Celeste Elle, Author at MoneyDigest.sg

Here’s how to stop the urge of spending money

Emotions have a big influence on what we buy. As a result, it’s understandable that when anything is going on in our personal lives, it will manifest itself in our financial habits as well.

Does a little online shopping sound like the solution when you’re having a bad day? It may be as simple as picking up a new blouse or the latest pair of shoes. You convince yourself it’s not a huge cause for concern; you simply want to treat yourself to something good. Hold your horses! Making judgments based only on emotions is a proven way to give impulsive buying the upper hand.

Here’s how to stop the urge of spending money.

Have a plan

Having a plan for what you want to purchase and how much you will spend before you begin your shopping spree is a wonderful strategy to avoid impulse purchases. You will be less prone to overspending if you have a shopping list in place. It might include everything from groceries to holiday gifts for your family and friends; just make sure you know what you want to grab before you go.

Solve issues with existing products

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Is it really necessary to have a mobile phone holder on your workstation, or can you just rest it against a water bottle to check incoming notifications? Is it wise to purchase your kid a toy drum set when you could DIY your own? Using a little creativity, you might be able to fix problems with products you already own, or at the very least, postpone your next e-commerce transaction.

Track all that you’re spending: big or small

The smallest purchases may quickly mount up, and by the end of every month, we may be faced with buyer’s regret. The secret to effective budgeting is keeping track of your expenditures because it holds you liable for every dollar that leaves your bank account. You will be capable of making better spending decisions once you know where your money goes.

Many people begin by keeping track of their larger spending, but it’s just as vital to keep track of those minor, recurring purchases. A daily cappuccino, weekend meals out, or getting a seemingly harmless monthly magazine may add up to a lot more than you realize, and they can have a significant impact on our finances. You would have saved roughly over $100 per month if you could forego that Starbucks drink before you hit the office.

One of life’s most noteworthy temptations will always be to spend. Knowing how to control your impulses will help you get the optimum financial status possible in the future. While avoiding spending urges may seem tedious or challenging in the short term, the money you save today will provide greater options for enjoyment and financial security in the long run.

Tips to educate your kids on investing

Time is your best friend when it comes to investing. The longer time you allow your assets to develop, the bigger your retirement fund will be. The problem is that most individuals aren’t educated about investing until they’re in their adult years. And by that time, most have already squandered over two decades.

Traditional educational systems often do not educate children about investing, such as why they should acquire stocks while they are young and how to build a diversified portfolio that will last them until retirement. As a result, it is incumbent on parents to prepare their kids for financial security. Fortunately, financial literacy can be taught from the comfort of one’s own home.

Here are tips to educate your kids on investing.

Patience is key

Investing, like most pleasures in life, takes patience. Instill in your kids the understanding that investing is not a get-rich-quick gimmick. Rather than anticipating a rapid return, the idea is to put money into the stock market and watch it increase over time. This piece of advice will set more realistic goals for your child when it comes to investing from the get-go.

Gift them investment books

How to Turn $100 into $1,000,000: Earn! Save! Invest!

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There are several excellent finance-related books for kids and teenagers that may help your child learn more about investing. For example, How to Turn $100 into $1,000,000: Earn! Save! Invest! is ideal for any parent who wishes to raise a child who is financially savvy and secure. The quest begins with instructions on how to make a first hundred bucks while the rest of the book follows the path to a million dollars. What’s there not to like about it?

Introduce familiar companies

For years, the expression “buy what you know” has been tossed about in investment circles. It’s important to teach kids how to invest by putting their money in firms they recognize. Today’s children are well-versed in product branding and are adept at conducting web searches. Consider inviting your kid to spend time with you investigating the stock price of a firm they are interested in.

Look up the payout history during the search and clarify why they will get the declared dividend amount for each share of stock they hold. You could perhaps suggest reinvesting returns to continue expanding the asset, based on your child’s financial literacy level. Kids may become long-term investors by investing in what they know: if they clearly understand the firm and grasp what drives its operation, they are more inclined to stick it out during moments of instability.

The sooner you start introducing concepts of investments to your children, the more probable they will establish good financial habits and accumulate money over time. You may even be amazed at how much your children can comprehend, notably if you start teaching them diverse tactics at an early age. Don’t put off the thought of helping them start saving for retirement; they will thank you down the road.

How to say no at work

Most individuals struggle to say no because they feel terrible for not assisting and for not being a team player. Unfortunately, saying yes to everyone and being overworked is neither healthy nor productive.

Knowing how to say no politely can convince your colleagues and supervisor that you aren’t refusing to help them because you don’t want to, but because you are overloaded and can’t take on additional responsibilities at a particular timeframe. Remember, if you’re fatigued, it makes you extremely unproductive.

Read on for ways on how to say no at work.

Don’t drag

Since you already know the reply you’re going to give, don’t ramble. It will only get worse with dragging and the mental strain will add to your tension. Furthermore, it is fairer for your colleagues because they will have more time to find someone else to take on the task.

Stay flexible

If you can’t accomplish something on a given day, try to ask if the both of you can agree on another deadline. If you don’t have the time or resources to accomplish the entire job, volunteer to undertake only a portion of it. The main idea here is to remain adaptable.

Weigh your priorities

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Staying on top of your priorities can assist you in determining whether or not you are capable of taking on additional responsibilities. Say no if you notice that you already have a lot on your plate and that taking on more will make you feel overloaded.

Explain in a candid manner

Too frequently, individuals give insignificant excuses and then hide the true reason they’re saying no for they believe it’s unnecessary to share. The little, self-deprecating justifications, on the other hand, are unpersuasive and can be readily dismissed. Be honest about why you’re saying no to avoid resentment. Keep calm, precise, and on topic when revealing your situation.

