When I first started building this website, my goal was to help people with the complexities of handling finance in a simple, less confusing way. I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. I was already helping people I know in my life get a good grip on their financial struggles years before I even got this site launched.
Reality check — not everyone wants to be helped. They may pretend to want the help by complaining or throwing a pity party among themselves, but in reality, those people are still going to do what they’ve always done.
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”
That is the dilemma I face when it comes to helping certain people. I would give advice since all I see and hear are the struggles of not being able to pay this credit card or that house payment. But when I give a simple plan on how to get out of debt, all I hear are the excuses as to why they can’t do it.
“When you’re buried in debt, the first rule is to stop digging”
It takes sacrifice, discipline, and dedication to become financially independent. I haven’t had cable TV for 15 years and I’m better for it. By my calculations, if I spent $75 a month for cable for 15 years, I would have spent $13,500 dollars.
It wasn’t even that hard. To me, that’s not even a hard sacrifice. Now if told my Mom to drop cable, she would give me all kinds of excuses and then add a complaint that she’s broke. She doesn’t want my help. My mom needs to learn the hard way.
I know a friend who’s buried in credit card debt but works at home. I advised him to sell his car and it will pay off the credit card. Excuses and reasons come flooding in on why he can’t sell. He’s not willing to make the sacrifice. My friend does not need help. He has to learn the hard way.
My little sister has $1000 dollars just sitting in her savings account for the last 18 months. She’s made 18 cents worth of interest. I told her that I can help invest the money for her and make her money work for her. My sister ignores my advice. She does not want my help. She needs to learn the hard way.
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man a fish and you feed him for a lifetime”
Not if that man doesn’t to be taught.
Some people just want to take the fish. Learning to fish is too much of a challenge.
Education and finance are weaved together in life. The more educated you are, the more money you make –for the most part.
There’s always an exception to the rule but when I say education I don’t just mean school education. I also mean self-education, life education, street education. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were not the most educated people in the world and look how successful they have become.
“Education breaks down ignorance”
– David Oyewolo
The more education we have, the more our eyes see. Imagine if you can’t read today and the next day you could. The difference is life changing. That is why I push myself to learn new things everyday. The more we learn the more we earn. But some people don’t want to get educated. Some people don’t want to be helped. Sometimes, people need to learn the hard way.
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