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8 bad money habits you should break๐Ÿ’ฐ

bad money habits to break

8 bad money habits you should break –

Introduction ๐Ÿ‘‹

If nobody has ever taught you about money before, it can be really easy to fall into some bad habits. ๐Ÿ˜Ÿ

These bad habits can cost you a lot of money in the long run! ๐Ÿ’ธ

Getting out of them can help you to:

  • get on top of your finances ๐Ÿฅณ
  • increase your income (how much money you make) ๐Ÿ“ˆ
  • decrease how much you spend ๐Ÿ“‰
  • improve your relationships ๐Ÿ’ž
  • reduce stress ๐Ÿง˜โ€โ™€๏ธ

The sooner you get out of your bad money habits, the better!

Today we’re going to teach you about the most common bad money habits, and how to get out of them!

Disclaimer: This website provides information for guidance and educational purposes only. The Grown-Up School does not provide regulated financial advice. You can seek independent financial advice from a suitably qualified and regulated professional advisor. Check out our disclaimer policy for more information.

1. Spending all of your pay ๐Ÿ’ธ

If you constantly spend all of your pay (or even more than you’re getting paid!), you might struggle to get enough money to:

  • Cover emergencies ๐Ÿš’
  • Avoid debt (borrowing money)๐ŸŒช๏ธ
  • Have financial freedom to make different choices ๐Ÿ–๏ธ
  • Have peace of mind ๐Ÿง˜
  • Get protection for the future ๐Ÿฆพ
  • Help others ๐Ÿ’ž
  • Make expensive things a bit less expensive (when you don’t have to borrow money!)๐Ÿš—
  • Give you more security when you make investments ๐Ÿ“ˆ

(8 reasons to start saving money now ๐Ÿท)

Regularly putting some money aside in savings (even just a little bit!), can make a huge difference in the long run. ๐Ÿ“ˆ

If you set up your bank account to automatically put money into savings every month, you might not even notice the difference! ๐Ÿ”

2. Not knowing where your money is going ๐Ÿ—บ๏ธ

How often do you check your bank account? ๐Ÿ›๏ธ

Every month? ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

Every week? ๐Ÿ‘

Every day/couple of days? ๐Ÿคฉ

The more often you check on your money, the better! ๐Ÿ™Œ

Tracking your money helps you to:

  • Stick to your budget ๐Ÿ“ˆ
  • Stay on top of your spending ๐Ÿง˜โ€โ™€๏ธ
  • Notice when someone has charged you too much ๐Ÿ•ต๏ธโ€โ™€๏ธ
  • Notice when your bank account has been hacked! ๐Ÿ‘ฎโ€โ™€๏ธ

(How to keep control of your money ๐Ÿ’ธ)

3. Not having a savings goal ๐Ÿ“ˆ

Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it does grow when you start saving! ๐Ÿชด

If you want to save more money, set some clear goals, and a plan to get there.

Think about what you want to save for in the short term, and long term!โŒš

4. Using money to impress your friends ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿ•บ

We’re constantly surrounded by pictures of rich celebrities in the news, with:

  • expensive clothes
  • flashy cars
  • fancy houses
  • luxurious holidays
  • posh dinners

You might find yourself thinking that if you copy them, people might like you more – and this could get really expensive! ๐Ÿ’ธ

BUT

Research has actually found, that if you show off with money, it actually makes you less attractive as a friend to people. ๐Ÿ‘Ž

So, why not save yourself the money, and just spend quality time with your friends instead? ๐Ÿ’ฐ

5. Disorganised debts ๐Ÿฅด

(Debt = borrowing money)

Not all debt is created equal. โš–๏ธ

When you borrow money, some debt/loans are more expensive (high interest), and some are cheaper! (low interest).

(What is interest? (easy explanation) ๐Ÿ“ˆ)

If you rank your debts from highest to lowest interest, you can focus on prioritizing the most expensive ones (high interest debts).

Prioritizing the expensive high interest debts and paying them off sooner, will help you to pay less money in the long run!

(Make sure to keep paying your minimum amounts though to avoid getting into trouble!)

