I Make Good Money. I like my job. I Don’t Know How to Handle Money
You must be sure.
I earn well, I have some stability, I like my job, and I have a savings account of about $90,000.00, from the sale of an apartment I sold 5 years ago.
Said my friend after seeing my bank statement (not the final balance, God forbid if he knows how much I have in my account, he will ask me for money whenever he wants).
He saw on the statement that I am one week without spending money. I only use bank cards. I hate to stand in line at the ATM to withdraw cash. I live without worrying about money.
My friend went on to say.
I know that I need to get organized financially, since every month I burn a little bit of my savings, but I can’t do it. The truth is that just the thought of messing with numbers and spreadsheets overwhelms me with endless discouragement.
Last year I spent $23,000.00 from my savings account, I don’t even know what, just with the monthly withdrawals that I use to keep my checking account positive.
When I think about it, I feel discomfort, and I get upset, but it passes quickly, and I continue at this comfortable and unsustainable pace.
I’m worried.
What should I do?
I told him.
I’ll be very frank with you. You’re not really, really worried. You wish you were, but you’re not. And this is quite common and understandable.
Let me tell you briefly the story of a Reddit user.
A Reddit user decided to separate from his wife, with whom he had 3 children, 6 months ago, but was unable to leave the house since his finances were very, very, very tight.
His account was in the red, his credit card was almost maxed out, and he was dying to have his place to start over and have his kids over on the weekends.
This user was taking a course to get a better job. The course started at 7 pm, but he always arrived earlier, at 5:30 pm, to organize things, and always made it clear to the class that they could do the same if they wanted to ask questions or clarify a specific point.
This user arrived at 5:30, an hour and a half earlier than everyone else, every day.
As soon as the teacher entered the room, he already had his notebook open, pages filled out, and a thousand questions.
During the break, at coffee time, this user would nudge another classmate, apologize for disturbing the only time I could be a little quieter, and say he wanted the other to review the plan he had made to solve the whirlwind he was in.
This Reddit user’s colleague would stay an extra 30 or 40 minutes after the class was over, helping to resolve any remaining questions.
Nobody enjoyed the course more than this Reddit user.
He followed all the tips that the teacher gave, read all the books, encouraged everyone in the class to do the same and, 60 days later, in the Whatsapp group of the class, he sent pictures of the table he had made to decorate the living room of his new apartment.
Rock bottom teaches you things that the top cannot teach you
We need to reach the bottom to find the energy needed for change.
This Reddit user was lucky because his situation was still far from becoming serious. In 60 days he addressed everything and was already on track with his life. In 6 or 8 months, if everything went well, things would be fully resolved.
This Reddit user’s story is fictitious. No one posted this on Reddit or any social web.
Where does this money drama come from?
Our relationship with money is emotional and not exact. Contrary to what we often think, it is likely that you do not specifically fall into one but oscillate between them all.
We think that financial planning involves spreadsheets, calculations, and pie charts and that the time to do it will be long and tedious.
This leads to, respectively: laziness start, which makes us kick the bucket and leave the planning aside at the first slip.
We lack examples of simple, fast, and flexible planning. In the absence of these positive references, we are left with the image of the boring planner in our heads. Not attractive at all.
Not being without a vacation trip is what bothers us. What bothers us is to realize that we are so fallible, so tiny, that we don’t know how to deal with the discomfort that arises when we realize that the trip won’t happen.
Many times we understand money in a very simplistic and shallow way as if the only thing it can bring us is luxury and comfort.
We forget that it can take on more elaborate and fascinating roles: it can grant us the privilege of making choices (work with this, and not with that).
It is worth repeating the best financial advice of all: talk about money.
Live without worrying about money. Worrying about the cost of living is a nightmare. Ignore money advice. Worry only about living well.
This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.