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Fear of Loss will kill your chances of prosperity

Fear of Loss will hinder chances of prosperity

The fear of losing money will cause people to play it safe by not stepping outside their comfort-zone and not investing their money for greater returns. 

Leaving your money in an ordinary savings account will mean that inflation will erode the value of your money yet that is exactly what a lot of people do. They are afraid to take risks.

Some of this fear comes from those who had experienced the crash of 1987, better known as “Black Monday” when portfolios were hit hard. Some people lost their life-savings and more tragically, a lot of the money which went down the drain was borrowed money.

In these situations, shares were worth less than the money borrowed to purchase them.

There are risks which are worth taking and risks not worth taking. It takes discernment to tell the difference.

I remember once (about 2001) I bought shares in Air New Zealand and they almost went bust, well they would have if the government did not bail them out. The shares dropped to a low of fourteen cents a share. I bought my shares in the company at around $2 a share.

This was the last time I bought shares in an airline. It was an expensive lesson. 

I have known some people who never invest their money for fear of loss; they cannot handle the volatility of watching their balances go up and down yet they have no problem with buying their weekly lottery tickets. If they had deposited that same money into their kiwisaver then these people would have a fortune waiting for them once they reach the age of 65.

“You make your choices and your choices make you.”-Jim Addison, Scottish Pastor

It is all about choices.

The choices you make today will determine which choices you are able to make in the future.

If you have been sensible and joined a retirement scheme and contributed to it all of your life then this choice will give you more options in your later years.

Ask yourself these questions, “What action can I take today which my future self will thank me for?”

There will not be a single person who reaches the age of 65 or whatever the retirement age is in your country, who will regret ever joining  and contributing to a retirement fund.

It is everyone’s responsibility to get a financial education. This will help you to make right choices for your money. Apply what you have learned which are applicable to your personal circumstances.

Getting over your fear of loss will enable you to grow your wealth rather than just leaving it in the bank where inflation will steal the purchasing power of your money.

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FRIENDS WILL SHAPE YOUR FINANCIAL DESTINY

Your friends may be detrimental to your wealth

Written by R.A.Stewart

The people you associate with could well be having a detrimental effect on your financial future and though you may not notice it at the beginning, but eventually their influence could pull you down to mediocrity. Let’s look at an example from the animal kingdom.

If you locked a sheep on its own in a paddock, it will try to find a way of escaping to find greener pastures but if it has company it is quite content to remain in the same paddock with its friend.

People are like that; some will conform to the standards of others and as far as financial matters are concerned will take on board what others are saying, and eventually will adopt the same kind of mentality towards finances.

There are different kinds of lifestyle habits which are incompatible to a financially successful lifestyle; drinking, smoking, and eating takeaways regularly are habits which will shorten your life and drain you of your finances.

Your choice of friends will influence your attitude towards money; if you associate with gold digger’s who believe people with lots of money are selfish, then you will be encouraged to spend your money rather than save and invest it.

This is what I am saying in a nutshell:

“The people you choose as your friends will set the standards for your life.” It is important that you keep good company because if you spend too much time with people with bad attitudes, some of their money attitudes will rub off on you. It has been said that you are the average of the five people you spend most of your time with. So who are you spending most of your time with? 

I have known a lot of people with terrible money attitudes. One is “You cannot take it all with you” as if you are going to pass away within the next week or so. What they are doing is to cling on to every excuse they can hold on to for their lack of financial literacy. They will try to make others who are in a better financial shape feel guilty by making them feel stingy or selfish.  This makes them feel less guilty about their own financial situation.

It is better to spend time with Financially literate individuals and in this way you will pick up some of their financial knowhow. You sure will not learn anything from those who friends are the type of people who go out on Saturdays or have no problem with breaking the law then they will encourage you to follow suit and a lot of people do in order to fit in and abandon the values taught by their parents.

The bottom line is, “If you keep company with financially ignorant people then you will become like them.

“He who walks with wise men shall become wise but a companion of fools will be ruined.” Proverbs 13:20

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