The financial situation of each person depends on his lifestyle and way of dealing with money.
Often people with the same income have completely different living standards. Some, thanks to savings and budget planning, multiply their savings. Others do not have enough money even for the most necessary things.
Psychologists and personal finance professionals have identified habits that program a person to be poor. It’s time to get rid of them. Moreover, the New Year is approaching – the very main “Monday” from which we usually try to start a new life.
However, you should not limit yourself to conditional dates in order to take a fresh start: you can set goals and achieve them at any time. A clear understanding of what hinders us and what needs to be changed in our life allows us to take specific steps to get what we want.
1. Self-pity
Poverty-minded people feel sorry for themselves all the time and believe that they are not lucky in life. It is not destined for them to be rich and successful. Something or someone prevented them from succeeding: the location of the stars in the sky, insidious enemies, bad parents, wrong nationality, wrong skin color, sins of their ancestors, unsuccessful marriage. Young people see the source of problems in inexperience, older ones – in their own age. There can be any reason for pity. As well as those self-justifications that help you maintain psychological comfort, staying in poverty and not changing anything.
Constant self-pity is a surefire way to ensure eternal poverty.
Those who feel sorry for themselves tend to have very low self-esteem. And this means a lack of decisiveness, avoidance of conflicts (or, on the contrary, their constant provocation), fear of change. And, as a result – a low-paid position, a low-prestige job, a dragging out of a miserable existence.
2. Jealousy and comparison with others
Another characteristic habit is the tendency to compare yourself to others. Especially with those who have achieved more in life. Therefore, alongside poverty, there is always envy of the rich and successful. Class hatred for the “bourgeoisie”, for the “huckster-oligarchs”, “Rob the loot!”, “Take everything and divide it up!” – the origins of many revolutions and riots are located here. But especially strong envy and hatred among the poor are caused by people of their own circle, of the same origin, gender or age, who managed to get to the top – to fame and wealth: “Why is he, and not me?”
Worrying about someone else having a more expensive car or a thicker bank account is nothing more than a waste of mental energy. Think about whether you need this habit? Maybe it’s better to focus on personal affairs and achievements? Stop comparing yourself to others. Stop judging others and think about your own path to success.
3. Frequent complaints about the lack of funds
Many people think about the lack of money all the time and talk about it to friends and family. This behavior develops pettiness, people themselves begin to believe in their financial futility, that they are losers, and convince everyone else of this.
The constant nagging about poverty annoys others.
By this, a person shows his own inconsistency. They begin to perceive him as problematic and unsuccessful. On the other hand, he blocks promising opportunities for himself: both big earnings and the purchase of things that are essential.
We get what we voice. If you are currently unable to afford something, instead of “I don’t have the money”, you’d better say, “I’ll buy it later.”
The more you fixate on the fact that you have little money, the less money you will have. Money doesn’t like those who complain about poverty all the time.
4. Indulge in momentary desires
The tendency to mindlessly spend money on something that will give you pleasure for only a couple of minutes: buying coffee from the machine, beer, chips, cigarettes, sweets. People sometimes spend several monthly salaries a year on such petty and bad habits.
Do you need them? Especially in such quantities?
If you are used to buying coffee every day on the way to work, drinking beer and chips every night, driving everywhere instead of walking 5 minutes, ordering a taxi instead of taking two metro stops – you are wasting a lot of money. Which you may not be enough for the purchases you really need.
5. Spontaneous or impulsive purchases
Marketers are well aware that people spend a lot more money on impulse purchases than on planned ones. The spontaneous acquisition of non-essential items especially hurts the budget. For example, sweets at a pastry stand or small items at the checkout in a supermarket.
Bright and attractive packaging. “Delicious” smells. Free tastings. Soft relaxing music. In modern stores, everything is aimed at making you spend more. Turn on your consumption instinct and elementary greed: “I want more, more and more!”.
Promotions and discounts are constantly pushing to make extra purchases.
People easily fall for the marketing gimmicks of retailers and often buy outright junk. Or they take much more food and things than they need. And when the hypnotic trance dissipates, they gaze with longing at the pile of unnecessary belongings. And to your almost empty wallet.
Anyone who cannot control himself at the sight of a “super discount”, “holiday sale” or “promotional offer” is doomed to a constant lack of money. Therefore, the main advice that psychologists usually give is to go shopping with a pre-compiled list of the goods you need. And stick to it strictly.
6. Pursuit of branded items
People with modest incomes often buy expensive equipment and clothing from famous brands to emphasize their “high status”. Demonstrate it to others. An expensive purchase gives them temporary psychological compensation for the constant feelings of inferiority caused by poverty.
Trying to imitate the rich is a typical psychology of the poor.
When, through the purchase of an image smartphone at the price of 5-6 of their salaries, they strive to get even a little closer to the elite lifestyle. Or, instead of a new Chevrolet car, they buy a 10-year-old BMW or Lexus just like normal boys in order to “look cool”. And then most of the income is given monthly to the maintenance of the purchased car. Or they buy an expensive German perforator for home repairs instead of a Chinese one three times cheaper, so that once a year they can get it from the shelf and screw the cornice to the ceiling.
