Which category do you fall under?
- The person living within their means
- The person living within someone else’s means
- The person living with no idea of the meaning of ‘within their means’
- The person playing with someone else’s means
If I sent out a survey, I would love to see the results but it really doesn’t matter. If I had to give you stats I would say that C would rank at a high 55% while A, B and D shares the rest.
I don’t want to brag, but I’m 100% A. No, no need to applause, this is not a competition. What you need to look out for are folks in category B, C and D.
The reason category A is safe is because you know what you make, you know what you owe and you know how to live. It’s quite simple but very difficult to maintain a level of comfort when everything around you is competing for you to buy the next best thing.
In category B, you would more than likely be living within your parents, ex spouse or the government’s means. This is where you learn how to ‘play the game’. You rely on others to pay for your needs. Needs you call them – I need those new shoes, I need that new name-brand-over-priced item, I need that big massive house, I need that expensive car, I need, I need, need, need. HELLO!! Do you know the value of money? Do you have an inclining how hard it is for some to earn? Does guilt ever cross your mind when you think everyone around you owes you something? Has anyone ever explained the difference between needs and wants to you? If you answered NO to most of these questions, I recommend you seek professional help. I can promise they will advise you to take responsibility of your own life and own up to your own needs.
In category C you will find those who are competing with their peers with no idea of how finance works. They tend to buy houses, cars, clothes in abundance with no sense of where the money will come from. Most live on credit because when they get the mail and find an application for more credit, they assume this comes for free. Credit cards with an availability of $5,000 or more leads to ‘playing a dangerous game’. You are competing to be better, richer, or greedier without the reflection that this can catch up to you and bite you in the ass. Ever watched the show ‘Til Debt Do Us Part’? This is where Gail Vaz-Oxlade, the host of the show, is patient enough to tell schmucks they are living so far out of their means. I see the look in her eyes when she goes through their finances. It’s like she wants to do more than shout at them. What blows me away is when I see a couple in utter amazement of the mess they’ve created. ‘OMG! How did we do that?’ they’ll say….really??? Okay, so you get this category right? Don’t say NO or you’ll be in the same boat as category B.
In the D category, you will find people like Bernard Madoff or Carl Jones or anyone connected to a Ponzi scheme. Any scheme really because nowadays it is a fade to screw the consumer. Here, ‘playing the game’ comes so naturally you’d rob your grandmother blind. No good can come out of this. But this doesn’t stop anyone, not until they get caught. At this point, we the ‘screwed consumer’ will have to tolerate listening to them prove their innocence while all along, any money you have invested or lent is now nowhere to be found. It doesn’t even have to be as elaborate as a Ponzi scheme; it can be a mere ripping off your buddy type of scheme. Still, not cool. Who or what makes you think you are above the law or even simple rules? What gives you the notion that it’s okay to take it but it’s not okay to give it back?
So, when I say, “What are you competing for?” I am assuming you are going to compete for something, because you want to feel accomplished? Or are you the type that likes to compete just so you can burn yourself? It’s like being a rebel, you need to have a cause – you don’t do it just because. You don’t go against the grain to look stupid, you do it because you have sense to know better.
You know, I could be full of it, but looking around I know I can find people in all of the above categories. It actually makes it easy for me to consider their friendship or business.
Which category do you fall under?
Rose to the Rescue 