8 Habits That Keep From Achieving Your Financial Goals

Have you ever wondered about the invisible holes through which your money vanish? You end every month with little to no money in your account and none was invested. I’m neither rich nor a financial advisor but I will be uncovering some habits that eat up your funds leaving you poor at the end of every month.

Your daily habits have a role in determining your financial status and the best way to remain poor is not having a job or any source of income.

Here are some habits that keep eating holes in your pocket and hindering you from attaining your financial goals. Some people might have these habits but are still rich. They have the money and probably multiple streams of income. But if you are living paycheck to paycheck you can afford to live these lifestyles.

• Regularly eating out

• Buying designer wears

• Always upgrading to the latest phone you don’t need

• Gambling/sport betting

• Using drugs

• Alcoholism (different from moderate drinking)

• Impulse buying

• Womanizing

Regularly Eating out and more than necessary

Depending on your location and choice of meal, eating out regularly is dang expensive. Also eating more food than necessary will cost you.

Sometimes eating out might seem economically especially when you put into account the hike in foodstuffs and cooking gas in Nigeria. You won’t know how cheap cooking your own meals is until you start.

A friend asked me, “How can a bachelor stop eating out? Advise”

What stops a bachelor from cooking? If you can’t cook, learn how to.

Buying designer products

People who live private life tend to live happier & fulfilled than people who tend to live a flamboyant lifestyle it’s very good to embrace luxury but the sincere truth is that there is time for everything, some people wearing most designer products are brand ambassadors, think. Designer products look nice and all, but they are expensive. Before purchasing a trending designer wear think of the effect it will have on your funds.

Always upgrading to the latest phone you don’t need

Most persons seem not to understand when it comes to spending over what you earn. I know people that will buy the latest released phone with the last money in their account and end up begging for money for data and even food a few days later. In school, I had a coursemate who bought a newly released version of his phone (which was in good condition) with his school fees. When the exam came he started running around for money to pay his fees. In the end, he sold the phone, to pay and also have money to feed.

Gambling

Some say playing the lottery and sports betting doesn’t make one poor when they play with what they can afford to lose. This may be true. But I have friends who have been playing sports bets for months without a win. And they play every week. You might have heard of someone who won millions of naira with sports betting companies like Bet9ja. The question is how many have won such an amount. Very few compared to the thousands and millions of bettors who lose every day. I read an article a couple of years back, it stated that Bet9ja makes roughly 100 million naira profit every day. Where is this money coming from, fellow bettors? If gambling makes one person rich, it has wrecked 10 people. Some get addicted to betting, and can’t go a day without staking on games. Gambling is really killing some people's effort to make it and they just need to stop.

Smoking and using drugs

Have you heard of loud, Arizona or other expensive drugs that Nigerians consume to get high? If you are close to any of these guys who will have a clue to how much they spend on drugs daily. Also, these drugs are addictive, and some can spend every penny to get high.

Alcoholism

Some people can’t end a day without visiting a pub. In my previous residence, there was a neighbour who drinks every day. He can buy you a beer of 1000 naira but will never give you 200 naira to buy food. Some nights he ends up sleeping in the gutter or outside his residence. When he exhausted his monthly paycheck, he will keep tabs with the barwoman to settle when the next paycheck arrives. Also, someday I was in a cab, and held up in a traffic jam, the cab driver brought out the money he has made so far, he counted it and it was 3500 naira, he removed 1500 and his words were “this one a for pepper soup and ogogoro”. From his story, that was his daily routine. How will such individuals improve their financial status? Alcohol is not bad, but when you take too much to the point it affects your finances.

Impulse buying

You buy things not because you want them or need them, but just because you saw them. If you do this a lot on a small salary, it’s time you stopped. Impulse buying thought me well more like a bad habit, but the moment I diverted a particular impulse buying fund to get a money-making skill…life has been good since then, less impulse buying more money-making.

Womanizing

Womanizing is another bad habit that is capable of bringing a man down. A lot of Nigerian girls are willing and ready to spend your money. You are married, yet you keep girls who only care about the material things you have to offer them. They bill you now and then, and you pay to keep them happy, while your family are managing to survive. I want to believe one woman is enough for you.

I don’t do any of these, so why am I still broke?

Do you have a job? Do you have any source of income? If not, you have got your answer.

If yes, is your monthly income enough to lay your bills and other utilities?

You avoid these habits but you are still broke, then it’s either you don’t make money, and if you do, you don’t make enough.

Take charge of your life and do the needful.

Question

What other habits do you think prevents people from meeting their financial goals? Share with us in the comments

Thought of the day

The more you hate on the rich the poorer you become. You can’t become what you hate. You just have to pick a side.