Debt Is Easy to Get
If you have an income, you can get some kind of loan. However, eventually you will not be able to get a loan when you have trouble paying on the loans you have accumulated.
Debt is easy until it is not!
Then, what? That is the question you must ask yourself if you get a loan because you have no savings to help you through difficult situations.
Saving Can Save You
They call it saving for a reason. It can save you from difficult situations. Saving on your income is an action that accumulates savings to pay for emergencies.
When it adds up to more than you need for emergencies, then, it becomes a fun part of your financial life!
Such a savings accumulation can raise many possibilities for valuable activities in your life.
Are You Logical?
It will help if you are logical.
Buying based on emotions can cloud good judgment.
That is the difference between buying what you can afford versus buying what you want with no regard to the cost and possibility of added debt.
Are You Making Poor Choices?
Farmers often worry about someone forgetting to close the barn door or the pasture gate. They become aware of the problem when they see their animals wandering down the road.
Making poor spending choices is like that. You will notice the problem when your stable of money is empty.
If that happens to you, do what the farmer does. Drop what you are doing and corral your livestock!
Once you have them back in place, make sure the locks are secure, and access is limited. Make sure they have plenty of food and water. They are more likely to stay if you care for them.
Care for your money and it will take care of you. Farmers learn that their livestock is their money, and they take care of them. You must do the same.
Consider your wallet as your barn. When you get it out and open it, will you allow too many of your assets to get out? Will you lose control of what you have? Will you exchange too many at the market to be able to replenish your herd?
Those are pressing questions to a farmer. And the same kind of questions should pass through your mind when making your spending decisions.
Count your livestock before you go to the market. Know what you can sell and still be able to survive on your own with enough to replenish your herd of assets.
Can You Change Bad Spending Habits?
Yes. Of course, you can!
Think of yourself as a farmer. You work to feed and house your family.
Whatever your source of income, you must realize that what you keep for future needs is more important than what you can spend today.
Saving enough money to invest is like the farmer canning vegetables from the garden and breeding livestock. They save for the winter scarcity and plan for a bigger herd in the spring!
That kind of mindset will help you make changes and alert you to developing habits to help you make better decisions for spending, saving, and investing.
Learn. Then act. Be patient. Be aware of what you have. Study ways to accumulate enough to protect your short-term needs. Then, be brave enough and work hard enough to protect your assets and help them to multiply!
Debt Versus Savings
I have lived long enough to remember the crisis created by farmers borrowing against their land only to see land values go down. That created a crisis which caused many farmers to lose their farms.
You may be setting yourself up for a crisis of your own if you look at the equity in your home as money you can borrow. Your house is your home. Your goal should be to pay it off as soon as possible. You will be glad you did as you get older and work is harder to find. Selling a paid-off home is much better than selling a highly mortgaged home!
If you focus on reducing debt, building savings, and learning how to invest, you can form some great positive habits that will accumulate to a pleasant feeling as you age.
“Don’t Fence Me In”
Cattlemen and Crop Farmers used to have brutal disputes in the old west. Barbed wire became the symbol of animal control and cruelty.
Oddly enough, the wire fence was used to keep cattle out of the farmer’s fields. Later, fences were used to keep cattle in.
Since I am writing to help you build a better mindset for money, I want you to build a mental barbed-wire fence around your money. When you make spending decisions that do not go through your mental gate, I want it to hurt when you reach over that fence and spend more than you need to!
I love word pictures! I hope you do too.
More Pasture Will Help
Today, there is more scientific research done that a farmer can resource to help him become successful. They have learned to rotate pastures, since cattle will eat what is available. By limiting what is available over a short period of time, the grass in an adjoining pasture can grow for the next session of feeding. Electric fences make that easier to manage.
Of course, if you want to have more cattle you will eventually need more pasture. Then, you need to source hay to feed the cattle during the winter, along with grain.
Remember: Hay comes from grass you saved by bailing and grain comes from a stored harvest to be used later.
Saving is good. It is like the hay you bailed and the grain you stored. A harsh winter is easier to survive with storage of useful assets, like money you were patient to save out of every paycheck!
Debt must be considered your enemy, a burden that limits your possibilities and puts you at risk of losing what you have worked so hard to accumulate.
Savings can become your storehouse, the means of surviving the draughts and other difficult times.
Debt bad, saving good!