The economy is a mess. We are all affected by its repercussions. If only there was information available to help us cope, deal with, and emerge stronger than we were before…
There are all sorts of parents: some are frugal and others spend themselves into debt and others are somewhere in between. No matter where you fit into this scenario, your children follow your lead. They observe and follow your example. So, if you handle money indiscriminately, your children don’t have any other knowledge to handle their finances any differently.
So, let’s go back to parenting. Say, 50 years or so, ago, you witnessed big credit card companies in their infant years. Their advertisements made us believe that we could buy anything we wanted, whether we had the money or not. People followed their lead, paying the minimum on revolving charge accounts. We followed the masses as we were all programmed to overspend and we were not aware this was happening.
Now, we are aware of the end result of this kind of behavior. Funny thing is… in the past, we may have heard of warnings of this upcoming crisis, but we have again been programmed to think “Oh, no. I’m fine the way things are. That’s all hype. I’m not going to change my spending habits. If I want something, no one is going to tell me not to buy it!”
Yes. Our spending habits are deeply entrenched. It’s what has defined us in the past. So, now… currently… we find us, not only in credit card debt, but without a job. And we might loose our home because we cannot afford the mortgage anymore.
Reality creeps in… a gnawing voice relentlessly nudges us… ”If” we had been more prudent with our money in the good times, perhaps we would have been able to survive the economic crisis with minimum losses.
So… now… we realize we won’t wait until a disaster strikes before we get a wakeup call. We now look for ways to improve our lot. But where to start…
Next week: Where to start
Judy Guralchuk, author of A Life Preserver in a Sea of Debt: How to acquire a new mindset to transition from overspending to permanent financial stability.
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Ok, in all honesty, I definitely fall into the category of "I should have acted differently when things were financially better". Bring on the ideas on how to make things better, we need it!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. This last year had really made me realize how hard it is to earn my money and do I really just wanna give it away? I think more now than ever before on what to spend it on.
ReplyDeleteI clearly spent more and so did my hubby when things were looking good for us all. Now we are suffering, as many others are. I clearly (him even more) need to learn how to think and spend differently.
ReplyDeleteI'm here to learn, teach me how I can change.
Brilliant!! It's about time somebody came up with ways to help. All I ever hear is "time for a change" but nobody ever shares HOW to change.
ReplyDeleteI like both her book and her blogs. If people followed her advice we might not be so deep in a mess as we are now. For the government, printing money is the same as credit card debt. We can't keep either up.
ReplyDeletethe book is very informative & is worth taking the time to read.You will learn a lot & realize how true all of it is.I think the way things are in the economy today we should all read this book which makes very good points.
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