We live in a world full of excuses. Many people (maybe even you) make excuses for not being able to save money or manage their personal finances. Below are a few examples, but there are millions out there along the same lines.
“I can’t save.”
“I’ll start when I get a raise.”
“We live paycheck to paycheck.”
“I don’t make enough to save.”
“I’ll start next month.”
“Once I pay off this debt.”
In my last post I discussed the “Latte Factor,” a concept that has the potential to open your eyes to all the ‘little’ things you buy and how they can become a big cost. Today’s post follows up by asking the tough questions which may expose the excuses listed above. If you’re making the excuses above but can’t answer the questions below, you need to take a hard look at your finances, and that hard look starts with the following questions:
How much do you make each month?
How much do you spend each month?
How much do you spend on groceries? Dining out? Gas? Clothes? Insurance?
How much is your rent or mortgage?
How much is your car payment?
How much debt do you have?
So? How did you do? Can you answer all of those questions? If you could answer all of those questions, awesome. Your personal finances are either in good shape or improving. If you couldn’t answer all of those questions, stop and take a few deep breaths. 1) You are far from the only one that doesn’t have a firm grasp on your personal finances. 2) Even though everyone manages their own personal finances, very little is taught in our education system. For the most part, personal finance is passed from generation to generation or is self-taught. Don’t get discouraged. Make the decision to do something about it. You may have wonderful financial goals, but if you don’t know the path to achieve them, they are hopes, not goals.
Starting next week, I’ll dig back into the Six Steps of the Rat Race Off Ramp, but if you want to get started before that, feel free to do so. If you have any questions, or specific areas you’d like me to write about, submit a question on the Contact Us page.
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