Ready yourself for negative responses

Negative feedback is something you should expect. It’s possible that your coworker is unhappy and might instantly burn the bridge. However, bear in mind that you can impact but not dictate how other individuals react. To put it another way, you can’t satisfy everybody. Don’t make the mistake of seeing your coworker’s response as a dilemma between a potential conflict and maintaining a working relationship.

We are aware that it’s difficult to say no at work, but it’s often required. You must define the limits and speak up for yourself; cease over-apologizing and yielding to demands to put others’ concerns ahead of your own. Ultimately, rejection is a talent that takes practice to master so don’t be too hard on yourself right from the get-go.

What to do when investing in volatile markets

The majority of investors are cognizant that the market goes through bulls and downturns. So, what transpires when the market is volatile?

To make it clear from the beginning, financial market volatility is the measurement of the size and speed of an asset’s price movements. Volatility exists in any asset whose market price fluctuates over time. The broader and more regular these swings are, the higher the volatility, and making a terrible move might wipe out earlier profits and much more.

When investing in turbulent markets, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Diversify

Volatile markets might expose that investments believed to be properly diversified, in fact, are not. If you haven’t recently reviewed your portfolios to ensure that you understand how each asset class is performing and that the mix fits your investing strategy, now would be an excellent time to do so.

Rebalance

Assets that have appreciated in value will make up more of your portfolio over time, while those that have decreased will make up less. Rebalancing entails selling positions that have become overweight in comparison to the rest of your portfolio and reinvesting the profits in underweight ones. It’s a sensible move to repeat this process frequently.

Go for long-term

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Markets fluctuate, and you’re bound to see multiple major drops throughout your investment journey. When compared to bull markets, even instances when the market plunged by more than 20% have traditionally been quite brief. Because it’s impractical to time the market’s ebbs and flows, all investors should tune out the buzz and fixate on their long-term goals.

Stay the course

If you’re retired or on the verge of retiring, your stance on investing in a volatile market can be a little different. Rather than attempting to chase high gains in the short term, your priority should be on safeguarding the assets you’ve amassed via long-term investment. To keep on track, create a retirement investing framework before you bid goodbye to your monthly paychecks, so you won’t make rash judgments about your assets during market downturns.

Keep day trading at bay

When you day trade, you purchase and sell investments quickly in the hopes of profiting from small price variations. While this may appear to be a simple, low-risk approach to making money, it is complicated and time-consuming. Day traders must build a system to track stocks, keep a constant eye on the markets, and have an uncanny ability to determine when the optimum moment to buy or sell is, which may feel like a full-time job. Day trading can potentially result in significant losses if you aren’t 100% sure what you’re doing.

When stock markets begin to plummet, daily doses of negative updates may seem inescapable. Even the savviest investors might worry, doubt, and make drastic judgments as a result of it. Panic, on the other hand, brings you nowhere. When markets get stormy, it’s critical to stay calm. Don’t be hesitant to speak with a financial professional if you’re concerned about market fluctuations. They can provide expert guidance, review your financial strategy, and assist you in determining the best actions to take.

Avoid these parenting mistakes when disciplining your kids

When we think we’ve got it all figured out, our lovely children delight in turning our lives upside down with their erratic moods and behaviors. Nonetheless, we must remember the typical disciplinary blunders, particularly when correcting our children in unfamiliar areas, to guarantee that our actions and thoughts are beneficial and that we can stop harmful habits from blossoming.

Read on to avoid these parenting mistakes when disciplining your kids.

Bribing

You might be inclined to use the lure of sweets at the checkout counter to stop your child’s breakdown in the supermarket. This technique might succeed, but only for the time being. Bribing a child for poor conduct is essentially encouraging negative habits, so don’t be shocked if your kid starts whining the next time he or she wants anything.

Actionless

Set boundaries and stick to them, because leniency and counteroffers all imply that compliance is a choice. To encourage children to respect rules, set clear expectations, and intervene when those conditions are not met. Begin with courteous commands if you want your child to accomplish things like pausing computer games and finishing schoolwork. Compliment when they follow through and impose a “penalty” if they don’t.

High expectations

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Young kids have yet to establish impulse control or the etiquette necessary in public areas such as restaurants and shopping malls. When your child deviates from the usual, consider the fact that they aren’t seeking to be a nuisance; they just don’t know what to do in the scenario, therefore exploding won’t help. Because children are born imitators, modeling or calling attention to something we would like them to do can likely help them succeed.

Long-windedness

It is not useful to give an extensive description of your child’s unacceptable conduct. Kids, especially those in primary school who are improving their attention spans, can quickly lose track of talks that go too far in-depth. Make things as simple as possible for your child by breaking them down into fundamentals. Clarify what the conduct was and why it was incorrect with younger ones and address what went awry with older children using various scenarios that may have resulted in better decisions.

Setting a bad example

You advise your teenager not to lie, yet you habitually do so to avoid joining a school volunteer event or attending an insignificant lunch meeting. You scream at your kids and implore them angrily to talk respectfully to one another.

The concern here is that we are frequently blind to our actions and forget that the little ones are watching and learning from us. Be a prime example of the conduct you want your child to mimic as often as possible. If you violate one of your standards occasionally, explain the situation to your kid, discuss how you could have acted differently, and respond with better grace next time.

Getting kids to obey might feel like an impossible endeavor since children are capable of pushing against the boundaries of their environment to learn what is tolerable and what is not. This may be perplexing for parents who feel compelled to constantly raise the stakes to turn every encounter into a teachable moment. Keeping the aforementioned missteps in mind, nevertheless, can assist parents in developing a disciplinary system that is fair, effective, and encourages a child to learn the right things when the opportunity presents.