It is easy to get into bad habits with financial
matters. Few people have enough money to
simply buy what they want without a thought.
Most people have to plan their purchases and stay vigilant to keep
themselves solvent.
·
Many
people have bad habits of getting too far in debt with credit cards. The cards are easy to get. You can get a handful of Visas and Master
Cards, an American Express Card, a Discovery Card, and several cards from
retail stores without much effort. You
do not have to have much income to get this many cards, either.
·
None
of the card companies seem to consider that you might have to pay payments to
the other cards. You may think you have
all these cards just for emergencies.
However, if you get into bad habits with them, you can end up spending
them to their limits. You may reach a
point where you cannot even make the minimum monthly payments.
·
You
might be tempted to borrow money from relatives at a time like this, but that
would be just another of type of bad habits.
Relatives may want to help you for a time. They may allow you to get into the bad habit
of going to them each time you need money.
Yet, there will come a day when the money will run out, or the situation
will get old. The relative will not only
discontinue the loans. They might stop
speaking to you as well.
·
When
it comes to friends, both borrowing and lending money are bad habits. It puts a strain on the relationship that
many friends cannot handle. One friend
might forget how much was borrowed. Yet,
there may be animosity if a written contract is suggested. You can rarely win when you get into this bad
habit.
·
Many
people get into trouble financially because the have the bad habit of not
sitting down to make a budget. They have
a general idea of where the money should go.
They may think they have it all in their brains. It never quite comes together, though, unless
you put it on paper (or on a spreadsheet on a computer). Only then will you know you have everything
included.
·
Most
utility companies have a certain grace period before they will cut off
service. Some people count on this grace
period and get into bad habits when it comes to paying their utility
bills. If you do this you put yourself
in jeopardy of losing your lights or water.
You also destroy your credit rating.
·
Some
financial bad habits have to do with the way people manage their checking
accounts. One thing people often do is
to throw away paperwork they get when making transactions. Of course, there is a time to throw it
away. Yet, until it is recorded into
your account, you need to keep deposit, ATM, and debit slips to verify that the
correct amount was taken out.
·
Some
people even have the bad habits of not reconciling their checking
accounts. If they want to do internet
banking with a software program like Microsoft Money or Quicken, they can make
it very easy on themselves. It is
important to be sure that your account has in it what you think it should. For one thing, there is no better way to
catch fraud. Taking charge of your money
habits can make your life less stressful and more productive.
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