The Underrated Skill For You To Succeed

Three Billionaires Reveal the Underrated Skill You Really Need to Succeed (and It’s Not Intelligence)

By  Brooke Nelson

And you don't need an expensive degree to learn it either.

Turns out, your mom was totally wrong. There IS a secret to success! So forget everything you’ve been told about meditation, exercise, or productivity. The real answer is way simpler than you originally thought.

According to billionaires Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Warren Buffett, there’s just one essential skill you need to be successful: communication.

That’s it! Easy, right?

Well, maybe not. Communication issues are common in any group setting, and that goes for lots of different mediums: interpersonal, organizational, and even nonverbal. (Don’t miss these signs you can’t trust your co-worker.)

But being a good communicator is essential if you want to get ahead; research by the Carnegie Institute of Technology shows that only 15 percent of financial success comes from knowledge or skills, while the other whopping 85 percent comes from the ability to effectively communicate, negotiate, and lead.

Plus, if the world’s most successful billionaire entrepreneurs have already confirmed the importance of communication, we should take heed!

Here’s the scoop: Ten years ago, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said in a BBC News interview, “Communication skills and the ability to work well with different types of people are very important … software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs.”

One decade later, that advice still holds true today. As Richard Branson wrote on his Virgin blog,

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.rd.com/advice/work-career/secret-to-success-billionaires/

The 10 Attributes of Wildly Successful People

The 10 Attributes of Wildly Successful People

Lambeth Hochwald

You know those people who seem to ace everything in life? Researchers have uncovered their secrets to success.

Secrets Of Success

We all know people who seem to be accomplished in their every pursuit. So it’s especially interesting to read a new British study that drills into the 10 attributes that make people extra good at what they do.

And they all have a few things in common. For starters, they identify and understand their strengths when pursuing a goal, says Amanda Potter, the lead researcher, founder, and managing director at Zircon Management Consulting, a business psychology company in England.

High achievers also tend to be motivated by a negative or positive life event, and they credit their success to having someone in their life who believed in them.

After conducting interviews with 42 high-achievers, including a range of CEOs, entrepreneurs, sports stars, and media personalities, Potter concluded that we all have a different combination of winning attributes—in other words, no two winners are exactly the same—however, all successful people have some or all of 10 specific attributes.

“For example, it may be your single-minded focus and determination or it might be your curiosity and willingness to disrupt the current situation that makes you successful,” she says. Read on as our two experts explain why the qualities that engender success and why they’re so key.

Burning Ambition

Successful people are driven to achieve their goals, but for the ultra-successful there’s an even bigger mandate, says Isaura Gonzalez, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist in New York City.

“Burning ambition takes into account the desire to hit your mark each and every time as well as an unrelenting desire to be the best of the best.” Say these mantras every day to reach your goals.

Dogged Determination

Being doggedly determined means that obstacles are not deal-breakers, but mere inconveniences that need to be overcome. “There is no hesitation, just action, when it comes to success,” Gonzalez says.

“Success comes when you have hit your mark, and determination is the road on which you travel to hit that mark.” Get ready to troubleshoot with this guide to handling tricky interpersonal situations.

Realistic Optimism

Optimism is important, but you can’t expect that the sun will shine 100 percent of the time. “It’s imperative to focus on maintaining positivity while acknowledging the realistic obstacles that can deter us from achieving our goals,” Gonzalez says.

“It’s not thinking that nothing will ever go wrong. Rather, it’s about thinking that we can achieve what we set out for ourselves even if there are setbacks.” Here’s what optimistic people do every day to see the glass half-full.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.rd.com/advice/work-career/attributes-of-super-successful-people/

8 Best Money Hacks From Millionaires That Will Awe You

8 Best Money Hacks From Millionaires That Will Awe You

Personal Finance - Millionaire Mob - April 9, 2018

The key to unlocking the potential millionaire in you is mastering the best money hacks from millionaires. Following a path that has led to a successful outcome is one way towards being successful. What money hacks do you use?

It all comes down to establishing a few money habits that have resulted in the accumulation of massive wealth. Thomas C, Corley on his research on hundreds of self-made millionaires emphasizes the money habits of millionaires and the subsequent results.

He wrote in “change your habits, change your life” that habits are the cause of wealth, poverty, good relationships, bad relationships, good health, bad health, happiness, or sadness. Learn more about the habits of millionaires and how billionaires become so rich.

Money hacking your way to financial freedom.

