Stop Complaining

I hear on the news that  many people lose sleep worrying about their finances, that people live on noodles or eggs for a month because they had to pay a bill they forgot they had, that people just roll up more and more debt because they can’t control their spending.

Well as someone who has been around this issue for many years now I have one thing to say, stop complaining! Believe it or not you are living with choices you have made, every day you continue to do what you do you are choosing to live with those things you complain about, you complain but refuse to change. Imagine looking in the mirror or getting on the scale to find that you need to lose weight only to continue to eat the same way and avoid exercise that is exactly what you are doing.

There really is no excuse these days, there are many sources of information on managing spending available and many tools to assist you too. So why do people complain about losing sleep, running up debt, and having to make dramatic adjustments in their life style to pay bills they could have planned for and didn’t? What is the psychology behind this behavior? It is everyone’s little secret something they try to hide from the world , a world that tells them they deserve so much more… really?  A world that portrays everyone as wealthy and living life their way.

We hear very little about mastering money these days and much less about managing money. It is almost as if these concepts no longer apply. All the great technology today has essentially eliminated the need to manage money….but is this true?

Here are the numbers: 40% of Americans follow a budget (60% don’t), 37% of Americans can afford a $500 to $1000 emergency (63%) can’t, total family debt has been rising each year for many years and when it comes to retirement 30% of people over 55 have no retirement savings.

So if the great technology of the day has eliminated the need to manage our money why do so many have so little saved?

This will not improve on its own and bankruptcy is not actually a good plan because many fall right back into the same old money habits.

If you are not planning your spending and you don’t have money in the bank or your debt is climbing and you’re losing sleep or you find yourself dramatically altering your food budget to pay forgotten bills then maybe it’s time to make a change but, if you refuse to change then at least stop complaining.