Are You Stuck?

From time to time I meet folks who are determined that they can’t change their financial circumstances. Take Anna. She’s got a job that pays her about $12 an hour, a $15,000 student loan and a couple of credit cards with balances. She can’t see any way out of her current circumstances. Anna is one duck stuck in the muck. And she’s among a flock of people so convinced they can’t that they don’t even try.

I believe that a lot of the problems people have dealing with their money stem from this simple Law of Inertia. The Law of Inertia says that a body at rest will remain at rest until some force acts upon it. And a body in motion will remain in motion. It is so much easier to maintain the status quo than to change.

Financial inertia is an epidemic. In an experiment conducted in Brittan, the Brits’ financial inertia was so great that the majority of people wouldn’t even bother picking up a free £5 note if it were offered to them. What possible difference could £5 make?

Hey, if you don’t mind being the duck that’s stuck, no prob. Just stop your whining. But if you’re determined to do something differently so you have a different outcome, you must start somewhere. You cannot save $10,000 until you save $1,000. You cannot save $1,000 until you save $100. You cannot save $100 until you save $10.

If you want to build a financial safety net, you must start by opening a savings account and creating an automatic savings program. If you want to stop spending money you haven’t yet earned, you must stop carrying your credit cards. You must change what you are doing or not doing, to something that works for you instead of against you.

I love change. Change is exciting. Change brings challenge, learning and a sense of new. Change is full of promise. Change is audacious. It takes guts to change. It takes real guts. And guts are something that seems to be in short supply. If you have them, you’ll make it. If you don’t, so sorry: No guts, no glory.

So the question you have to ask yourself today is this: Do I have the guts to change?

If your answer is “No” then don’t waste your time whining and beating yourself up. You’ve made your choice, live with it graciously. But if you are brave, and ready to commit — if the answer is a resounding, “Yes” — then what are you going to change today? What small step will you take to move you from being at rest to being in motion? What will you do (not think about, not plan, not worry about, not whine about) to change what your life looks like?

It doesn’t matter whether you’re old or young, rich or not-so-rich, highly educated or not. All over the world – and right here at home in Canada — people are woefully unprepared to handle their money. The problem is so huge that the Canadian government stepped in to see if it could help. After years of paying lip service to how important financial literacy is, we’re still at square one.

Truth is, financial responsibility is our responsibility. There is no magic can-opener that will open up our skulls and pour in the information we need to know to be financially literate. And all the knowing in the world won’t do a scrap of good if folks aren’t prepared to do.

So where do we start? With some hard work and the determination to make a plan and see it through. But only those folks with a stomach for facing reality will succeed.

If you’ve been feeling out of control – even desperate — rest assured, you are not alone. Now you have to decide if you have the guts to change. Decide that today is the day you’ll do something different. It can be small. No one is asking you to move a mountain… well, not in one push. Don’t even know where to start? Head on over to www.mymoneymychoices.com and sign up. You’ll be given a road map designed to build your financial literacy along with strengthening your financial foundation. Small steps forward will get you to where you really want to be.

You don’t have to go it alone. If you know you’re going to need the support and guidance of friends and family, start a Tribe and work together to journey to a better place.

Do you have the fortitude to take a good, hard look at what you’ve been doing with your money? Are you ready to get real?

You can put inertia to work for you. Or you can just remain one duck stuck in the muck. You decide.