Monday Morning Money Moment: June 26, 2017
Saving Your Money
Welcome to savings week here at Budget Boss. Our Monday Morning Money Moment is going to speak about why saving your money is very, very important. Saving money is like exercising in so many ways. We all know we should be exercising yet many of us don’t. We all know exercising would make our lives better, yet many of us don’t. We all know it doesn’t take much to get started exercising, yet many of us don’t. We also all know that once we get started, it becomes much easier over time, yet we many of us don’t. All those points ring true in both saving and exercising. Here is the problem. With exercising there is a goal that you can see, being a sexy, healthy human being. With savings, you can’t see the results as easily. You don’t get to see cool new clothes every payday. You don’t get to see a fancy new phone every 6 months. You don’t get to see copious amounts of happy hour drinks after work either. The visual rewards are different. Numbers on a screen isn’t something you hold in your hand. This post is going to show you the tangible benefits of saving your money, so make sure you read it my friends.
1) Financial Security is better for your health.
There have been numerous studies that show the link between stress and bad health. What is the thing most people stress about? That’s right you guessed it, MONEY. In fact, a 2015 American Psychological Association poll stated that 64% of Americans stressed out over money. That compares to the 46% of people that stressed out over personal health concerns in the same poll. WebMD states that 75-90% of all doctor visits are stress related. Stress has been linked to headaches, high blood pressure, upset stomach, chest pain and trouble sleeping. Don’t have those? Stress has also been linked to heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety. Stress costs American Industry more than 300 Billion dollars annually. That’s a lot of money! So if the thing we stress out about the most is money, and stress is the greatest cause of doctor visits around, seems to me that solving our money problems would lead to better health. I’m not a fancy mathematician but that conclusion seems pretty straight forward.
2) Confidence in Money is Confidence in Life
Ever wonder why celebrities always look like life is easy as a walk in the park? Do they have an easy work schedule? Nope, they work more hours a week than the average person. Do they have less family stress than the rest of us? If you read the tabloids you see that they are getting divorced, cheated on, backstabbed, and experience family loss as much as the rest of us. What is it that makes them walk, talk, act like they don’t have a care in the world? Financial Security adds a level of confidence to your life that is unmatched. No accident, no employment problem, no boss, nobody can touch you. Don’t believe me? Well, it is savings and security that has allowed me to write this post. It has allowed me to take advantage of opportunities I’ve never seen before. It has allowed me to not give a care in the world about what anyone says and focus on what I believe in. That wasn’t the case 6 years ago when I took an asshole boss’ voice as gospel. I see that man today and it makes me remember how far I’ve come and how far he hasn’t. That’s confidence. Some people call it cockiness. The good thing about it is you will be confident enough not to care what people call it. Money talks, bullshit walks.
3) There are only three options, and two aren’t good
When it comes to life and your money you can only do 3 things with it. You can spend more than you make and start to accumulate debt. You can spend as much as you make and just get by every week. You can spend less than you make and save the rest. The first two options leave you with huge vulnerabilities. The first two make it so you might not ever retire. The first two could lead to divorces, homelessness, bad health and just an overall shitty life. The last one will allow you to take advantage of opportunities, live a prosperous life, shake off any setback and not have money be the reason your relationships fall apart. A huge portion of the Canadian population retires poor, tell me that is appealing at all. The ones who did their due diligence in their younger years are the ones going on vacations, golfing, running marathons and smiling in when you meet them. That is pretty tangible to me.
This post kicks off savings week because many people don’t realize the seriousness of the situation. There is a visible difference between people I meet who have money saved and those who don’t. They have options, they have choices, and they have opportunities. The ones who don’t are limited to what they can do. This post isn’t meant to scare you, more to make you think. Think about what you can do to start saving money. Think about how much you are already saving and if it’s doing for you what you want it to. As a financial advisor, my job is to help people develop plans, and analyze their current plan. The question is: What’s your plan?
Thanks for reading today and tune in tomorrow for my tip of the week where I speak about how you can get started with saving your money. Have a great day 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.