What money habits keep you poor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Takeout and coffee are not the reasons!

Young folks love to say that. Older folks would say "that's exactly why"! Gen gap maybe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read this list somewhere. Add yours.

What money habits keep you poor?

1. Lack of spending discipline.
2. Lack of earning power
3. Lack of work discipline.
4. Lack of financial literacy.
5. You are not paying yourself first.
6. Impulsive buying.
7. Broke people are influencing you.
8. Selling your time for money is your only income.

1 and 6 are the same. Yes, unable to control your spending would be no. 1. it's not how much you make, it's how you spend your money.

No, sometimes it’s about what you make. There’s a limit to how much you can reduce fixed costs. If you are a single parent in the dc area making less than 50k you are going to stay poor no matter how financially disciplined you are.

+1 for how much you make being more important than monitoring spending. Sure, there are some people that have no self control and don't save anything, but those are outliers. For most families making more money will move the dial in terms of lifestyle vs pinching pennies.

poor people like to think that. it's your spending and poor life choices

Lol. Poor people like to think that bc it’s true. Hard to save 50k a year on a 45k salary.

[Anonymous]

This probably doesn’t need to be said on DCUM, but some people I know miss the forest for the trees with regard to short term vs long term income potential. I’m talking about paying for childcare v. having one parent SAH. And also, telling your kid that they’ll be better off forgoing 4-year college or getting an AAS in Dental Hygiene v. a 4-year degree. Because, by some people’s logic, better to start earning money immediately than to take out student loans.

Personally, I think it’s really important for personal finance reasons to try to get a BA or BS if you can. There’s a lot of chatter about the “student loan crisis,” but the bulk of those outstanding loans are from graduate degrees, not undergraduate degrees. It was completely worth it in my case & many of my friends & family’s to take out $25-30k in federal loans.

[Anonymous]

Spending on kids (activities, sports, tutors), and my house - not the mortgage, but the gardener, pest control, pool guy, maintenance, insurance etc

[Anonymous]

I am okay now, but below are the reasons for previous poor money habits:

Having kids too young;
Marrying the wrong person;
Buying a house before we were ready for homeownership;
Putting/keeping kids in private school instead of moving to a better area;

[Anonymous]

Beer

[Anonymous]

The number 1 thing is being not being focused enough on (higher) education to get you the very highest paying career you can. This usually means the best degree/program you can get into, then later best internship, followed by very best job. Then staying in that white collar job for a bit before networking and jumping for more money.

Forget passion jobs if you are not wealthy….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This probably doesn’t need to be said on DCUM, but some people I know miss the forest for the trees with regard to short term vs long term income potential. I’m talking about paying for childcare v. having one parent SAH. And also, telling your kid that they’ll be better off forgoing 4-year college or getting an AAS in Dental Hygiene v. a 4-year degree. Because, by some people’s logic, better to start earning money immediately than to take out student loans.

Personally, I think it’s really important for personal finance reasons to try to get a BA or BS if you can. There’s a lot of chatter about the “student loan crisis,” but the bulk of those outstanding loans are from graduate degrees, not undergraduate degrees. It was completely worth it in my case & many of my friends & family’s to take out $25-30k in federal loans.

💯

[Anonymous]

Probably ADHD and booze.

[Anonymous]

Marriage.

[Anonymous]

Travel sports for kids.
Fly away vacations for family with kids too young to appreciate.
Buying new cars every couple of years.
Stay at home moms who stay at home after kids are in middle school.

[Anonymous]

anyone making 100k is poor

[Anonymous]

Not being paid enough.


- a teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being too frugal that I don't value my own time and mental stamina despite having more than enough income to outsource most work / labor.

this habit kept you stupid, not poor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:anyone making 100k is poor

Depends where you live & your household size