Here are our favorite money hacks from millionaires. Some of these may be money management tips or some are just plain common sense. You will be surprised at how many millionaires use simple concepts to achieve their personal finance goals. Let’s dig into some of the surprisingly best money hacks from millionaires that you can adapt to build your own or to maintain the millionaire lifestyle.

1. One Of The Most Important Money Hacks

Live Below Your Means, Spend Less Than You Earn

Majority of people adjust their spending habits to match their earnings. The moment they get a pay rise, they instantly begin to make lavish holiday bookings or they start looking for a bigger home, they itch to buy a stylish motorcade they have always admired. That is a grave financial attitude, to say the least. Living well is important but not at the expense of your future. Enjoy and save.

How about you save the raise. Invest the extra dollars in retirement or a brokerage account and the compounding effect will result in huge amounts of money coming back to you later.

A millionaire is not wasteful. Here are a few quick money hacks from millionaires:

Set long-term goals & have a vision.

Prioritize goals.

Distinguish between needs and wants.

Shop with a list.

If you are prone to surplus buying or you are a shopaholic, then here is the brutal reality: you are beckoning a financial disaster. Living within one’s means is easier said than done. Only a few can implement this simple cash hack.

How about you live below your means?

It is prudent to budget for whatever items that you need and avoid the unwanted expenses. Most wealthy individuals live a relatively frugal lifestyle or way below their means. This creates for them the extra cash to save and invest and thus making their bank accounts fatter.

Frugal living does not mean denying yourself the finest things in life.

So, what does it really mean?

It means having smarter money management plans.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://millionairemob.com/best-money-hacks/

8 Moves to Help You Retire Early

8 Moves to Help You Retire Early — Even If You Don’t Make Six Figures

By  Jen Smith  Staff Writer

For some of us, 30 minutes seems too long to wait (especially if it’s lunchtime). But if you’re thinking about retirement when you’re in your 30s, you could be looking at another 30 years.

That’s because at 59½, you can start withdrawing from your retirement accounts without penalty and at 62 you can start taking partial Social Security.

But those days can seem far off, especially if you’re in a job you don’t love and have too many cities unchecked on your travel bucket list.

If you’ve decided you don’t want to wait until your 60s to retire but don’t think you make enough to retire early, then keep reading.

Do You Need a Six-Figure Income to Retire Early?

TL;DR answer: No.

Long answer: The equation for early retirement isn’t just mathematical. If you can commit to learning some basic personal finance concepts, changing behaviors and putting a little extra work in now, you can retire early — even if you don’t make a lot of money.

But that doesn’t mean you can retire early on any lifestyle.

The average household pre-tax income is around $73,000 and the average American household spent around $60,000 in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That spending includes expenses you might not have in retirement, like pension contributions, but excludes income tax — which you still have to pay on most retirement account withdrawals — so it’s a reasonable amount to base retirement calculations on.

But if you want to live off of $60,000 for 40 years, you’d have to save almost $2 million before retirement. Which, if you have 20 years to save, would require you to contribute over $2,000 a month to retirement. Feasible for some, but not for all.

8 Steps to Take Now If You Want to Retire Early

If you want to retire before 66 but your income doesn’t allow you to invest thousands of dollars a month, we’ve got eight simple — though not necessarily easy — steps you can use as a starting point to set your retirement planning up for greater success and earlier achievement.

1. Write Down Your Goals For Retirement

Before you start, figure out when and how you want to retire.

Create a projected annual budget for your first year in retirement. Make educated guesses as to how much you’ll travel, whether you’ll have a mortgage, what your healthcare could cost, and what the cost of living in your dream retirement location might be.

Then look at your current budget, and adjust your expenses to determine how much money you’ll need to withdraw that first year. It won’t be 100% accurate, but it’ll give you a goal to shoot for in your savings.

Once you’ve decided what you need every month, you can plug that into a retirement calculator to see how much you need to save every year and for how long.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here: 

https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/retirement/how-to-retire-early/?aff_sub2=homepage

Manage Yourself / Manage Your Money

You Can’t Really Manage Money (or Anything Else) Until You Can Manage Yourself

Brave Saver On October 9, 2019 • By Elyssa Kirkham

“I need to cut back on everything,” I repeated under my breath.

It was mid-2017, and this phrase was becoming something of a litany for me.  I felt intensely overwhelmed and behind in every area of life — work, parenting, friends, marriage, household management.

Almost daily I muttered those words to myself, or declared them loudly to my husband. I did so with the conviction that I’d identified the core of my problem: I was doing and buying too much.

