Learn From Washington's Mistakes And Make A Better Budget

A few months ago Congress has reached a 2-year budget agreement.
This $1.3 trillion budget deal will make things easier for us now
but pushes our national budget crisis off on future generations.
This week they implemented the first part of this agreement to help
keep the government open, and it goes against every piece of advice
I’ve given my clients.  The Deadly Sins Of Money: Avoidance
And Denial The budget decisions made in Washington are perfect
examples of the way people avoid and deny their money problems
until it’s too late. 

Avoidance involves turning a blind eye to your money problems,
hoping things will go away and solve itself before it becomes an
inconvenience for you. 


In our government, we can see this with the way our politicians
continue to ignore government entitlement programs. **These
programs, such as social security, contribute to 2/3rd of our
spending, but instead of addressing the broken system, lawmakers
avoid addressing it, in fear of losing their seat. **


We also see our politicians denying that we have a financial
crisis in this country. When our solution to excessive debt is
spending another $1.3 trillion dollars, you know we’re in denial.
These agreements even ignore caps we put in years ago to prevent
overspending just like this. 
It reminds me of a family in massive debt. Instead of sitting
down and making the hard choices to fix their problem, they say,
“Grab the credit card. We’re going to Disney World!” 

 
WARNING! Self-Reflection Ahead...

Of course, it’s easy to look at these mistakes a federal level
and shake your head, but I have clients come in every day who
make these same mistakes. In fact, **one of the first things
people say when they come in is “I’ve been thinking about doing
this for a long time.” **


Instead of just coming in and solving our problems, our first
instinct is to push them to the back burner and hope they don’t
come up again. It’s hard to sit down and look at your financial
situation. The problem is that avoiding it just leads to more and
more problems. 


Not long ago, I had clients come in. They had a great income,
were close to retirement and had a lot of debt. They were also
some of the sweetest clients I’d ever worked with. That made it
even more difficult when I told them they wouldn’t be able to
make it through retirement with their current spending
habits. 


They had large monthly expenses, little assets and weren't doing
enough to bring down their debt. It was definitely possible for
them to be okay, but they’d have to make some big changes. I took
the time to show them what sort of hard choices were coming up
and the wife broke down crying. It was heartbreaking. Instead of
asking questions, the husband said they had to leave and they’d
be in touch.
It was clear that weren’t ready to face the reality of their
financial problems. Instead, they wanted to avoid these issues,
sweep them under the rug and hope they didn’t pop back up. I never
heard from them again. 

 
Don't Ignore It, Fix It

On the other hand, I have another couple in a very similar
situation. I told them the changes they would need to make and
how hard it would be. But they didn’t run away, they actually
made these changes. It took time and a lot of hard work, but they
came out the other side more successful and confident. **They
even told me that some of the changes they made had made their
relationship happier and more enjoyable too. **


Avoidance and denial are dangerous strategies in financial
planning. They create stress and anxiety, even if it gives you
short-term relief. The good news is, you don’t have to hide. Set
up a free consultation with us and we’ll walk you through the
changes you can make to get out of debt and unhealthy spending
habits. Together, we’ll make sure you get to happier and
healthier financial future. 
 


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