Hi All,
Sometimes personal finance is all about managing psychology. For some reason, Americans tend to have a love affair with spending and the way we organize our money, accounts, etc. often facilities this.
So, if you are having a rough time talking yourself out of spending, you might consider changing how you’re holding onto your money.
1) If you’ve got a savings account transfer to a bank in a part of town you never go to. Don’t get on-line access to it. This will help reduce the opportunities to take money of the account for frivolous stuff.
2) Consider getting paper savings bonds instead of an electronic savings account. Paper bonds require you to sign and date the back one of each one – so its a total hassle to cash them in. Folks at the bank don’t really like to do it. Contrast this with how easy it is to get your money from a savings account, you just have to transfer it on-line.
3) Set up an automatic transfer into your 401k or savings account. If your company HR is taking the cash directly out of your paycheck, that’s one less opportunity you have to spend the money.
So, the main point here is if you have a rough time controlling costs you can always change your opportunity structures to minimize your freedom to spend irresponsibly. Saving properly is the first step in wealth building.
Best,
James
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