Saving is a basic habit every professional must learn. But oftentimes, we’d rather spend our hard-earned money instead of putting it aside for rainy days. This can be attributed to many obstacles (read: excuses) that are all too familiar to many of us out there.
Here are some of the most common excuses we might have made ourselves:
1. “I’m not making enough money to be able to save.”
This is a common excuse among young professionals who have just recently started their career. While it is really difficult to save when you’re in the early career stages, it doesn’t mean you can’t save at all. Remember, there will always be room for improvement and if that means tightening your belt some more, then do it. Take a closer look at your expenses and see if there are any opportunities for you to save.
2. “I’m still settling some debts.”
Owing money can really get in the way of saving. But paying off debt is still saving in a sense, as you are putting yourself in a better financial footing. The faster you get out of debt, the sooner you’ll be able to start saving. But here’s the kicker: Saving doesn’t entail you to put aside a huge chunk of your monthly salary at the expense of debt payments and living costs. You simply need to allocate a small amount to save. And as your debts get smaller, you can start increasing the amount of money saved.
3. “I don’t know where my money is going.”
If you’re using this excuse, then maybe the problem lies in how you track your expenses. Losing control of your expenses is a serious issue and you need to keep it under control as soon as possible. Start by tracking your income and expenses. It doesn’t need to be an elaborate scheme. You just need to be able to create a realistic budget that you can use and live by. Once you’re able to track your expenses, you can better determine areas to cut some costs and allocate them towards a savings account.
4. “I’ll start saving later.”
Nothing like good old procrastination to endanger your financial future. This may also run along the lines of “I’m still too young to save” or “I want to be able to spend my hard-earned money while I still can”. But there’s no such things as “saving too early” or being “too young to save”. There’s absolutely no reason to spend your money just because you can or because you think you have plenty of time in the future to save. But you never know what may happen in the future, so if you can save money now, then start saving!
These obstacles may seem formidable for most of us, but we should stop using them as an excuse. More importantly, we should strive our hardest to overcome them in order to secure our financial future.
This article is contributed by Jobstreet.com.
