If you’re employed, it (supposedly) means you have a salary that will afford you what you can buy with money. And when it comes to money, you always need to have a plan, realistic, objective, consistent, and regularly updated, according to circumstances.
How many times have you heard that money isn’t important? That health comes first, then love, and so on… I can’t even count. I often ponder over this casually and commonly used phrase. I need as much money as it takes to buy what I need, and that doesn’t necessarily mean a lot of zeros… However, claiming that money isn’t important – only someone living outside the urban world and the system can say that. Perhaps it’s unimportant in the context of some other values, unimportant in relation to something else, but on its own? No. Health is the most important, but money is necessary for a healthy life or for treatment; friendship is more important than money, but we still need money for socializing… I won’t list more, we all work for money, don’t we? Money doesn’t bring happiness, but it’s necessary for a normal and healthy life. To put it simply – it’s necessary for life. Therefore, money shouldn’t be your top priority, because it isn’t, but it should be important to you, in the sense that you need to earn it for existence and to achieve what you need it for, and that’s a lot of things.
I had my own world, my own goal, and I didn’t envy others too much. When I was a child and had some unrealistic desires, my dad always told me, “You can only stretch as far as your blanket goes.” And he was absolutely right. It’s hard to be in imbalance – wanting something but not accepting that it’s impossible at that moment. This leads to an obsession with that goal, which further leads to ruin – financial and/or psychological. I know people who have spent large sums of money just because they can’t come to terms with the current situation and the society they belong to. Like gamblers, they hope that in the next hand, they will be lucky and persistently spend beyond their means. What’s worse, they don’t know how to recognize the alarm to pull the emergency brake and stop. Why do they do that? They’re fleeing from a reality they don’t like. All these people fervently want to leave an impression on others and prove that they belong somewhere. It’s okay to strive for better and invest in a slightly better standard of living. But don’t overdo it, because you might find yourself in a dilemma. You might find yourself running away from your environment, although you haven’t found the ideal one you’re searching for yet.
You need to know yourself, your desires, and your emotions, but you also need to know money; it’s not just about earning it, but also about saving it. Is saving your lifestyle? Have you ever saved? Do you have an emergency fund? Do you only buy what you need, or do you come back from shopping and wonder why you bought half the things? What’s the largest amount you’ve managed to save so far (if you’ve even tried)? Answer these questions for yourself before you conclude (if you haven’t already) whether you’re thrifty or not. We all love to spend and be surrounded by nice things, it’s not a human weakness, but a human characteristic – we all like to enjoy in one way or another. However, behind everything, there should be responsibility and concern for the future. We don’t just live for today, there’s always tomorrow, and that’s always worth keeping in mind. Considering that money provides security, you should always keep it in reserve. Try, if you haven’t already, to think in that direction. You’ll see that it’s very easy to give up small, unnecessary expenses and save on a daily or monthly basis. Saving doesn’t mean giving up pleasures, but rather spending money sensibly. Attitude toward money is formed in the family, from childhood. A smart and responsible parent, who thinks ahead, won’t give their children everything they want immediately (even if they have the means to do so). That way they’ll show them that in life, the things we want aren’t obtained instantly, just like that, but that you need to be patient, make an effort, and understand that something simply cannot be had. Nothing comes easy (if rules are respected) and nothing is taken for granted. Everything needs to be earned and everything you’ve created yourself should be appreciated – that’s a great success and you’ll be proud of yourself for everything that’s your own work. So, replace small daily pleasures with important and long-term goals. Keep track of your expenses and find out what you spend the most money on taxis, coffee and juice, outings, clothes, cosmetics, etc., and then, according to that, consider whether you really need all of that so often and to that extent. Also, if your income is lower than it used to be, adjust your spending to the new situation. It often happens that people don’t reduce their expenses, even though their income has decreased. In economics, this is called the gear effect – you can’t move backward. Just like prices, reducing spending isn’t easy either. Successful and wealthy (and smart) people have an instructive routine: work hard, and spend moderately. Whether rich and successful or not, try to adhere to this golden rule so that you may become so tomorrow. Be especially cautious when it comes to the people around you. When you have money or are sure you’ll have it in the near future, you’ll surely have a crowd of friends and so-called friends around you, because – people, it’s a fact, love to spend other people’s money. Beware of parasites who will be by your side until the last penny, and after that, they’ll be nowhere to be seen.
Almost everyone wants to get rich. Some succeed. But there’s a big difference between “getting rich” and “being and staying rich.” You can become rich very easily, sometimes in one day, in a blink of an eye (sometimes accidentally, sometimes by fraud), but if you don’t manage your finances well – you’ll lose your wealth even faster. Some have won millions in the lottery, only to spend them in a year. You always need to be cautious, take business risks moderately – and have a reserve. In the end, if nothing else, when “rainy days” come, you’ll have mental stability, which is invaluable. You don’t know how long it will last, but be prepared and have a reserve for at least two years. A former colleague of mine told me his sad story which confirms this. Namely, due to circumstances and poor business decisions, he lost his job. He has a family, and that requires fixed large expenses on a monthly basis (children’s school and extracurricular activities, bills, loans, food…). Faced with sudden events, he quickly realizes the essence of the “emergency fund” which, fortunately, his godfather lent him. Heroes and real friends are recognized in times of trouble. Enlightenment comes lightning-fast when you lose your car, so you have to take public transportation in winter boots (because you’ve always driven, so you didn’t need boots); when calls from your former buddies you used to party with in the bar stop, because your business signatures are no longer on the bills; when you wait for a job offer for months, for an executive position, because even if you wanted to, you can’t take a lower position due to too much experience… In such situations, life priorities are quickly sorted out in your head and friends are selected.
Therefore, I appeal to you to, for the sake of mental peace, always have savings and make it your lifestyle. Leave some change in the “piggy bank” every month. At the Economics Faculty, we learned to apply “risk dispersion”: don’t keep all your savings in the same currency, combine gold and silver, invest in real estate, art objects, but most of all – in yourself.
To someone who would tell me that money is completely unimportant in our lives, I would ask: how then to explain the fact that people, for the sake of a salary, stay in a company they’re dissatisfied with for years, where they’re oppressed, belittled, underpaid, etc. Truly, how? Because they have to eat something, feed their families, pay rent or mortgage, pay bills, and all of that is done with money, isn’t it? Maybe having millions isn’t important, but having enough money for everything life demands from us daily is indeed important.
Remember the old saying: “Who doesn’t take care of pounds will have to take care of pennies.”