Are your rewards really rewarding or are you just in a vicious cycle of spending?

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

You hit the stores in search of that something special that you’ve always had to have or you just can’t live without, you search high and low for that most important possession. You spot it on a shelf tucked way inside behind other merchandise. You grab it and you can hardly believe your eyes; it’s in pristine condition what a bargain.

You’re so excited you can hardly contain yourself you rush to the checkout lane and whip out your old faithful wallet. Nothing to choose from except the old plastic credit card or some tattered cash tucked behind the flap. You decide on the plastic it’s smooth, colorful, and thrifty; it show class, grace and social affluence.

Your turn is up you make the purchase you’re so amazingly excited as you whisk away from the store with your new trinket in hand. You have just the place to put it right next to your other trinket you bought last week when you did that cool little thing at the office. You know just like the other items you had to have just because you wanted them.

You arrive at home and stare with curiosity and wonder as you place your nifty new purchase on the shelf with the others. It adds such new charm, and beauty to your collection. The way it reflects of the glass lit shelving is almost hypnotizing to look at and watch. Your content and feel as if you performed the greatest deed for mankind by making that purchase.

Your bills come in the mail as they always do and the first thing that you open is that credit card bill, your eyes almost pop out of your head as the astronomical interest rates seems to have eaten up all of your last payment and the reduction in principle was reversed due to other charges, taxes, and late penalties. You notice that you’re over the limit and your latest purchases aren’t even on that statement.

You begin to panic and feel a bit stressed that you overdrew the account. You’re not so happy with the purchase you made; you might even resent the purchase a little bit. You know this passes with time yet the debt continues to grow. Soon it consumes your entire life until you feel so overwhelmed that you can hardly even think about it without feeling like an anxiety attack is coming over you. You feel all knotted up and fearful of what might happen next.

The only people that call you are bill collectors and your debt providers to remind you that you are late on your obligations. You feel as if there is no way out a dark cloud is coming over you. Your reward purchase seems like a bad habit that you can’t break. You’re starting to realize that you have a spending problem.

You look for ways to stop the cycle but your relentlessness weakens with every failed attempt. Not to worry though, millions of people are walking the same path every day. Stuck in a cycle of social acceptance of “it is how it is”. People are being misled into this type of behavior; it’s easy to have an instant gratification mentality with the advancement of our instant access society.

People want it all and the want it now, you need to realize the problems and head it straight on face to face. Money spending can be very much a disease that ruins your life, health and wealth with no second thought; in a blink of an eye everything changes.

Don’t become a victim know the warning signs and seek out assistance if you can’t make the corrections on your own. First take a close look at your house are you cluttered or over stocked with items of clothing, collectables, shoes, tools or other items? Secondly take a look at your financial statements (profit and loss statement, balance sheet, expense report) to see what your financial net worth looks like.

With no second guessing you’ll soon be able to have a clear view of your entire situation. You’ll know if your rewards are reward to you or just rewarding to your creditor’s benefit. All of the frequent flier miles, rewards from Visa, Master Card, Discover Card and American Express are all designed to get you spending.

Rewarding yourself is for good behavior, once a month after achieving all of your contributions toward your future plans, current expenses all paid, unnecessary spending cut from your budget, as well as new profitable investments researched and purchased. Then and only then will you have the ability to consciously accept a reward for great or exceptional behavior. Until then it’s not rewarding to make purchases just for the sake of spending. It’s downright unrewarding and unsettling to our core when we do things of this nature.

We are just conditioned to think its normal everyday activities to be like this. No one has to live in debt over load or seek shelter from the weight of their financial burden. Seek knowledge and a plan to uncover your full financial potential. Stop the blatant disruption of the course of evolution by aligning yourself with the correct actions you are achieving for. Stop living for the moment if your not prepared to stay ahead of the curve and prepare for tomorrow. You’ll wind up six feet under a stack of bills waiting for every last breath to be sucked out of your life. Instead run the race, win the championship and earn the rewarding, respectfulness you deserve by taking control of your money habits today.

• Recovering from bankruptcy isn't as difficult as you may think I hear this cry from many people worried about their financial circumstances after they have decided that bankruptcy is their only alternative when it comes to recovering from financial hardship. I'm not an attorney yet I work very closely with them in my real estate business. On many occasions bankruptcy......
• Tell-Tale Signs You Have Entered Liberation School I was reading an empowering article this afternoon which really helped me to spark an amazing idea. You know when you hit the wall in your day and you just feel burnt out and complacent in your mundane routine? You just accept it and deal with life as it......
• Finding the Value and Benefit of Using Discounted Service Providers In today’s economic turbulent times the value of the dollar is limited and consumers are searching for more economically affordable solutions.For the most part price wins decisions more often than not. Just like people searching for solutions for their mortgage people rate shop and often take a lower rate......
• What to do after you become wealthy SO you've made it, that "pie in the sky, pipe dream" your friends always said would never amount to anything. You know when you went out to talk with your associates, close friends and family for input or advice. All of your hard knocks, bloody knuckles, sweat and tears combined......
• Simple Steps to Increased Credit Card Limits and Purchasing Power Learn to empower yourself immediately by increasing your credit card limit, call your creditors and get what you deserve. A bigger line of credit at a better rate and with less fees. When you call to speak to our customer service the call should go something towards this effect... First......

• Do You Deserve To Spend? Is It Ok To Splurge Even When You Don't Have The Money? I’ve been thinking about a type of spending lately that I think causes a lot of problems similar to impulse buying.  However, this spending is deliberate.  It's emotion driven and it can get you into credit card trouble quick, if not careful. Perhaps it’s at the end of a long......
• Why is it Bad to Cancel a Credit Card? Unless the idea of streamlined credit you have in your head is having 8 credit cards in a single wallet, then chances are good that you have considered canceling some of the cards you do not use much. The truth about canceling credit cards: Do unused credit cards hamper you......
• I Am Not Against Using Credit Cards To My Advantage. In the last month or so, I have gotten a few emails asking why I talk about using credit cards on this site. I took the time to answer the people directly, but I wanted to mention it here just in case there was anyone else wondering. I am not,......
• Tips For Finding The Best Credit Cards There are many different credit card companies that are available for credit card holders to choose from.  Many credit card holders are unaware of what the credit card companies offer and therefore do not take advantage of what is available at the credit card company.  By obtaining your credit cards......
• Living Creatively to Earn More and Spend Less When I was in college, I spent a total of $600 a month, including rent, food, gasoline, utilities and fun. I lived in a small South Dakota town, so it was a bit easier than most people to not spend money, but it still was not easy. I made sure......

Tagged with: credit • finance • frequent flyer • frequent flyer miles • money • money management • money trouble • rewrds • wealth protection

Filed under: Uncategorized • education • money • money management • ryans thoughts

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!

Possibly related posts