Want to know a secret about Financial Audit?
Most of the time, the people on the show don’t have money problems.
They think they do… but they don’t.
In reality, they have personal problems that show up as bad money habits.
👉 They get a crazy car loan because they’re insecure
👉 They live beyond their means because of their ego
👉 They live off of taquitos and fast food because they’re lazy
Sometimes, the “reason why” is more complicated.
Sometimes, it’s not that deep.
Either way, the principle still applies.
“Alright Caleb, you just broke down human behavior analysis in a few short sentences. Why does this matter?”
Well my young Padawan, we all have bad money habits like:
- Not saving your money
- Letting your debt build up
- Paying ONLY the minimum balance on credit cards
- Not having a budget
- Having no emergency fund
- Impulsive spending
- Spending more than you earn
Yes, even someone as handsome and sexy and charming (and humble) as me.
It’s from these money habits that you make dumb a** money decisions – digging yourself further into debt and away from your goals.
But that’s why I’m here – to make sure you’re not being a dumb dumb and help you make better decisions. So if you want to pick up better money habits, here’s how:
- Identify the habit
Identify your bad money habits. You can pick from the ones I listed above, or identify other ones you notice you make.
- Identify the trigger
This is super f**king important. Once you identify your bad money habit, sit and think about why you have the habit.
And I mean, literally use your brain.
We all get our habits from somewhere. Whether it’s something you learned from your parents or a coping mechanism you developed, they’re all learned.
Oftentimes, the trigger will be from a feeling:
“When I’m upset, I want to eat away my feelings with McDees.”
“When I’m mad, I go shopping.”
“When I’m bored, I’ll blow some money on online bets.”
The trigger can also come from a lack of understanding, a character trait or recurring situation:
“Because I don’t care about my spending, I have no budget.”
“Because my parents never had savings, I never have savings either.”
“Because I never learned how credit cards worked, I maxed them out.”
Notice the recurring framework here.
Your trigger goes first, and the bad money habit goes second.
- Replace the habit with a new one
This next step depends on the type of trigger you found.
If the trigger is from a feeling, be mindful of how you’re feeling.
You can’t avoid your feelings, and you shouldn’t try to suppress them. Recognize how you’re feeling, take a deep breath, and slow down.
You can also replace the bad habit with a better one, like moving $5 into your savings account every time you want to munch on taquitos.
If the trigger is from a lack of understanding, a character trait, or recurring situation, you’ll have to do more than just some mindfulness work.
You’ll have to figure out what you can do to improve your habits.
Never learned how credit cards work? Watch some educational YouTube videos. Don’t care about how much you’re spending? Start f**king caring.
And that’s it.
This framework has helped me identify many of my bad money habits and how I could improve – and I’m sure it’ll help you too.
Keep in mind that I’m not a therapist.
If this doesn’t work for you, you should probably go see one.
Taquitos,
Caleb Hammer
P.S.
If you want more help turning your dumb dumb money habits into smart cookie money habits, join my budgeting program.
