As members of the Armed Forces it is easy to fall into the same types of pitfalls that everyone else does financially. But being aware of some of the more common ones can sometimes help avoid them. Managing money and personal finances is a tricky thing to master. Here are some of the spending personality types that can cause financial hard times; do you fit any of these?
Big Spender: The person in this category loves to buy what they see, and tries to buy all that they see many times. Is the money you withdraw on a regular basis from the ATM gone before the end of your spending trip? Is merely walking through the mall without buying something torture for you? Do you find it hard to walk away from a sale or special that is a good deal but something that you really don’t need? If so then you are perhaps a person who falls into this category.
Another sign of being a Big Spender is if you cant off the top of your head tell someone what your level of debt is. Most people who are big spenders don’t know, and they don’t want to know their debt level. Steps to help with this behavior category are to limit the number of credit cards that you own, not take out extra “pocket cash” unless you need the money for a specific purpose, and try not to shop as a activity when you are merely bored. Creating and sticking to a budget helps too.
Eternal Optimist: This type of person just doesn’t like bad news, so they often try to pretend that it merely doesn’t exist. They avoid getting life insurance, a power of attorney or medical directive in case they ever fall ill. This person is often fairly solvent financially; they just fail to plan for difficult times or crisis. For being able to have peace of mind, the cost of planning and preparing for unforeseen crisis is worth the expense.
Procrastinator: This person often ignores bills and financial responsibilities. Debts pile up, and they always have a reason not to deal with them. When you repeatedly pay bills late, then your credit rating suffers. This is not such a big thing until you need it. Create dates a couple of times a month, and put them down on the Calendar. Make these dates a must do, write them in stone if you have to, but these are the dates where you will pay your bills.
