The Mindsets That Keep You Poor

What are the things that come to mind when you think of “money”? Last night’s dinner? A car you’re planning to buy? The credit card bill? Mortgage maybe? Apart from all the potential financial stressors or milestones that might pass through your head when thinking of money, there is also another ingredient that always makes it to the party — emotions.

Whether it’s nervousness, excitement or anxiety, one thing is for certain: there is a big emotional load attached to money. However, a vast majority of us keeps a strictly analytical approach, fighting with spreadsheets, trying to make wonders out of our budgets, and in most cases failing to accomplish our financial goals.

Sure. Doing the math is very important to ensure a prosperous future. But that’s not all there is to it. Controlling your thoughts and emotions is also an essential part of the equation.

To incorporate healthy money habits and behaviors, your mindset towards money should be wired for success rather than keeping you trapped in fear, inertia and scarcity. Below you can find the most common toxic money mindsets and simple remedies to flip them in your favor.

No, money isn’t your goal

Believe it or not, the way you think of money has an impact on your finances. One common mistake is to think of it as goal, rather than a tool.

You can either say “my goal is to save $10,000” or “my goal is to save for a particular course”. Thinking of money as a vehicle to take you to your financial destination eases the weight of saving or making some sacrifices to get there.

When you leave the sums behind and formulate your ultimate goals in words, it will be easier to see how your savings and side hustles can push you toward those goals.

“Only ‘rich’ people can save money”

Speaking of savings… Those getting started with their careers tend to fall into this self-imposed mind trap: it’s impossible to save until you make a six-figures salary. Sounds familiar?

This is just an excuse not to save money, plain and simple. No matter what your salary level is now, there is always room for savings. If you earn a low salary, nobody expects you to save half of it. Find a comfortable monthly savings level and most importantly, stick to it. Even if that means taking it one George Washington at the time.

Another good strategy to increase your savings effortlessly is keeping a constant lifestyle throughout your life. Sure. You can adjust it to live a more comfortable life. After all, that’s your right. But going on shopping spree every time you get a pay raise isn’t a wise financial choice.

Extreme frugality is not helping you

Controlling your spendings is vital when it comes to effective money management. But that doesn’t mean you have to buy only the cheapest things around you. Let’s take one example.

Imagine for a moment that you need a new t-shirt. If you’re following an extreme frugality regime, then you’d compare all price tags and go for the cheapest one in the market. But what about quality? Is that t-shirt going to last more than a month?

Shelling out an additional $20 could get you a t-shirt of higher quality that lasts for longer, not one that has to be replaced every four weeks. This same logic can be applied to almost any expense in your life. Again, this is not about going for ‘luxury’ choices, but ‘quality’ ones.

“The credit card has it covered”

Have you ever visited an electronic store and found yourself staring for minutes at a brand new giant TV and thinking… ‘I totally deserve this’? You are not alone, we all have such moments. But here is the cruel truth: if you haven’t been saving for it, you might not be able to afford it. So, what do you do? Three options:

• Walk out of the store with a long face, buy yourself a consolation ice cream, save for a couple of months and come back to finally get that TV.
• Put a mask of a former president and steal it. Don’t do that!
• Open your wallet, take your ‘shiny’ credit card, swipe it and boom! You have a new TV ready to watch Game Of Thrones final season.

You need to stop telling yourself you ‘deserve’ things you can’t afford. While credit cards might be a way out to satisfy a whim, but they also can hurt your pockets in the long run by making you pay for high interest rates.

Instead of purchasing consumer items on credit, put aside some money in advance to treat yourself later on. If credit is the only solution for you to cope with an unplanned expense, then make sure you’re choosing the lowest rate in the market.

For crypto holders, a good alternative is crypto-backed loans such as C-LEVER, which offers instant personal loans issued in stablecoin at a 0.5% interest rate for up to 12 months.

Budgeting Is Not For Me

Budgeting refers the process of building a plan on how to spend your money. A budget helps you keep your personal finances on track, avoiding overspending and making sure you are leaving some money for savings.

While the benefits of budgeting are quite obvious, most people still think of it as something ‘too complex or boring’ to implement in their day-to-day lives. But budgeting is no longer like photobank pictures show it… you know, the guy sitting at the kitchen table with a calculator in his hand. Nowadays, you can create a budget with a few clicks using an app.

Even those using digital currencies for daily expenses have now options like Crypterium to track their crypto debit card expenses and in-app transactions. As a general advice, find the tools that fit your best and money management will come much easier.

The Bottom Line

Your relation with money doesn’t have to be a struggle. Getting rid of bad money mindsets will free yourself from attitudes and feelings holding back your financial success. If this is the first time you are hearing about them, you have nothing to worry about. As Benjamin Franklin once said: an investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

About Crypterium

Crypterium is one of the most promising fintech companies, according to KPMG and H2Ventures. We are building a mobile app that meets the banking needs of the digital assets era.

Our goal is clear: with Crypterium, whatever you can do with traditional money you will able to do with digital assets. This idea is supported, among others, by the co-founder of TechCrunch Keith Teare and over 400,000 registered users, and the number is growing by day.

The team is led by former General Manager of Visa Central & Eastern Europe Steven Parker, and C-level executives from global financial institutions, like Renaissance Insurance, London Derivatives Exchange, American Express etc.

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The Mindsets That Keep You Poor was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.