I was told recently about a successful lawyer who wanted to write a book called Broke on Any Budget. He selected this title because, he was broke as a law student; broke as a junior lawyer, and even after he made partner in his law firm, he was still broke.
As our careers advance, so does our income. Sadly, we often don’t see the same ‘advancement’ in our savings.
There are many different reasons for this, but I would like to focus on one you might not have heard of before: It’s called Entitlement Spending.
We all feel entitled to a normal standard of living. Many of us feel that normal clothes, a normal house, and a normal mode of transportation is our right. The question to ask, though, is what does normal mean to you?
A normal lifestyle for someone who has just entered the workforce, earning $40,000 a year, isn’t the same normal lifestyle an established person earning $175,000 a year would expect, and vice versa. Their views and expectations will be different whether we talk about housing, vacations or even just dining out.
As our income increases, we inevitably spend more money in order to match our lifestyles to those around us. The bar, what we think normal is in our case, also moves higher. We want bigger houses, need all the gadgets, and desire more lavish vacations.
We never end up ahead and, just like the law firm partner, we are puzzled about where it all went.
How can a Personal Financial Trainer help you?
Socioeconomic pressures really do exist. They influence each of us and can dictate what normal is or should be in our lives.
In order to spend less and save more, we need to keep our perceptions in check. Doing that is much easier said than done: It’s downright tough to go against the grain all alone.
Changing the way we think about the things we want takes time, and it takes training. A Personal Financial Trainer can give you the proper checks and balances needed to become a free thinker, help you set your own terms, and to get rid of your debt and start saving more, once and for all.
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