You see I have determined that your financial success or failure today is the result of the financial decisions you made in the past and the habits that you have developed thus far. I know that may sound a little self-righteous but it is true. While I may consider myself an expert in matters of personal finance today, I have not always made good financial decisions. What I can say is that most people want to be successful in every aspect of their lives and especially financially. Let’s face it no one ever says that they would like to someday be to the point where they are deep in debt and living from paycheck to paycheck, but it happens more times than not.
So how does the tragedy that plagues’ most American families happen? What is the root cause of the epidemic of bankruptcy and financial failure that is so rampant in our society? Is it the current system that is in place, my answer is no? As you can tell by the title of this article, I believe that most people are the blame for their own current and their future financial success. So my question is are you sabotaging your own future financial success, are you keeping yourself from being the best that you can be financially, or are you somehow the victim of a system that is not designed to allow you to get ahead?
When it comes to achieving financial success, the habits that you have developed have you where you are today. I often share during one of my financial classes a memory that I have of my grandfather and me sitting on his front porch and I was telling him about how I was going to buy this item and buy that item, and how I was going to use a credit card to get the things that I wanted. Papa (my grandfather) turned to me and said “listen, what you need to remember is that you should always set a little money aside whenever you get money because you never know what’s going to happen.” In other words, I need to make sure that I saved money whenever I get money.
What a novel idea you mean that I should not spend every dime that I make, you mean I should exercise some discipline with my money and I should not spend money that I do not have. It was such simple advice, which could not be the key to financial success. After all, you are supposed to use other people’s money (OPM) to get ahead, so I thought. Today my views have changed, and they are now in line with what Papa was trying to tell me so many years ago. That is why I am asking the question do you have a habit of saving? The simple act of setting a small portion of any money you receive aside puts a hedge between you and life.
During any given day we make several financial decisions, the result of these decisions take us either closer to financial success or further away from it. The key is to make more decisions that take you closer to success and make less of the decisions that do not. By making the decision to save a portion of your income, you are setting yourself up for financial success. By not saving, you are sabotaging your financial future. Having a savings account with money in it empowers you to make better decisions when you are faced with a financial crisis.
I think I will stop there and allow you some time to think about what I have written. Next month in part two of this article I will share with you some specific ways that most people are sabotaging their own financial success with some of the decisions that they make every day. Until then spend some time looking at the current financial habits that you have developed over the years.
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