AHMAD MUSYAFFAQ

“Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.”

I’m sure many of us have heard of this quote before and think of it off as “Yeah yeah don’t spoon feed people blah blah blah”. But what’s powerful about this quote is that it can be used in the context of any problem, especially money problems. Now you’re reading this article to find out why is the title as such. Before we dive into that statement, we need to find out the reason why the problems happen in the first place.

Why do people have money problems?

There are many different reasons why people face problems with money but there are 2 main categories – Unforeseen Circumstances and Bad Money Habits.

• Unforeseen Circumstances
  Sometimes life just finds its way to screw someone’s life, be it with an accident or a health problems. These things are very common and unexpected. It’s just waiting to find it’s prey. So the best thing for you to do is to prepare for the worst. What you need is an Emergency Fund! Click here to read more about it here.
• Bad Money Habits
  Spending more than you earn, buying a lot of luxury or taking up debts to spend away freely. These are some of the bad money habits that a normal person has. It’s the same with any bad habit, it is developed from an early stage and once it has gotten worse you just can’t seem to stop it. But the good thing about this is that you can do something to change it!

Money Problem is a Behavioural Problem

Money don’t solve money problems simply because it’s not really a “money problem”. It’s a behavioural problem that if dealt with correctly can solve “money problems.” For the 2 reasons why people have money problems, let’s see a scenario for each.

Scenario 1: “Alice was involved in an accident. She couldn’t afford to pay the $5000 hospital bill. Someone offered to pay the bill for her. After that, she went on her life as per normal. The year after that, her kitchen was caught on fire. She now couldn’t pay to rebuild her kitchen.”

Scenario 2: “Alex loves to shop. In a year, he used his credit card to shop and raked $3000 in debt. He begged his friend to help him pay off the debt. His friend, not wanting to ruin their friendship, helped him. The year after, he continued his shopping lifestyle and now has $5000 of debt.”

Now do you see how money problems can go on and on without ending?

How do you solve money problems?

• Focus on managing your money
  Learn to control how your money goes into your pocket and how it goes out of your pocket. This is called budgeting. Look at what you need to spend on and which are the important things. Click here to read my article on building a basic budget!
• Spend less than you earn
  You should only be spending the money that you have or earn. Sometimes you just have the urge to splurge on the new sneakers, or eat at a fancy restaurant even though you know you are not able to. Practice patience. Also, avoid increasing your spending just ’cause your money increased. Click here to read my article on Lifestyle Inflation!
• Prepare for worst case scenarios
  Sometimes you just can’t predict what will happen. Life might just come barging in. Having a lifeboat to safe you from this will help prevent running into money problems. Create your lifeboat by building an Emergency Fund. Click here to read my article on building an emergency fund!

Money Can Sometimes Solve Money Problems

Being handed a lifeline can be a morale boost for some people. It could help motivate them to be better at how they manage their money. So don’t think that money can’t solve all your problems. I’m sure we will all grab onto any opportunity of getting free money!!

Closing Words

It is important to know when we have a problem with our habits and to acknowledge it. The faster you acknowledge it, the faster you can look into becoming someone better with money. You can be someone earning a million dollar each year but if you spend a dollar more than a million each year, you are going to have problems! Read up articles online, watch YouTube videos. There’s no such thing as a one-solution to all of these. To end off, here’s a quote from Trevor Noah (TV Host):

“People love to say, “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” What they don’t say is, “And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.” That’s the part of the analogy that’s missing.”

And this blog post and the other posts are my fishing rod for you. Use it wisely!

Reference:
Foroux, D. (n.d.). [Untitled illustration of a man fishing]. Darius Foroux. https://dariusforoux.com/self-reliance-certainty/