5 Warning Signs You Will Stay Poor
If you are living pay check to paycheck and hoping to one day be rich and debt free, consider these 5 Warning Signs that You Will Stay Poor.
If these WARNING SIGNS apply to you or a loved one, fear not. While this information may be hard to swallow at first, there is hope. You can get help and start making immediate changes to your lifestyle that will result in you not remaining poor.
Please be sure to share this important information with everyone you know!
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You keep spending more than you earn.
This one is a no brainier. Every time you spend more money than you have earned, you are in debt. If this is how you live, making $1.25 and spending a $1.50, you’ll always remain poor.
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Your wheels cost more than your car.
You invested $4,000 dollars on a car worth $800 bucks. When your financial priorities are out of balance it is guaranteed that you will not be acquiring wealth anytime soon.Other examples include: No money to fix your car, but you bought a new plasma television. You can’t pay child support, but you bought an ‘09 Corvette Z06. The power company turned off your lights because you didn’t pay your bill, but you’re wearing 80 dollar jeans so your butt will look good when you go out to the club.
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You believe there is a Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid, Aka Blame “The Man”
It’s up to you to educate yourself about finances and to do something about it. Stop blaming someone else for your problems. Stop blaming the government officials you elected. Stop blaming corporations. Stop blaming bad luck. Stop blaming the man in the sky. Stop blaming the credit card companies and your bank.
It’s your own fault for getting yourself into debt. So long as you think that everyone else is out to keep you poor and dumb, you will remain poor.
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You notice the “cost per month” price on items.
It should be obvious that if you can’t pay for it in cash, you can’t afford it. If the only thing that matters when you go to buy something is what kind of payments you can make, then chances are you are going to remain poor.
Consider this: you have just been promoted to manager at Kinko’s and you are looking at a brand new BMW. The car salesmen tells you that you can drive this new car home today for only $549 a month for 72 months. That’s a sweet deal! Heck the car is only 32K, and you make that in a year! Right?
Here is why you are poor. That car will actually cost you in the long run a total of $39,562 at 7% APR. That sweet deal actually cost you an additional $4,000.
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You Keep spending money on Weed, Cigarettes, Beer or PORN.
Nothing is more expensive than addictive habits. Not only are they unhealthy, but they are keeping you in the poor house.A pack of cigarettes cost almost $5 on average—with some states tacking on additional taxes that raise the price. In New York City, for example, local taxes have pushed the cost of a pack to more than $10 in most stores. You are literally smoking your money every time you light one up.
Making a habit out of getting high or drunk just to have fun will end up hurting your wallet in the long run. You don’t need to be hammered or stoned to enjoy life or to relax. If you have a real job (besides flipping burgers) you want to risk your income by doing drugs. Random drug screenings anyone?
All to often, finance gurus fail to mention that PORN, a highly addictive and widely popular habit, is also a huge waste of your money.
If you or anyone you know is suffering from these warning signs be sure to immediately read my “4 Ways to be Richer“
Mike on Twitter
Sad but altogether true. The part about your rims being worth more than your car was hilarious.
Loved this post. I loved it because I did not identify myself in those point! But it was not always like this, and now I see the difference.
Thanks, I didn’t realize myself that I was buying things to impress other people until I hit rock bottom financially. It was easier for me to figure out I was spending more than I earned, but harder to do more about it at first. A lot of this is all based around habits.
Haha….so no more beers & naked girls huh? Or is that only until you hit your first million?
Well, it’s meant to be funny. But we don’t always think that a few beers will hurt us, but getting a DUI can turn into a very expensive thing indeed. Happened to a friend of mine a year ago. Cost him thousands of dollars, all because of one night of fun. I’m not saying beer is bad, I drink on occasion and enjoy micro-brews.
Having too many babies on a limited income. AND continuing to do the five things on the list, especially #5.
This is a good post and I think mentions more practical points then similar themed topics I’ve seen on other blogs. The only thing I have an issue with is #3. Actually, I agree completely except for the last line where, in my opinion, you imply that anyone with debt issues is irresponsible or that it’s “their fault”. Certainly, that is the case for some…maybe most. But there are situations that can arise that disrupt someone’s life, that which they cannot control. And if they are in debt and have money problems they arrived there not from there reckless behavior or lack of planning but because…life happens.
I work with several families who have had their financial situations turned completely upside down due to some unforeseen circumstance. They had their emergency funds. They had their savings. They followed the guidelines to be financially stable and still, some things happen that all the preparation in the world couldn’t absorb.
Another thing I would add is people who try to impress other people (that they probably don’t even care about) with material things. These people live an artificial life wasting time chasing the perception of another person’s good fortune only to have theirs stalled for life.
You are correct and I didn’t really think about it when I was writing. Some people are poor because of circumstance, like say if a family member gets a very serious illness and your insurance won’t cover it and next thing you know you are 100K in debt with hospital bills. Insurance doesn’t cover anything. Heck if the dollar collapsed tomorrow, many of us would be in serious trouble, even many of the wealthy. Heck I know some guys who make very little only to get wiped out by child support, which goes to ex’s who make 5x as much as them. And then they can’t support themselves. It’s a shame, I had a dead beat father who never paid child support, but their are some men who aren’t dead beats but are treated like it by the system.
I am a firm believer however that being poor and being broke are two different things, and that most people in this country are broke and chose to be so. There is plenty of opportunity here. But most people in this country are broke because of how they think and act. It’s not like say Africa where there simply is no opportunity. In many places, even if someone wanted to succeed, they simply can’t without leaving their country completely.