Many of us have felt contrite about some less than stellar decisions we’ve made in our lives. More recently, people’s regrets have centered the most around money. That’s unsurprising considering the crippling inflation the world has grappled with for the last few years, which has driven living costs and subsequent personal debt way up.
If you ever felt this, you’re not alone.
Per a new Bankrate survey, nearly three in four (74 percent) U.S. adults hold financial regret whether its poor retirement preparation, accumulating credit card debt or failing to have an emergency fund. Luckily, there are ways to level your finances up this year. But there’s some things to let go of first.
Let Go Of Limiting Beliefs
Per Headspace, a scarcity mindset is a pattern of thinking that focuses on what you don’t have and the underlying belief that you’re not ever going to have the things that you want.
In his TEDx talk, Harvard Medical School professor John Sharp pointed out that “It’s the story you’ve been telling yourself about who you are and how everything always plays out.” As hokey as it may sound, you can change the way that loop sounds in your mind, which then informs your actions. Start with writing down key phrases that allude to financial abundance can train your mental capacities to expand, and do what needs to be done to turn your money story around.
Let Go Of Putting In Minimal Effort
Getting back on track financially takes work, make no mistake. No, it doesn’t have to challenging but it managing your money requires a line of sight of everything coming in and going out of your wallet.
Fulton describes this as financial irresponsibility, which is underscored by regular, unplanned spending. Moving away from allowing your spending habits to run wild is an essential step in getting out of debt.
Let Go Of Bad Budgeting
If the thought of creating a budget sends you into cold sweats, you’re not the only one. A 2020 Intuit Survey of around 1,500 people revealed more than half of them had no idea how much they’d spent the month before. This can be rectified by utilizing tools that can do the heavy lifting for you.
Apps like Rocket Money and Oportun use smart technology to analyze your spending and create personalized budgets broken into categories to help track how much should be allocated, and where.
Let Go Of Emotional Spending
We all laugh at Girl Math, or the social media trend that pokes fun at irreverent logic applied when making frivolous purchases, but it can sometimes show up in real life and cause havoc. Often times, examples of the trend border on emotional spending or retail therapy, which many of us have indulged in.
However, this can turn send us down a slippery slope.
Nearly 70% of Americans say emotions have influenced their spending, a Nov. 2023 LendingTree survey finds. One of the ways to help curb this habit is using cash whenever possible.
“So much of our spending is unconscious, and when you actually have to slap down dollar bills at the store, it’s sort of a painful experience,” financial psychologist and certified financial planner Brad Klontz told CNBC in 2023. “A lot of us will swipe and we’re not really sure how much we just spent.”
Most importantly, addressing the emotions driving you to spend is even more critical for preventing this behavior. Naming it and facing it head on can lead to a lifetime of more substantive rewards.
