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How Your Mindset Hurts Your Finances: 3 Examples

“I work hard to make this money, so I’m going to enjoy it!”

It’s true, you probably worked hard to earn your money.  But think about all the hours you had to put in to earn your salary…then think about how quickly money can fly out your hands.  It only takes minutes to swipe your debit card and lose $50 on a “quick run” to Target, or to hit the checkout button at Amazon and purchase the assortment of items that you’ve had patiently waiting  in the shopping cart.  Spending money is easy-it’s quick, there are so many ways to spend it, and lots of people who get paid to entice you to spend.  Because spending is so easy to do, it is easy to get yourself in trouble by overspending, sinking into debt, and racking up credit card interest charges or bank overdraft fees.  Also, maintaining the habit of spending all your money is risky; in the event of an emergency—such as illness, job loss, or needing household repairs—you will not have the money to cover these unexpected expenses, which would then lead you into debt.

“I’ll worry about tomorrow when it gets here!”

If retirement is over 20 years away, it may not be one of the things at the forefront of your mind, but ignoring it can have dire consequences.  You don’t want to work until you are 70 years old because that’s the only way you will have enough money to survive.  There may come a time when you are no longer able to work to support yourself; the decisions you make today can affect your financial security and the quality of your life during that time.  In addition to planning for retirement and funding a retirement plan, it’s important to consider what the future economy will look like.  Consider inflation, which means that the dollar you have to day will have less purchasing power in the future.  Skimping on your retirement contributions or underestimating how much is needed in the future will leave you with an unpleasant surprise when retirement age arrives.  Lastly, procrastinating when it comes to retirement contributions—or even procrastinating about adding to your savings account—means you miss out on the benefit of time.  The earlier the save, the more time you have to make your money grow.  "Someone who puts $4,000 a year into retirement accounts starting at 22 can have $1 million by age 62, assuming 8% average annual returns. Wait 10 years to start contributing, and you'd have to put in more than twice as much -- $8,800 a year -- to reach the same goal."

source

“I can afford that, it’s ONLY $x (or $x per month)!” 

A low purchase price may make you feel better about spending your money, but make no mistake-there are more factors to consider when making a purchase.  A low price means very little if the item you get is of poor quality and will need to be repaired or replaced in the near future.  Also, the purchase price is hardly ever the “real” price of an object.  Whether it is tailor fees for a jacket, replacement ink cartridges for a new printer, or a data package for a new cell phone, most purchase require additional service charges.  Ignoring these additional costs can result in a seemingly minute cash expenditure that creates a big dent in your budget in the future.  Likewise, signing up for monthly subscriptions like gym memberships or cable services can negatively affects your budget  as you are increasing your fixed monthly expenses, leave you more cash strapped each month.   You are agreeing to regularly pay a guaranteed debt, while your future income may not be guaranteed.  The future is unknown, and in the face of an emergency, you may find yourself unable to meet these financial obligations.  There may be fees for late or missed payments, and even penalties for cancelling these services, so it is in your best interest to think long and hard before entering into one of these agreements. 

2012 Financial Goals: January Update

Save $4000 by January 2013 I contributed $210 to my savings account this month through automatic direct deposit. In the next week or so, I will transfer a lump sum ($300-500) into my savings account. Wondering where I'm going to get that lump sum? Keep reading...

Maintain a buffer of $100 in my monthly budget. I did a great job of limiting my shopping and my restaurant meals this month.  I went out to eat only 4 times this month and what shopping I did was from the clearance rack.  By the end of the month I had an extra $700 left over after expenses and savings!

Maintain $0 credit card debt.
I used my credit card for my regular monthly expenses (grocery, gas, etc.) and paid the balance in full by the end of the month.

Open a Roth IRA

Haven't done this yet. 

Guest Blogging Round-up: December

Last year  I wrote about all things finance from the young adult’s perspective in a series called Pennies-Nickel-Dollars over at Pretty Natural Divas.  Take a look at my posts from December:  


The Hidden Costs of Shopping A purchase is never just a purchase. A warning about additional costs associated with shopping. 


6 Money-Saving Apps  6 smartphone apps to make your shopping easier and save you money. 


On The Web: Money Article Round-up Highlights of my favorite personal finance articles I found on the web. 


New Year, New Goals Goal-setting tips, just in time for the New Year!




Happy Reading! 

Money Lesson: Don't Eat The Cookie!

Recently I shared some of my financial goals for the year, but I didn't tell you all about the other life goals that I have. One is to improve my eating habits, and part of the way I've been doing that is to track calories and keep a food diary using the My Fitness Pal app on my iPhone. My motivation was tested when my fiance decided to make some chocolate chip cookies. I had space in my calorie count for the day to have a cookie, so of course I was ready to run in the kitchen to get one...BUT, I decided to enter the cookie into my food diary before actually eating it, and boy did this make all the difference.

The app I use tells me how much progress you can make in 5 weeks if everyday you ate like you did today (in terms of calories consumed). By eating this 150 calorie cookie and getting into the habit of "splurging" on an extra 150 calories each day, the amount of weight I can lose in 5 weeks would be decreased by 1.5lbs. This was a light bulb moment for me...when it comes to health or even money, each seemingly small decision you make is important, as they collectively form your set of habits that will either lead you to your goal, or lead you astray. That afternoon vending machine break and the weekly trip to Target that leaves you $20 poorer each time may seem like small amounts of money, but added together can really hurt your budget. 

Every time you make a bad decision, it becomes easier and easier to make another one. Also, each bad decision makes it easier to fall off the wagon of change because even though we all know that you can make mistakes along our journey, we all have had times where we accept mistakes as failure and just stop trying all together.

To commit to a lifestyle change, we have to first commit to taking the journey one decision at a time. At each "checkpoint" (decision), we have to decide whether to move closer to our goals, or to move further away. We will have missteps along the way, but we just need to work on making those mistakes occur further and further apart.

I think this commercial from Fidelity illustrates my point pretty well: