Resist The Urge To Borrow In 2024
If there is one thing that makes successful people achieve success, it is because they always utilise the mistake or failure they have made to achieve success. Probably you might not have actually taken some wise decisions financially in 2023 and it affected you so much greatly. I am speaking from experience and so I am expressing how I am feeling in terms of how I lived my 2023 financially. I must say it was not something I actually desire or bargain for but along the journey, I see myself taking some decisions that were not wise and this held me bound for long.
One of them is taking loans, I mean borrowing from the loan app. Trust me it actually weighs me down and leaves me so devastated. At one point, it started slowly with some loans I can afford due to some side work I was doing. But along the way, I lost my side work which was fetching me some income. In a short time, I wasn't able to pay those loans any longer and loans keep increasing because I kept borrowing one loan to settle another loan. It lives my financial life to crumble in 2023 and with so much regret because what I actually plan, I wasn't able to do so. At the end of the day, I was left to battle with the emotional trauma that comes with it.
Why do I start by sharing my experience, so that if you are reading this currently and you enjoyed borrowing or it has become an habit. Make sure you desist from it. Resist the urge. Does it mean there will not be situations or times that will look tight financially and you will be tempted to borrow, of course there will be but you just need to resist yourself when those times come. One thing I strongly believe in is that debt can be resisted if there are structures or plans in place for your finances. What do I mean. Most times we might not really need to fall into debt if we have saving plans or what I called the saving funds.
I know we have heard several times that we should save and save out of our income, but the truth is we are so much familiar with the advice that we don't usually take it seriously. You will see so many excuses that my income is small, how do you want me to save? Some will say there are always a lot of expenses, how do you want me to save. The truth of the matter is those reasons will continually be there because most of our expenses are coming from wants and not needs and as humans and as you keep living, you will keep being exposed to wants. Developing a saving habit requires discipline and that is why you must stay discipline to set aside a certain percentage of your income for savings.
Another strategy which I actually believe can be of help for you to avoid debt is for you to have a budget. Having a budget helps you not only to track your expenses but also helps you to spend wisely as you will not spend your money on unnecessary things. It helps to protect you from extravagant spending. When you don't even have a budget, it will be difficult for you to have a saving habit. The more budgeted you are concerning your income, trust me the more your financial life is healthy and you will not have reasons to fall into debts.
The last I will like to add to it that will help you abstain from debts this 2024 is for you to actually grow your stream of incomes. Sometimes how much we earn can really be frustrating that we almost give up on all those suggestions I have listed below and that is why you must strive to increase your source of income this year. Like they always say "don't put all your eggs in one basket". Instead of just spending as it comes, it is necessary that you invest and how you can invest wisely is by making sure that you don't actually put all your income at one source because nobody knows tomorrow. What about something happens that particular source you are using to make money, what will you fall into back.
There are a lot of ways for you to grow your source of income. You can start a business along with the money you are earning and so both the business and the work you are doing will be fetching you more money. You can also consider other options like Crypto trading or Forex trading even though it might not be wise but I believe that should be the right option you can also consider. There are many options you can consider if you can do proper research on it. As I conclude, make sure you are starting 2024 wisely financially. Don't let what limit you financially last year do the same thing this year. Apply proper plans and goals and see how your finances will be much better than you ever think of. That is the aim.