If you ever feel like it’s gotten harder to stay on top of your or your family’s financial situation, you’re not wrong. Just ask a parent or grandparent. Older generations have a lot to teach us – and one of those things is how people used to manage their money compared with how we do it now.
You don’t need a time machine to recognize that a whole lot of things have changed that can impact a person’s financial wellbeing. Understanding the differences might also trigger a few new ideas for how to spend, save and even invest in a way that benefits you in the long term.
Is It Harder to Keep Control of Your Personal Finances?
In a word, yes. There is no doubt that spending – including money that you may not have – has gotten easier. And that means a person’s day-to-day behavior has a bigger effect on how much cash is in their bank (or phone or wallet) than with previous generations. Some things are beyond our control, and people should have patience with themselves if they’re trying to get to a better place where they can save more dollars to invest in their future. However, your personal behavior can also play a major role when it comes to smart spending as well as your saving potential.
5 Recent Financial Issues to Know About
Information is power, as they say. Educating yourself about the various reasons people have money issues may help you avoid pitfalls you hadn’t considered. Consider these five highly common sources of money problems today.
1. Websites Like Amazon Make It Easier to Spend.
Online shopping on websites that have that “cart” ready to go, often offering free one- or two-day delivery, pose an enormous temptation for just about everyone. If you’re crunched for funds, your best bet is to avoid online shopping as much as possible and only resort to it when you’ve compared prices and you know precisely what you’re getting.
2. Financial Information on Apps & in Smartphones.
As if the internet didn’t make shopping easy enough, we now have to worry about mindless spending using our smartphone “wallets” and apps that contain our financial information, as well.
3. There Are More Kinds of Identity Theft Than Before
Technology has made so many things easier. But it’s also given a leg up to fraudsters who try to steal people’s financial information as well as their identities. Just be sure you’re taking steps to secure all of your accounts and report any suspicious behavior you notice right away.
4. The Cost of Living Has Gone Up for Many People.
This is a tricky one. Different people will argue about whether the cost of living is as high as individuals sometimes feel it is. How much a person spends will depend on routine expenses, their mortgage, the taxes where they live, how much debt they’re paying down, and a whole host of factors. But with prices of food and ride shares still inflated, you might find yourself looking for new ways to save even if you’re making decent wages and have a steady job.
5. Longer Lifespans Mean People Need to Save More for Retirement
Personal Finance guru Dave Ramsey has spent decades tracking the behavior of Americans when it comes to how they spend their money. He notes that “with retirees living longer than ever and drawing retirement benefits for 20 to 30 years, companies can no longer sustain the pension-plan model. Now, workers are in charge of saving for their golden years.”
Even if retirement is decades away, it’s always a good rule of thumb to set aside a small amount of your income, either for retirement, an emergency or both.
Control Your Spending with Helpful Services Like Yes! Debit™ at CFSC Currency Exchanges
Checking out convenient auto and financial services at CFSC is a good place to start to get your money situation back on track. While we can’t fix all of your money problems, Community Financial Service Centers (CFSCs) can help you cash just about any check – and get you your cash faster than a bank without the minimum balances, hidden fees and other hold-ups. We also offer easy access to Yes! Debit cards that help people manage their finances by providing direct deposit options and limiting their ability to overspend.
Check out CFSC online to see the many ways we help people stay on top of their finances. Then visit the nearest CFSC location to take advantage of the services that will help you out the most.