Top 5 Financial New Years Resolutions for Martial Artists

December 17, 2015

Have you made a resolution in the past that came up short? Ready to stop stressing out about cash and focus more on training?

We all know New Years is synonymous with over crowded gyms and dillusions of getting diesel for summer. Just try to get some time in a squat rack for the next month… ain’t happenin.

New Years is also synonymous with an influx of new students at our gym. This time of year brings in the characters, let me tell you… I could write an entire resolution article for white belts:

Wear your shoes when you step off the mat
Trim your nails wolverine
Wash your gi sometime
Learn how to tie your belt. It looks like an airplane propeller
Stop saying OSS

But New Years around the world is also synonymous with financial resolutions. Whether it’s getting out of debt, saving more, or making more, we all have a few financial goals we are trying to accomplish. Why not make the new year your d-day for setting a plan in action?

Here are the Top 5 Financial New Years Resolutions for Martial Artists.

Top 5 Financial New Years Resolutions for Martial Artists

1. Building a Budget

Probably the most common new years resolution is simply organizing everything so you can get your finances on track. The key to building a budget that works for you starts with getting a handle on your cash flow…

Knowing precisely what is coming in and what is going out. This is one of the more stressful hurdles for a clients accomplish, but this “busy work” really sets the stage for putting together a savings and investment strategy that can get your financial goals off the ground.

For a detailed look at building out a budget catered to Jiu-Jitsu athletes:

Jiu-Jitsu Bums Guide to Paying for the BJJ Lifestyle

2. Saving More Money

Another resolution common to the martial artists I work with is to put a stop on living paycheck to paycheck.

We aren’t simply talking about people who are unable to afford to put back money each month. Here in Orange County we have people who are wealthy by most standards but have bought a bunch of shit they can’t afford.

A great plan of action for the new year is to trim out some of the crap in your life that is costing you financial freedom.

I’m sitting here laughing as I write because when friends have me over to check out their situation they joke “you aren’t going to make me stop paying for Jiu-Jitsu are you?”

$150 a month generally isn’t your problem; the deck you bought, the boat that you picked up, the house you couldn’t really afford that guaranteed you will live paycheck to paycheck for the foreseeable future… these are your problem.

Get your money right. Make your resolution to save more:

3. Getting Rid of Debt

For some of my younger clients the first thing they are looking to do is get out of debt. Many of my training partners put in the grind of going to school full-time, training full-time, working, and competing… it’s definitely a noble lifestyle.

But the fact is when school is over and that financial aid check turns into financial aid debt, you are going to have a few months to start making grown up money.

Also, credit card debt… HUGE problem for college graduates and millennials alike. For the young saver you really have no business investing before you get credit card debt under control.

Your interest rates are so high and savings account generally so low that every month is a negative month.

If you have some outstanding debt whether it’s from a student loan, credit card, or mortgate, don’t get complacent. Make a commitment, a resolution, to take charge of your debt and head into 2016 with confidence.

4. Making More Money

I really don’t know any full or part time instructor that couldn’t use more money. The beauty of teaching is knowing that you are taking a huge haircut financially in order to embrace the lifestyle and help a ton of people.

That said there are plenty of inefficiencies in the way instructors go about making a living. A few simple tweaks of what they are already doing can make a world of difference.

Let’s face it often times you don’t have a debt problem, a saving problem, or a budget problem, you have an “I don’t make enough money problem.”

Don’t have a job?

Top 10 Part-Time Jobs for Martial Artists

5. Supplement Your Income

For those of you who are pure Jiu-Jitsu athletes and instructors, a great resolution for you in 2016 should be to find a way to supplement your income and expenses.

Over the past couple month I have done a few consulting sessions with athletes who want to get more sponsors. The trouble is they want people to give them money but they don’t want to put in the work necessary to get the sponsorship dollars.

Don’t be hustled by the big brands out there giving 25% off their products to be a “brand ambassador.” That is not a freaking sponsorship. Go out and put in the work and you will have all the sponsorship money you need and then some.

Another way to supplement your lifestyle as an athlete is to schedule more private lessons. As an athlete you have a commodity that many people are looking to acquire and acquire faster: knowledge.

And when in doubt, sell that collection of Shoyoroll gi’s you don’t use. Did you really wait in line for those?

How about you! What is your bjj new years resolution?

For more on: