Why should you care about personal finance?
Planning your future starts here.
Many of your peers have no clue about how to manage their money. They usually spend everything they have in their pocket, and even more; they charge their credit cards as if the card is their deep pocketbook. The result? They live from check to check, while their finances move at an accelerated speed below zero, sinking deeper and deeper.
I see it as a triple problem:
- The lack of financial discipline/bad habits
- The lack of financial education
- The lack of understanding of what it means to live below your means.
“If you want to be wealthy, live below your means.”
Paul Merriman
Living “below your means” and saving/investing money for the future requires common sense:
- Do I really need to buy this purse/phone/sneakers/game/expensive car/expensive house/restaurant meal or {insert your item}? Can I live without it?
- Can I prepare the food in my kitchen instead of spending money on the same sandwich that would cost me 3 times more?
- Can I brew a coffee in the morning at home instead of spending $5-6 in the coffee shop?
While, as a couple, we are financially well-off at this point, we never overpay for necessary items, even if we have enough money to buy them. From our point of view, we could drive an expensive car, but we prefer Subaru, which offers excellent technical innovations, reliability, and a price that is well below that of any luxury car. It serves all our needs for shopping, travel, and occasional work. Since we have retired, we don’t need a second car (while we can afford it!).
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