Money excuses may start in your head but they become big obstacles that hold you back from achieving financial freedom. Years ago when I was struggling financially, I had a few of my own well worn money excuses that kept me trapped and living paycheck to paycheck.
If we want to change our financial lives we have to change the negative stories we tell ourselves about money – be it limiting beliefs or excuses…
I urge you to read this post, pick the excuses you know to be true for you and take action to crush them!
My Top 5 Money Excuses
Excuse #1 – Money management is too hard to learn
Does this excuse sound familiar?
I get it. There IS a lot of ground to cover when it comes to personal finance. Overwhelm isn’t helped by some financial institutions and ‘investing gurus’ who make managing your personal finances appear really complicated.
We’re not taught money management basics in school either so often our main source of money education comes from our parents. Turns out some did a great job teaching their kids while others just passed on their own messed up money management style.
So we spend years repeating bad financial habits and feel like learning about personal finance is too hard.
My suggestion – pick ONE area of finance to learn about (money planning, investing, debt, banking, saving money, etc) and start there.
Read books, listen to podcasts and block out time each week to learn about money. Begin by choosing an area to study relevant to your current situation, for example, if you want to pay off debt – learn everything you can about it! Then move on to another topic.
Stay committed and consistent and you’ll be surprised just how quickly you can get your money smarts up to speed.
Excuse #2 – I don’t have to worry because I’m still young
“I’ll worry about it later”
Are you in your mid-twenties? This excuse might sound familiar! It seems like there’s plenty of time to get your finances sorted. For now, you want to take it easy and not worry too much about ‘old’ things like retirement!
This is a big mistake. The most valuable thing we have in life is time and this excuse is costing the future you 20, 30, 40 years from now literally hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Put off getting started and you’ll miss out on the huge benefits of compound interest. The ‘magical’ powers of compound interest to grow wealth diminishes drastically the longer you wait to begin. I like to call compounding the eighth wonder of the world.
Take action now. The first step you take might seem insignificant but it can have a big impact on your financial future.
Excuse #3 – It’s too hard to start over
Job loss, illness, divorce – life throws us all kinds of curve balls that can turn our finances upside down quickly. If you find yourself having to start over from scratch, especially if you’re in your forties or fifties, getting back on track can seem really overwhelming.
The truth is, now more than ever, you need to take control and deal with your finances. If a life situation has wiped you out financially, focus on building your emergency fund as the first step to move out of financial vulnerability.
If you’re running lean where income is concerned, it might be a challenge but you must prioritise saving to build your buffer – at least 3 months of expenses saved. Then you can begin to think more about debt repayment or investing.
Excuse #4 – Investing is really risky!
“Don’t risk your future by believing the lie that investing is risky.” – Robert Kiyosaki
Many people believe investing is incredibly risky. The truth? If you educate yourself about money and take it one step at a time, investing isn’t this big, scary risk.
What’s actually really risky is being uneducated about your finances. If you don’t take the time to understand the fundamentals of investing and thus make mistakes and poor choices then yes, you open yourself up to real risk.
Smart investing is the key to real financial freedom and education is the key to smart investing. Learn all you can about investing – read books, take a course, find a mentor. Start small and watch your money confidence grow.
In fact, the easiest step you can take is right here. My 5 Steps to Financial Freedom course will change your money circumstances instantly, I guarantee it!
Excuse #5 – I’ll pay for it later
It’s one of the biggest money excuses out there…I’ll just put it on credit and pay later.
The meteoric rise of buy now, pay later providers like Afterpay, zipPay, and Ezi-Pay has made it seductively easy to do exactly that.
Wrapped in good future intentions, “buy now, pay later” seems very convenient on the surface but this common money excuse is a financial trap. One that’s effortless to fall into but so hard to get out of when things get out of hand.
These credit arrangements give us access to more expensive items that we might usually buy. Think about whether you can really afford the purchase? When the repayments are due, how will they impact your other bills and debt payments? If the purchase will only add more financial stress and bill juggling, it’s absolutely not worth it.
Can you identify with any of these money excuses? What steps will you take to silence your big excuse for good?