What’s Your Poison In Your 20s?
 |
Money in the 20s is a blog about personal finance, investing, the economy and business school. |
When it comes to dissecting various personal finance subjects it’s easy to think of the rational solution. When writing a budget for the first time we don’t factor in foolish spending. When setting goals for money we figure that we won’t mess up for the duration of the goal. The truth is that we all mess up when it comes to our behavior in our 20s when it comes to life and money.
For example, I spend many hours a day writing about personal finance. I’ve been doing this since late-2008 and I still make so many foolish mistakes with my money. When my laptop crashed, I didn’t look for bargains or try to find the best deal on my next laptop. I just went into the Apple store and bought a brand new Macbook Air. I could have saved some good money by actually shopping around for a deal. Instead I bought the first laptop that I saw. I easily cost myself hundreds of dollars by doing this. My impatience has also cost me money other times in the past, but I won’t get into that for now. The point is that we all make mistakes with our money.
What are some mistakes that you could be making with your money right now?
- Getting charged petty banking fees.
- Eating out your meals too often.
- Going out too often.
- Screwing up you credit score, costing you thousands of dollars in the future.
- Not finding the best deal when buying big ticket items.
- Smoking cigarettes.
- Unhealthy lifestyle.
- Driving when you can take the bus.
- Living in a place you can’t afford.
- Buying when you should really rent.
On top of making mistakes with our money, we all have other issues that could be affecting us. Personal finance advice often comes in a “one-size-fits-all” sort of package. When you talk to real people you realize that there are many underlying issues preventing many of us from saving money in our 20s. We got so much going on in our lives, we don’t how to solve our own problems, and we’re expected to learn how to manage our finances.
What are some examples of spending weaknesses that we can possess in our 20s?
- Being someone that goes out too often.
- Falling in love easily and spending your money on trying to find a new partner.
- Chasing get rich quick schemes.
- Always wanting to start a new business
- An irresistible urge to spend money constantly.
When it comes to being foolish with money and in general we all have poisons. That’s just the reality of trying to save money and build up your savings as you grow through your 20s.
When it comes to personal finance my poison is going out. I just can’t stay in for long. I always need to be out. I go out on random nights (Monday or Wednesday) because I feel like getting out. I love cooking my own food, yet I still find myself going to restaurants to eat out fairly regularly. I’ve been working on controlling this, but there are just times where the urge to go out takes over everything else.
As a 20-something what’s your poison? What’s forcing you to do something foolish? What’s costing you money with negative health implications? What’s holding you back from saving money?
