Yusra3
VIP Contributor
Living beyond your means is a bad idea. It can lead to debt, stress, and even financial ruin. But what if you don't know when you're doing it?
Living beyond your means is one of the most common money mistakes people make. It's important to be aware of the signs that help you identify when you're taking on more than you can handle. Here are 11 signs:
1. You're making more than minimum payments on your credit cards, but not enough to pay off the balance in full.
2. You're paying down a high-interest loan and putting off paying off other debts.
3. Your car payment is more than 10% higher than your rent payment, even though you make twice as much money as a landlord would.
4. You're spending more money than you make on monthly bills like cable or cell phone service, even though it's cheaper to just deal with those services on the Internet (or at home).
5. You have an emergency fund that's less than 3 months of living expenses, but no real savings at all otherwise and no debt repayment plan in place either!
6. You have a lot of debt, but it doesn't fit into any of these categories: credit cards (other than credit cards), student loans, mortgages or auto loans but not another type of loan (like business loans).
7. You're the only one in your family who's making all the money.
8. You're always late with rent or mortgage payments.
9. You can't afford health insurance or emergency funds for your family, but you do have an expensive hobby or hobbyist interest that's taking up all of your income.
10. You've been able to make it through life without a job, but now that you've finally landed a position, it's gone by in a flash and it's not enough to pay for your housing and basic expenses.
11. Your partner is getting home work done on the weekends because he doesn't know how to balance his time between work meetings and family obligations and you're now the one who has to pick up the slack because his work isn't worth as much as yours used to be before his company let him down!
Living beyond your means is one of the most common money mistakes people make. It's important to be aware of the signs that help you identify when you're taking on more than you can handle. Here are 11 signs:
1. You're making more than minimum payments on your credit cards, but not enough to pay off the balance in full.
2. You're paying down a high-interest loan and putting off paying off other debts.
3. Your car payment is more than 10% higher than your rent payment, even though you make twice as much money as a landlord would.
4. You're spending more money than you make on monthly bills like cable or cell phone service, even though it's cheaper to just deal with those services on the Internet (or at home).
5. You have an emergency fund that's less than 3 months of living expenses, but no real savings at all otherwise and no debt repayment plan in place either!
6. You have a lot of debt, but it doesn't fit into any of these categories: credit cards (other than credit cards), student loans, mortgages or auto loans but not another type of loan (like business loans).
7. You're the only one in your family who's making all the money.
8. You're always late with rent or mortgage payments.
9. You can't afford health insurance or emergency funds for your family, but you do have an expensive hobby or hobbyist interest that's taking up all of your income.
10. You've been able to make it through life without a job, but now that you've finally landed a position, it's gone by in a flash and it's not enough to pay for your housing and basic expenses.
11. Your partner is getting home work done on the weekends because he doesn't know how to balance his time between work meetings and family obligations and you're now the one who has to pick up the slack because his work isn't worth as much as yours used to be before his company let him down!
