| When I think about the financial life I had in my twenties I ponder why I made such ignorant choices with my money. I always had goals; such as owning a home, starting a business and traveling but what I didn’t have at the time was a written plan. An unknown author stated, “ A goal without a plan, is just a WISH.” So really I was just wishing that all those things would fall out the sky and be mine.
The sad part about this way of thinking is that it becomes habit forming. Many individuals are still wishing for things to fall out the sky, because without creating and working a plan it’s just a fantasy. These wishful thinkers are “living an underground financial life.”
You can recognize people living this lifestyle very easily; they do things such as cash their checks at check cashing places not realizing how much extra money they are spending on fees and time. Their cell phone number changes frequently or it’s disconnected several times because they haven’t put a budget/plan in place to factor in their monthly expenses. They always need to borrow money and continue to have emergency after emergency; which cause them to lose out on life-changing opportunities. Are you living underground?
When I run into “under grounders” I try to give them information that will help them move towards a healthier financial lifestyle. I am careful not to put them down or sound condescending. For instance a woman was telling me that a local bank refused to cash one of the two cashiers checks that they issued to her. She didn’t have an account with them but was issued a check from one of their customers, which is why she went to them in the first place. I explained to her that the bank was not obligated to serve her because she was not their customer and most banks would expect a person to deposit a cashier’s check into their personal bank account to retain the funds. She was so upset that she could see the bigger picture. She was not a banking customer. Therefore they were not going to treat her like one. What was her answer to this dilemma? She simply made the choice to spend a considerable amount of money on fees at a check cashing location instead of becoming a customer. This was sad and disappointing.
I can only speculate why she would rather pay astronomical fees rather than open up a FREE checking or savings account. Did she write bad checks in the past? Is she hiding her income from the government? There could be hundreds of reasons, but the point of this story is, the financial life of the “under-grounder” is a costly one! Warm regards, Dina Harbour, Extraordinaire Stay Connected to W.O.W. download our customized toolbar today!CEO & Host of Women Obtaining Wealth Women Obtaining Wealth Organization W.O.W. Conversations on Internet Radio, Sundays @ 9p EST Call-In # for show: (646) 478-5836 Recommend Me! |
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