“What does financial responsibility mean to you?” by Treasure Rouse
“What does financial responsibility mean to you?” by Treasure RouseIt is in my opinion that financial responsibility is extremely important to live a successful well-balanced life. The act of being financially responsible leads to having independence, stability, and peace of mind. It does not mean that you must be wealthy and have a high fancy paying job, it just means you must be smart enough to manage your finances by understanding what you have coming in and what you are paying out. The act of being responsible means never spending more than you make. I think to be financially responsible you must be mature, disciplined and focused.
The first thing as a financially responsible person is to be mature enough to define your needs and your wants. It’s taking control of your finances and being honest with what you truly need to survive like, food, clothing, and shelter versus what you want to make survival comfortable like exotic vacations, luxury cars, lavish homes, high-end clothing, and swanky restaurants indulges. You must be mature enough to educate yourself on the differences between good debt and bad debt and understand that sometimes it does take spending money to create additional money. This would be investing in an education that will pay off with a better job or investing in a duplex or home with an income property so that you can have tenants that you charge rent to contribute to the payoff of the mortgage. I think being mature and taking an honest look at your finances helps you to create financial stability.
The second thing you need to be financially responsible is discipline. I think this means creating a budget, listing all your monthly expenses and making it a priority to save. I think you can do this at any salary because I do this with my allowance. When you are financially responsible you are creating goals and sticking to your financial plan to achieve them. This means fighting urges when your friends want to hang out or staying home when the mall has a ton of great sales, it’s not making impulse purchases. It requires sticking with your financial plan to secure long term success instead of caving and spending for short term satisfaction. I think being disciplined enough to always stay on budget and not allowing yourself to fall off course is important to your financial stability.
The last thing I think you need to be financially responsible is the focus. I think being financially responsible does not mean depriving yourself of nice things but to buy nice things within your means. I think this is where focus comes in. You must focus on what you can do versus what you see others doing. I think this means staying focused on the result of financial freedom and a great financial portfolio. I think this also will assure that you can retire well, maintain your independence and not be a burden. You will have peace of mind, knowing that you can take of yourself without depending on credit cards, and loans with high-interest rates to make ends meet. In my opinion, being financially responsible means leading a well-balanced life and creating a financially secured future.