Finding financial success often seems to be little more than a bit of hard work combined with a large amount of good luck.
While determination, talent, education, and good ideas will certainly work in your financial favour, some roadblocks may still exist that will always derail your plans unless they’re removed.
If you’re unsatisfied about the state of your current financial situation, and you still have hopes of rectifying it, here are six common roadblocks you need to remove before achieving your goals can become a reality.
1. Procrastination
Whether you’re still putting off having a conversation with a financial adviser or you’re still postponing completing your university degree, procrastination can wreak havoc on financial success.
Many people believe that waiting and thinking through options is an essential part of financial success, and while you don’t want to be careless, Warren Buffet, the American billionaire business owner and investor, refers to sitting around waiting as nothing more than “thumb sucking,” and he claims that engaging in it will always keep you out of step with reaching your goals.
2. Bad Spending Habits
Do you spend money unwisely sometimes? Do you do so habitually?
Bad spending habits will keep you in the financial doghouse for your entire life if you don’t learn to rein them in. What are bad spending habits?
From buying a coffee everyday instead of brewing a pot at home to never taking your lunch to work, bad spending habits can be small conveniences that add up to thousands of wasted dollars over the course of a year.
Sit down with your bank account and do a spending inventory. Everything that isn’t essential should find its way to the chopping block. While indulging in tea or a fine dinner a couple times a month isn’t overly egregious, doing so on a daily basis will keep you from finding the monetary success you desire.
3. Accidents or Injuries
One of the most common roadblocks to an individual’s financial success comes in the form of accidents or injuries — especially those that disrupt work or leave you with some kind of disability.
If you’ve suffered an accident that was someone else’s fault and you’ve lost out on wages due to the injuries, consider whether or not you may be able to get reimbursed for your lost time and money through the help of a lawsuit.
While it won’t be a pleasant endeavour, it may help you get back on the right money track.
4. Debt
Are you carrying around credit card debt? School loans? Is your mortgage more than you can pay comfortably each month?
Debt is such a big setback to financial success that until you pay off high-interest debt like credit card debt, investing is a waste of money since your return won’t be above what you’re haemorrhaging in credit card interest rates each month.
Make a budget that takes into account all your high-interest debt and pay it off as quickly as possible.
Once you’re in the clear with your credit cards, assess the monthly requirements of your student loans, mortgage, and the like.
Renegotiate with your banks for the lowest interest rates possible and get your monthly payment down where you can afford it.
5. Not Investing
What does your investment portfolio look like? How much are you saving for your golden years when you will no longer be drawing a paycheck?
If you aren’t yet investing some of your monthly profits to prepare for the future, it’s time to sit down with a trusted financial advisor, and develop a plan that suits your tastes, needs, and temperament.
From socially responsible investing to more traditional stocks and bonds, there are plenty of options available, and most of them will earn you a solid return over the years.
6. Lack of Emergency Savings
Most people have some savings, but a true emergency savings fund contains enough cash to float you and any dependents for three to six months should you ever lose your job or have some other kind of financial setback.
When someone without this amount in an emergency savings fund suffers a set-back, they often resort to using credit cards to stay on top of bills, and the high interest rates make getting your finances back in order difficult and tedious, even after you’ve found work.
Prepare for the worst by saving money up front, so you never have to rely on a credit card to stay afloat.
Don’t just complain that you haven’t reached your financial goals; do something about it. From paying off high-interest debt to curbing bad spending habits, banish these six roadblocks from your life, and your financial success will follow.
