5 bad money habits that always make you broke

Ever find yourself living paycheck by paycheck...A vicious cycle that seems unbreakable😥

Well the millionaires or billionaires can share with you the tips of earning money but without discipline and effort, you will lose the money so fast that is even faster than the blink of your eye😂

1. Catching up with trends

New Iphone, latest gadget, best game of years, latest summer fashion collection... All these words running through your mind are just words of temptation.

In a single calendar year, how many trends do you need to follow? How many trends you are going to spend into before going broke?

Maybe you want to catch up with a few trends, then every month from your income, you may set aside a small 5% or less. Then once in a while, you may spend it or you decided not to and save up. Necessities like food, clothes also will have trends like latest healthy foods or latest comfort summer clothing, so make sure you draw a fine line.

However, it is also equally important not to live in a cave. For example, when internet was created, everyone started learning and using because it was becoming essential for daily life. And when 2G phone devices upgraded to 3G and then 4G, people also move towards using 4G devices. These are called technological trend, which is essential to a certain extent that we have to catch up to it in order to survive in modern world. There may be other trends with similar analog to the one mention above, like healthcare trend and wellness trend etc, it is good to understand these categories of trends but without over-indulging into it.

2. Buying for the sake of sale

Ever seen posters of "buy 1 get 1 free", "50% off" or the "Great Singapore Sales" and you just rush into the shop, shop a few rounds, grab your stuffs and proceed to the counter for payment? And suddenly after you purchase the items, you feel the purchase was not really necessary?

Now i will list down a few pointers for you to ponder about

• Understand the rationale behind your purchase during sales period, do you really need the items or you just feel like you want it?

• If you are planning to buy what you really need or wanted it so badly during the sales period, have you set a budget aside already?

• If you already know you will blindly follow the sales posters and spent your money unnecessary, have you taken measures to rectify?

• Are you surrounded by people who will ask you out to shop with them whenever there is a sales?

Sometimes its is not easy to control spending urges, even i admit it is sometimes hard for me. I grew up in a financially challenging environment so since young i learn the value of money and spending it as wise as possible. I will always gives myself a short term financial goal like i want to save how much in a day, then a week, then a month, years and so on. Once you see that you can control yourself and keep achieving the small goals you had set, you will keep doing it. Remember, it is all in your mind, what you think you will become💪

3. Delaying payment of bills and/or debt

By paying bills on time, your next month's bill or next next month or next......month bill will not snowball and acumulate. Imagine this month utility bill was dragged 4 months, you are planning to pay off on the 5th month and then you realise you did not save enough to pay off as you had spent most of the money away when receiving paycheck before you can pay off the bills.

The above example is based on real life story broadcast on newspaper with a small humble alterations. Nonetheless, if every month you are able to budget and set aside this fixed amount from your salary to pay off bills, you would not have any financial issues every month.

4. Not keeping track the flow of your money at all

If you are reading this point and still pondering how you should start, start by looking through your bank statements. It doesn't need any effort other than typing your keyboard and moving cursor.

There are many apps or even softwares which are free to download to help you in budgeting. Personally, i use an excel spreadsheet and checking of monthly bank statement.

I really encourage everyone who has not done it to start doing it, this is literally the first step to financial freedom.

5. Start quitting addictive habits that requires money

This last point i want to talk about is your addiction which affects your financial situations.

Let's list the few known addictions that may hurt your pocket or even become financial burden to your love ones.

• Smoking

• Alcohol

• Porn

• Gambling

The list can go on but i will name the above 4 addictions that most are familiar with.

Smoking and alcohol is really bad for health and they are not cheap. Everytime you buy and consume them is like acumulating compound interest which just keep eating away your savings.

Porn can lead to more time spent on computer screen instead of going out earn money or doing other more meaningful stuffs. Porn can also lead to user purchasing monthly subscriptions to porn sites, buying more sex toys and eventually paying for sex.

Gambling is another bottomless traphole which keeps the addicts coming back again and again as it tempts the addicts that he/she will eventually win a windfall. Then the more you lose, the less money you have available, then started borrowing money which incurred interests which makes it hard to return as you have no money to pay back and eventually lead to bankrupt. Gambling is like believing money will drop from the sky, but i believe in hardwork and patience and with knowledge, you can create your own luck.