Last week, a weird story broke the personal finance news here in Canada. The Globe and Mail runs a weekly column called “Financial Facelift”, where people can ask for financial advice. Absolutely nothing wrong about asking for help. What put the internet on fire was the story of a couple of doctors from Vancouver, five kids, decent jobs, that makes $300,000/year and was asking for advice on how to make ends meet. Every month they have a deficit and are getting into debt. You can read the story here.
I don’t think we need to dive into the details here. The lesson we all should take from this is:
Having control over your money will.
Often we think “If I’d make more money everything would be easier”, “If only I had $100 more per month…” and so on. The truth is that if you don’t change your relationship with your money, no salary will ever be enough for you.
Who is in charge in this relationship? Is it you or is it your money? Who says what you can and cannot do with your money? Is it you?
People get raises and everything stays the same. Do you know why? Because they don’t have a money purpose, because they don’t care, because there is somebody else “taking care” of it for them (husband, bank manager, the government, you name it).
They say that keeping tabs on money is not a life, that only poor people need to do that, or that after getting a good job they can stop. Eric and Ilsa, the couple from Vancouver, they are not poor at all. But even then, they really need to take control of their finances before it’s too late.
How do you this? Crushing numbers in a spreadsheet or a notebook? Talking rates and inflation with your bank manager? No. You take control of your money by shifting your mindset and saying “I am in charge here“! You work hard to take the power back from your money, and then you make it work for you, and not the other way around.
But you need the WILL to do that. And this, my friend, is something nobody can give you, and it’s something you cannot buy, no matter how much money you have. It has to come from inside, it has to be something you really carve to. And since you are reading this, I bet you do have this will. You already took the first step to control your money. Congratulations!
The next step? Start slow, but steady. Observe your behaviors, know that paying full price is unnecessary, find creative ways to make your money last longer, do not be a victim of supermarket tactics, use smart tools to help you. If you are a bit lost and need any other help, do not hesitate to send me an email, I will love to help.
Last but not least, think about one friend that you know would like to be in this same situation. Think about someone that only needs a little push to start changing his/her relationship with money. Now send this post his/her way (you can use the buttons below). If they are ready, they will thank you one day. If they are not, maybe this can make them start thinking about it.
*Photo by Flickr user davebloggs007
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