Many of us read financial websites most days of the week, if not every single day. Let’s face it, people like us care about money. We spend so much time thinking and reading about money matters that we sometimes know how a particular article will be structured as soon as we finish reading the title. We feel that by reading, thinking and talking about money, we can somehow become wealthier.
But yet, this isn’t good enough.
In order to be financially free, reading and thinking about money advices isn’t good enough because we also need to apply what we learn. Everyone knows that eating out costs much more than cooking and bringing a brown bag to work, but only those who are motivated will actually take the time to cook at home. Everyone knows that taking on a huge debt to buy the fancy car is not a good financial move, but it truly takes discipline to control the impulse to buy on the spot.
On paper, everything is easy. Live below your means, invest wisely and let time take care of itself. In reality however, living below your means takes constant effort. It takes motivation to invest and stay invested through tough times. It takes motivation to give up that dream car we always wanted and instead save it for the emergency fund (here are six suggestions on building one.) and it certainly takes motivation to keep being frugal once your wealth starts to build. Everything will become easier through time as conscious effort becomes more of a habit, but it requires commitment nonetheless.
Are you motivated to be financially free? If you aren’t, then increasing your desire to work at your dream needs to be one of your first priorities because all the time and effort you spend reading these articles is wasted otherwise.
Once you make the commitment, then try all of these 25 ways to reduce your debt and 15 ways to make more money. You may not succeed at all of them. But you won’t need to. By giving every possible solution a try, you will fail fast and succeed before you know it.
{ read the comments below or add one }
Sometimes we think living frugally means never going on vacation or doing anything extra. It means budgeting your money so that you can enjoy a nice vacation (even a month-long camping trip out west) and make all your budget obligations. And I agree – if you don’t have a budget, you should get one. It may take a while to get used to it, but it works. It may feel painful to NOT spend money where you have spent it before but consider the short-term pain a long-term gain.
Very true that living below your means takes constant effort. It was easy for me to say that, well, I’ll forsake so and so things that I do and cut corners here and there and I’ll be fine. But when it comes time to actually do it, it is a lot harder.
-Jean
You can only become financially free and happy from debt when you can control your “must have” desires that makes you always want the latest flat screen TV, Smartphone, luxury car, bigger apartment or house, etc. Learn to control your requests and finances and you will be debt-free and much happier.
Great post!
I’ve noticed that fear to fail and too much thinking and imagining the results often demotivate me. Instead of over-thinking and over-analyzing better take some action. To be motivated for financial freedom you need to set a goal first (e.g. to buy that dream car you wish so badly). Once you’ve linked that money to a concrete purpose, motivation will come by default.
I love this entry. I’m 25 and I am unfortunately one of the dumb ones who bought a luxury car which I’m stuck with and can’t really do much until I pay it off in a year. Then I’ll be able to afford $900/mo on something useful such as my one-year old’s education fund. I have 8 credit cards which I paid off LAST YEAR cause I worked my butt of in two jobs while being 8 months pregnant but guess what…I kept hearing about having zero balances doesn’t look good on your credit AND…BOUGHT ME ALL SORTS OF CRAP which I regret now. Ugh. I followed Dave Ramsey’s Money Makeover book because I’m too young to be in debt and I guess until I’m able to pay off my car and get back on track with everything else…I’ll be able to enjoy life much more. I had the motivation once and it’s time to do it again and not to get in it. 🙂
I agree. Reading is not taking action. Everyone knows that “expert on everything” person who sits on the sidelines drowning in fear. Taking imperfect action will always outdo inaction EVERY time.
From what I’ve noticed successful people are just people who create systems, record data and keep tweaking the system until it works. They never give up and that’s key.
Thanks for writing. Cheers.
Seldom I write comments but resource really cool
Asset Manager: I agree. Having a goal definitely helps drive the motivation level up.
An excellent question that not only applies to being frugal but also investing wisely. We generally ask clients “Why do you invest?” most people cannot answer this becuase they don’t have a goal. Asking these questions of oneself invariably makes saving and investing more clear.
Stephen: Yeah it’s very easy to try something and not give it enough time to work since people are usually not very trusting to advice from someone else (which is very understandable.)
I think what happens a lot to people is.. they read a finance book or a book on handling finances, and they don’t follow through with everything in that one particular book. Before they finish all the tips/techniques, and see if it actually works, they move on to the next book and they start combining all the tips and techniques. I think that’s very similar to dieting. Moving from one book to another.
Thank you for your kind comments.
Someone told me that when we want to do something, we will make it happen. This is so true.
This is a great entry…one of the best I’ve come across.
You’re right, without motivation, we’re stuck in a rut.
What I found in my research, lack of motivation comes from fear and resistance.
Sometimes, just talking about what scares you can lift the resistance and lead to action.