home $3,500. You take $500 out of the savings for your day-to-day expenses. When you’ve built up a comfortable surplus, buy those big things that you’d like to have.

This is one of the best things that I ever did. Even to this day, my wife and I operate on a budget. Here’s an example. We have a certain amount of money dedicated each month to “entertainment.” We use this for meals out, concerts, etc. When the money’s gone, we’re done. If we want to go out to eat, but don’t have any money in the entertainment budget, we don’t go. It’s called deferred gratification, and it’s the secret of surviving financially in a turbulent...[CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE ONLINE]

Having to Be the Low Price

If you would like to unsubscribe to this Ezine only, Click Here

If you would like to unsubscribe from all emails from Dave Kahle, click the unsubscribe below.