Want to Save your hard earned money? Stop avoiding these 8 things
We human beings are such hypocrite. On one side we say that we want it, and on other, we do not want to take control of it. Everyone says and wants to be rich but only a few take solid steps towards it.
There’s a famous saying in India about money that “A penny saved is a penny earned”. We all know this, yet we fall prey of our own habits and knowingly ignore things, which impact us directly.
Have you ever eaten food cooked in your kitchen without an appetite, just because it smelled awesome? You may say no, but honestly, I know your answer. We all know that eating without appetite results in obesity, still, every one of you has done that. But only some of you have taken charge of it and controlled the outcome.
Same is the case with money. You go to the mall to buy a pair of shoes and come back with a pair of jeans, a T-Shirt, a sleeper, a pair of scissors, a knife, except a pair of shoes. And you realize this when you reach back home. These are not something which we do not know about, we just ignore them.
Here are those 8 things to stop avoiding to save your hard-earned money:
- Impulsive Buying
- Unforeseen Events
- Social Show-off
- Lack of Self Awareness
- Unable to see/plan your future
- You think you have time
- You rely only on one source of income
- You still believe in magic tricks
Impulsive Buying
What is impulsive buying? As defined on Economic Times, Impulsive buying is the tendency of a customer to buy goods and services without planning in advance. When a customer takes such buying decisions at the spur of the moment, it is usually triggered by emotions and feelings.
Do you know how impulsive buying fail you to get rich?
Yesterday you decided to save money for your upcoming adventure trip with your friends. But today iPhone launched a new model, with more better features, which are more appealing. Now instead of saving you’ll go ahead with buying a new model of iPhone, of which you never have imagined, neither was in any need of it.
Do you know what all it costed you?
- Savings you decided to save for your adventure trip;
- The principal amount you’ll pay to Apple;
- Interest amount you’ll pay to banks;
- Adventure trip you were planning for;
- Precious memories, which you are going to miss from the trip you would have gone.
Stop ignoring your impulsive buying habits and start taking control of it.
Unforeseen Events
Unforeseen events are events which can’t be seen or predicted or unexpected events. But everyone knows one thing about unforeseen events, that these are bound to happen in your life. You may ignore the thought of it till your limits, but it is bound to happen.
Few unforeseen events have the capability to consume almost everything you have. Money is just a part in it, but that’s the only part which you can control. Be ready with medical insurance and term insurance. That’ll protect you and your family members for medical emergencies and life loss of primary earner.
But there are certain unforeseen events, which are good as well. You got a promotion in your job and decided to save a certain amount of money for XYZ purpose from your new salary from next month.
But this news spread like fire and now your peers are asking to throw a party. You just had decided to save money, but now you are about to throw a party. Still, you kept your word and decided to start saving from next month, but suddenly you got an unexpected invitation from a close friend of his marriage. And then you decide again to start saving it from next month.
These unforeseen events are bound to happen and they may come from any corner of your life.
So stop ignoring what you know is bound to happen. Take steps in advance to mitigate the risks.
Social Show-off
Social show-off is when you buy things to impress others. Instead of caring about the impact it’ll have on your own pocket and life, you care more about impressing others. Why? Just to hear a few appreciable comments from them. But do you realize that those comments will not help you in long run?
You might have felt fabulous hearing those comments, but that’s fragile. It’ll end up soon, digging a big hole in your pocket. You’ll get much far from getting rich, by doing it often.
Show-off gives a fragile feeling of richness but an agile feeling of getting ditched.
Lack of Self Awareness
You have a fabulous car at your home, with all the amenities you desired. But you reached the dealer for routine maintenance and the salesperson there showed you some awesome alloy wheels and you liked it. Now if you already have money to buy it, then you’ll start asking about reviews from your friends.
In those reviews, you’ll focus only on those reviews, which can convince you to buy it. Because you want someone else to give you the go-ahead to buy it, why? Because you want someone’s opinion on your side at the moment when someone will tell you that you made a wrong decision.
Now did you notice that you already had everything you desired in your car, and now you bought a pair of alloy wheels which were not even in your mind before that salesperson came to you?
This lack of awareness of your need stops you sometimes from getting rich.
Unable to see/plan your future
You are 35 yrs. old, earning 1 LPA/month but are in debt of 50K/month with a saving of only 5K. If you are even near to this situation, then you are dumb enough, who can’t see/plan his future.
You know, but ignore to see that you are getting older day by day. Your responsibilities towards yourself will grow day by day. You’ll have kids, who’ll grow and need medical and educational attention. You’ll get sick and will face unforeseen situations in your life.
So stop ignoring your fact and start taking control of your life and money.
You think you have time
Taking the above example, you have not started saving and investing money, because you think you have time. The market study shows that those who start investing at early stage earn more returns than those who start late. It’s called compounding of your investment.
Have you noticed the difference? Smart A has merely invested 1.2 Lakhs for 10 yrs. and have a balance of INR 43,77,555 at the age of 45. On the contrary, ignorant B invested just double, which is 2.4 Lakhs for 11 yrs. and yet the balance at the age of 45 is below 60 K in comparison to Smart A.
So if you feel you have time, then calculate the impact above. So don’t waste your time. Start investing early.
You rely only on one source of income
One reason you are not getting rich is that you are relying on one source income. On the contrary, rich people never rely on one source of income. They always have multi-source of income. Do you know why?
Because they know that there are certain elements which can’t be controlled. Nature, economy, and politics are few among those uncontrolled elements. So to mitigate those risks, they always prefer to have multi-source of income.
So stop relying on your only source of income and try to create multi-source of income for your self.
You still believe in magic tricks
Are you the one who still believe in magic tricks. I have seen many mature people in the age group of 30-35, who still believe in them. They believe that a lottery can make them rich. Similarly, I have seen people who say they are too busy with their jobs, but they do invest in the stock market.
These are well-educated people, who still live in the dilemma that these things are worth their time. You must understand that investing in the stock market involves risk factor. If you are young and have no responsibility on your head, then go ahead and play with your money.
But when you get in the age group of 30-35, your responsibilities are way more than before that. Your risk appetite does not remain the same, as it was before. So instead of playing and losing your money in the stock market. Invest in equity mutual funds which are more aggressive and have the capability to give higher returns.
Stop investing in the stock market, until you get capable to match its pace. Till that time, invest in aggressive equity mutual funds through SIP, to serve your appetite of growing faster. Both involve risks, but the stock market is riskier than mutual funds.
Also Read: 4 habits of rich people
Points mentioned above are the ones that I was able to figure out on my own. But what are your viewpoints?
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