This piece is part of my 2016–2026 archive migration. Some original formatting, content, and external links may be missing, changed, or not be optimized.
Today, you can finally stop making excuses
The following are common victim mentality statements and excuses people make about money instead of taking assertive action to change their financial habits and situation.
Have any of the following statements ever come out of your mouth?
I don’t know how much debt I have, and I don’t want to know.
Other people have debt. At least I can afford the monthly payments.
Financing a car is normal. I can afford the monthly payments.
I’m staying financially afloat, so I don’t need to learn about money. I’m doing good enough.
Credit card interest isn’t hurting me financially. It’s just a small fee.
I don’t have enough money to invest.
It’s too late to learn about investing.
It’s too late to save for retirement.
I’ll start investing eventually.
I wish I could increase my income.
I don’t know how to manage my finances.
I wish I learned about personal finance in school.
I have time to get my finances in order. There isn’t a need to rush. I’m young. Tomorrow isn’t even promised.
Everyone uses a credit card in college. Why shouldn’t I have one?
I don’t need to learn about money; I can rely on my partner to care for me financially.
I’ll never be able to pay all of the debt I owe.
I’m not financially savvy.
Numbers don’t come easy to me.
Finance is a complicated subject.
I can’t take money with the grave-no need to overstress about how to manage it effectively.
These are all excuses people make not to succeed financially. We all have the power to shift and change our financial situations.
How do we do that?
Financial education and taking intelligent action to shift unhealthy financial behaviors.
Every habit can be broken or transformed into a new habit.
If we have developed the habit of making poor financial decisions, we can develop a new habit of making prudent financial decisions.
Everyone can spare $1 to invest, and if you get creative enough, I bet you can spare more than $1 for an investment account. And you shouldn’t have to cancel your subscriptions and fast food trips to do so (or maybe you need to cancel a few), but this is a small price to pay for financial freedom.
Giphy: GeicoWe all have a choice. We can remain financially literate or take action to become financially literate.
It all starts with a tiny action.
For me, the small action was continuing to read personal finance books outside of reading them at the dinner table with the family.
I could’ve made a different choice and not explored personal finance at a young age, but I never wanted to depend financially on others. I also wanted to learn how to build wealth for myself and to help and inspire others to do the same.
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This content is for informational purposes only — not professional advice. Consult a qualified professional before making any major decisions.
This content is for informational purposes only — not professional advice. Consult a qualified professional before making any major decisions.