Some of Our Problems With Managing Money
At the Motley Fool, Morgan Housel looks at 77 different reasons people are bad at managing money:
4. For every $1 raise you receive, your desires rise by $2 or more.
Life style inflation!
12. You’re part of the roughly half of Americans who can’t come up with $2,000 in 30 days for an emergency, even though you’re also part of the roughly 100% of Americans who will need to come up with $2,000 in 30 days for an emergency at some point in your life.
You’re either spending money that you should have set aside for emergency savings, or not earning enough money to set aside money for emergencies!
67. You work so hard trying to make money that you don’t have time to think about, or plan, your finances. This is the equivalent to spending so much time buying exercise equipment that you have no time to exercise.
Making money is just half of it!
I don’t agree with everything that’s listed here, but each of us can probably pull something from this list and apply it to ourselves. This for example, doesn’t fall within my viewpoints:
51. Your definition of a middle-class lifestyle is a 3,000-square foot home, more bathrooms than family members, three SUVs, private colleges, annual trips to Hawaii and Vail, Evian water, and yoga lessons. (Seriously, just stretch in your own living room.)
But he does go against the grain on others:
63. You think renting a home is throwing money away when for many it’s one of the smartest financial decisions they can make.
Excellent. So glad I shredded that letter.
Photo: Andrea Travillian
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