The 5 Toxic Money Habits: Are You Guilty of Any of These?

Let’s face it – we all have our guilty pleasures. Whether it’s a glass ofwine on the couch each night after work, an iPhone addiction, sweet tooth, orsomething maybe a little more sinister – we’re all guilty of having some badhabits in life. As someone who has specialised in managing money and providingfinancial advice for the last 30 years, I’ve come across some absolute shockersin the money space. These toxic money habits, which you probably don’t evenrealise you have, can ultimately hinder you from achieving your biggestfinancial goals, keep you locked in and controlled by consumer debt, and causeyou more and more stress through life.

#1 – Credit cards. Opinions havebeen split on these since inception and personally, I’m not really a fan.Having money that isn’t yours and is ‘free’ to spend can cause some (if notmost) to go a little overboard on their spending. That pair of new shoes orholiday you’ve been longing for but just can’t quite afford? Easy – use acredit card! Well, not really. You’ll likely pay an insanely high amount ofinterest and end up worse off than you were prior. My advice – get out ofconsumer debt and ditch the credit card!

#2 – Buy now pay later. This hasbeen a controversial topic since the rise of Afterpay, Zip Pay and the likes –blurring the regulatory lines between consumer credit and not. Just like creditcards, if you’re using BNPL it’s likely you can’t afford whatever you arebuying in the first place. Rather than rack up a slew of late fees plus your4-easy payments, delete the app and pull back on your spending. What youprobably don’t realise is that lenders are now looking into your BNPL historyto determine your eligibility for a home loan – don’t risk it.

 #3 – Eating out all of the time.This is an obvious one based on two critical factors – it’s more expensive andits usually not as healthy as what you can whip up at home. We all have bigdays at work, get stressed or can’t be bothered to cook, however from a moneyperspective – eating out all of the time will crimp your ability to save andlikely set you back from achieving your goals. Stay in (most of the time), cookyourself, and do it cheaply.

#4 – Impulse spending. We all need a littleretail therapy from time to time, although the issue arises when this spendinggets out of hand. Walking into a store and ‘going big’ on something you hadn’tbudgeted for and likely don’t really need will provide you with your 5 secondsof instant gratification, although likely take you much further away from yourgoals. This is about being smart – do you really need something twice asexpensive which does the exact same as the cheaper option? Probably not. Betteryet, save the cash and read my next point.

#5 – Failing to invest. You simply cannotsave your way to wealth. Building good habits by being smart with yourspending, eating in, avoiding consumer debt and saving your dough are all greathabits to master. The trick from here is to get that surplus money invested. Makingyour money work hard for you is how people get wealthy, whether it be inproperty, bonds, businesses, or shares. If you’re in the situation where you’vegot some cash saved up and you’re ready to start making it work for you, reachout to my team at Australian Investment Education at the followinglink to learn how: http://bit.ly/aie-mjb