Wealth Skills

Is money running your life?

Posted on 26 January 2010

How do you know if money runs your life?
If you exhibit one or more of the following symptoms consider that money is running your life:

• Regularly procrastinate with paying bills
• Frequently pay bills late
• You earn income but feel you need to make more money to survive
• You frequently go to sleep worrying about money
• You frequently argue about money
• You feel there is no way out of your current financial situation

Why would we even ask ourselves the question? What would be opposite to money running your life?
The first question can be answered easily. When money runs our life the quality of our life is just not what we want it to be; we stress a lot about money. Honestly, we probably wish we could trade places with someone who isn’t in the same situation. As to the second question, when we control what happens with our money we are confident and experience peace about our current financial situation.

When we control our money we:

• Spend less than we earn
• We have financial goals which we pursue
• We save for the future every month
• We have cash saved for emergencies
• We choose our debt wisely
• We do not regret our financial decisions no matter how they turn out

These states are extremes, each giving us totally different experience of life today and a different outlook for our future. Many of us will fall somewhere in between these two states and sometimes we move back and forth on that spectrum.
There is nothing inherent about where we are on that spectrum. No matter what our current situation is we can systematically move forward in the direction we desire and we have to be willing to do that. We often think we have to make dramatic changes to alter anything about our financial situation and the future. Quite frankly, I always want something good and dramatic to happen to change the situation I don’t like. Often times it would require a “divine intervention,” such as winning the lottery or someone I don’t know giving me lots of money (well, I was not born into money so I don’t think I’ll inherit from anyone). Having something unexpected and good happen to me would be so great, but counting on that happening may leave me stuck exactly where I am today, and I don’t like it. The reality is that small changes made (applied) consistently impact our future significantly.

Small foundational steps can significantly improve your financial situation and quality of your life:

• Know how much money you have coming in and where it is going
• If you have credit card debt set a date by when you will pay all the balances off
• If you are earning income increase your savings by 3% of your income (even if you are not saving today).

When reviewing the two states: money running your life and controlling what happens with your money, you may already know what deserves your attention and you may know the next action you will take. If you are uncertain about what to do or how to do it, I recommend you look for financial wellness education, one that provides practical information and teaches you how to move from point A to point B on that spectrum. Financial wellness education goes beyond fixing a particular money problem you are facing today; it will enable you to develop practices and skills that will make a lasting difference in your life. It will “pay you forward.” Wealth Skills offers this unique type of education.