How Other People Can Affect Your Financial Standing
Life is all about continuous change, and much of that change occurs in relationships with other people. Your relationships also have an impact on your personal finances. Consider how other people can impact your finances, and how you can take steps to prevent problems down the road.
There are very few instances of life where you’re truly by yourself, or where nobody else has an impact. For most things, you’re subject to the actions and influences of others, and nowhere is this felt more keenly than in our finances.
It can be difficult to balance your interactions with people and your need to monitor your spending and investing.
Here are some areas that can leave you in a financial mess, if you’re not careful.
Contents
Who Is Spending It?
Don’t worry about spending your money: others will happily do it for you. Have you noticed that people tend to earmark your cash for things that they want you to do? Their intentions are good, but when they’re inviting you to a wedding that’s overseas, or making lavish plans for a birthday night out, they may ask for a financial commitment that makes you uncomfortable.
There’s nothing wrong with saying no to spending a great deal of money.
Get free sample chapters from my book: Not Another Personal Finance Book.
It’s a tough one to manage, because you may hurt people’s feelings. If the spending is going to put you in financial difficulties, however, you should simply say no.
What About an Injury?
It’s a crazy world out there, and you never know what’s going to happen. You could be driving along the road without a care in the world, and then, thanks to the actions of another driver, are injured and have to take time off work. You’ve done nothing wrong, yet your finances are in a downward spiral.
Fortunately, the law may be on your side. You can contact The Levin Firm and see if you’re able to claim compensation for the injuries that the other driver caused. An accident may cause physical and emotional pain, so reach out to family and friends, to that you can make an informed decision about this legal issue.
In the Family
Now, we’re not going to say that a family isn’t worth it – but we will say that it can be expensive! The cost of those initial dates, the wedding, and, perhaps most of all, any children you may have will have a huge impact on how much money is in your bank account. For many people, however, this is most likely a price that’s worth paying.
Facing Business Competition
If you own a business, then you’re only one other person away from potentially being in some financial difficulty. Business thrives on competition – there are no easy routes! If someone decides to set up a similar business in the same area, you could see your profits become to slump, which will naturally have an impact on how much money you have.
Keeping Up
Comparisons are a dangerous thing, because there will always be someone who has more money, a nicer car, or takes a more expensive vacation than you. Just take a look at social media.
Peer pressure- or the desire to be “better” than the person next to you- might be the biggest cash sapper of all. If you’re always buying material goods to prove your worth to others, consider what’s really motivating you. It may ease a lot of your financial burdens in the process.
Use these tips to assess major spending decisions and keep your personal finances on track.
This post is for educational purposes only.
Ken Boyd
Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies
Co-Founder: accountinged.com
(email) ken@stltest.net
(website and blog) https://www.accountingaccidentally.com/
(you tube channel) kenboydstl
Image: Bullseye, Jeff Turner CC by 2.0