Are you doing your best to save money? Are you surprised by the lack of money in your savings account?
I run a personal finance blog so I definitely realize the importance of saving money. I often get accused of being tight with money. I do admit to thinking too much about money. However, there are tactics for saving money that I’m not a fan of at all and there are times where I don’t care how much money I spend. Instead of analyzing the worst ways to save money, I wanted to focus in one tip that always annoys me.
What’s the worst way to save money?
By not investing money in yourself.
You can save money by not upgrading your skills. You can beef up that savings account by not going back to school. You can ditch that networking opportunity and pocket the cash. You can hold on to every single penny that you come across.
You can save tons of money by not investing in yourself. You can have this cash sitting around in a nice savings account. You don’t have to spend a penny on your skills.
The problem is that the best investment is in yourself. I believe that investing in yourself beats the stock market, real estate, and any random business idea that comes your way.
You can argue that college is a rip off.
You can accuse book authors of being charlatans.
You can say that you don’t have time for that eCourse.
All you’re going to do is hold yourself back in my opinion. Get out there and invest in yourself. What do you have to lose?
You can save money by getting a free checking account or by paying yourself first. I just don’t want you guys to hold back on your most important asset: yourself.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I totally agree with this. At the end of the day, in my opinion, the point of savings is to eventually use the money (be it 3 months, 5 years or 30 years down the line) for a purpose that is beneficial or important to you. Neglecting one’s own self solely for the sake of watching numbers increase is never beneficial.
I agree that investing in yourself trumps every other investment. Taking the example from the post, if you forgo a needed learning opportunity or a networking opportunity just to say you have saved money, you’re actually taking a loss. The new skills could have been the segue to your next job. The missed networking opportunity could’ve been the one person who was willing to invest in the start-up you’ve been dreaming about.
You’re right. You’ll never know what that missed networking opportunity could have led to. This is why it’s always worth it to get yourself out there and meet cool people.
I agree. As long as you are still being smart about investing in yourself.
College is not a rip off, but going tens of thousands of dollars into debt when you can get a perfectly good education for less than half the price, or go to community college and then to a 4-year and save money isn’t the smartest way to go about it.
In the same way: use the library, read a lot about your trade online, listen to podcasts and learn a new language by attending free events.
You’re right though: sometimes you will need to pay for things, and when they are better and are going to have a great payback, of course, shell out the money.
College isn’t the rip off. The problems lies in going into deep debt because you used loans to cover for every single aspect (from rent to food).
I know people who will drive around to five different stores to save money on groceries. The time and extra gas makes the savings questionable.
So true!
It’s funny how we are afraid to invest MORE in ourselves after college isn’t it? I agree that investing in ourselves is the #1 best investment for returns out there.
MD, I read a post on TFB from you last Nov quite upset with your readers for not buying your eBook for $17. I sense a little bit of that at the end of this post. Am I going to go through this same type of disappointment? Seems inevitable. Hmmm.
S
That’s a thought that never hit me. We spend so much funny on college and then refuse to invest in ourselves later on in life.
As for the eBook: I hope not lol! It’s a bad feeling. However, failure is humbling and it shows you that you did something wrong.