Show me the money
By Steven Aitchison
Do you deserve to have money in your life? Do you deserve to be rich? Do you deserve everything you desire? If your answers to these questions were a little tentative e.g. "˜I'm a good person and I would like enough for that holiday' "˜I'm not asking for a lot, just enough' "˜I don't really deserve it but I'm working on it'.
Many people, in fact most people, do not believe they deserve to have money in their lives which is the reason they do not have money. This might sound a little ridiculous but it's true. Think about a time when you thought "˜I'll never be able to do that' but when you gained the confidence in yourself you were able to do it. Take for example driving a car, think back to the time when you first learned to drive a car; seatbelt, check handbrake, look in mirror, signal, drive off, 30 miles per hour, straight line, clutch into 1st, clutch into 2nd, watch the children at the side of the road you get the point. I thought I would never get the hang of this, now it's automatic. It's all to do with attitude and practice. You practiced driving once or twice a week and your attitude changed.
This is the same with money. How can we practice money? To start with save a little in a savings account, get used to the feeling of saving every week or every month. Next get your finances in order. Don't bury your head in the sand, if you've got £20,000 worth of debt in bank loans, credit cards etc take stock and have a plan of action. This first thing to do with debt is get rid of the biggest interest bearing debt first i.e. your credit card or store card. Cut the things up, try and pay as much as you can to clear them. For credit card debt and store card debt you could get a consolidation loan to pay these off as the interest on a loan is better then the interest being charged on your card. If you do this, make sure you have the attitude that you will not use your credit card again. Look at all your other financial outgoings like the magazine subscription you've got but you never read the magazine, sky or cable get rid of some of the channels to lower your monthly cost, get a better insurance deal for your house and car, switch electricity or gas suppliers, switch broadband providers if they are cheaper. It's amazing how much you can save just by going through the list above and spend some time dealing with everything.
When you have your finances sorted look at investing and start planning for your retirement as you are going to be responsible for this, not the government. Look at the state pension as a little pocket money for you when you retire, but look to save at least 10% of your wages until you retire into a savings account, unit trust, investment trust, tracker, bonds etc. Obviously you will need to do a bit research but if you save £230 per month when your are 25 for 30 years in a fairly safe tracker fund, getting an average of 10% per year you will have a tidy £500,000 to retire with at the age of 55 . Or if you start saving £230 a month when you are 18 and retire at 55 you will have over a £1,000,000 to retire with. These figures look incredable but they are true, it's the miracle of compound interest, providing you save and re-invest all the money these figures are easily achievable.
When you start saving regularly and you are seeing the money grow your attitude to money will automatically change and you will get the bug and look for other investment opportunities or saving opportunities and look forward to retiring earlier. A lot of people work all their lives, retire and then die as they have nothing to look forward to. If you have saved for your future your work becomes a means to an end. If you enjoy your work so much the better.
The reason you might not have enough money is the feeling you do not deserve it or have the wrong attitude to money. Change your spending habits and you will change your attitude. You will begin to respect money and strangely you will gain more money in your life. This is not airy fairy stuff it's fact. Change your thoughts about money and change your life.
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