 “I’ll cut back on everything, I just need things to work.” It became almost a prayer to the productivity gods. It was my bargaining chip, my willingness to sacrifice many things to get what I was desperate for: a functional life.

Does Hard Work Really Solve All Problems?

If I cut back, I reasoned, I could free up time, money and mental space to tackle the ever-towering pile of tasks that always lay ahead.

In the crosshairs of my slash-and-burn approach was anything I didn’t view as a core responsibility, a necessity of life — whether it was how I spent time or money. I:

Canceled all of our entertainment subscriptions, determined not to waste any more time or money on mindless TV.

Stopped accepting invitations to hang out with friends, arrange a playdate, or see family on the weekend. I couldn’t afford to socialize when I was so far behind.

Didn’t make time to workout, to journal, to really even get enough sleep. There was simply too much to do.

One by one, I disallowed myself any form of idleness or self-indulgence — and then I waited. Waited for the clouds to part, the stress to lift, the ever-moving finish line of being caught up to arrive.

Facing The Deep Costs Of Cutting Back And Overwork

Instead, stress continued to pile up until I collapsed under its weight. It was like I had been running a marathon — while refusing to pace myself, to grab a drink of water, to adjust my approach if I hit a hill.

Of course I wore myself out. Of course I hit a wall of “No” from my body and my mind. It was a self-preservation measure I couldn’t push past (though I tried my damnedest).

The well of motivation, the panic that had fueled my frantic efforts to catch up, had run dry. I couldn’t seem to make myself care enough to work on, well, anything in a meaningful way.

I’d been too convinced of my approach to be flexible. Too rushed to feel I could afford to slow down and get my bearings.  Yet that’s exactly what I needed to do, and what the wall of “No” forced me to do.

As I ground to a halt, all the things that had been blurred by my hurried pace came into focus. I saw this overwork for what it was: my last-ditch effort at covering up my messiness and toxic shame.

Figure Out Self-Management, and you can figure out the rest

I was fixated on outward issues, like a budget, a schedule, a search for the perfect productivity hack. And I know I’m not alone in this. It’s easy to get stuck searching for an answer outside of yourself.

To become convinced that “Everything will get better if I can just….” Just follow the plan. Stick to a schedule. Just spend every second and dollar efficiently.

The truth is we’re not always equipped with the right skills, mental space, or will power for our financial efforts to be effective.

Sometimes the problem isn’t your money — it’s us. And we need to work on managing our ourselves, our behaviors, and our mental health before our finances can improve.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://bravesaver.com/2019/10/09/self-management-money-management/

11 Tips To Help With Finance Anxiety

11 Tips To Help With Finance Anxiety

Finances Not Helping Your Anxiety? 11 Tips to Help You Breathe Easier

By  Carson Kohler   Staff Writer Penny Hoarder

Honestly, who doesn’t have anxiety these days?

Even if you haven’t been officially diagnosed with an anxiety disorder (ahem, me), you probably still experience tinges of That Dreaded Feeling. That swelling of panic in your gut, that flush of hives across your chest, that looming paranoia you can’t quite place…

As a nation, our anxiety levels are rising. In 2018, the U.S. national anxiety score (yes, that’s a thing) was 51 out of 100 — a five-point jump since 2017 — according to the American Psychiatric Association. Among our top concerns? Health, safety and — you guessed it! — finances.

11 Simple Strategies to Help Calm Your Financial Anxieties

Sure, you might’ve broken the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle and no longer have to rely on ramen for dinner. But you still experience this sense of financial uneasiness, like you know you’re missing something.

Yes, some folks might call it irrational or unfounded. To you — and me — it’s totally real.

The good news? You can address these fears. (Much easier than addressing those fears of heights, roaches or commitment, in my humble opinion.)

Here’s how:

1. Use This Simple Trick Pay Your Bills on Time

One of my biggest financial anxieties? Forgetting to pay my bills. In my head, the world will end. The credit card company will dump my account over to collections, my power will flicker off and my apartment building will escort me out in handcuffs.

Yeah, totally irrational.

The easiest way to calm this fear? Set your accounts to auto-pay. If you’re anxious about overdrafting or don’t trust auto-pay (same), then add the due dates to your phone’s calendar, or jot them in your agenda. This help you remember when bills are due and help you plan ahead with your budget.

This is such a simple move, and you’ll no longer have to jolt up at 2 a.m. because you knew you’d been forgetting something.

