Your personal financial journey does not happen in a vacuum. It happens a little every day and it is influenced by hundreds of little things that seem totally unrelated. Sometimes we find interesting and financially applicable things in the strangest places.
This is a wonderful example of the consequences of not having financial alternatives. smbc-comics
Kevin Hart has wonderful advice about staying in your own financial lane. There is a beauty in taking a difficult topic and making it lighthearted without taking away from the value of the lesson being taught.
There is a nice article from the Globe and Mail: How the rich handle their money, from six financial advisers. My favourite part of the article is the following quote from Christine Beaumont: “For the people we deal with, the ordinary and simple things add up – like living within their means and paying off personal debt. They practice delayed gratification and don’t spend it if they don’t have it.”
Here is another gem from the Globe and Mail: Why the rich, too, are living paycheque to paycheque. The power of this statistic is staggering: “…41% of working Canadians spend all or more of their net pay, often going into debt”. Living Within Your Means isn’t about how much you make, it is about how smart you are with the amount you make.
I don’t only read articles from the Globe and Mail, but you wouldn’t know it from this list. Here is another good one: If households are this financially stressed now, how much misery is coming as rates rise? In this article they reference a survey that says 31% of participants don’t have enough money to pay for their basic needs, and 52% say they just have enough to cover living costs. The important factor to consider here is: this is an article about variable interest rates. Credit card interest rates are horribly high, but don’t move with an increase in the Bank of Canada (BoC) overnight rate. Unsecured lines of credit, variable rate mortgages and HELOCs (Home Equity Line of Credit) are the items impacted by this pending rate change. If you are part of either group above and will be impacted by a change in variable rates you have made some personal financial choices that were far too aggressive for where you are with your financial journey. If your finances aren’t stable you shouldn’t be overextending to meet some arbitrary external expectation of what your life should look like right now. You need to make money your priority, and start pushing to Live Within Your Means immediately.