There are some reasons why it is nearly impossible for us to achieve financial security and it is important to be aware of them.
- We spend money excessively: Many people spend more than they earn. We should be able to save some money, even if it is only $5 a week. Eventually, we should look for opportunities to improve our revenue and reduce costs whenever possible. This simple step tells us how people could accumulate millions of dollars to begin with. Once we save money, we would love that feeling, because we know that we are gathering money for specific purposes. It is important for us to build proper cash reserves and it should be equal to at least 12 months of regular expenditures. We should address this issue with priority if we don’t have enough cash reserves. After we could sustain cash reserves, then we could begin to save for retirement. However, it should be noted that cash reserves could increase in amount, because need to take account the rate of inflation and other price increases.
- We are not satisfied with our lifestyle: Many people are not satisfied with their current satisfied and this could cause steady increases in expenses. In fact, employees with similar salary could have significant differences in lifestyle. We should try to reduce our “required” spending and once we achieve it, we should be proud of it. Although, we could manage with only $2,000 per month of lifestyle today, if we are patient enough, we could eventually live a lifestyle of $20K.
- We don’t have calling and passion: In order to achieve financial security, we should involve our emotion, including passion and calling. We should pursue what matters to us, is it our family, relationship, dream or goal? We should try to grow and develop as a person. We should be consistent with our goals and dreams. There should be actions that take us closer to making them fulfilled. We should be inspired and we should suffer if we don’t pursue these things.
- We don’t believe in financial miracles: Financial miracles do happen and that exclude lottery. There are actually self-made billionaires, many of them started with humble background. We should trust in financial miracles and trust ourselves. However, we should know that miracles in financial world require hard work and it requires a good deal of motivation.
- We rely too much on long term plans: We should accept that long-term goals are uncertain due to various unknown factors. We used to think that we know what future would bring, although we don’t have solid evidence of it. When setting goals, we should take consistent actions with them. Guess what, this really works! And over time, we should be able to win game that we are playing, which is achieving different financial goals. Although future is largely known, we could still significantly improve our chances by planning and doing the right things.