Stop Wasting Money

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Today we will discuss things that you should never do with your money. My hope is that after reading this article you will be closer to better understanding your financial situation and your financial goals.

Unfortunate truth is nearly two-thirds of Americans, 63%, say they have been living paycheck to paycheck. What does living paycheck to paycheck exactly mean? It is actually pretty simple, every dollar that comes in goes out and people are left with nothing at the end. In fact you could be one major expense away from going into debt if you are someone who is currently living paycheck to paycheck. You would likely have a net worth of zero dollars or even worse you may be in a situation where you owe more than you even have and that would mean you are in debt.

There are many reasons why someone ends up in a paycheck to paycheck situation and it was covered in one of the previous posts but today we want to address the main things that you should never do with your money under any circumstances. Unfortunately this is something many people do with their money and this could be the reason why they are in a paycheck to paycheck situation where every dollar that comes in ends up going out.

Gamble

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The first thing you should never do with your money is gamble with your money. A lot of people out there are doing this because they have the desire to win a lot of money. Not long ago in the United States the Powerball lottery drawing reached an astounding level of nine hundred million dollars and as a result people were looking for a quick way to get rich. Even though it might look really tempting to become a billionaire overnight, the truth is the odds of winning the Powerball are very very slim so for this particular drawing the odds of winning were somewhere around 1 in 296 million. The odds of being killed by a falling coconut is 1 in 250 million, so you would likely be killed by a coconut before you won this Powerball. The truth is you should never gamble with your money.

Bottle service

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The second thing you should never do with your money is order bottle service. In case you didn’t know what bottle service is, it is something you order when you are looking to waste as much money as possible in the shortest time frame. For that you go to a bar and you see a separate VIP section with tables and very important looking people. You want to sit at one of those tables, so you go up to the bartender and say “I want to order bottle service”. Viola, the next thing you know you are served a bottle over at your table. Unfortunately, you will be charged well over a thousand percent markup on that bottle of alcohol. Average bottle service in Las Vegas ranges from $375 to $600 per bottle plus tax, waitress gratuity, table tips, and other fees that can reinvent themselves. In the end you're paying over a thousand percent more for that bottle of alcohol just to drink it in front of people.

Let’s take this a step further, bottle service at Hakkasan which is housed in MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas goes up to $500,000 and is the most expensive service of its kind in the world. To put this in perspective, it costs around $100,000 to build a hospital in a developing country, so instead of spending half a million dollars on bottle service you could open 5 hospitals in Africa. Thus, ordering bottle service is another thing you should never do with your money.

Expensive Car

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The third and the final mistake that you should never do with your money is buying an expensive car. Cars are deeply rooted in the American culture and people love buying expensive cars. Unfortunately it’s a financial trap that you need to avoid. Many of us see cars as a status symbol and a temporary escape from our financial reality. The average car payment in the United States is $563 per month so 63% of Americans are paycheck to paycheck meanwhile the average person is spending over $550 a month to drive a car does that make any sense. When you are in debt or living paycheck to paycheck a car is nothing more than a method of transportation, so stop buying expensive cars and start saving money before you can afford a nice expensive car.

Consider the following example, there are two people who work for the same company. One person drives a 5 year old economy car that is paid off and that person’s car payment is zero dollars. The other person, on the other hand, drives a brand new car and that person’s car payment is $550 a month. They both are able to get to their jobs at the same time because a car is a method of transportation and spending $550 a month on the car does not help you earn any more money. Thus, do not fall into the trap of buying a new shiny car while you can get a few years older model at a half price.

These are the things that you should never do with your money and if you know somebody who is doing any of these things with their money please share this post with them and maybe it will be a wake-up call for them. If you are interested in learning more about ways you can save money feel free to check out another article in this series.