5 Financial Habits You Need to Break Now
Rachel Statzell • August 28, 2023
Break those bad habits now, before it's too late!
"...our value comes from things other than the objects we own..."
Convenience Spending:
This is probably the single most dangerous bad habit that we ALL have. Life is busy, and almost every day we pay more for something because it is easily accessible. The convenience store down the street has milk, but it might be 3 dollars more than the grocery store.
The Solution:
We get into this bad habit mostly because spending the 'right' way is much harder. Takeout is easier than cooking. Wawa is easier than the grocery store. So the solution will be more difficult as well. Enable the 'waiting period' on convenience purchases to see if they are truly necessary. Examine all purchases under $10 to see if they can be bought or made cheaper.
Wealth Signaling: 'Keeping up with the Joneses" is a habit ingrained in a lot of us today. Wealth signaling is the concept of having nice things because it shows others your value or status in life. The problem is, when we see someone with the newest car, we don't see the massive car payment or the lack of savings from the down payment. Wealth signaling is two-dimensional; therefore, it does not actually represent a person's innate worth. The Solution: We need to focus on ourselves and our own personal definition of success. Is it being debt-free, or having a pre-owned car that is 100% paid off? Realizing that our value comes from things other than the objects we own frees us up to spend our money much more wisely.
Wealth Signaling: 'Keeping up with the Joneses" is a habit ingrained in a lot of us today. Wealth signaling is the concept of having nice things because it shows others your value or status in life. The problem is, when we see someone with the newest car, we don't see the massive car payment or the lack of savings from the down payment. Wealth signaling is two-dimensional; therefore, it does not actually represent a person's innate worth. The Solution: We need to focus on ourselves and our own personal definition of success. Is it being debt-free, or having a pre-owned car that is 100% paid off? Realizing that our value comes from things other than the objects we own frees us up to spend our money much more wisely.




























