Why Does Sean Spend Too Much Money?

My friend Sean is terrible with his money. He smokes, gambles, and eats out at least 4 times per week. He’s drives an expensive car and does his best to impress the ladies by throwing around the cash. He spends all his money and then spend the expensive money from the bank via credit cards. too much money and then when it runs out, he just cracks out his credit card. He’s slowly drowning in a pool of debt, and he’s not slowing down anytime soon.  

There are all sorts of reasons why people spend too much money. They might be trying to impress people. They might be overcompensating for something. They might not be very good at math. There are a thousand psychological reasons to explain why a lot of people are not good with their money. But we don’t care about any of that, because I can sum up why a lot of people suck at money in one sentence. It’s because they don’t care.  

Going back to our imaginary friend Sean, it’s not that he doesn’t care about money. Of course he does, and of course he would like to have more of it. It’s just he doesn’t care enough about getting ahead. He’d rather have nice things now than wait and have them in the future. He’d rather have a nice car than a fully funded retirement account. It’s not that Sean is stupid, it’s just that Sean is shortsighted. 

Sean is not going to change his money habits until he has a good reason to. He has to hit rock bottom before he changes...something will happen that will him into change. The impetus for any good journey starts from within.