Thanks to the recession, we’re all getting a good hard look at ourselves. Our financial selves that is. We’ve all become our own financial knights in shining armor as we tackle our respective demons head-on. And we all pray there’s a happy ending for us all when the dust has cleared. I’ve no idea what’s on your radar or how you’re dealing, so I wish you the best of luck. My monster is a true beast of *(nsfw)tentacle-hentai proportions! But I like a good challenge & I’m takin this bastard down, one over-the-top, financial body slam at a time. This post is all about how my monster came to be. Since no 1 factor is more significant that the rest, I’ve listed everything aplha-style.
>Anime Conventions – Sadly yes, the love for one of my favorite things in the world has helped drive my financial ruin. Now it hasn’t been so much the going to the cons, as the not budgeting once there….
>Buying more liabilities than assets – Once you understand the difference, the real difference, between an asset & a liability, you’ll be much better off. For a really long time, I didn’t & had I bothered to manage that better, I would have saved a killing.
>Collecting Things – I used to be a really bad packrat. A habit that was made all the worse by being such an avid anime/comic/gaming fan. At my worst (to date) I’ve committed horrors such as accumulating enough hats to fill 3 pickup trucks, buying video games new, or even buying individual comics as opposed to the TPB. My habits have since changed drastically; I don’t collect, I invest.
>Credit Card Debt – Unless you’re into BDSM, stay away from credit cards! In my particular case, I didn’t have much of a choice, as it was the only option to fund the necessities I needed at the time. However, when it came to paying them back, I was never much good at that because of various other reasons on this list. Of course credit cards aren’t all bad, but you have to pay them back if you want to pass go & collect $200.
>Eating Out (so much) – I’ve worked a lot of jobs that’ve required me to work many late nights, which in turn led to late night eating out. Its tons cheaper to cook. But for my situation, where I wouldn’t get back to my stay until sometime between 11pm-1am, it’s worth the investment to cook a day or 2 ahead so you can heat up said food later.
>Experimentation – It’s no secret my style is unique, but to achieve said style, I’ve done a lot of experimentation to get there. In short, buying style shown/advertised & not my own. The morale? Clothes cost money. If you buy new, buy to augment not replace. Do you, not what you think looks cool.
>Flirting – I didn’t become the Casanova I am today overnight. In fact I spent a small fortune to win the opposite sex over countless times-most to no avail. Shiiit! I wish someone had dropped a couple hundred on me to win me over, oy vey!
>‘Get Rich Quick’ Scams – When I was younger, I was naive and gullible. Back then it was easy to trick myself into thinking I could get rich quick. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
>Getting EPIC lost on roadtrips – Much as I love a good roadtrip, getting lost can be financially dangerous, especially with the sharp increase in gas prices over the last few years.
>Guilty Spending – I used to have this thing, and I’m kind of ashamed to admit it, but I would usually buy something from a place I went to for no reason at all but to appease the merchant. I’d just go to various places and buy things because I felt I had to, because I’d feel guilty if I didn’t, and because I really hate window shopping; because I honestly feel that there is almost no point to looking at things and deciding if you’re going to buy it later or not, when ½ the time your aren’t.
>Movies – 2007, great year for movies. 2008, not so much. But I’m not putting movies on the mark because so many sucked in 2008, oh no. I’m dropping movies into this list because I never used to bother considering even trying some of the more convenient movie options to come across & advance in recent years, like Video on Demand or Netflix, to watch said crappy movies. Factor in gas wasted on parking, sub-par movie food, and the occasional DDR games, and I may as well have thrown the money away.
