Every time we come to the end of a year we make the same ol’ New Year’s resolutions. Stop smoking, spend more time with my family, lose weight…and one of the most popular resolutions is to save more money. Once this New Year’s resolution is made, we begin to look for ways to save money, either from financial experts or maybe by searching top ten lists online. We see things like…“slash the incidentals,” “pay yourself first,” “pay ahead on your mortgage,” “shedcredit card debt,” or “say goodbye to late fees.” And, although these are good pieces of advice, none of them deal with root causes. Before we can really put the above strategies into practice, we need to deal with the fundamental cause of money management problems: ME and YOU!
Money does not manage itself. I have never had a $20 bill jump out of my bank account, walk to the store and spend itself on my behalf; nor have any of my credit cards went online and bought a bunch of stuff that I don’t even need. Let’s spend more time talking about the true problem of mismanaging money: being more disciplined and learning how to create wealth from the inside out. Wealth does not begin with how much money you have. Wealth begins with how you view yourself becoming comfortable with who you are and who you are trying to become. Many people focus too much on how much money they make, rather than focusing on how to keep the money they make, overextending themselves to live outside of their means rather than living within their values.
So let’s talk about the difference between values and wants. Typically, our spending tends to be aligned with our wants with no regard for what we proclaim to be our values. For example, our means say we can afford a Honda, but what we truly value dictates that we should get a Mercedes. But, if we learn to live within our means, our true values will change. And, when we really get good at money management, it won’t be about living within our means, but living within our values; no matter how much money we make!
I wish we were taught these skills before we started making money, don’t you? We all need to learn the essential life skills it takes, not to just be financially stable, but financially responsible! So, don’t make a new year’s resolution to simply save more money; rather, make a new year’s resolution to change your lifestyle and to become more financially responsible. The rest will take care of itself!
Related posts:
- Budgeting $10 Everyday to Save Money
- Save More Money and Stop Emotional Spending
- Money Monday Poll: What Things Do You Save Money For?
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