7 Important Ways You Should Not Follow the Crowd Financially
7 Important Ways You Should Not Follow the Crowd Financially
By Marc Personal Finance
Many Americans are in pretty bad shape financially. In fact, the statistics can be pretty shocking.
“Nearly half of all working-age families have zero retirement account savings,” and the median family has only $5,000 saved for retirement (source).
57% of Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts (source).The average household owes nearly $7,000 in credit card debt (source).
Despite the fact that most Americans are not on the right path financially, many are still following the crowd and making decisions based on what other people are doing.
If you want something better, you need to do something different.
Rather than simply following what you see other people doing, you need to make decisions and take the actions that will get you to a better place financially.
Here are 7 ways that you should not be following the crowd if you want a better financial future.
1. Spending Without Purpose
Many people have no real plan or purpose for how they spend their money. Buying decisions are often made based on emotions, and emotions can be easily swayed or influenced. Emotional buying also tends to involve quick decisions.
You can see the evidence of this all around us in terms of the marketing and advertising that we’re eposed to on a daily basis. Advertisements often appeal to emotions and desires, because that type of advertising works. Companies want to convince you that you need their product or service and that you deserve it.
Bad spending habits lead to spending without purpose. Effective money management doesn’t require you to deprive yourself of nice things, but it does require you to spend your money with purpose.
What you should do instead: We all have different priorities, and purposeful spending will allow you to have money for the things that matter the most to you. Spending with purpose means that you know your priorities and that you avoid unnecessary spending on things that really aren’t important to you, leaving you with money to use in ways that matter more.
Take the time to identify your own priorities, and also think about the things that really don’t matter that much to you. Next, create a budget that minimizes expenses in the unimportant areas, and allows for enough money on the things that do matter.
2. Saving Whatever is Left
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