2. Realize Saving Money Isn’t Difficult if You’re Realistic and Proactive

A cell phone displays the Digit app

The Digit app can link to your checking account and withdraw small amounts of money into your savings account. Aileen Perilla/ The Penny Hoarder

The key word here: Realistic.

I tend to — scratch that, always — set unrealistic expectations for myself. Oh, sure, no problem. I can save 50% of my paycheck this month! A week in, I’ve totally blown the plan to pieces. First I feel stressed out, because I have no idea how I’m going to get back on track. Then I give up.

Don’t. Do. This.

“Make sure these goals are as specific and actionable as possible,” says Leslie Tayne, financial debt resolution attorney and founder and managing director of Tayne Law Group.

She offers an example: “Simply setting a goal to save more will be difficult to stick to,” she says. “However, if you make your goal to save $100 from each paycheck, that is a much clearer and actionable step.”

If you need to, enlist some help.

Use an app like Digit. Simply link it to your checking account, set a savings goal, then its algorithms will determine small (and safe!) amounts of money to withdraw into a separate, FDIC-insured savings account.

Bonus: Penny Hoarders will get an extra $5 just for signing up! Additionally, savers will receive a 1.00% bonus every three months.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/bank-accounts/financial-anxiety/?aff_sub2=homepage

Financial Emergencies And How To Deal With Them

9 Important Financial Emergencies And How To Deal With Them

Personal Finance - Millionaire Mob - May 23, 2019

Have you ever encountered a financial emergency? What was it about, and how did you deal with it? Here, we will explore some of the most common financial emergencies and how to deal with them.

Have you ever been in a situation that requires you to use some finances which you had not anticipated?  In life, we’re sometimes faced with sudden inevitable occurrences.

Whether a sudden sickness, job loss, or sudden demise of a loved one, different financial emergences occurrences require us to dig our pockets deeper to fix them.

I’ve been using Personal Capital to plan for a financial emergency. I can use it to monitor my emergency fund and see how much cash is embedded in my net worth. Best part it’s completely free to use.

Financial freedom is all about having the flexibility to live completely free without any burden even if there is an emergency. Even if you’ve achieved financial freedom, building some sort of buffer in your financial plan for financial emergencies is important.

Before we explore more on the different types of financial emergencies and ways to deal with them, let’s look at what a financial emergency is first.

So, What are Financial Emergencies?

Financial emergencies are unexpected situations that require one to use some money that they didn’t intend. What happens when you find yourself in need of cash abruptly from an unanticipated event is what is referred to as a financial emergency.

If not resolved on time, it can pose immediate grave repercussions. These emergencies can occur at any time and in any circle of life, including at home, and work and more.

Since you can’t prevent some of these emergencies, the prudent thing to do would be to plan for them. That is, make sure that when the unexpected event occurs, you have some cash stashed somewhere to cushion you from the impact.

Although you cannot entirely plan for everything, having a fall back plan or some backup is always crucial.

List of Most Common Financial Emergencies

Here are 9 of the most severe financial emergencies you are likely to encounter.

Major Medical Emergencies

Some health or medical emergencies are beyond our control, and no matter how much we try to stay healthy and fit, they still occur. Although we all want to believe that we won’t get sick, planning for such things before they happen is the best thing to do.

The emergency may be directly yours or relating to you, for example, for a close family member. Even though we have insurance covers, it may not always suffice in such unfortunate occurrences.

A major medical emergency may require an ambulance, in some cases major surgery and post-surgery therapy. Depending on the severity of the medical emergency, an insurance cover may not cover the whole expense, and you may need to dig deeper into your wallet.

Also, if it’s your pet that requires medical attention, you may incur some costly expenses, especially relating to the veterinarian visits. If in case you haven’t insured your pet, then you may incur some considerable amounts which may strain your budget.

Thus, planning for such eventualities is vital. Sometimes, even with the flexible spending account (FSA), the medical emergency may consume all the funds in the account and still require more. In such an instance, you again go back to your pocket to cater to the remaining balance.

Job or Income Loss

A sudden loss of your source of income can be devastating not only financially but also emotionally and mentally. Having to cope with the ever-rising cost of living without a job is something to dread and which can cause tremendous financial strain.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://millionairemob.com/financial-emergencies/

Financial And Personal Benefits Of Watches

Financial And Personal Benefits Of Watches: Stay Sharp With A Watch

Personal Finance - Millionaire Mob - June 7, 2019

Watches are an important accessory for your ongoing success. Here are some of the benefits of watches.

There are few things that are almost synonymous to financial success and prosperity. Some of them are luxury cars, luxury homes or villas in exotic locations, antique and artwork collections, not to forget the luxury watches.

