Where is my money? Clarity is the key

Ok – back to reality. The existing scene probably goes a little more like this. It’s coming to the end of the month. You’re about to get paid. You go to check your bank balance and it is in overdraft and you are touching your overdraft limit - not much room to move. You cringe. Tomorrow you will get paid which will just about cover your overdraft. The following day your mortgage will come out putting you straight back into an overdraft position. You will delay paying your phone and electricity bill until as long as possible. You’re not trying to scam anyone but you just don’t have the spare cash. You have stopped making payments to your retirement fund – sorry I can’ afford them. Savings you ask – what are savings?

  There is a vast gulf between the two scenarios outlined above. When you picture the first scene you can almost feel the mental clarity of the situation. Everything is taken care of and there is enough money to pay all the bills. There is almost a sense of joy as the reward of the entertainment system is on offer. You look forward to the future because you know it will be prosperous.  When you picture the second scene your thoughts become muddled and the level of stress you feel increases. You begin to feel anxious. That dreaded look at your bank balance. The sinking feeling you get when you know that in order to make ends meet that you will have to draw down cash on your credit card. You dread the future because you can see no end in sight and you feel like you are trying to plug a hole in the dam with you finger. The future looks bleak. 

These two scenarios are on opposite ends of the same spectrum. The question you have to ask yourself is whereabouts on this spectrum does your existing financial situation put you. Are you a stress free financial wiz? Then fantastic – well done!

If on the other hand you are like the vast majority of us and your feelings about your financial situation vary from bad to very bad then take comfort in the fact that you are not alone.  

Don’t use the fact that you are in a similar situation to most people as justification for inaction. Fine if you make the conscious choice that you are happy to continue existing like this then no problem that is your choice. But if you want to change it and have been putting it off by using the rationalisation that we are all in this together and that you are afforded some sort of camaraderie then I ask you to question your decision. That to me smacks of peer pressure of the most insidious kind.

Get real about the choices that are available to you. At any moment in time you can simple say to yourself ‘No more’. You can cut that credit card up and downsize your car.  You need to be clear about why you are doing these things. You need to realise that you want to move from a place of pain and stress to a place of action and direction. By action and direction I mean that you are using your pain and stress to propel yourself to take action in the right direction and that direction should always be towards bettering your financial situation.