Are You a Financial Disaster? The Real State of Your Finances

It’s quite often that I hear people tell the story of their financial destruction, and somewhere in the mix they typically say something like, “I always heard of people living paycheck to paycheck and thought they should change their ways. It never occurred to me that I was one of them!”

If you don’t get real with yourself about your starting point, then how on earth do you expect to get to the finish line??

Many times, we become blind to our own financial blunders because we’ve lived with them for so long. It seems only natural to live the way we do without ever even considering that we’re going about it all wrong!!

At this moment, I want you to seriously consider where you are financially. Of the examples below, where would you place yourself?

Put simply, you’re going backwards. You have debt. Your expenses are bigger than your income. You may not even realize it, but your credit card balance is rising every single month. You are a financial disaster, and if you continue to spend more than you make, you’ll go broke.

It sucks being here. I get it, I’ve been there. But it’s time to get real about your situation. Admit it to yourself, and start taking the first steps to fixing the problem. It’s the only way things will get better.

You are a financial disaster.

You maybe have a few hundred bucks in the bank account. You get paid on Friday, quickly pay all the bills that have been stacking up, and then your entire paycheck is gone. Poof just like that.

The next paycheck is used to buy food, clothes, and maybe a little bit of fun if there’s anything left over. When the account goes back near zero, you stop spending and you wait for the next paycheck.

This cycle happens every month, every year, every decade. You might never feel strapped, but you’re living paycheck to paycheck. If your income ran dry, you’d quickly default on some bills and your credit card balance would shoot through the roof.

You’re living paycheck to paycheck.

Sometimes you get ahead, sometimes you get behind, but your savings account actually looks pretty decent. You like the cushion of that $5,000 emergency fund. It gives you security. But…it never seems to grow.

In part, your savings don’t increase because you don’t earn a ton each year, but you also spend lavishly once in a while on trips, concerts, and random toys. You could probably save and invest more, but you never felt the need to push it.

You are a stagnant saver.

You get it. You realize that in order to get ahead, you must take action today. Your income is larger than your outgoings, but the progress seems sooo slow. In this stage, you likely still have debt and you’re trying to bust your way out of it. The credit card probably isn’t an issue, but the car loan and that pesky student loan are keeping you down. You’ll get out of debt someday, but it really would be nice to speed up the process!!

You my friend ARE making progress. You’re just getting ahead slowly.

The debt is dwindling (or gone) and you’re able to sock away a few hundred bucks or more each month. You finally feel like you have traction and are getting ahead financially. While you’re able to save and your accounts are growing, you aren’t necessarily investing in your future.

You’re at a crossroad. Part of you wants to upgrade your life (bigger house, better car, or maybe even a vacation home), while the other part wants to earn money with your money but doesn’t quite know how to do it.

You are socking away money.

You have wealth on the brain. You’re out of consumer debt and you’re starting to learn and invest – first in the stock market (likely for the dividends) and maybe even in real estate.

You realize that your investments can grow exponentially and could make you very wealthy in the distant future.

You are starting to develop passive income.

It probably took a while, but you did it. You got out of debt, invested in the market, in real estate, and perhaps even in your own business. You now earn enough from your passive investments that you can do whatever you want – travel the world, work at what you love, or simply sit on the beach and work on your tan.

You’re earning a living through passive investments.

Alright, so be real with yourself. Where are you on this crazy financial journey? Are you a financial disaster? Or are you getting ahead slowly? Wherever you are on your journey, there are things you can do to progress. Now that you've identified your financial situation, it's time to take the next steps!