5 Self-Sabbotaging Financial Habits to avoid in College

In a recent post titled “Stop Killing Yourself: 5 Steps to Breaking Self-Sabotaging Habits” we discussed how to break the human tendency of continuing to do something that harms you even with the knowledge of the consequences. One example given was the idea that a person would continue to smoke after watching the very dramatic “Quit Smoking” commercials. Many of these commercials feature elderly persons whom were greatly affected by smoking, evidenced by large holes in throats, artificial speech aids, black lungs and more. If you are dealing with self-sabotaging habits, I highly recommend that post.

In this feature, we will be discussing some self-sabotaging financial habits that may be crippling your financial success. Like cancer, if gone unchecked, these habits can literally choke the life out of your finances. Like any bad habit, these habits can and will, slowly but surely, affect you in other areas of your life as well.

Have you heard the phrase “money makes the world go around”? In my estimation, this is about true. The late Zig Ziglar once said, “Money isn’t everything… but it ranks right up there with oxygen”. Sure, there are tons of things more important than money: spirituality, family, friends and more. Yet, as Zig Ziglar stated, money is pretty high on that list. Bills, lifestyle, transportation, education, and even relationships are in some way connected to money.

Why do I mention this? For the simple fact that money is important! Bad financial habits have the potential of causing much deeper problems than simply being broke. It is widely known that the leading cause of divorce in America is connected to money. This is just one of many major problems in our world connected to this single thing.

As young adults we have a great opportunity to start our adult lives on a positive note from a financial perspective. If you find yourself in any of the cancerous habits below, it’s time to make some changes. Make changes now and you will avoid many of the pitfalls of bad financial decision-making.

1. Most bad financial decision-making stems from one cause. That is the cancer of disorganization. Disorganized finances simply mean that you have no idea where your money is going month to month. It’s usually a sign that you are not paying your money attention and as a mentor once told me “Money loves attention”.

2. In this new age, we are presented with opportunities to spend money on a daily basis. Spending in and of itself is no problem, overspending is where issues arise. With an overspending habit, no matter how much money you earn, you end up spending beyond your means. If you constantly find yourself spending beyond your means, you are sure to have financial ruin in your future.
3. Impulse Buying. Have you ever walked into a store to purchase one item, only to leave the store with 10 items, 6 of which were unnecessary? More likely than not you saw signage advertising the next big special or new item and you couldn’t resist. I’ll admit, impulse buying can be a fun experience. Yet, if you find yourself constantly impulse buying items and overspending in the process, it may be time to make some course corrections. One way to combat this is to always create a list before shopping.

4. Joneses Syndrome. Keeping up with the Joneses. I wonder who are the Joneses anyway? The Joneses syndrome is a syndrome of always seeking to look like or better than those surrounding you. You know how it goes: someone close to you buys a new car then you feel the need to buy a new car, a friend buys a new suit then you feel the need to buy a new suit, someone upgrades their living then you feel the need to upgrade. In my estimation, there’s nothing inherently destructive with being inspired by others success. Where keeping up with the Joneses becomes destructive is when being inspired is really competing. Ultimately, competing will lead you to overspend and make bad financial decisions. One of the best financial decisions to be made is being satisfied with what you have.

5. Bad Debt. All of the habits mentioned above are what ultimately lead to the habit of debt accumulation. In other words, if you suffer from any of the habits above, using credit cards will become a habit by default. Debt accumulation can be very deceptive. Most often, we judge debt by minimum payments vs. the long-term consequences. To avoid the cancerous affect of bad consumer debt accumulation, choose today to live a debt free lifestyle.

The Start Smart Life motto is simple, do now what you will have to do later. If you find yourself with any of these habits. Break them now so that you’re not faced with the consequences later. Make great decisions now, so that you can reap the benefits early in life.