I think in many ways the step to becoming responsible with money and finance is to really start from square one in appreciating what you have already while utilizing your resources in a non wasteful way. I think food would be a great example of this where in some cultures they try to use every part of a food item while others would say just eat say the meat of the product and throw the rest in the trash. That mentality goes a long way as subconsciously you tend to carry the same habits when it comes to finance.

One example was that there is this person I know who is extremely bad with money as he pretty much grew up with things being given to him and so he doesn’t exactly have that same sense of appreciation for things as many others would. One day after eating lunch with another person on a small dining table, like most we were all taught to clean up after ourselves and so that is what happened. Now there is a wash cloth to clean up the table and normally someone would simply walk over to the sink area to dampen it to then quickly wipe the table. Instead, they got lazy it seems.

There happens to be a water dispenser in the room that was right next to them which had bottled water of course. The other person had the wash cloth and was thinking about using the bottled water instead of walking over to the sink area. Even he knew that it was kind of wrong to do so and so the person confirmed with the other first if he should do that. Surprisingly, he was told to go ahead. Now I am the one that paid for that water, so I was just staring in disbelief on how people could be that wasteful just because it looks like there is so much.

I immediately commented on that on how they shouldn’t waste the bottled water like that in a very disapproval tone. The person with the wash cloth felt bad while the person who is bad with money tried to just keep his head down for as long as possible. I just thought at that moment on how his bad financial habits are so reflective when it comes to other things as well and what the real issue is in terms of him struggling with money. It goes to show too that attitude and mindset plays such a huge role.

So if you ever have to start with anything I’d say in regards to taking a step to improve your financial situation, I’d say learning to not be wasteful with things that seem like you have a lot of and learn to appreciate what you have more would be a great thing to start with.

Okay, I just had to do a double take when I saw this as I couldn’t believe what I was watching and hearing. There is a business, which is apparently based here in Canada, that runs a website called ashleymadison.com which acts as venue of sort for married people who are interested in pursuing a relationship with another person while they are still married to another.

Now apparently the site is very profitable and the founder of the site, Darren Morgenstern, along with a user of the site, so as it seems, was interviewed on a talk show about it. First of all, it was just so mind boggling in regards to the lady that was being interviewed as she attempted to justify how it is better to seek out married people such as ones on the site as they are more likely to be trustworthy compared to others. That just seems so contradicting to me. But anyways, I was more interested on how the owner of the business viewed the site’s operation as to me it just seems wrong.

It was kind of amazing to see that his attitude was basically that there is obviously a demand for something like this and so he is simply providing people a platform for it. I then did some research and read an article where he basically said that a person who wants to cheat will do so anyways and that this is just a cheaper and safer way to do it. You can watch the interview below:

In my opinion, there are a ton of things out there that people want where you can capitalize on to make money, but at the same time I think this kind of falls along the lines of social responsibility when it comes to doing business. At the same time, I personally never followed that you are just giving people what they want perspective when it comes to things like this as to me it is just pure greed and that is simply a way to try and save face I’d say.

Some say to be successful in business you have to throw away any moral values that stand in the way of making a profit. I always like to think in the bigger picture such as with this if the community became a large group of “cheaters” as a result of creating platforms like this to encourage these types of act, how can I even trust those same people to do business with in general? Why would I want to make the problem even bigger? Even in business I’d say you have to think about how you affect people overall and not just trying to benefit financially.

One of my friends was telling me how he decided to change phone carriers as the rates seemed to be a lot better compared to what he was currently getting. So, he went ahead and signed up with a new company. When he received his first bill, he was definitely surprised on how many different charges there were for various things he had no idea about.

As an example, I guess most people who have a cell phone obtain something on their bill such as a “system access fee” and everyone charges a different rate. I believe I mentioned this before, but many times fees like those sound like some kind of government tax when really it’s not. I think it is worst when it comes to businesses as it seems like commercial accounts get hammered with all of these little extra charges as I guess it is easier to justify especially if it comes to things where the choice is pretty limited in getting an essential service.

Ironically, sometimes the more expensive places end up being cheaper in the long run as they are billing you everything upfront that is necessary for them to serve you while remaining profitable. This is an extreme generalization, but it’s usually the places that try to sell you solely on price that have an endless amount of ways to add more to your bill afterwards. I guess the best way to avoid being surprised with hidden charges is to not just look at what’s in-front of you but rather everything that’s around it as well. Makes sense in more ways than one when you think about it.

A person I was talking to is currently trying to maintain a budget by not spending money on unnecessary things as a way to make up for a past few months of mismanaging his money which has caused him to be in a tight financial situation. While it looked like he was doing an okay job, suddenly he spent hundreds of dollars on an electronic product that he didn’t need and said that it was a good deal. As a result, this dropped his savings to under $300.

I then asked why he would do that as one must be putting themselves through so much psychological stress as well by not having a lot of money in general while also not really having any incase of an emergency. While he knows it is bad, he mentioned that he mainly did it as well because it’s not like he has absolutely nothing left and that he can still survive, so it shouldn’t be that big of a deal as of now.

I personally think that way of thinking when it comes to money is dangerous as this is assuming that nothing will ever change and that the world stands still. That is actually very common I’d say too as for many they worry about just getting by at that moment as oppose to seeing it in a different way such as seeing how much they are losing by not doing something.

It kind of reminds of stories that I used to hear as a kid from teachers about saving and planning. Example, in the summer time you had two people with a farm and one person just kept growing/harvesting enough food for his day, which seemed easier and more relaxing, while the other person stocked up more and even stored them for future use such as placing them in jars. I guess you know how the story turns out when it came to the winter time as both of them couldn’t harvest anymore food.

As always, always think ahead and make decisions not just based on that one moment.

It seems like for the past few days I have just been meeting so many people with large established businesses which also opened doors to new opportunities. I have been having fun learning a lot about other people’s perspective as well and during my discussions it’s kind of interesting to see people having favorite quotes in their lives which they sometimes use as guidance. That kind of got me interested in reading a variation of quotes as I think it is kind of interesting on how one little quote can make you think of so much in terms of what happens in our lives.

While reading through a brief list, certain ones kind of clicked to me. I thought they were great and they were more along the lines of making you take action in your life. Just thought others may like them as well, so here were the ones that clicked with me:

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

If you want to know your past - look into your present conditions If you want to know your future - look into your present actions.

It is surprising what a man can do when he has to, and how little most men will do when they don’t have to.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.

I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through, then follow through.

Always do more than is required of you.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing

Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.

Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.