As you remember from a few months ago I wrote a post about all the great things I am doing right with my money and how this will lead me to prosper in the world of personal finance. Well this is the follow-up to that post as I will divulge all the bad money habits I am currently dealing with and will attempt to fix and or correct in the near future. As I mentioned before and you have heard a thousand times in your life, nobody is 100% perfect. But maybe you can join my club and be in the 98% perfect organization.
Now back to the matter at hand, and you might be asking how can Rich Uncle EL have bad money habits and be a personal finance writer. Well to remain true to you and to myself I will be transparent in how I share my information and not mislead any of you.
All the Bad Money Habits I loathe:
1. I am generous and if I am at lunch / dinner I will pay the bill without asking Co-workers / Friends for their share. (Feels good initially but budgets suffer)
2. I am not saving enough for somebody my age and in my situation.
3. I constantly worry about finances and think every day if I am doing enough to gain the best results for my money.
4. I still have debt. (Student loans only)
5. I waste time researching mid to expensive purchases instead of trying to find side hustle money and increasing my income.
6. I have a weakness for watches and sneakers and if I see a good deal I do not hesitate to drop dollars on these two things.
Ok so what do you think about this list? Do any of you have similar bad money habits in your life? That 2 % is bothering me right now as I write this and my mind is spinning trying to fix these things so that I can be 100% perfect. Ha-Ha. Just to elaborate more for all of you regarding the points.
Point one depends on how my mood is and who I am dining with. But if you are one of the lucky ones then take a chance and invite me to lunch for a free meal, lol. It’s not that I regret paying, it is basically I am to shy to ask for money when the conversation or the meal ended good. Vice Versa if they offer to pay, then I will give them my share in cash, unless they refuse adamantly.
Point two I am always looking for better ways to save more, but with the student loans looming over me like a bad cloud I can’t save any more until those darn things are paid off.
Point three is a bad headache occurring at times and mostly 3 times a week. But it is mostly based on the debt and the under performing mutual funds that I would like to replace.
Point four speaks for itself as I hate debt.
Point five I am always looking for the best deal and even break things down by cost of unit when doing grocery shopping. I check many sites before making any large purchases just to make it worth it for my sanity. All of this time-wasting could have been allocated to making more money point-blank.
Point six is something I have been dealing with since I was a teenager and it has slowly shifted to watches in my late twenties, but it is starting to fizzle as I get older.
Think your bad money habits are worse than mine, then leave a comment and share it with all of us here. The first step is always recognizing the faults we may have in life then improving upon them.
Rich Uncle EL
We definitely share the first point. I've struggled with this since High School due to the fact that I was usually the only friend working – or at least making the most money. Luckily over time I've learned to cut that back though, even though it still happens from time to time. We should have lunch when I'm in NYC and see who reaches for the wallet first ;-).
Luckily I've never had a soft spot for watches or sneakers, but technology – OY! – that's one thing that's hurt my pockets time and time again. My biggest bad money habit would have to be technology. When deals come across my radar, sometimes I just can't say no, even though I should.
I'll take you up on the offer for lunch. Yes bad money habits are hard to change, but every day by admitting we have them we all can be cured of these bad plagues affecting our wallets.
I will admit of being guilty of your first offence; although in the recent years that is one of the habits I have started to break away from. In doing so along the way some of my so called friends have also left with the bad habit. At first it was a bit difficult to come to terms with the meaning of money and friends, but it has helped me pay off some of my debt and this can only be appreciated by me and my family.
Thanks for making a comment Cslscorpio. My family is everything.
Wait a minute. Are you me? Aside from credit card debt, I think someone cloned me and set up a life identical to my own. Also, I paid for those "free meals" with a credit card. Now everyone I go out with pays for their own drinks and for their own meal. It has turned my finances inside out (and I don't even use credit cards anymore).
Ha Ha that’s funny. I think as you go through life and realize that credit cards are pretty bad for your money life and cash flow. It also makes you think you are richer than you are aka Big baller mentality.