5 EXPENSIVE HABITS THAT ARE KEEPING YOU BROKE
Everyone has their own bad habits. Some habits are worse than others and since this is a post about personal finance we will go through the 5 most expensive financial habits that are hurting your wallet and preventing you from living the life that you want to live.
1) DON’T BLOW AWAY YOUR MONEY
If you’re a smoker, you’ll know that smoking is not cheap. Someone smoking a pack a day will spend about $207 a week on cigarettes or about $828 a month on something that is killing their body and is killing their wallet. I know it’s not easy to quit smoking but imagine how good you will feel at the end of the year when your savings account is not empty.
Smoking isn’t the only way to blow your money. Alcohol is another vice that most people splurge on. As an example, let’s say a drink at a bar costs $6 on average and you buy five drinks a week, that’s another $120 a month on just liquor. I know that many of you reading this are buying more than 5 drinks a week. It may seem that $120 a month is not a lot of money, but it certainly adds up over time.
To put things in perspective numerically, by just using the above referenced conservative spending numbers on smoking and drinking alone we can see that an average person can spend more than $10,000 in a year. Imagine what you can do with an extra $10,000 in your bank account.
2) STOP GAMBLING
It is estimated that being struck by lightning, being in an airplane crash or winning an oscar are more likely than an average person winning the lottery. They say “Lottery is tax on poor people”, because the average person in North America making less than $10,000 a year spends an average of $597 a year on lottery tickets alone which is about 6% of their annual income. It’s sad, and unless you understand this system it will keep screwing you over.
Gambling works the same way. Statistically, you’re going to lose and you have to keep paying to keep getting the cheap thrill. It’s a financial killer, unless you are the casino. Listen, casinos would not exist if gambling was not a lucrative business for them. As such, you should keep this in mind and steer clear from them.
3) STOP LOOKING RICH
Rich people don’t buy things that they can’t afford. Buying things you can’t afford is a quick way of wasting your money and putting yourself in a very difficult financial situation. The majority of people spend their money financing things that they don’t need, can’t afford, and that don’t pay them back. Needless to say this is a recipe for a financial disaster.
If you want to make a difference in your personal finances, I want you to start thinking differently than the others. Majority of people use their money to buy things, you need to use your money to create little “Investment Seeds”. Investment Seeds are investments that bring you more money. As an example, instead of buying the latest shoe or dress why not buy the stock of the company manufacturing the shoes and the dresses making you one of the owners of the company. Remember, the goal is to be rich not look rich.
“Remember, the goal is to be rich not look rich”
4) TRIPPING OVER DOLLARS TO PICK UP PENNIES
There is a difference between being cheap and being stupid. When you’re cheap on things that don’t pay you, like buying a slightly used car or non-brand named clothes you’re saving money and thus leaving more money in your pocket. This cheapness however, can cost you more money if you do not look at things from the financial perspective. An example of this would be waiting in line for long periods of time for a free product that costs very little. Did you really need to stand in line for 3 hours to get that free meal? Wasting your time like that is a wallet busting habit that will get you nowhere.
5) STOP EATING OUT
This one is pretty easy. Cooking your own food is a simple way to start saving money. If you’re trying to save money, you absolutely need to eliminate or lower your budget for eating out. There are many guides and recipes online that can help you cook healthy meals on the budget. In an article published by Out Of Your Rut found that a family of four could save up to $2600 a year by cooking a few meals at home. This means more money in the family’s pocket which they can invest to create more wealth for their family.
These are the five habits that I chose for this article. What are some of the bad habits that starve your wallet of your hard earned dollars that I did not mention?
