21 Habits of Highly Broke People
by Dipo Adesina
The book titled “21 Habits of Highly Broke People” is an easy read which gives the reader tips on how they can break their poor habits. It argues that your success and failure in life are determined by our flock, otherwise known as ‘the habit of associating with broke people’. Another common mistake is the habit of spending more money than you earn. Additionally, failing to invest or put money in savings while despising wealthy people is a prevalent issue. Other habits include not reading, looking for short cuts in life, and wasting time.
It’s not necessary to dump our current relationships, but rather to begin to cultivate relationships that empower us. For example, there is a difference between friends that want to skip school compared to those that fall under the ‘nerd’ stereotype. These types of people have different impacts on our lives. Often times it is the people that weren’t focused, who down the road end up working for these so-called nerds. The notion that being smart and focused is a bad thing will continue us living a life from check to check.
In college, experimenting with drugs sounds cool until we end up addicted to crack or meth and doing anything for a score. This is starkly opposed to an athlete, or any other positive club association, that may offer a scholarship to help us financially rather than having student loans in the future. It is also a terrible idea to use credit cards when we don’t have a steady source of income to actually pay them off.
As a young adult, going to happy hour and clubs every weekend is fun, however, as always, balance in life is essential. We need to have a great time but also make sure that we’ve saved something before we spend our last dollars on non-essential items, such as clothes and drinks. It is important to remember that young adults typically don’t make enough money to live the same lifestyle as what we see older and more established people do. If we are fortunate enough to make great amounts of money, we need to be prepared for a hiccup in the road because life can be full of surprises. This time in our lives is also a great time to build our credit scores.
As we grow into adulthood, it is important to step back and question if we are unintentionally competing with our friends and colleagues. Now that we have more responsibility and money, we need to make sure that we can really afford that luxury vehicle or extra bedrooms ‘just in case’. Are we investing into something stable or depreciating? We have more money now but are we making wise decisions? How much do we have saved for one of many emergencies that may occur in the future? Are we cooking at home to save money or are we going out to dinner all of the time? How much weight are we willing to gain because we are too busy working hard now and don’t have the time for exercise? This lifestyle looks different from our peers that are living on less, investing, driving their cars a little longer, cooking more at home, and saving before they splurge.
As we become mature adults, it is essential to have an exit strategy. We need to be able to retire comfortably, and hopefully, with our forever home paid off. If not, we must ask ourselves if we’ve cultivated relationships with our relatives that will allow us to live with them. Even with a fixed income, if we want to pay rent then we have to also account for inflation. We’ve worked hard to get to this point and with retirement around the corner, we need to understand what our future will look like, instead of just hoping for the best. It’s never too late to develop a habit. Our goal is to make it a positive one, instead of a negative one, because our juniors are watching what we do and can begin to mirror our behavior.
Senior living is a time of rest and enjoyment with healthy habits practiced. We should be at peace and spend our times with our loved ones. This includes going on girls’ trips, guys’ trips, family vacations, walking, dating, or any other activity that brings us joy. We don’t want to practice 21 Habits of Broke People at any phase of our lives. If we know better, we do better! Now is a great time to learn to do better or stay disciplined if we’ve figured this out. It’s not about all work and play later, it’s about simultaneously working, playing, planning and thriving.