Stop! You’re Not Bad With Money.

Stop ✋ You’re Not Bad With Money!

Yes I said it, “You’re Not Bad With Money!” Here’s why. Now let’s have a moment of truth most of us might be impulsive spenders, unprepared or unorganized when it comes to money. The problem is managing money doesn’t come from years of schooling such as kindergarten, middle school or high school.

Managing money comes from personal experience even if your job is an accountant you still have to start off at an entry level. My point is that since our adolescence days school hasn’t taught us about finance. Sure you may know how to solve a brick wall math question but do you know how to manage budgeting, saving, investing, spending or otherwise overseeing the capital usage of an individual or group?

Yet again you’re not bad with money it’s just that no one taught you about how to manage money. No one taught you how to invest your money. Matter of fact, my father use too say “always invest in yourself.” Although it sounds good there was an issue with what he was saying. Can you figure it out? Well, he never actually taught me how to invest in myself.

Sounds completely useless right? Exactly we always take what sounds good to the ear and run with it without actually learning the steps and that’s what money management is. We hear the word money and run with it without learning the word management or learning about management.

Honestly people need to realize that there is a real estate between the left ear and the right ear. Now in order to reach the other ear you need to throw out the useless and remain with the useful.

It all sounds tough to do but it is quite easy. Now let’s go over some steps that will help teach you about managing your money. In fact , I want to challenge you to manage your money. I want to empower you to never say again that you’re bad with money.

Improve The Language Around You

That’s right the first step is changing the language around you and how you describe yourself. Having a better attitude and having an open mindset could also factor in. With an open mindset you could think of multiple ways to make money since most millionaires these days make money from multiple sources.

Now as for changing your language from “I’m bad with money” or “I can’t afford it” instead you could say “I can’t afford it because I haven’t yet learned how to manage my money.” Now being a penny pincher won’t work in this day and age. As I said previously having multiple ways of income will back up your statement of “I can afford it.”

Now the biggest component with managing money is time. Is it too late? How can I get rich before I hit 30? Can I still touch good money at my age? How can I save and invest?

Honestly at the age of 22 you could possibly max out your 401(k) and your savings. With that being said don’t feel discouraged not everybody can find their “dream job” at such an age so, we all start at different parts in life.

Everyone has their own situation and how they deal with it. The main point is where you go from there.

The Game Plan

To make this easy don’t beat yourself up or burn yourself out trying to figure out spreadsheets or budgeting apps.

Try figuring out where your money is going and how you are spending your money. You want to figure out your habits. You want to exercise understanding your spending habits. Once you have that done. You want to ask yourself: where do I want my money to go?

One thing you could do is save 10% of your money every month and invest 10% of your money every month. Invest it in what exactly? Honestly if I were you I would invest in real estate. Now you don’t have to buy homes and rental properties.

There are several different crowd sourced real estate investment options that have a small minimum initial investment such as Roofstock, PeerStreet, DiversyFund and Fundrise. Plus real estate is a great way to earn over 10% rate of return on investments. Now if you think you can’t save 10%. Well most likely you can. On terms of investing, make sure you are taking advantage of any 401(k) match that your employer may offer.

Your 40k(k) is a powerful tool to help you prepare for a successful retirement. If you have access to an employer's match, then you don't have to save the full 10% yourself. Try setting up automations to regularly transfer money from your checking to your savings. This way you don’t have to worry about making conscious decisions with your money.

Battling The Big Bully Debt

If you are swimming in debt such as student loans or credit card debt etc, it would Behoove you to stop being an impulsive spender. No you don’t have to always rely on agencies for debt consolidation. Instead you should create a budget and pay more than the minimum rate such as adding an extra 50 dollars.

Try paying off the most expensive debt first. Delete your credit card from online stores and halt your credit card spending. If you receive any work bonuses or receive any special payouts put it towards your debt. You could sell any unwanted gifts, old things or household items.

You could also pick up a side hustle and that could help pay off your debt. So you could always find a niche such as doing hair, cutting hair, washing cars on the weekend or maybe your good at running errands anything profitable for you will help you beat your debt in the long run.

You want to change your habits not sacrifice your lifestyle in the process. But, in order to do that you have to be responsible and you have to be willing to put in the work.