It doesn’t seem to matter how much money a person earns, if they don’t work on developing effective money management skills, they can end up bankrupt. I was reading an article on Yahoo! that talked about seven professional athletes who squandered away their money on all kinds of gadgets and doodads rather than investing it wisely.
Although it may seem like it would be easier to manage your money if you had a lot of it, it’s obvious from reading the article that having more money isn’t the solution. Instead, what it takes is a disciplined approach; creating a budget, paying yourself first, controlling your spending, and most importantly, not spending more than you earn. Although people who make a lot of money may not have to be as strict with their spending, they still need to follow the basic principles of effective money management; otherwise they could end up like Scottie Pippen and Lenny Dykstra.
These pros all had one thing in common and that is consumerism. They bought whatever their hearts desired without any thought to whether it was a wise investment. Luxury cars, gambling, massive properties, and much more were all part and parcel of what drove these folks to bankruptcy or close to it.
Unfortunately it’s not just the pros who end up in trouble financially. Many regular working folks also find themselves stuck in a financial rut of overwhelming debt due to thinking like a consumer. The biggest key to financial success is to simply spend less than you earn. If you can manage that, you will always be ahead of the game, and quite likely, you will end up with more money in your pocket than some of these professional athletes even if you earn a thousand times less than them.
Think like a steward rather than a consumer and you will be able to achieve your financial goals and pursue your dreams. It doesn’t take a lot of money, as it’s all dependent on how you manage what you have.
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