Is This Finance Stuff Right For You?

Besides fear of the unknown and fear of change, the other most prevalent fear about money is fear of failure. This finance stuff seems so complicated, and if you mess something up you might lose everything. We’ve all heard of the person who lost it all on some failed venture or bad stock pick. There’s a shockingly high number of lottery winners who file for bankruptcy, despite being part of the group you’d least expect to file. Most commonly, our peers are struggling under five- or six-figure debts just because they wanted to go to school. We see how little there is left in our bank account after paying for a meager existence. Why risk it getting worse if you try to better yourself out of this?

My answer: because you’re worth more.

I knew I was worth more too, and I was nervous just starting to read about money. It was intimidating, as if just reading about it would focus some cosmic target on my head for imminent failure.

This only increased when I started seeing numbers. Uh oh, I thought. I suck at math. Numbers go over my head. This’ll involve advanced equations, won’t it? Like I’ll-need-to-know-pi-to-the-50th-number and instantly-calculate-any-logarithmic-equation sort of advanced?

And a lot of numbers DID go over my head starting out. I don’t know how to calculate percentages just like that!

How are these people dealing with taxes?

Does the IRS give you a break if you yell “four percent” at them?

Do I need to be a tax genius to do this?

And so on.

What kept me reading, and my focus on wrapping my head around the math, was hope. I rely on hope to get me through most things, and this time it paid off big time. I knew what my dreams for myself were, and I knew they’d cost money. Mountain homes and world travel don’t come for free, after all. If you keep reading up on this, you’ll understand it too. It’s not easy, but it’s not back-breakingly hard either.

If you need help getting there, think about where you want to be in five or ten years. Now, think about what that five- or ten-years-older version of yourself would have wished you’d done. Probably save more and spend less, right?

Well, they’d also want fond memories to think back to, fun times spent out with friends or traveling or doing joyful hobbies. They want you to be successful while also being happy. Are you doing that for them? For you?

This Finance Stuff is ALWAYS Right For You

A friend of mine just doesn’t care about this financial stuff. She’s invested in mutual funds (gag) on the advice of her ex-boyfriend, who is some kind of money wizard in her eyes. She just doesn’t care enough about the money to hit those 10% returns – she knows it’s there when she needs it, she knows she’s no spendthrift, and being wealthy isn’t a priority for her. In her case, this finance stuff isn’t right for her, much as I weep for it.

If you truly do not care about money, however, you wouldn’t be here reading this post. This is niche enough that you’d have needed to seek it out, and because of that I know this money stuff IS right for you.

Now, to get to a six-figure wealth before you’re 30 you do need to save money. If this fact doesn’t sit right with you, I’ll mention now you don’t have to save. In fact, you can be like most people and not save anything at all, as stupid as that is. Assuming you’re not a moron, you should save enough to afford yourself a retirement once you hit 65.

“Must be nice for you, Darcy,” a hater cries out, “but I can’t do that!”

Can you take away something else from it, then? Like, there are still countless ways to do these things if you can’t reach a sky-high savings rate. Take it in baby steps, just to show yourself you can do something. You’ve got more than enough agency here. You have power. Use it.

How many people in your life feel like finance isn’t for them?