ONE of the biggest reasons people fail in money is not the lack of income but the mishandling of finances. Even if you belong to one of the highest paid careers in the country, if you cannot manage and handle your finances well, you’ll end up wondering where your big paycheck went.
You may say, “Chinkee, I already know and understand the basics of managing money.” But the more important thing is not what you know but are you applying it? It will be very helpful if you take some time to evaluate whether you are correctly handling your finances or not.
Here are five ways to tell that you are mishandling your finances:
- You have zero savings
The real secret to saving is knowing how much you are actually getting and how much you are actually spending. When you know how much money you’re making you will also know how much money you are allowed to spend, which in turn tells you how much money you can save.
Having zero savings means you haven’t budgeted your finances well enough to set aside an amount to save. Makes sense, right? So no matter how much you want so much to save but you see zero savings in your account, chances are, you could be mishandling your finances.
- You’re not excited for payday
Who doesn’t get excited on paydays? Well, those who can’t enjoy their pay because it’s already going somewhere! Your pay is already intended for dues and payables even before you receive it, yes, sad story. Hence, the indifference.
When you budget your finances well, there will be no reason why you can’t enjoy a portion of your hard-earned money. Therefore, dreading paydays only proves that there is something wrong with how you handle your finances. You might want to revisit your budgeting style and see what you can do to avoid this.
- Your home tends to clutter because you have so much stuff
An often overlooked way to evaluate how one handles his finances is by assessing how much stuff you have at home. Why? When you see so many stuff that aren’t actually useful, it means that you have not put your money to good use. You simply acquire things only to have them sleeping in your cabinet.
Too much left over food that spoils.
Expired medicines or vitamins, condiments, and canned goods.
Clothes or pants that have not worn for over six months.
So do yourself a favor and see if the things in your house are actually useful of just clutter. Now don’t feel bad if you see a lot of no longer useful things because you can actually convert those things into money – you can sell them online, there are so many platforms that allow you to sell preloved stuff.
You can even organize a garage sale in your neighborhood. There is money within your home, you just need to look closely.
- You have multiple debts
Debts mean that there is an imbalance in your finances. You have spent money that you did not have yet, hence, the debt. And if you have multiple debts, it means that you have done a great job of messing up your finances! This is obviously a sign that you are not handling your finances well. Need I say more?
What you need to do is take note of the debts that you have incurred and develop a payment scheme so you can get out of it.
- You work only to get by (survival mode)
Work should be able to give us two things: Money and a sense of fulfillment. If you find yourself literally dragging your feet to work just because you need that pay check at the end of the month, chances are, you are simply on survival mode.
Either you have payables that need to be met that is why you force yourself to work or you have no savings so you definitely need that pay check to get you through another month!
If you’re a beginner in learning to handle your finances then the first thing to do is to learn the basics of saving and budgeting. There are many resources that can help you with this.
Chinkee Tan can help you with your financial journey. You can find his Facebook page here so you can get updates about his financial seminars and books. Remember, everything else starts with our desire to learn!
THINK. REFLECT. APPLY.
Why is it important to know whether or not you are handling your finances correctly? In what ways do handling your finances, saving and budgeting affect each other? What does it mean to be good at handling your finances?
“What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.” – Julia Cameron