>No financial education – While I take a good share of the blame for this myself, I’d like to start off by placing a substantially larger chunk on dear ol’ dad. My father has never once taken any kind of interest in my finances, how I handle them, and/or future financial goals. The closest thing he ever gave me that ever came close to anything remotely considered advice was him telling to save once in a purple moon. But he never bothered to show me how. And he sure as hell never led by example. So the fact that I’ve learned nothing about finance from my father means he ether never cared, or he figured I knew everything I needed to know about the subject. Either case I would soundly flag as shitty parenting. If your job, as a parent, is to ensure you pass on your legacy to your kids, then you need to be confident that you’ve done/you’re doing that. Not sharing things you think they need to know on a ‘need to know’ basis or assuming they can fend for themselves. That said, I certainly don’t stake any claim to innocence. We each have a responsibility to be fiscally responsible. Our lives, goals, careers, health, and families [quite literally] depend on it. That’s why they call it your ‘Bottom Line’. And while I’m not happy about the fact that I never really took any initiative to really understand or smartly manage my finances until the great market crash of November 2008, I decided to get smart and get mad about my money nonetheless. ‘Better late than never’ may not be the most humble way to express my newfound intimacy with my money, but I couldn’t be more serious about steering my finances toward greener pastures with each passing day.
>Not Budgeting Explicitly – I’ve always understood the logic behind a budget, but I’ve never really comprehended the value behind actually adhering to one. For the longest time my budget was, save a little, buy something(s). And I never enforced it. I just bought any random thing that came my way. Older, wiser, my budget is my bible.
>Not getting a new job before quitting my old – If you’re working, you get paid. If you’re not working you don’t get paid. If you quit your job without having a new one, you will not make money until you get a new job.
>Not getting my Associate’s Degree at a Community College – In college you do 1 of 2 things. You 1) experience one of the most exhilarating, life-changing experiences ever and/or 2) pay for the experience. Transferring to another institution to complete your degree(s) is fairly common. I myself have been to 3 (as of the time of this post). But not all colleges are created equal & because of the different merits each institution upholds you may leave one college almost done with your major & come into another one with almost ½ your credits not counting. Hence ‘Paying for the experience’. Community College is cheap & affordable. Had I completed my Associate’s there, as opposed to a 4-yr institution, I certainly wouldn’t be in the financial squeeze I’m in today.
>Not having a car – As of 5/31/09 I have never owned a car. It’s beyond frustrating & just downright depressing at times. If I had a car, I could work more hours, travel farther to find/work at better jobs, save tons on public transportation, and do more for my Bottom Line in general. This will not last forever though, and the day I do get a car [the day Hell freezes over] will be one of the happiest days of my life.
>Not researching things I used to buy – I used to buy a lot of things on impulse. Far too many things for my own good. It hasn’t always been a bad thing, but it’s always been a terrible financial decision.
>Not Saving Enough – I always used to save enough for what I really wanted and then buy it. But that was it; that was all I ever saved for. Rinse, wash, repeat. I’ve since stepped my game up.
>Not volunteering for overtime – At work, you get paid to do work. Overtime pays you more. I never considered sticking my neck out. I just wanted to get in and out of work as fast a possible. Of course it didn’t help that I’ve never had a car. So in the off chance I stayed later, I’d usually never have anyway to get home….
>Paying For Advertising – Some friends and I released a little known book last year. Since its publication we’ve tried various methods of advertising & some have worked better than others. I myself have pulled out of pocket to advertise us. Not that this never worked, but there are better ways to do it for free.
>Recurring Subscriptions – Years before I decided to write about anime, tech, comics, etc, I used to subscribe to magazines and websites that covered those very topics. It’s added up over time & looking back (or in my case, over the stacks of mags), it’s kinda hard to imagine that I could ever accumulate so much needless info.
>Repeat Roadtrips – I’ve done a lot of traveling the last 5 years, but even with all my honed savy, travel still drums up quite a pretty penny. Going somewhere 2-3-4 times over when I’m trying to see all 50 states was not smart.
>Sleeping in so much – You can’t make money sleeping. Well you can….but I’ve never been able to do it…yet.
>Storage Bill(s) – I’ve done a fair deal of traveling in my day & at one point had acquired several different storage facilities to accommodate various things left/brought to each new state. In April 2009, I shut down The Last Stronghold.
>Sugar Water – Soda & Kool-Aid are the cheapest drinks money can buy, and I’ve ingested an addict’s share over the last decade or so. But water’s even better, cause its free!
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I lied. Getting car was not one of the greatest days of my life.