Why Do People Have Money Problems?

Whether we like it or not, money is a huge part of our lives. It’s one of the foundations of modern society. Some of us earn a little, and some of us earn a lot. Some of us spend little and can save up a lot of money, and some of us have expensive habits that eat up any potential savings we might have kept. Either way, it’s something that is needed to get by in most countries. However, many people have problems with money.

There are several reasons as to why someone might have money problems, and here I will talk about some of those reasons.

First I would like to talk about earnings. Your earnings or salary is how much money you make from your job or jobs. Some people have jobs that have a relatively high salary, which enables them to easily afford the things that they need. Others have jobs that enable them to just barely scrape by and afford what they need. Some are even forced to work multiple jobs just to be able to pay for their living expenses.

Not having enough money is, of course, a huge problem. So why do people have low salaries? That’s a question that might require a long answer, but amongst other things it can be related to one’s health, area of residence, and skills. If you don’t earn much money, then after you pay for things like rent, bills, and food, you don’t have much left over.

Most people use money on a daily basis, but not all of us are necessarily good at it. Some are even terrible at it. There are people who can’t seem to save up any money, because they have expensive habits like consistently eating at fancy restaurants and spending too much on alcohol or nice clothes. These habits can be allowed to go on if one’s wages are high enough, but there are those whose habits or hobbies are more expensive than they can realistically afford.

Restaurants, clothes and alcohol are all things that people are likely to impulsively spend money on. Not everybody keeps constant tabs on how much money they have in the bank, and how much they’re able to spend. Some people just have a rough idea, and based on that they can see an expensive leather jacket that they fall in love with and say something like “I deserve to treat myself to this!” and proceed to spend so much money on it that it has an impact on other areas of their lives. Perhaps soon after that person isn’t able to buy lunch for a week because they just had to have that jacket.

The impulsiveness to do things that benefit us or make us feel good in the short term is something that I completely understand and believe is extremely common. However, I also believe that this is a big cause of money problems.

There are even more things that cause money problems, but I think that having a low salary and a prioritization of pleasure in the present over long term security are two large factors that contribute towards them.

Thomas

Vocabulary

eat up (phr.v) – to consume resources at a fast rate
potential (adj.) – having the capacity to develop into something in the future
expense (n) – something one spends money on
consistently (adv.) – on multiple occasions or perhaps in every case; regularly
impulsively (adv.) – without considering; acting on a spontaneous feeling
prioritization (n) – the act of treating one thing as more important than another