A good financial life is a key contributor of a life well lived. While there are multiple ways of making money and getting rich, there are few and sure shot ways of ruining your financial life.
Here’s a list of some that I can think of:
You Play Status Games
You will want nothing but the best. You will love it when society talks about you and your belongings. You will beg, borrow, steal but will continue to upgrade your life to be the talk of the town. You will continue to attach yourself to peer pressures and always care about what people think of how you live.
You Mimic Desires
You will create desires by mimicking your neighbours. You will want things because everyone else wants it or has it. You will not think twice before making buying decisions. You will not live with less despite knowing the fact that living with less has a higher success rate than earning a fortune.
You Avoid Learning About Personal Finance
Learning is considered a waste of time. You will continue to depend on your single source of income. You will think about retirement when you are old. Starting early does not matter for you. Compounding is a scam in your eyes.
You Never Have Enough Money In The Bank
You believe having money in the bank is wasteful. You will use it to upgrade your lifestyle. You will prefer owing to bank than being redundant by having some money in the bank. Spending money is a no-brainer. You will continue to reduce your options in life.
You Chase Short-term Rewards
You will seek cheap dopamine. You will play with your money. You will engage in activities like trading in options and futures, buying the hottest stocks in the market, gambling and any activity that rewards you in the shortest possible time.
You Buy, Not Rent
Renting does not level up with your status. Ownership reflects your identity. Why should you rent those high-rise apartments, cars, jewellery, gadgets when you can buy them?
You Disregard Simple Financial Advice
You will continue to spend before you save.
You will never pay yourself first.
You will always focus on your earnings and not think about your spending habits.
You will let your things control you. You will let go of having control over your time.
You will marry misery through debt.
You will continue to act smart with your money.
You will love financial dependence.