Are you fed up with “getting ahead” and would rather jump off a financial cliff? Wish your money would just disappear into thin air? If you’re looking for a financial disaster, make sure you follow these three simple tips. Did you hear that? It was the sound of your portfolio plummeting. Let’s begin!
1. Whatever you do, don’t make a budget.
Learning how to make a budget (don’t follow the link) is absolutely worst thing you could do when you want to fail at money. Many of the great financial failures of our time became what they are today by ignoring advice to get a budget. Think of all the wondrous consequences of not making a budget:
- You’ll spend more than you earn!
- You’ll go into massive amounts of debt and potentially build your credit score by having a balance!
- You’ll lay awake at night wondering how to raise your credit limit so you can borrow even more money!
Sound like a dream? It doesn’t have to be. Don’t make a budget and you’ll lay the foundation of failure!
2. Don’t think about your future, life is short so live for today!
Who needs retirement? Besides, you’re young and can always catch up later . . . if you want to. Even though websites like Betterment make investing super easy, you don’t have time for that, right?
So instead of working while you can work for when you can’t work, play while you can work instead. It’s a better time and a great way to ensure financial doom.
3. Be normal and think inside the box.
Instead of cutting expenses, getting a side job, reading books, finding cheap forms of entertainment or anything extraordinary like that, the last step is to just be normal. Normal is easy, you can do this one! Simply do what you’ve always done, and you’ll get the results you’ve always gotten.
Being creative and thinking outside the box can lead to financial success . . . watch out! If you remember to never take any risks, you’ll stay right in your comfort zone live a stress-free lifestyle, right?
You all know this is a bit of satire. I believe you should create a budget, plan for the future, and think differently. This is your challenge for today: do something different to get different results.
What other actions (or inactions) lead to financial failure? Leave a comment below!
I just found your blog and wasn’t sure where to ask my question – it seems to fit in with this post. My husband and I are frugal, have no debt including our home. We have tried to instill good money habits into our son but he is totally making a mess out of his finances. He is in his second year of college and got full scholarships. His freshman year he lived at home and received several thousand dollars over his expenses, which he could use for gas, etc. He has basically spent ALL of this money already. Each semester we would make him deals, like you save so much, we will pay for certain things, etc. He has kept none of his ends of the bargains. He pays gas, his cell phone, most of his going out to eat expenses. He has had summer jobs and has a “paid for” truck, which he got at a really good bargain. We are probably going to require him to start paying his car insurance soon. He is living at college this year and is almost totally out of money because his expenses are so much higher. We will actually probably have to drive him to school and drop him off b/c of running out of gas money. Can you give us any advice? He basically went off 180 degrees of what we do as a couple, financially. Thank you.
PS On the above comment, my son did odd jobs ages 14 through 16. We made him save 40%, he tithed 10% and spent the rest. He used his savings to buy his truck. So he actually had good money habits before he received these scholarships. I think he could not handle all the extra money that he received.
Louise, I’m sorry to hear about your son. It might be wise to seek a pastor or a counselor on this issue, as it seems there is more here than meets the eye. God bless you.