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Your wallet is stuffed with crumpled currency and
raggedy receipts while loose change clutters the floor of your car.
That doesn't have anything to do with your ability to build a sound
financial future though, right?
Wrong. The way you handle your day-to-day cash speaks volumes about your money personality, according to personal finance experts.
"Our outer financial life is really created and deeply
affected by our unconscious beliefs about money," says Brent Kessel,
author of "It's Not About the Money."
So how do you know what your beliefs are? Think about how you keep your wallet:
Money's there ... somewhere --
You have money in your wallet, but you never have any idea how much.
But who cares, if you can't find it or can't find enough, just whip
out one of your many credit cards or debit cards.
"Such behavior
is what I call the 'head in the sand' -- an ostrich," says Manisha
Thakor, a Chartered Financial Analyst and co-author of "On My Own
Two Feet."
People who don't know how much money they have in
their wallets may also be unaware of what's in their bank accounts
or even their 401(k)s.
"These are people who are afraid to see what
the reality of their financial situations is," Thakor says. "You
may know where the pile of bills is, but you just don't want to
open them."
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| What do these habits say about your financial personality? |
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However, there's a danger in this behavior. You may
be tempted to overspend or even pull out a credit card if you aren't
aware of how much you have available, says Patrick P. Astre, author
of "This Is Not Your Parents' Retirement."
The key to changing is biting the bullet and facing
your finances, says Thakor. You may not have as much money as you
wish you had, "but it's really empowering if you know where you're
starting from," she adds. Try keeping a written tally of how much
money you have (and how much you owe) to get comfortable with your
financial situation.
Running on empty -- Your
wallet is usually empty because you can't seem to keep cash in it
for long. No matter how many times you go to the ATM, you'll find
yourself staring into an empty wallet again very soon and wonder
where the money went. Similar to the person whose head is in the
sand, this is the person who is making money but they have no idea
where it's going, says Astre.
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