Getting more comfortable at the end of the month, being able to save and have extra money to meet long-term goals is the intention of most people. However, not all make it. And it is that often, beyond how economic uncertainty and inflation impact, there are also own errors that prevent it and that can even lead to serious economic problems.
Although everyone has their own way of managing personal finances, it is important to take some precautions when managing the money that we enter each month and to know what are the recurring failures that, if sustained over time, make it impossible to better manage the money. money.
What bad habits and common mistakes could be affecting your pocketbook and preventing you from saving? Personal finance specialists point out five that are decisive.
The "snowball" effect caused by the so-called ant expenses is so subtle and discreet that it is practically not noticeable. They are those small daily purchases that, once added up, end up representing a significant amount throughout the month.
It is very common that when thinking about expenses, the focus is on the most significant ones, such as credit to buy a car or a house or purchases with the card. But it's the small, everyday payments that could be draining money and preventing you from building savings.
These are some examples of the most important ant expenses:
Preparing a budget is the first step to have greater clarity about income and expenses, and begin to better plan consumption based on the money available, reserving a part for savings.
“A budget is the main tool for our personal finances to have an order. If you don't know how much you earn and how much you spend, it becomes very difficult to maintain healthy control and understand where the money is going, says the founder of GT Educación Financiera and teacher at InvestirOnline, Gabriela Totaro.
As suggested by Totaro, at first, budgeting could be done on a daily basis, in order to quickly take control of finances. Then, the budget can become monthly and, once it becomes a habit and is mastered, you can start planning based on whether your goals are short, medium or long term.
Short-term and pleasure spending is often very tempting, but it generally undermines long-term goals. With a short-term approach, many tend to overspend, especially on matters related to entertainment or comfort, minimizing the effect of the debt that these expenses generate if they do not have the capital to face them.
In this context, although credit cards are very useful to finance necessary purchases and expenses when the monthly income is not enough, misuse can cause many headaches. Over-indebtedness and unnecessary costs are the main problems that users who make uncontrolled use of plastic often fall into.
One should not forget that every time it is used, a debt is being generated, which will then have to be faced, with very high costs in case of default.
Promotions and offers, both in cash and with credit cards, are often very attractive to consumers. But they often lead to impulse buying things that were not planned and that were not very necessary, in order to take advantage of the supposed opportunity.
According to the experts, the expenses should be decided by each person and not by banks or businesses with their promotional actions. Thus, in the case of card payments, you will be avoiding incurring unnecessary debts that will reduce your ability to save in the following months. And that, in case of not being able to settle on time, they will end up costing much more than the discount that they wanted to take advantage of.
Lacking well-defined aspirations related to money can also lose the battle to keep personal finances healthy and generate savings. They recommend, then, setting short- and long-term goals, whether it's saving a full salary or paying for vacations in cash.
"An adequate culture of savings, thinking in the long term, is knowing that there will come a time in life when one will not be able to maintain the current rate of activity, to continue generating good income. You have to think about money as a medium that gives you freedom over time", advised Ezequiel Starobinsky, the Master in Finance and author of the book The Art of Deciding.
This is why achieving a healthy relationship with money takes more than just educating yourself about personal finance. It will also be essential to do conscious and in-depth work to unlearn concepts that act as spokes in the wheel and that not only prevent us from improving our economic situation, but often end up destroying it.