We live in a world of globalization of technology and a large selection of goods for every taste and budget. Therefore, you should not overpay for a luxury brand, having limited income.
Buying your last money on a luxury item or premium luxury service for the wealthy will never lift you out of poverty. And you will not be able to deceive anyone with your imaginary “status”. First of all, ourselves. It is much wiser to spend these funds on your own education or developing your business.
After all, real wealth is the ability to create money, invest it with profit, and not spend it on expensive tinsel.
7. Cargo cult or imitation of a “prestigious” level of consumption
This habit is similar to the previous one. But in this case, it is not expensive branded goods that are purchased and displayed, but their cheap counterfeits. Chinese 20 dollar replica of super expensive Swiss watches. A handbag or shoes “like Angelina Jolie’s”, bought in the clothing market (where “there are a bunch of these Versaces for 100 rubles”). A suit “like Elon Musk” of Turkish tailoring, worn by a poor student who dreams of “being like Elon Musk” (instead of working 20 hours a day like Elon Musk).
All these are elements of the so-called. magical thinking or cargo cult. Similar to how indigenous tribes in distant Polynesia build from palm branches, dung and straw “exact copies” of the planes of “white people” – in the hope that they will rise into the sky and bring them rich gifts and food.
Attempts to imitate the external trappings of wealth and success without understanding their internal content are very common among the poor.
Such behavior does not get rid of poverty; on the contrary, it only perpetuates it. Don’t waste time and effort creating cheap illusions. They look funny. Better make your wealth dreams come true. You need to be, not seem.
8. Chronic use of loans and borrowings
Everyone is familiar with individuals who constantly live in debt. Collecting a bunch of bank loans. Always begging for money from you and never returning it. Borrowing and re-borrowing from all friends, relatives and acquaintances. Usually they do not cause anything but pity and disgust among others. And they only dream about wealth.
A credit card, loan or loan is a great tool to get the funds you need instantly. However, people who use it often are bound to have huge costs. And constant financial problems.
The fact is that using credit money is very expensive – the commission can be 50% or 100% per annum. And psychologically it is much easier to spend borrowed funds than your own. After all, the pleasure of shopping is guaranteed to you right now. And the painful reckoning of the bills is postponed until “sometime later.” People of an impulsive or infantile disposition often fall into this hook, who do not think about the future, but who live only for today: “I want here and now, all at once, but at least the grass won’t grow there!” They cannot resist when they can and should refrain from shopping. And by this they doom themselves to eternal credit slavery.
Smiling employees of banks and usurer offices will gladly help you find yourself in debt bondage. After all, an infantile person who does not want to become successful does not understand the difference between a useful loan taken for education or the development of his own business, and a disastrous loan for the purchase of the latest iPhone model, a luxury car or a huge mansion, for which he cannot pay for the rest of his life …
9. Pathological greed
Excessive “stinginess” is the same bad habit as excessive wastefulness. Constant search for price tags with the inscription “Discount” and stores with the announcement “Sale”. Unwillingness to pay for a good education, for quality medicine, for professional services. Eternal love for “freebies”, the desire to get as much as possible for as little money as possible are typical signs of poor people.
The desire for total economy is not a sign of your wisdom, but an indicator that you feel discomfort from the mismatch of your desires and capabilities. Or you have an imbalance between income and expenses. But approach it from the wrong side.
A person programmed for wealth does not waste money, but is always ready to pay real value for things and adequately reward people for services rendered to him – and expects the same from others.
10. Lack of a life plan
Few people can save money “just like that”. You must have an ultimate goal or dream: purchasing a home or a car in the future, spending a vacation abroad, new appliances at home, or starting your own business.
It is always helpful to have a financial plan. However, it cannot exist without highlighting life priorities. Therefore, people who do not have clear goals usually live for one day – they spend everything they have earned and do not try to find additional sources of income. Unfortunately, these are the majority.
Unpredictability even in minimal spending is a guaranteed path to poverty.
A person with small and medium incomes will never become wealthy without planning for the future.
Financial planning should include both large purchases, savings, and small daily activities with money – a list for going to the store, a list of gifts to be given this month for a birthday, etc. According to the observations of psychologists, people who live according to a financial plan save 20-30% of their income.
11. Measuring happiness and success with money
Poor people and people from the lower strata of society often imagine happiness in primitive commodity-money equivalent. For them, this is a certain amount in a bank account, which will allow them not to work and enjoy life: buy expensive clothes, a beautiful mansion, a prestigious car, travel a lot. They are sure that the possession of a certain amount of banknotes and goods that can be purchased for them can bring them joy.
But life shows that happiness never comes with money. And the pleasure of acquiring any things ends very quickly. Very wealthy people measure their success in terms of units that are much more significant than dollars, euros or rubles. For them money is not an end in itself, but only a tool for changing the world and realizing ambitions. Which ones – everyone decides for himself. So don’t dream about money. Dream about what you can accomplish with them.
