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There’s a world of opportunity out there for the ambitious man or woman who is willing to put in the time and resources necessary to attain wealth and prosperity.
But before you can throw yourself into the CMC markets, or make your fortune in real estate, you’re going to have to ruthlessly tidy up your financial habits and free up trapped or misused funds which could be going towards building up your financial destiny, but which are instead frivolously cast into the ether or lost through negligence and inattention.
Here are a few tips you can use to start cutting out bad financial decisions today.
Begin budgeting for everything and tracking your cashflow meticulously
There’s an old saying that goes, “that which is measured, improves” and there’s a lot of truth to that. It’s simply impossible to be the master of your finances if you don’t know exactly how they stand. If you aren’t even quite sure how much you’re going to spend next month, it’s impossible to practice responsible financial management down the line.
The first step is to use a tool or service such as YNAB to begin meticulously budgeting for every expense in your life. Wherever possible, you should create buffers and protections against unforeseen costs (such as a car breaking down). A good budget will feature categories such as “Unexpected Expenses” and “Forgotten Expenses” to cover all the bases.
You should budget every dollar that comes into your accounts, even if the budget category it’s assigned to is something like “nights out on the town”. Having fun isn’t forbidden, but spending money unconsciously is.
Adopt a mindset of eliminating waste wherever possible
It’s very common for people to bleed money away each month through a variety of small channels they barely even notice. That cup of coffee you buy each day on your way to work, the online subscription for a few dollars a month that you forgot to cancel, the gym membership that you keep active — even though you never go to the gym — and so on.
While each expense by itself might seem like a minor thing, those expenses quickly add up and combine to create a monumental waste of wealth.
By all means, keep a few active subscriptions to things that enrich your life. But be honest with yourself about where costs could be minimised without harming your quality of life. Always look for a cheaper way to attain the same benefit, and be sure that you’re not wasting money for its own sake.
Become health conscious
This point is a bit more abstract than the others, but its very much worth keeping in mind that your health is an essential resource which is very closely tied to your financial wealth.
Consider these points; the healthier you are, the better able you are to continue working effectively. The healthier you are, the less money you will have to spend on medical interventions. The more health-conscious you are, the less likely you are to spend money on vices such as smoking.
Of course, in addition to all of that, being health conscious just improves your overall quality of life, too. Which is, of course, priceless.
