What Motivates You to Manage Your Money?

by Miriam Caldwell | More from this Blogger

24 May 2007 08:03 PM

What motivates you to manage your money? If you are just beginning to manage your money and to get your debt under control was there a specific experience that brought you to that point? Or if you have always managed your money, saved, and avoided debt, why do you think you do this? Do your parents have an affect on the way that you handle your money?

I think that my biggest motivating factor is seeing the stress that money has caused other people. I also have plans for my retirement. I want to travel and help others. I know that in order to do this, I will need to have a significant amount of money save. Another motivating factor is my children. I want them to be happy, and I want their needs to be met.

Since these are my factors, I base my priorities around them. I want to avoid debt, since it can be crippling. There is nothing scarier than realizing that you can not meet all your payments, or to learn that your mortgage check bounced. It can be difficult to provide all that your family needs if a significant portion of your income is going towards them.

My next priority is saving. It is empowering to have money saved and available to you if you need it. It really takes a lot of your worries away, because if anything happens you know you have it covered. Saving for retirement is extremely important as well. Since retirement savings snowball, the sooner you start the better.

My third priority is finding a balance in my lifestyle. I want to make sure that my children are well cared for, while teaching them the importance of working hard and money management. The most important thing I can do is model the behavior for them. I also plan on giving them lots of opportunities to work hard and earn money.

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Learn more about Miriam Caldwell

Miriam is a SAHM mom of three children. She has a daughter who is seven, and two sons, four and two. She loves being a parent and spending time with her children.

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Nola Redd (7081) 25 May 2007 07:43 AM

My first reason is past pain: we had too much debt in the past and struggled significantly when dh was laid off. My second reason is the present: as I stated in another comment, the stress in our marriage has been greatly reduced since we got on the plan. Both my in-laws and my parents struggle with money, to the point where divorce (my parents) and temporary seperation (inlaws) occured because of it. My husband and I went into our marriage determined not to let this happen to us, and so we at least always talked about our spending, even when we didn't have a plan. The third reason is the future, both mine and my kids: I want to be able to retire, and I want my kids to learn to manage money reasonably. (It wouldn't hurt for them to grow up, become millionaires, and give it all to me, LOL.)

Miriam Caldwell (8030) 25 May 2007 07:27 PM

Those are three great reasons. It is important that we learn from our mistakes, focus on what we are doing right now, and plan for the future. Thanks for your input!