6. Paying off the minimum when you borrow money ๐Ÿ’ณ

When you borrow money, you’ll often be given a “minimum amount” to pay back every month. ๐Ÿ’ฐ

It can be really tempting to only pay the minimum amount, to give you some money spare.

BUT – this can be a bad money habit to get into, because:

  • you’ll end up paying more money over time ๐Ÿ“ˆ
  • it’ll take you longer to pay off the money you owe โŒš
  • other lenders might see you as “more risky” if you only pay the minimum amount, when they look at your credit rating (What is a credit rating? ๐Ÿ“ˆ)

If you can get into the habit of repaying your loans in full, or paying back the maximum, it could save you money in the long run.

7. Ignoring insurance ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ

When you’re young it’s easy to feel like you’re invincible, and avoid insurance to save a bit of money. ๐Ÿ’ธ

BUT

If you need insurance and don’t have it, just one emergency could wipe out all your savings! ๐Ÿ’ฐ

Getting insurance is where you pay money to “protect yourself” from different emergencies.

If you find yourself in the emergency, you will often be given emergency money to help you.

You can pay for insurance to help you in situations like:

  • Your phone breaking (mobile phone insurance) ๐Ÿ“ฑ
  • Pets getting sick (pet insurance) ๐Ÿถ
  • Your car getting stolen (car insurance) ๐Ÿš—
  • A house fire damaging your building (buildings home insurance) ๐Ÿ”ฅ
  • Flooding damaging your belongings at home (contents home insurance) ๐Ÿšฟ
  • Losing your income because you’ve become ill/disabled (income protection) ๐Ÿ’ผ
  • You or your partner passing away (life insurance) ๐Ÿฅ€
  • You getting a critical illness (critical illness cover) ๐Ÿฉบ
  • Having troubles on holiday like getting burgled (travel insurance) โœˆ๏ธ

If these emergencies happen you can get paid a sum of emergency money when you have insurance cover in place.

It’s important to consider getting insurance to make sure you can pay for expensive emergencies!

8. Putting off investing โ›”

A lot of people say “I’ll wait until I have more money” instead of investing.

However, it can actually be very easy to invest with small amounts of money! ๐Ÿ‘›

If you’ve:

  • got your emergency savings sorted ๐Ÿš‘
  • prioritized your high interest (expensive) debts ๐Ÿ“ˆ
  • planned retirement ๐Ÿง“
  • planned how to pay off your low interest (less expensive) debts ๐Ÿ“‰

(How to start looking after your money ๐ŸŒฑ)

and you’re:

  • keen to grow your money ๐ŸŒฑ
  • happy to take on some risk ๐Ÿ“‰

investments might be your next stop.

Investing is where you buy something, expecting that it’s going to increase in value. ๐Ÿ’ธ

You could invest in exotic things like: ๐ŸŒด

  • Art ๐ŸŽจ
  • Wine ๐Ÿท
  • Vintage cars or motorcycles ๐Ÿš—

Or the 3 main traditional investments: ๐Ÿ“œ

  • Stocks/shares (small slices of businesses – you own a small part of the business) ๐Ÿ’ผ๐Ÿฐ
  • Bonds (loans to a government or business – they pay you back – with interest!) ๐Ÿ›๏ธ๐Ÿ’ฐ
  • Funds (your money gets pooled together across lots of investments, can be both shares and bonds) ๐ŸŠโ€โ™€๏ธ๐Ÿ’ฆ

If you want to get started investing, there are lots of resources available online to help you!

Conclusion ๐Ÿ‘

So that’s it!

If you can afford it, you should try and break these money habits:

  1. Spending all of your pay ๐Ÿ’ธ
  2. Not knowing where your money is going ๐Ÿ—บ๏ธ
  3. Not having a savings goal ๐Ÿ“ˆ
  4. Using money to impress your friends ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿ•บ
  5. Having disorganised debts ๐Ÿฅด
  6. Paying off the minimum when you borrow money ๐Ÿ’ณ
  7. Ignoring insurance ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ
  8. Putting off investing โ›”

If you know any friends or family members who might benefit from learning about bad money habits, share this post with them!

Finally, don’t forget to check out our similar articles below!

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