Key Takeaways
- Everybody is guilty of one or more awful, disgusting money habits at one time or another.
- The first step to eliminating them is to recognize them and understand where they come from.
- When we’re overwhelmed, we tend to fall prey to these five bad financial habits.
- Habits like procrastination, treating yourself, and choosing to remain ignorant, among others, can wreak havoc on your financial stability.
- Learn about these five habits that destroy financial peace, so you can take deliberate steps to handling your money in a more effective way.
Sometimes, when I have all this information coming at me all day long, I feel like I need to take a few cleansing breaths, or something, to clear my head. Why would I feel this way? It’s simple. Recently, I read an article in the money section of U.S. News and World Report—I’m just going to call it “five awful, disgusting money habits” and leave it at that. We all have some variation of one or more of these five habits. It’s a good thing to remind ourselves about what’s really going on with our money when it comes to these five bad habits.
5 Awful and Disgusting Money Habits
- Blissful ignorance. Sometimes we’d rather remain in ignorance than deal with all the things coming at us from what seems like every direction. We may think, “There’s just too much coming at me. I’m not going to pay attention.” Ultimately, you know that’s not a good idea because things could be going wrong and you’re not even paying attention.
- Procrastination. We’ve all experienced life moving too fast at times. When things are coming at you in rapid-fire succession, you may think, “I’ve got too many things going on right now. I’m not going to worry about my money at the moment.” But if left unattended, that’s when bad financial situations will most likely happen.
- Treating yourself. Nothing wrong with treating yourself once in a while, when you’ve reached a milestone, or for special occasions. But sometimes we get used to treating ourselves when something bad happens, to lessen the sting of whatever that bad thing is—and it can become habitual. This could involve going out to an expensive dinner, shopping, binging on entertainment, going out with friends. Whatever it happens to be, it usually costs money—money that just ends up leaking away and going out the door without your really knowing about it.
- Information overload. When you read or watch too much news or consume too much information online, you can experience information overload. This constant barrage of information makes it so you can’t think straight. You can’t make good decisions, or maybe can’t make decisions at all. Worst of all, it can cause you to make bad decisions—bad decisions about money. When you feel overwhelmed by too much information, take a deliberate step back. Breathe in. Breathe out. Calm down and clear your head.
- FOMO – fear of missing out. You get so many ads and propositions coming through email, text, or embedded in the videos you watch. You see all the things others do on social media and you may think, “Everybody’s doing [this], so I need to try it.” Most of the time, “trying it” costs money. Again, it’s just pouring money down the drain like a leaky faucet.
Consider these five awful and disgusting money habits by taking some time to calm down and step back before taking action. Deliberately look at where you want to go, strategize about how to get there, and then back off and be very intentional about what you do with your money. Becoming proactive, rather than reactive, about money will help you more easily achieve the future you want. Until next time, enjoy.
Gary
