You are seated down broke as hell, your expenses are accumulating, the end of the month is far and all you can think about is why you constantly fail when it comes to saving money for such circumstances. We’ve all been there and always sworn to set some money aside when money eventually comes our way but find ourselves spending it all when it eventually comes.
It’s no secret that saving money is an important part of any personal or family financial plan, helping you to provide for emergencies, special purchases, education and retirement. Many factors come into play when it comes to holding on to money and the inability to save money does not always have a clear-cut reason. There are a couple of things which may prevent us from saving money, some of which we completely have no control over while others we can control. The good news is that clearly understanding and identifying a situation is the first step towards resolving it. You might be in a position not to save much right now, but everything counts and the sooner your saving starts the better.
Human Nature
Saving money is a form of discipline, one which is very difficult to stick to. The ability to save varies from one individual to another, while we have those who can save for near-term projects, most of us find ourselves unable to save at all, living paycheck to paycheck, needing to spend everything just to keep afloat. One fact we hate about saving money is that we are obligated to delay our gratification; it is never fun to put off buying something new because of the premise of buying more later. Additionally, purchasing new items makes most of us happy; doesn’t buying that new dress or power suit make you feel good? We cannot forget the shopaholics, those who use shopping as a way to deal with stress or other financial issues
Economic Influence
The shilling has less buying power in the current financial environment. Along with the weakening of the shilling comes a decrease in our purchasing power and we find ourselves being obligated to dig deeper into our pockets in order to make a purchase. A few years back you could buy 2 Kg of sugar at about 200 Kshs, now you are forced to chuck about Kshs 400 to buy the same 2 Kg of sugar. This cuts into our discretionary funds that might have been put into savings.
Family Needs
Costs continue to rise and providing for a growing family can add up to a substantial amount. Feeding the family, paying for the household expenses, transport costs are constantly on the rise with the increase in fuel prices. Soon most families who have candidates sitting for their KCPE exams would be enrolling them into high school, these plus many more expenses that are being inflicted into the family are weakening our ability to save money.
Marketing Tactics
Companies earn profits by employing compelling marketing campaigns to convince consumers to purchase their products and services. Product advertisements are being presented in ways that are more creative all the time with advertisers trying to build a “lifestyle” or image that comes with the purchase of certain goods. Such adverts compel us to spend more than we can afford and we later find ourselves unable to save much.
Saving money may never be easy, but identifying the factors that prevent us from saving is the beginning of solving this problem. Be sure to read tomorrows post on how to develop a money saving attitude, it will for sure change your attitude towards saving money.