DAY 27: The One Singular Positive Habit of Personal Finance You Need

There is just one positive personal finance habit you need. Inculcate this, and you will overcome all the bad financial habits you have and have great success. Experts say when you do something for 21 consecutive days, it becomes a habit.

 So what is the habit of personal finance?

Notice I didn't say habits, I said habit. If you google personal finance habits, you will find articles such as 5 financial habits that will change your life, 10 helpful financial habits you can start today, etc. 

But are there many 'habits', or just one habit?

I must confess to you that personally, I prefer articles such as "1 way to be very very rich", to articles such as "21 ways to be rich,” “7 methods that guarantee success.” But sometimes, some things just don’t have one method to (doing or evaluating) them.

Really, if there is just one way to doing a thing I am sure you will prefer to read that, than having to go 7 ways, 21 ideas, 10 principles, and the likes.

So that means I always try to narrow my ideas down to the most important tip(s). Except in cases where I want to give you different options and exhaust alternatives (such as my series on “101 ways to spend less in Nigeria” or 8 tips to winning N10 million on Who wants to be a millionaire?).

Today and tomorrow, I am going to explain to you why, after having read different habits in personal finance blogosphere, and numerous finance books, and of course The bible (-you already know by now if you have been following this blog that this is my #1 personal finance book replete with examples, experiences and anecdotes) I believe there is just one habit. I have summarized all the financial habits you will ever need into one, and it is:

FIND OUT WHAT WORKS FOR YOU AND KEEP DOING IT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN…until it either stops working or you die. (And I can tell you that the second one will most likely come first). Yes, that’s all the habits you will ever need! And I can tell you it works!

In other words, “Don’t weaken your strengths by trying to strengthen your weaknesses, simply concentrate on your strengths and keep making them stronger”. We all have good and bad habits. But we often concentrate on the bad habits, hoping to correct them, when our bad habits may even be partly genetic. 

When you concentrate on reinforcing the good habits, with time, you will learn to forget/not have time for the bad habits (unlearning them thereby), and that’s what is consistent with scripture too. 

Now please be patient with me and allow me explain.

If there is any financial lesson I strive to inculcate every single day, it is simply to find out what works for me in every area of my finances, and continuing to do that -forgetting about what doesn’t work. 

Thankfully, I have found out what works for me. Have you found yours?

For me personally, I have come to accept that I cannot but give out money (I am a spender and not a saver-check out this article). I like to spend, though not necessarily on myself. I simply derive enormous joy and relish the feeling I get when I spend. Yet I know I have to save else I will be poor. So instead of fighting my personality, I give in to it!

What do I do? Before I begin giving my cash out, I quickly transfer the budgeted money into places where I cannot get it out easily such as a money mate’s account, lock it up in investment accounts, or buy shares of companies I have been following for a while. I have come to discover that if I make a budget (of course before the money/salary comes in), but delay in executing the budget, someone will always show up asking me for money, or something will just happen that will make me spend the budgeted money on something else mostly frivolous.

Now I know that my strength lies in not having my money as cash. So in order not to give in to the temptation to spend, I simply ensure I DO NOT HAVE CASH AT ALL ON HAND! And you will be surprised that I have survived many times without ‘cash’ in my account.

But that may not apply to you. Tomorrow I will share with you time-tested, science-proven tips on how to strengthen your good habit of personal finance, ensuring you keep doing it to attain financial independence.