The mind is a powerful tool. It will either guide you to prosperity or drown you in sorrows. Ultimately, it’s your thoughts that will determine the path that you will lead. As difficult as it may be for many people struggling financially to admit that it’s their mindset keeping them living paycheck to paycheck, that’s exactly the culprit. I know that because I used to be one of those people.
My mindset was so poor that it literally led me to the street. Yes, I was homeless, even though I graduated with two finance degrees. When I lost everything, I did a deep introspection of the mistakes that I made that led to my financial collapse. And I discovered that my money habits stemmed from the mindsets I developed throughout the years, and they were detrimental to my finances.
Spending to Impress Others
Most people struggling financially are very concerned about the way their family, friends and neighbours perceive them. They want to appear successful to the outside world. And they usually use possessions and lifestyle to demonstrate success. Some examples are buying a fancy car, taking an exotic vacation and owning designer brands.
If you can afford those purchases with cash, then you likely won’t find yourself in a financial rut. The problem is that most people use debt to finance those expenses. That used to be me. I bought a luxury BMW with vehicle finance and financed my vacations with a credit card. I was living the high life, and it felt great.
Keeping up a lifestyle I couldn’t afford wasn’t easy. Since I used debt to portray to others that I was successful, I had to maintain that standard of living. If I decided to sell my car and buy a cheaper one, then the people I was concerned about impressing would think that I downgraded and was less successful. And my ego wouldn’t allow that because I was too worried about their opinion.
To maintain that lifestyle, I had to take out another loan. Besides wanting to impress others, I also took out more loans because I enjoyed the value that my financed car and credit-card-funded vacation provided me with. That’s where the problem lies with spending to impress others.
Taking out one loan usually leads to taking out another loan. Eventually, I had accumulated several loans. I reached a point where I couldn’t make the minimum payments on my loans, and my car was repossessed and all my accounts were handed over to attorneys.
The best part about losing everything was that I also lost my ego. I completely stopped caring about what others thought about me, and I structured my purchasing decisions to favour my bank account and not my ego.
Thinking That I Was a Know-it-all
Jim Rohn said that if you want to solve your problems, you have to learn. It’s so true. After I graduated with two finance degrees and worked in corporate finance, I thought that I knew everything about money. And because I felt that way, I didn’t bother to expand my skill set and learn new ideas.
Becoming homeless humbled me and showed me that there was something that I didn’t know about money. If I had been wiser, I wouldn’t have lost everything.
I started my learning journey by examining my mistakes, and I discovered a pattern of poor financial decisions I had made over the years. After correcting them, I read books, listened to podcasts and watched videos of people who were financially successful. I wanted to achieve their results by modelling their behaviour.
I also figured that it was wise to have more than one skill. Since I had a background in finance, I started writing about investments and personal finance. That started my writing career. While writing, I wanted to start a side hustle. I thought that a passive business model with minimal hands-on activity was the right approach. And I found that in the vending machine industry.
I found employment in that industry for a short period to learn how vending machines functioned and the problems I could encounter so that I would know how to solve them. Shortly after quitting that job, I found locations and started my vending machine business, which became successful and I sold.
The more you learn, the more you earn.
I found that having skills in different industries was valuable. If the industry you’re currently in becomes obsolete or business dwindles, you can transfer to the other industry where you have skills. With the advent of artificial intelligence, it’s smart to have as many skills as possible to have multiple streams of income and protect yourself from a loss of income.
Surrounding Myself with Peers, Not Superiors
To achieve better results, you have to learn from people who have achieved more than you. Most of us surround ourselves with people who earn more or less the same amount of money as us. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But how can you expect to improve financially if your closest circle knows about money as much as you do?
You have to step out of your circle and find a mentor who has achieved the results you seek. That’s exactly what I did.
I found a man who was worth millions of dollars, and I told him that I wanted to learn from him. That sound like a good deal to me, but why would he share that knowledge or want to befriend me? I realised that I needed to add value to his life so that I could extract the information I sought from him.
If I didn’t offer anything to him, he wouldn’t see a reason to provide me with valuable information. So I offered him my hospitality experience.
Being mentored by a rich man provided me with a different perspective on money. That was absolutely crucial because I had tunnel vision. I needed somebody to show me a completely different way of thinking about money and forming new habits.
He had already taken the road that I needed to take, so he spared me a lot of time and money by showing me the mistakes that I should avoid. Teachings from an astute mentor are invaluable.
CHECK OUT MY NEW BOOK — From Homeless to Debtless with Savings
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