Luxury watches have always been seen as the mark of success. In fact, many people still see it as a important accessory for financial and personal growth.

In this age of technological advancements and portable devices, you might be wondering why people still wear traditional watches. In this post, we shall check out why you should wear watches to stay sharp and smart to become successful, both financially as well as in your personal life.

Since many centuries, watches have been closely linked to words like professionalism and prestige. Most of the successful businesses will vouch for the fact that their watch is one of their most essential clothing accessory.

Let’s first check out why people who wear traditional wrist watches are bound to succeed financially.

For Better Productivity:

Time management is undoubtedly the most important priority for professionals and businesspeople alike. Of course, you can also see the time on your phone, but it can be a big distraction as well, especially while you are working.

Also, many IT companies do not allow their employees or professionals to take their smartphones to their desks, because of company policies on information security.

Watches not only allow you to look professional, but will also give out the same kind of impressions to others. They won’t look at you suspiciously, like you are spending time on social media at work, when you are looking at your watch.

You can be more focused at work, because watches allow you to work comfortably and hands-free, because you will not have to keep dipping your hand in your pocket all the time,  to retrieve the phone. Wristwatches allow you to do away with all the distractions that the smartphones cause, thereby helping you work more productively.

If you wish to become successful in your workplace, then you must definitely try wearing a traditional wrist watch, if you don’t do that already. These classic timepieces do not disturb you with countless notifications like the smartphones.

In simple words, they help you in improving your productivity at your workplace.

Priority For Quality:

People who wear luxury and traditional wristwatches give importance to the quality. They admire the expensive materials and fine craftsmanship that goes into making of these lovely watches. Similarly, they look for quality on other aspects of professional lives, which helps them shine above the rest of their colleagues.

The wanting for quality also rubs off on their work ethics, which is why they are able to deliver top quality works on their projects, or businesses.

That is probably why most of the successful professionals and businesspeople are seen to be sporting luxury wristwatches.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://millionairemob.com/benefits-of-watches/

How We Stopped Fighting About Money

How We Stopped Fighting About Money

How We Made a Budget… and Stopped Fighting About Money

By  Abbigail Kriebs

A few of years ago, my husband and I were in limbo. We were trying to sell a house that wouldn’t sell and paying off student loans on an education that promised a higher-paying job but didn’t deliver. Our savings weren’t growing, even though we both had full-time jobs. We felt like we were hurtling along in life, but never getting anywhere.

A friend was leading a class on budgeting, so we signed up — more as a favor than anything else. I mean, we weren’t frivolous with our money! We weren’t smothered under debt! We weren’t like other couples fighting about money.

But we weren’t talking about money, either. And since finances influence every other area of life, we weren’t talking about our jobs or our goals. They were kind of there, kind of fuzzy and not at all the driving force behind our decisions.

That budgeting class changed how we thought about money — and ultimately how we related to one another. Being forced to sit down and talk about our financial situations brought life into better focus. Often, our conversation spilled outward from money into how things were going at work, what struggles we were facing, revealing our insecurities and helping us listen to each other person more deeply.

How to Avoid Fighting About Money

It’s not news that most fights in a relationship have something to do with money. But happier couples figure out a way to talk about their issues with clear solutions in mind, according to a 2019 study published in Family Process.

Most of these fights start because the people in the relationship aren’t on the same page. Maybe you’re working off different budgets (or no budget), or you have different attitudes toward money.

Talking about money early and often in a relationship can help you make sure you’re working together, rather than against one another, and prevent future fights. And creating a shared budget can help ensure you’re working toward the same goals and bring you closer as a couple.

Here’s how to talk to your significant other about money, and how to create a budget that works for both of you.

Make Sure You’re Not Tired, Hungry or Rushed

It may sound silly, but it’s not. If you try to sit down and sort out money problems when you are any in of these three states, you are doomed to fail.

It’s important to give yourselves the time you need, especially the first few months you sit down to talk. Don’t start the discussion when one of you is going to have to run off to work or right before bed.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here: 

https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/budgeting/how-to-budget-as-a-couple/?aff_sub2=homepage

Funny, Short and Inspirational Retirement Quotes:

Funny, Short and Inspirational Retirement Quotes:

I have compiled a good number of words of wisdom or better, what I like to call the best retirement quotes that will brighten your day.

This list of retirement quotes has been compiled from various people whose words of wisdom couldn’t go unnoticed.

Inspirational Retirement Quotes

Here are some of the most popular inspirational quotes on retirement that you should read before retiring as well as after.

