reasons-youre-broke
Are you broke? Can you pinpoint why? I'm going to give you twenty one reasons for your brokeness. Listen hard and shape up!
- You think “budget’ is a bad word. A budget doesn’t have to be a complicated spread sheet, just using Mint is a start.
You try to keep up with the Jones’s. All that stuff that you envy may be built of a house of cards made of credit card debt. The feeling of having no debt is a better feeling than having a boat.
You can’t say “no.” You don’t have to accept every invitation that comes your way. If your finances would be better served by saying no sometimes, that should decide it for you.
You think the government will fix your problems. Lol! Whose government, ours? Jeez, have you not be paying attention? The cavalry is not coming. They’re too busy over in the Middle East bombing stuff to give a shit about you.
Finding someone to blame is more important than finding a solution. This is an insidious practice and it will poison all aspects of your life. Stop this immediately.
You love money too much. This was kind of unclear. We think it means, you love the jolt you get from spending money.
You think all rich people are evil. A lot of them are but there are some good ones out there, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have given billions of dollars to worthy causes. But for every one of them there are ten Koch brothers running around hatching diabolical plans so I see why you think this.
Holidays revolve around gifts. I like presents so I’m guilty of this. We all know it’s really about family etc etc, but come on, gifts!
You quit learning. You dear listener, have not because you’re reading and listening to LMM! You can skip to the next one.
You have bad habits. We all do, some are more expensive than others. You know what your’s are and you know you should stop. We aren’t going to belabor the point.
You impulse buy. You can fix this with the thirty day list. If what you want costs over X amount of dollars, you have to wait thirty days. If you still want it, you can have it. Usually what happens is that you forget or decide you can do without it.
You pay the minimum payments on your debts. Want to never pay off your credit cards? This is how you do that.
You play the lottery. Guys, we went through this in Episode 130. Come on!
People buying lottery tickets look like they would rob me and then buy more lottery tickets.
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You have no goals. You need to know what you’re working for and a plan to get there. Saying, “I want one million dollars!” is not a goal.
You hang out with the wrong crowd. This can mean negative people, people who don’t share your goals, people who pressure you to spend. Bad influences in other words.
You’re lazy. The occasional weekend spent on the couch watching a Nexflix marathon is one thing, but if this is how you spend every weekend, you are probably lazy in other areas of your life too and it’s hurting you.
You don’t value yourself enough. You don’t ask for a raise, you let people low bid you for jobs. You’re better than that. Demand what you’re worth.
You don’t invest or pay yourself first. Investing is how the rich get that way quickly. If you don’t pay yourself first, you won’t have anything to invest.
Your house is a mess. Clutter and disorder are distracting and a sign that you are disordered in other areas of your life, not least of which are finances.
You aren’t mindful of your money. We discussed this in Episode 58 with Thomas Frank from College Info Geek. You don’t have to spend a lot of time managing money, but if you surround yourself with resources that help you become better with money, it’s always in your mind. This mindfulness helps you make better decisions.
You drink too much. The LMM family is occasionally guilty of this one. So you get a pass, just don’t make it a regular thing.
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