It is true that obtaining knowledge on managing your finances is key, but it is also important to devote time to managing your finances. The attitude that you have toward time will easily determine the success of managing your finances.
By dwelling too much on the present, future, or past, you may possibly make decisions that could be harmful towards your financial health; even when you know that you should do otherwise. It is ideal to have only happy memories, while setting aside time in the present to plan for your future. Whenever you fall out of pattern in either of those areas, some errors will occur in how you manage your finances. Stanford University’s psychology professor, Philip Zimbardo created a quiz that focuses on “time personality”. There were a total of 3,000 people, from six different countries (Germany, U.S., Brazil, etc.) that participated in the quiz.
Results from the quiz displayed that an individual’s time personality is very important in how well they manage their money, regardless of their financial know-how. An example would be a person that has the mindset of living for the moment. Normally, their financial health is sick. Another would be knowing the process of compound interest. The knowledge holds no value, if you constantly overspend your income. Another issue could be putting too much emphasis on the future. Whenever you are too goal-oriented, you limit the time to plan your financial options because you are harried by your career and similar obligations.
Overall, everyone has good intentions on managing their finances. You may have buying insurance on your to-do list or investing in your 401K. But when you don’t have any time to spare, you rush through it and make poor decisions. At the same time, you don’t want to be too financially conservative and neglect having any type fun on today.