Below are 10 real comments from people who think personal finance sucks. Please go through each one and read my reactions so you don’t fall into these traps! Personal finance isn’t hard and doesn’t have to be time-consuming or boring. Learn the key techniques, learn to get more money, learn to invest, learn to automate, learn to improve yourself and learn to increase your luck in the process.
Some of these quotes are crazy. But do you know who I don’t hear this sort of thing from? People with plenty of money and people who are educating and working hard on themselves so they can grow. Let’s dive right in…
10. Personal finance sucks…
“All you really need to do is to watch your bank balance. If it’s up, you’re doing great. If it’s low, spend less. So simple. Think people get rich doing anything else? I don’t think so!” #personalfinancesucks
“Personal finance” just means learning about money. And you have no hope if your strategy is to watch your bank balance. Not only does that ignore any sort of long-term plan, it also opens you up to forgotten items sneaking through. Worst still, it ignores investment strategy, spending, fraud and so much more. Do not ever believe that watching your bank balance alone will set you up for any level of financial success.
9. You only live once…
“If I want to treat myself and eat at Sizzler every night of the week, I’ll do it. If I want to buy an above-the-ground pool the size of my house, I’ll go buy it. You can’t take the money with you and I sure as hell am not giving it all to the government.”
Ahhh, the ol’ “you only live once” expression. While most likely true that we only live once, I would like to have money to enjoy amazing things while I am here. Educating yourself and having a financial plan does not mean you cannot live your life to the fullest. It is the complete opposite.
8. Less stress is dumb…
“Not having much money might be stressful, but stress is what makes a person strong! Did my truck get built without stress? Did my kids get built without stress? I can handle stress and don’t need a long-term plan to fix a thing.”
If you can relieve stress using any healthy method, DO IT. You will be happier, live longer and have bandwidth for taking on the stressors in life that you cannot control. Money does not have to be one of those things once you learn to control it and have it work for you.
7. I’m already free…
“A lot of people save and invest so they have “financial freedom” as they call it. Well, I got all the freedom I need. I can chug seven beers in my underwear on my roof right now. Six months of expenses in a savings account isn’t freedom.”
I’m pretty sure this person is drunk and believes that personal finance sucks regardless of what anyone says. Nonetheless, I’ll address it. Freedom does not belong on your roof in its underwear. Financial freedom means the ability to take risks, to be there for your kids’ talent shows, to take three weeks to visit other parts of the world without recourse, to be able to try something new that you cannot do living paycheck-to-paycheck. That is the freedom you can quickly earn with a little intention.
6. Too much money…
“I’ve read about how most lottery winners go broke and eat cereal for dinner. And it’s all because they had too much money! I might not eat well on the few days before pay day, but at least I don’t have the repo man here to pickup seven Ferraris.”
This is true about lottery winners. They go broke because they lacked the financial knowledge of having money before they got it. And when they suddenly have money, especially in such a large quantity, problems compound and it is gone before they know it. They didn’t earn it in any traditional sense. What a perfect example of why personal finance is important. Keep reading to #4 below.
5. I buy what I want when I want it…
“I don’t want to be restricted. I live by the “I see, I want, I buy” budget.”
This quote came to me from a successful vlogger. Of course it made me laugh, but it also made me want to drill deeper into his plans for the future. In Jim Miller’s world, a budget is nothing more than a cool way to make sure that you’re spending money on the things you love the most in the world. Budgets do not exist to limit spending, fun or life. That is one of the things that make my views very different from other experts in this field.
4. I make a ton of money already…
“I save a good amount of money each month, have nice things and live a good life. Budgeting is for people who are in debt or don’t make much money.”
The more money you have, the more important a budget is. Do a Google search on “broke athletes” or “Lotto winner files bankruptcy” and you’ll get to meet hundreds of people who had a mountain of money and are now broke. If they had taken a few quick steps to setup a budget, they would still have their millions and, likely, many millions more. Those are extreme examples, but the fact remains that whether wealthy or struggling, you need a budget to connect you to your future goals and the only way to do that is by making a plan.
3. Budgeting takes too much time…
“I have an exceptionally busy life and do not have time to manage a budget.”
You can setup a budget in less than an hour today and then monitor it from your smart phone… all for free. No longer do you have to categorize or reconcile or even sit at a computer. Having a budget saves you time and anyone who says otherwise hasn’t read my book or articles. Personal finance sucks? It doesn’t have to.
2. I don’t have money to manage…
“I live paycheck to paycheck and having enough money to warrant a budget isn’t necessary when I have debt and can barely pay my bills. Hopefully I win the lottery someday.”
Reading comments like this makes me sad. They are struggling because they didn’t self-educate on money and they never had a plan. And if you have debt, a plan will help get you out of it. It is not about how much money you make, it is about how much money you keep! There are handymen/women out there who are on track to retire as millionaires and there are people who live in mansions that will be retiring with debt. Please remember that!
1. I just spend less than I earn…
“The magic formula is simply to spend less than I earn. I don’t need to get an advanced degree or read a ton of books to achieve that goal.”
This one scares me and I’ve heard smart people say it, but the variable that is totally missing from this oversimplification is planning. Spending less than you earn is a great system for avoiding debt, but it does not replace a plan nor does it help one achieve their financial goals 5 or 50 years from now. Spending less than you earn is good, but your goal should be to be great.