Making Your Own Financial “Luck”

I think the below comment left by DC Smith brings up a great point about financial “luck” so I thought I would dedicate a post to the comment:

“Many of my acquaintances just love the Bad Luck excuse. The trouble is when they blame luck and shout “It wasn’t my fault!” they give up all power to change anything.

Because you’ve discovered the secret to financial “luck” (hard work, advanced planning, living within your means) you are over $13,000 better off than when you started the blog, while others just look up at you from rock bottom and say “gee, you’re so lucky…” as if a sack of money fell off a truck or something. If you haven’t heard that yet, you will eventually.

Last time someone said it to me was when a payroll mistake resulted in a check for about $50 instead of my normal salary. I let the payroll clerk know about it and she rushed over apologizing and offering to cut me a check immediately. I told her “Please don’t bother, just make sure the payroll provider adds it to the next paycheck.” It was easier to have it direct-deposited in two weeks than go to the bank and deposit a manual check.

A group of co-workers somehow decided that because I was able to cover one paycheck – a whopping TWO WEEKS of living expenses – that I must be independently wealthy or paid much more than they are (I am not). “Must be nice not to need a paycheck” they grumbled on their way to their mortgaged luxury cars to go out to lunch like they do every day.

“Yeah,” I thought, “it is nice” as I pulled out my brown bag lunch made at my easily-affordable anti-mcmansion house a three mile drive from work in my six year old paid-off economy car (but I live on a direct bus route just in case). “I sure am ‘lucky’.”

Well said DC Smith!

Posted by Tricia on April 15, 2007 at 4:46 PM in General Debt, Spending Money | 4 Comments »
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  1. Deby responded:
    Posted: April 15th, 2007 at 7:55 pm

    I love this! Day after day I see my co-workers go out for lunch, induldge in expsenive caffeine addictions, and buy the latest gadgets. Not to mention they max out their allowed unpaid time off each month. And then they wonder why they’re so broke. And here I sit brown-bagging it with my 5-year old car, 4-year old cell phone and debt up to my eyeballs trying to figure out what else I can cut. We’re all in the same boat, but I’m not making any excuses. I know why I’m in debt, and there’s no one to blame but me.

  2. pf101 responded:
    Posted: April 16th, 2007 at 12:07 am

    This is great. I hear this a lot when working with clients. They talk about how they just can’t get out from under and every time they get a little bit ahead something bad happens. Then we review the budget and I point out just how much they’re wasting and point out how they could cut back so when those bad things happen it wouldn’t hurt as much.

  3. zen responded:
    Posted: April 17th, 2007 at 7:51 am

    I, too, have heard the sting of people “having bad luck/boyfriends/spending habits” and it’s “sooo not [their] fault.”

    I had to chastise a friend of mine who has no retirement and no kids, and her first thought after paying off her 2001 Ford Explorer Sport last month was “what car she was going to get next.”

    I managed to convince her to pay off some of her debts and setup her 401k (with company match) before considering the need for the “hot new car.”

    One down, one billion to go!

  4. NIUiceprincess responded:
    Posted: April 18th, 2007 at 12:18 pm

    I love this post. Thanks for sharing.

    I also know some of those people he mentioned, those that go out to lunch everyday (i’m in downtown Chicago, so it’s more expensive…at least $7 a pop) and they grumble why they’re so broke or that they don’t make enough. Even though they have no dependents whatsoever, they have maxed out credit cards and no 401ks. it’s amazing.

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