What Are Your Financial Attitudes Today?

A proverb wisely captures the essence of the right attitudes: "The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get."

What are your attitudes then? Would it be upkeeping our pride and ego or actually paying off our debt. Learning the right attitudes help us set our priorities straight.

Some of us may be tempted to spend all that we have since we probably think we worked hard and deserved this.

I want to challenge you to SAVE, and not spend all you have like the foolish man. Saving for the rainy days and your future will give you a lot of power on how you shape your life to be. I want you to be wise, where you have wealth and luxury.

Here are some attitudes you may want to consider and to aid you with your debt repayment.

1. Put aside your pride and ego vs Up-keeping the expensive impression.

This is called "Face". "Face" is where one is concerned about the impression he gives and wants to upkeep that through buying people dinners, wearing expensive clothes and so on.

Putting aside your pride and ego would help you to set your debt repayment path right. If you are in the company of friends who constantly expect you to pay for the bills, or you are constantly buying expensive clothes to upkeep your image, is this the outcome you want? To keep the image that is expensive to up-keep and be a slave to your debts?

The question is which is worse, to constantly be a slave to your debts, living a life filled with worry and fear, or simply living a life a little more simply, with friends who understands and supports you, and wearing clothes that are inexpensive and presentable?

I believe you know the answer. Learning to put aside your pride and ego, surrounding yourself with true friends who understands your situation and not scorn you for it, is important.

2. Keep your head above water with your bills vs No time to sort out my bills.

Keep your head above water with your bills. Do not let the massive paper swarm you and drown you. Be careful of those late payments and additional charges that would truly weigh you down even more.

Keeping your head above water with your bills simply mean making it a point to check your monthly bills and statements. Make sure that the items are correctly credited and that you are paying your bills on time, not incurring late charges and penalties. Make sure your statements are correctly reflected and that if there are any mistakes, go correct it immediately so that you will not be penalised for additional charges.

3. Review ways to reduce your debt vs Feeling Helpless about my finances.

Do not just sit and feel helpless with your financial situation. Review ways to reduce your debt. These could include:-

1. Transferring your existing balance to a credit card / loan company who offers a lower interest rate on your outstanding.*

2. Change your banking / credit card companies to one that has no annual fees / minimum balance.*

3. Pay more than the minimum balance each month. This will go a long way.

4. Put your excess money into repaying your debt. This excess money could be tax rebates, bonus etc. which is out of your regular money source. If you treat it as additional money that you can splurge on, then you will not be able to reduce your debt. Putting in that extra money to repaying your debt will help you to pay off your debt faster.

*You have got to bear in mind though, before you transfer your existing balance to another credit card / loan company, read the Terms and Conditions carefully.

Are there additional charges or fine prints that you have got to read very carefully before you do this?

The same goes for changing your banking / credit card companies with no annual fees. Read the terms and conditions carefully. What are the fine prints behind this?

An example could be, a credit card company offers you no annual fee if you spend more than $1800 each month on the card. Are you really going to spend $1800 a month on your credit card and then have no problems paying off the FULL amount every month, or will you be stuck trying to meet minimum balance again and then get into debt all over again.

Before you consider options 1 and 2, you have got to seriously study the product and consider it really carefully before you make your decision. Clarify all you can with the person selling the product to you. Find out more about the products by reading reviews etc. You should never commit if you are not sure and feel that you are rushed into it. It should one that you have considered seriously and carefully.

4. Sticking to the 10-10-20-60 rule vs Spending all I have.
What is the 10-10-20-60 rule? Well, this is a suggested breakdown of what you could work out your income with. However, do remember that you should work it out based on what is applicable to your situation.

10 is 10% of your monthly income to save.
10 is 10% of your monthly income that you can give away to bless someone else.

20 is 20% of your monthly income that you commit to repay your debt with.

60 is 60% of your monthly income that you will live on.

Work out what is realistic to you. Some of us may have to put in 30% to clear our debts, while others of us may be able to live within 50% of our monthly income. Whatever the proportion is, do remember, that you will need to be able to save 10% of your income. If you are not able to do so, start with $50 or even $10 a month. That would make a significant difference.

Some of you may wonder, that extra $10 I save should go into my debt payment, so I can bring my debt down faster. Well, while that is true, the question I have is, what happens if an emergency comes out? If you have zero savings, you will be forced to take a credit line again, and go back into debt. So that is not going to help you in the long run. Work out what you can to save.

Others may wonder, give away money to bless someone? You got to be kidding. I can use the money to live better and pay my debt. Again, it is true, but I have learnt to bless someone by paying it forward. If I do not give away money, money will not come back to me. Now, do not just simply give away all your money. Make sure you know who and what your money is used for. That will give your money more purpose. And again, if you cannot give 10%, work out a comfortable amount you can give away. Even if it is just $10, that would make a significant difference to someone else too.

4. Learning Contentment vs Constant Greed

No amount of money will ever be enough if you do not learn contentment. Work out what you can be contented with today. Stop feeling that you want and need everything. That is GREED, which can be read as this, "Grossly Requiring Ego and Ending in Debt!"

Commit to staying debt-free and work out your plan to financial freedom today!

*Please note the information given in the article is for your reference only. Readers are encouraged to exercise discretion when adopting the tips in their own context. Do seek the advice of a professional financial advisor where needed.