Key takeaways
- FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out has been around awhile. The term, FOFO, is relatively new to the scene, so you may not know it stands for: Fear Of Finding O
- A recent Barclays study found that 37% of millennials have FOFO about their finances and 43% of those lose sleep due to their financial habits.
- A good example of FOFO is when you don’t want to look at your bank statement because it will remind you in glaring detail of all the little fees you’re paying and the $50 to $150, or more, you spent last month even though you knew you shouldn’t do it.
- You may think that FOFO keeps you from adding pain and misery to your life, but it actually brings more.
- Sign up for a free money management tool like the one on Mint.com, or any of the others. It takes two minutes. Then every week take a few minutes to do a FOFO Fridays routine by checking the app and taking a look at where your money went over the past seven days.
- It’s scary and painful at first, yes. But becoming aware of what happens with your money will encourage you, give you more control over your future, and allow you peace of mind so you can sleep.
Well, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. The good news is you know what FOMO means. I think almost everyone knows it stands for Fear Of Missing Out. The bad news is you may not know what FOFO means. Those four letters stand for Fear Of Finding Out. That’s a really bad fear.
The acronym came about because of a Barclays study showing that 37% of millennials are experiencing FOFO about their finances and that 43% of those lose sleep over the consequences of their financial habits.
What’s an example of FOFO? (I just love saying FOFO.) Imagine a bank statement. You don’t really want to look at the bank statement because it lists fees that really tick you off. And who needs that? On top of that, you’d see the $50 you spent a couple of months ago even though you knew, at the time, you shouldn’t do it. Plus, the statement—more like a yell—will remind you of the $100 you spent on yet another pair of jeans (or whatever it might be for you). You just don’t even want to see it or think about it. That’s the meaning of FOFO. What’s done is done, right?
I’m here to tell you the truth. Sure, what’s done is done and you can keep your head in the sand, like an ostrich, so you don’t have to pay any attention to it. But that’s exactly what the Barclays report is talking about. Certainly, we’d like to have less pain and misery, but it’s also a really good thing to know what’s going on with your finances.
I’m going to make this easy for you. You start doing a Financial Fridays routine. For now, let’s call them FOFO Fridays because that might be where you start and it’ll feel like an, “Ow!” or “Ooh!” At first, you’ll look at these things and think, “This isn’t great. Not at all.” But, it’s worth it because our goal is to get from FOFO Fridays to Financial Fridays. Give yourself 120 seconds (that’s only two minutes) to go someplace like Mint.com, or one of the other money management oriented portals. There you can see all of your income and expenditures together. It’ll give you a snapshot of the damages from the past seven days.
If you do this every week, after a while your habits will change. Remember that second item we talked about on the imaginary bank statement? You’ll stop spending money you know you shouldn’t and don’t want to spend in the first place. Another benefit of actually finding out about your finances is that you’ll begin to pay attention to all those fees and eliminate them. You know the ones I’m talking about: the 99 cents and the $1.99, $2.99, and $9.99 recurring fees from things you signed up for and then totally forgot about.
You know where these fees hide. They’re on your credit card statements and bank statements. Becoming aware of them will motivate you to clean them up. Do it slowly, over time, so your FOFO disappears and you’re really doing the Financial Fridays that will make your life a little easier. No longer burdened by these fears and anxieties, you can say goodbye to the issues they cause. Finding out will help you get a better night’s sleep and improve your overall well-being. FOFO—I know our goal is to get rid of it, but I still love saying it! Until next time, enjoy.
Gary