You must have seen many people around you who are great at managing their finances; it almost feels like it is not a big deal for them. They have absolute control over how much money they spend, and even end up saving some of their income. Moreover, it is not easy to entice these people with offers or convince them to spend more than they want to.
On the other hand, you probably struggle to handle your finances, and it is easy for you to lose control of your spending. You probably made a budget at the beginning of the month, and 15 days in, you are strapped for cash. The next thing you know you’re broke for the month and wondering what landed you there.
You probably compare yourself to those with good financial discipline and wonder how they do it so effortlessly. Some of your poor spending decisions may flash before you, but eventually, you may be convinced that others have a special trick that you do not know.
Well, we hate to break it to you, but there’s no special trick to financial wisdom. All the people with sound financial skills are highly disciplined when it comes spending and are resolute against unnecessary expenditures.
However, the good news is that financial discipline can be learned, all it requires is a will to act, and consistency in execution.
Wise financial decision-making comes with time and education. You can test your skills or financial know-how by taking tests available at Wiley Efficient Learning to see if you are qualified enough at handling finances for not only yourself but for others as well.
To help you make sounder financial decisions, we have compiled a list of items you need to focus on.
This will not only help you live within your budget, but it might also end up increasing your savings or capital.
1) Self-assessment:
The first step towards developing a good financial discipline is conducting a self-assessment. Grab your bank statement, and get honest with yourself. Take a long and hard look at all the expenses you’ve made for the past month, and ask yourself whether they were necessary.
Start crossing out things you believe were unnecessary and you could have done without. This would help you see whether you could have saved any money in the past month.
Moreover, check in with yourself regarding your spending habits. Do you have a strict daily budget?
If yes, how often do you exceed it? Once you have the answer to that, compare that with the bank statement you were reviewing a while ago. This will help you develop clarity on your spending habits and the factors that prompt you to go overboard.
2) Expenditures versus income:
If you repeatedly go broke well before your next paycheck has landed in your account, you are doing something wrong. If you had more money, you still would have run out of cash, because the problem is with your spending habits.
It is highly advised that unless you have good financial discipline, you stay away from credit cards. Without capping your expenditures, you are likely to max out on your credit cards without thinking about paying off the debt you’re inevitably going to accumulate.
Therefore, you need to develop clarity regarding your expenditures and your income. If you are making a few thousand dollars a month, and spending way more than that, you cannot expect yourself to be financially stable.
Once you have clarity in this respect, you need to think of ways to stop yourself from spending more than you earn. Also, if you live on credit, you need to evaluate whether you would have the money in the future to balance this out.
3) Set saving goals:
Once you have gotten rid of unnecessary expenditures, you can start focusing on setting up goals to save a certain amount every month. You cannot predict when rainy days might befall, and it is always good to have some money stashed away for emergencies. You can set aside the money earlier in the month or keep track of your expenses and your savings through a mobile application.
Apps are quite useful in this regard as they constantly keep you aware of how well you are doing financially.
It is important to note here, though, that unless you cut unnecessary expenditures, you will not be able to save money, especially if you are living paycheck to paycheck.
One good way of doing this is through differentiating between needs and wants. Every time you spend your money on any commodity, ask yourself whether you really need it.
If you merely desire it, it is probably unnecessary, and you can do without it. This is not to say that you should not spend on eating out once in a while, but moderation is key here.
4) Invest your money:
This one applies to everyone. Given how inflationary pressures are plaguing economies around the world, affecting purchasing powers everywhere, it is always wise to invest your savings to increase your revenue sources.
Unless you make some right decisions at the right time, your savings might lose their purchasing power. Therefore, think about possible avenues where you can invest and increase your savings.
The stock market is always a good option, but it requires a certain discipline to bring home the benefits of stock investing. It can get exciting once you start getting the hang of it.
Moreover, it can also enable you to enhance your financial discipline, as you would think about cutting your expenditures to step up your gains by investing more in the stock market.
Furthermore, you can also consider real estate investment. In certain countries, there’s no better option than real estate for maximizing returns.
Final thoughts:
There are many other ways to control and increase your finances, and we have barely scratched the surface with this list. These elements, however, are at the core of a good financial regime, and must be followed in the order that they are listed in above. This is these are mutually dependent. You cannot save money unless you know how to curb your expenses. Similarly, you cannot invest in a business unless you have savings. So, this pattern stems from a consistent approach toward financial discipline. Therefore, do not despair when you see others doing this better than you. You, too, can take control of your expenses, and increase your money. Others were not born with this discipline, rather they learned it at some point in their life. Sometimes a parent helps them develop this discipline, or they probably learned it through bitter experience. As they say, when there is a will, there is a way.