Putting Your Wallet on a Diet
 

Some people go to the extreme to lose weight by wiring their mouths shut. Making drastic changes in your finances is like wiring your mouth shut. You’ll get the desired results, but you can’t live like that for long. Try making small changes in how often you spend and where you spend. That’s healthy moderation.

As an example, coffee lovers could spend $3.75 for a custom coffee at the local gourmet coffee house. By switching to home brewed coffee or perhaps the local donut shop coffee, you’ll save money and calories. How much? Eight calories per ounce. Oh, you meant the money. About $35 a month.

In money matters, large account balances are mistaken for progress in building wealth. To truly build wealth, your debt has to decrease too. Consumers use three things to fuel their lifestyle: income, loans or savings. When income your is spent, and you use debt to infuse your living, you deplete your “lean muscle reserves.”

Think of it like this: exercising regularly, but eating only fatty foods and drinking nothing but diet soda. Exercising is the right idea (like saving), but your diet is the wrong technique (like borrowing to live). To create a trim and toned financial body, you have to carefully balance both savings and debt. Again, healthy moderation is absolutely key here.

Action, moving, lifting, exercise is the final component to dieting. In financial terms, you have tons of different ways to build wealth. But! You have to use the right equipment at the right time. Think about the gym—would you push Mr. Universe out of the way and go for his 500 lb. bench press immediately? For small savers, you probably won’t have the muscle to meet the balance requirements for heavyweight accounts, so it’s best to start out with basic savings accounts. As you build balances and pay down debt, move up to the heavyweight accounts, like Certificates and Money Market Accounts.

Building wealth isn’t easy, but it is possible to become a lean, mean money machine with will-power and commitment.

There are “personal trainers” to help you. If you’re interested in wealth building and reducing/managing debt, Credit Union of Ohio offers free educational workshops to everyone. Call them at 614.487.6650 (toll-free 800.443.5698) or visit them online at www.cuofohio.org for more information.