False Sense of Financial Security – How to Manage Money

Info at Info

Piggy Bank

You are currently living the ‘American Dream’. You are happily married, have two and a half kids, a dog, the house with the white picket fence, you drive an SUV and a mini van and you are in debt. Your story is the same as millions of other people out there. Okay, so your story isn’t exactly as I just described but close. In fact the debt part is probably the only absolute truth. You are able to make all of your minimum monthly payments and are getting by just fine – or so you think. You have been lulled into the false sense of financial security and think you know how to manage money. The truth to be told is you may be in too much debt. Here is a list of ten warning signs indicating that you may be in over your head.

1. You have little to no savings

2. You can only make the minimum payment on your credit cards or other bills

3. You’ve been denied credit

4. You use cash advances from your credit cards to pay other bills like heat and hydro

5. You are sometimes late with your bill payments

6. You keep making purchases with your credit card adding to the balance

7. You don’t even know how much debt you have

8. Your bank accounts are overdrawn and sometimes you bounce checks

9. You have one or more credit cards that are close to the limit or are maxed out

10. You have lied to family and friends about your debt and over spending

Do any or all of these statements sound familiar? Even if just one of those is true you are probably in some sort of financial trouble and may need to learn how to manage money all over again. The good part is you can. The bad part is you need to start taking control of your finances right now. The longer you wait, the worse the problem will get. Finances are one thing that can’t be swept under the rug and forgotten about.

STEP 1: Now is the time to make a check list and go through it. Sift through these 10 items and find out what ones correspond with your life.

STEP 2: Find a way to fix those problems. You have no savings? Start creating your emergency fund. Add $25 a week or whatever amount is possible to build that balance to $1000. You keep adding to your credit card balance? Start buying things with cash and start paying off your credit card. The list goes on and on but you have to fix those problems.

STEP 3: Set goals and start making them happen. Tomorrow isn’t a good time to start setting goals. Start today – better yet start right now. Don’t set your goals too high, create financial goals that can work such as cutting your hydro bill by 5% or 10% or saving money by quitting smoking. Baby steps are key to goal setting and learning how to manage money.

Being lured into a false sense of financial security is easy when you don’t know the signs of serious financial problems. If you have gone through this list and discovered any matches it may be time to start fixing those problems before your security turns into a major issue. Knowing how to manage money is easy and anyone can do it.

DID YOU LIKE THIS ARTICLE? SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS!

Be Sociable, Share!