Use the Power of No to Get Ahead and Stay Ahead
It’s easy to understand the basic concepts of personal finance. In a nutshell, they are:
- Spend less than you earn
- Save
- Invest
- Pay bills on time or early
- Insure against financial threats
- Pay attention
None of those things are particularly hard in theory. (The steps for implementing most of them are pretty easy too.)
But in order to actually do most of those things on a regular basis, we have to use a word that most people dislike.
That word is no.
No as in:
No, I…
- am not interested in 90 days same as cash.
- will not tell you what monthly payment amount I’m looking for.
- don’t need everything immediately.
- am not buying it if I don’t have the cash.
- don’t “need” a new item because of the latest rationalization or commercial I saw.
- can’t count on things continuing on the way they always have.
- may not always feel exactly the same way about what I’m doing or where I’m living.
- will not assume that I’ll automatically get a great paying job the moment I leave college
- am not too busy to pay attention to my money
- will not put off getting disability insurance and making a will
And the thing is, all of those no’s can very quickly get you to a whole lot of yeses.
Yes, you can have an enjoyable life, get the things you want, AND be in great financial shape.
Sometimes no can be a very positive word.
I like the: no, I don’t need this right now, one.
Always a good one to work on.
And one that can save you a lot of money when you later forget about it or decide you don’t want/need it after all…
Although sometimes “no” can be taken too far – I was a money hoarder for years, and it was actually harder for me to learn to say “yes” and enjoy the fruits of my labor (albeit conservatively) than it was for me to say no.
It can definitely be taken too far, but I suspect the vast majority of people do not have that problem.
‘No’ can be a great word to use when it comes to saving! In this day and age people are too quick to say ‘yes’ just to avoid an argument/ negotiations with a seller.
To put it bluntly, people are either too nice or too lazy these days.
“No” can definitely be very powerful!