1. “Just because you are getting older and have retired doesn’t mean that you should have less confidence in your abilities. Think about the experience and knowledge that you have gained by all the years you have worked” -Theodore W. Higginsworth

2. “Retirement: It’s nice to get out of the rat race, but you have to learn to get along with less cheese.” – Gene Perret

3. “Planning to retire? Before you do, find your hidden passion. Do the thing that you have always wanted to do.” – Catherine Pulsifer

4. “Age is only a number, a cipher for the records. A man can’t retire his experience. He must use it. Experience achieves more with less energy and time.” – Bernard Baruch

5. “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” – Lyrics from “Closing Time” by Semisonic

6. “What does retirement mean now that there are so many opportunities for learning, for caring, for serving? We can redefine aging.” – Rachel Cowan, Wise Aging

7. “Retirement is a new beginning, and that means closing the book on one chapter to begin the next.” Sid Miramontes, Retirement: Your New Beginning

8. “Retirement gives you the time literally to recreate yourself through a sport, game, or hobby that you always wanted to try or that you haven’t done in years.” – Price, Stephen D.

9. “Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering? And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?” by Kahlil Gibran

10. “There is a whole new kind of life ahead, full of experiences just waiting to happen. Some call it ‘retirement.’ I call it ‘bliss.’” – Betty Sullivan

11. “Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

12. “Don’t simply retire from something; have something to retire to.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick

13. “Preparation for old age should begin not later than one’s teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.” – Arthur E. Morgan

14. “You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis

15. “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” – T.S. Eliot

16. “Retirement is not a life without purpose; it is the on-going purpose that provides meaningfulness” – Robert Rivers

17. “Retirement is …. a time to experience a fulfilling life derived from many enjoyable and rewarding activities.” – Ernie J. Zelinski

18. “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” – Anne Bradstreet

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://millionairemob.com/retirement-quotes/

Should I Just Give Up on Saving Money?’

Should I Just Give Up on Saving Money?’

By Charlotte Cowles

I know that I could and should be saving money and planning for my future, but I’m just not. I’m 26, make about $55K per year, and live in New York. I am lucky enough to not have student loans, so I have no excuse for not putting anything away. But I just seem to be incapable of it. It’s like I have financial impostor syndrome — I’m pretty sure that if I did save money, I’d mess it up somehow.

So I spend it all on lunches and rent and clothes and stupid stuff instead. Whenever someone tries to explain savings or investing to me, I just feel so dumb, so I avoid it. I’m not like this in other areas of my life — it’s like a chip is missing from my brain. What is wrong with me?

Your letter basically describes my 20s. In my early adult life, thinking about money felt like pouring molasses into my skull — words would slide into trombone whomps and simple math suddenly looked like parallax formulas. I knew that ignoring the problem would compound it, but I still couldn’t break my mental block.

I wish I could say that my financial hang-ups ended with a dramatic epiphany. But even though I dabbled in credit-card debt and missed a few tax deadlines (I know!), my denial held strong.

The only thing that finally changed was that I got tired of feeling so stupid. I remember a distinct shift one day at work, when I was writing emails and attending meetings and appearing capable (I hope), even though I was secretly stressing out about my overdrawn checking account.

 I didn’t want to live like that anymore. So I began asking other people — mostly friends and family members — how they managed their own money, in the hope that I could feed off their skills and willpower (or maybe just feel better about myself, by comparison). It sounds like you’re on the cusp of a similar phase, only several years ahead of me, so — congratulations!

I understand why you’ve identified with imposterism — you don’t quite feel secure in the life you’ve made for yourself, despite external evidence that you’re doing just fine. There’s a disconnect between how you see yourself (irresponsible, ineffectual) and your reality (you’ve got a decent job and a place to live). You can’t plan for your future without taking stock of where you are, so let’s start there.

To find out what you’re missing, I called Dr. Pauline Rose Clance, the psychologist who coined the term “imposter phenomenon” back in the ’70s. “What you’re describing happens to a lot of people who are bright and competent but hold onto beliefs that they have certain inadequacies,” she says.

“If you were my patient, I’d ask you to think about the origin of that belief — who gave you the message that you’d be bad with money in the first place?”

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have an inner money genius lurking in your subconscious. Clance also points out that many of her patients do have an actual knowledge gap (albeit one they’ve usually blown out of proportion), and it’ll take some time and patience to close it.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.thecut.com/2019/08/should-i-just-give-up-on-saving-money.html