Psycho spender
I am looking into the psychology of money. It's an interesting minefield which I don't know why no-one looked at this before. A silly movie called Confessions of a Shopaholic briefly touched on the subject, but didn't look at it much at all. I feel like this is something that should be taught at schools. I know people with real spending problems. I'm a major psycho-spender at times!
Why is this important because being able to pay our way through life is important. We constantly hear stories of people screwed over by society. Did you hear of the guy who was paralysed aside from being able to breath in one lung and move two fingers and one thumb. Supposedly he received a letter saying that he was expected to find a job. He was asked to find a job where adjustments could be made so he could work full time and his benefits were being reduced until he had found one.
I am now 30 and if we think I'd like to retire at 65 that makes 35 years. 35 years of 12 months until I might like to not have to go in to work anymore. If I was able to put aside £500 every month I could have £210,000. Ummm... in this day and age, that's not even enough to buy a house in the area I live in. So I'm going to have to put more than that into it! Well, it will get easier as I get raises, but there's always a chance I won't get raises. I might even get fired. So I have t work on the assumption that my current salary is what I have to work with. Not easy but it will get easier when I buy a property and let a room. I might even get a buy to let second property to help me raise more money to pay off the first house quicker if that's going well. If I can find a way to buy two houses by the time I'm 70 I should have an income of whatever 2058's equivalent of £1000 a month coming in from the second house and I will be able to live in mine. That should be enough to keep me occupied for the last few years of my life, then when I die I can leave it to my nephew who is the most adorable 6 month-year-old you ever saw. That's the plan, but I need to start acting now! 20-30 year olds, don't leave this till later you'll be broke and broken before you die and scraping the inside of a can of beans for a meal.
It was a the works of Brad and Ted Klontz that awoke me up to the scripts that are preventing me from doing this. The beliefs that are keeping me a chronic spending addict. I hope to read more of their work in the time to come.
Graeme