Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Are Your Personal Finance Skills Holding You Back?

By 3 Comments

One of the reasons that I started this site was because it forces me to learn new personal finance skills.  Sometimes, the tree is sitting there in the forest and you need someone to point it out and make it stick out from the forest.  The more skills that you learn in any given subject, the closer you are to what could be considered an expert on that subject.  There are a few subjects that I consider myself to be an expert, but personal finance is not one of them.  But, I am trying.

It occurs to me, however, that in our journey to become experts at personal finance (even if it’s just our own finances) we can sometimes hold ourselves back.  We can sometimes become so focused on the topic and that one slice of our lives that we forget that there are other parts of our lives that must also be taken care of.  For many, personal finance is a deeply religious topic.  As a Christian, there are many places in the Bible that specifically mention money and the manner in which we should handle it.  In fact, you might notice the tag line here at Beating Broke as being a quote from the Bible.  But, nowhere in the Bible does it say that I must be perfect in the handling of my money before I should begin to work on any other aspects of my life.

If we focus too long on any one aspect, many of the other aspects can quickly fall behind.  Baker, from Man vs. Debt, recently called himself a hypocrite.  Why?  Because he’s been a crusader for paying off debt and doing so unrelentingly.  He has preached a very die-hard approach to debt retirement that is based in the teachings of Dave Ramsey.  But, Baker and his family have put their debt repayment on hold while they travel and experience foreign living and working.

If you only glance at the situation, you can’t help but agree with Baker’s assessment of himself.  And in a some ways, he is a hypocrite.  However, he also is not entirely a hypocrite.  He and his wife planned for this trip.  They budgeted for it and saved for it.  Yes, they put some of their goals on hold, but they did so to take advantage of an opportunity that may have never reappeared for them.  If he and his wife had passed up on this opportunity, they would have been kicking themselves for it for the rest of their life.  They’d be debt free, but at what cost.

It is a lifetime opportunity.  If they had to choose between debt repayment and a trip to Disneyland, I would say that they would be stupid to not skip it.  After all, Disneyland isn’t likely to go away anytime soon and they’d be able to visit at a later date.  Yes, you have to maintain your vigilance and do whatever you can to meet your goals.  But you also have to live your life.  If your goals are holding you back from living your life, then you really should rethink your goals, because they may be causing more harm than good.

Baker is a very skillful personal finance person.  He’s been writing about the subject for quite a while now.  He and his wife have made great strides towards their goal of being debt free.  But, Baker didn’t let his personal finance skills hold him back.  He didn’t let them keep him from living passionately. And he didn’t let them keep him from taking advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity.  He and his family will have a wonderful story to tell and experiences that you just can’t buy.  If that makes him a hypocrite, then so be it.  I don’t think it does.  After all, if he hadn’t been walking the walk, he wouldn’t have had the ability to take advantage of the opportunity.  If anything, he’s an example of why you need to stick to your guns.  If you do, you will be able to take advantage of opportunity instead of having to let it pass you by.

That Your Daddy’s Car?

By Leave a Comment

I want to share a story with you about work. About working for what you want, so that you can not only get what you want, but pay for it with cash.
My roommate in college (one of many) graduated college with no college loans. Not because he had scholarships, but because he paid for it with cash. Not only that, but he had a nice pickup and an even nicer classic car. It was a very nice drop-top convertible with a deep burgundy metal flake paint job. Every summer, he did a little bit of work on it until it was painstakingly nice.
68mustangblue_smallOne day, while we were out and about enjoying the sun with the top down, we happened to stop somewhere. It’s been a while ago, so I don’t exactly remember where. While we were there, some older guys (I’m guessing 40-50ish) came over to look at the car.
After asking the normal courtesy questions, like what kind of motor was in it and if the seats were original, one of the guys asked the wrong question.  “That your Daddy’s Car?”

My roommate isn’t exactly a shy person, but even he will admit that, at first, he was taken aback by the question. Despite our age (21ish), he had worked hard to put that car in the condition that it was in.  It was his car.  Not his daddy’s, his.  After he regained his senses, he made sure that the man who asked the question knew that it was his car. That he had done the work and he had paid for it.  The guy laughed his question off like it was a joke, although it was obvious that he hadn’t meant it jokingly.

Like most stories, this one has a moral at the end.  Or, at least, I’m giving it one.  Giving us all something to learn from it.  No matter how hard you work for something, there will always be that guy who will assume that you got it handed to you.  Nice car?  Must be your daddy’s.  Nice house?  Inheritance.  Or more loan that it’s worth.  Or you make a lot of money.  Or.  Or. Or.  The point is, they will find a way to assume that you got whatever it is by some other method than actual hard work.  And, like my roommate, you might feel that you need to set them straight.  Whether you do or not, is irrelevant.  What you need to take from this story is that when you set those goals, and you work hard to reach them, you must expect that there will be few people who will believe that you got it by working for it.  Some, you will be able to set straight.  Others will continue to think it no matter how many times you tell them.  Being disciplined and hard working requires a thicker skin.  You’ve got to be able to ignore the people who won’t believe.  They believe that anyone who has nice things got it the same way the majority of other people do.  Credit.  But you know better.  You got your things the Beating Broke Way!

Photo Credit: kkiser

Just Do It. Whatever It Is.

By 2 Comments

No matter where you go, the advice of those that already do to those that want to do is almost always, without fail, just do it.  Want to be a writer?  Forget the courses, workshops, and conferences.  Just write.  Want to be a photographer?  Just go out and take some pictures.  Want to be healthy and fit?  Yes, Nike said it best.  Just do it.

The mantra holds true for personal finance as well.  Want to retire rich?  You’ll need to save quite a bit up.  Don’t hem and haw about how much you can afford or when, just save it.  Don’t just learn how to retire by 40,  actually retire by 40! Want to become debt free?  Just pay it off.  Whatever it is in your personal finance life that needs work, you need to recognize that it’s not going to improve itself.  You’ll need to work on it.  And whatever it is, you need to also recognize that if you don’t just do it, you’ll never get it done.  Do your research, make a decision.  Once you’ve made a decision, follow up with it as quickly as possible and execute it even quicker.  100% of plans fail that don’t get acted upon.