Boss Blog: Excuses Will Kill You
Welcome to Boss Blog, my weekly article on personal finance. Last week I touched on success. This week I will talk about success’ greatest enemy, excuses. I have learned over time that excuses can be deadly. We are programmed to come up with excuses for things that we know we should be doing. We make up excuses for things that we know we should have done or don’t want to do as well. I’m as guilty of it as the next guy. My classic one is being too tired in the morning to work out. Tomorrow is a day that never seems to come when dealing with excuses. A common “excuse generator” I hear from people is about saving money. People are always putting off the inevitable, sometimes until it is too late. The way I see it, there are three options when it comes to addressing your finances. You get started, you don’t ever do it or you delay. Getting started is good and so is never doing it. With both, you will know where you stand. Never doing it is actually bad, but you get my point. Delaying is the worst. You don’t know where you stand and don’t get anywhere. Here are some common excuses I hear from people when it comes to addressing their finances.
1) I don’t have any money
Really, you don’t have money? If that is so then how do you pay bills? Is it that you don’t have money or you don’t know where your money is? You wouldn’t believe how many people I have helped find money that they didn’t know they had. Let’s break down to something a little simpler. If you think you don’t have enough money to address your financial picture that in itself is a reason to look at your finances. A simple system is, 1) Understand personal financial situation. 2) Address areas that need attention. 3) Save and Invest. 4) Repeat. If you actually don’t have any money then the only problems that are possible are that you don’t make enough money or you spend too much. Either of those options means that you have to address the problem. Saying you don’t have money, therefore, is invalid. This leads me to:
2) I’m not Ready
This is a funny one in my opinion. What exactly are you not ready for? Are you not ready to have extra money? Are you not ready to have confidence in your personal situation? Are you not ready to feel secure and protected against any eventuality? Are you not ready to be debt-free and not pay stupid interest charges? Are you not ready to buy a home, have a good job and retire at a reasonable/comfortable age? So what would make you ready? Losing your job and not being to pay bills. Losing a loved one or getting sick and not being able to pay for life. Being too old to effectively save for your retirement. How about being so far in debt that you are forced to claim bankruptcy. It always puzzles me when fear of changing for the better outweighs the fear of staying the same. In my opinion “I’m not ready” should be replaced with what it actually means, “I’m lazy.” Sorry but it’s true. How about the ever popular:
3) My life will be too boring if I worry about things like that
There is a wide misconception that people who save their money and protect their future live in basement apartments eating canned beans so that every dollar they have can go into savings. This is the complete opposite of reality. The truth is that people who don’t save their money as well as people who save their money go on vacations, go out for dinner, have decent cars, wear decent clothes and live in nice houses. The only difference between the two is that the people who effectively save their money do it with their OWN money. They don’t rack up debt to get the things they want out of life. In fact, people who save their money enjoy a better life than those who don’t. They tend to have nicer homes, nicer cars and go on more vacations. The reason this is true is because the way they go about their lives is sustainable. While they both may have the same things initially, the house of cards will eventually fall down for the excuse makers.
Stats always help prove a point so here are some good ones on money:
- 68% live paycheck to paycheck;
- 26% have no emergency savings;
- The median amount saved for retirement is less than $60,000;
- The average household has $7,283 in credit card debt;
- The average student loan debt is $32,264.
If those stats don’t scare you I don’t know what will. We all need to fully realize that there is no one but ourselves that will make our lives better. Your friends, your family, and your neighbors ain’t going to help. The government sure as hell won’t either. Your employer is in business to make money, not to make you happy and help you with your problems. So what do we do? Take control! Get started! Don’t wait until it’s too late! Stop making excuses and start walking. Talking gets you nowhere believe me.
One of my favorite movies is “Hustle and Flow,” starring Terrence Howard and Anthony Anderson. Anthony Anderson’s character “Key” has a great line that has some relevance to this post.
“There are two types of people: those that talk the talk and those that walk the walk.
People who walk the walk sometimes talk the talk but most times they don’t talk at all, ’cause they walkin’.
Now, people who talk the talk, when it comes time for them to walk the walk, you know what they do?
They talk people like me into walkin’ for them.”
No one is going to walk for you, so you are best to stop talking and get to walking. Thanks for reading friends!
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Joseph James Francis is a Financial Advisor. You can find him on various social media platforms and at budgetboss.ca.