2915: Stop Letting Pride Keep You Broke by Andrea Joy of Saving Joyfully on Financial Well-Being

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01]: This complex financing talk is very challenging. Do I get my depot ever?

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[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Vodafone. Together we can.

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Finance Daily.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Finally, Stop Letting Pride Keep You Broke by Andrea Joy of SavingJoyfully.com.

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm your host and personal finance enthusiast, Diana Merriam.

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Now let's get right to today's post and start optimizing your life.

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Stop Letting Pride Keep You Broke by Andrea Joy of SavingJoyfully.com.

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever spent money to fulfill a desire to please others?

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's a high-priced clothing item, expensive purse, new vehicle, or dinner at an overpriced restaurant.

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: You knew the cost was more than you could afford, but in your mind, the pleasure would be worth the sacrifice.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_00]: No matter what the expense is, if the main reason for making the purchase was to fit in, you have fallen victim to this mentality.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Stop Letting Pride Keep You Broke

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_00]: When I was in high school, name brands seemed to matter to everyone.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I grew up in a large one-income family and money was scarce.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Most of my clothes were hand-me-downs or from a thrift store.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_00]: There were many times that I would struggle with self-worth due to comparing myself with others.

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: In my mind, everyone had better clothes, homes, cars, and pretty much everything.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: This was another financial pitfall that I have repeatedly struggled with over the years.

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: In high school, I remember a church retreat that I went on at age 16.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: At that time, I was feeling so inadequate and self-conscious about what I wore.

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I struggled to find the right clothes to take with me because some of my best clothes were not a brand name, but were cheaper no-name brands.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember replacing tags on my clothing with name-brand tags from other clothing, just in case someone might happen to see that they were not designer names.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: At the age of 40, I looked back on this with sadness for my younger self, that the world was successful at making me feel that way.

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_00]: If I could, I'd tell my younger self that my worth comes from so much more than the brand of clothing I wear.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: However, the influences all around me at the time would probably have loudly opposed this and won my attention once again.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: What I needed to remember at this time was the Bible passage in Peter.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Quote,

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: End quote.

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: How to ensure that pride does not control you and your finances.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Know your motivation for each purchase and give it careful consideration.

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And recognize your value does not come from what you own, what you wear or anything you could ever purchase.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Healthy financial goals and spending.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Evaluating your motives before purchasing things can help you create a more healthy and stable financial life.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: The less you allow your financial life to be controlled by your emotions and unhealthy desires to please others, the more you will find financial freedom and joy in life attainable.

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Learn to define healthy and unhealthy spending habits so that you can easily determine if a purchase should be made.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: To do this, you need to do some soul searching and understand yourself better so that you can make this determination.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: inadequate or unworthy? Would I be better off financially if I did not make this purchase?

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And can I do without this expense, or is this something I need?

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Dealing with the feelings of acceptance and rejection. Many of us struggle to feel that

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: we're good enough. We want to be accepted and don't want to feel inadequate. While we struggle to fit

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: in, to own whatever we feel we need to own to be accepted, we're missing something important in

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: life. We'll never feel like we're enough if we continue to chase these desires to please and

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: feelings of inadequacy. The only way that we'll ever find true joy in life and learn to love ourselves

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: is by recognizing that this type of thinking is all wrong. We need to realize that our worth does not

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: come from anything that we can do or acquire in life. Who are you really and where does your worth

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: come from? We are all created to be beautifully diverse and wonderfully made by the creator of

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: the universe. He has created you to be a unique and wonderful person just as you are right now.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: What you need to realize is that nothing will ever make you more beautiful or more desirable

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: than accepting who you were created to be and embracing your strengths and unique abilities.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: You are special and you can do things as no one else can. Why would you want to be like someone else?

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Accept and embrace the uniqueness that you were given and learn to be content with what you have

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and who you are today. Focus on becoming a better version of yourself, learning to embrace your

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: strengths and weaknesses. Your worth is not in the money you have, the car you drive, a career you

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_00]: have, clothes you wear, or even in how you look. You don't need to buy anything or look a certain way

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: to be any more valuable. Pride will keep you broke. If you never accept the truth, you will continue to

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: chase satisfaction in material things. In doing this, you'll always struggle financially because you'll always

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_00]: find something else that you need to fulfill a new unmet desire. The reality is that those desires will

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_00]: never be met by the items you purchase or the satisfaction that you're seeking. They'll just

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: continue to evolve into more disappointment and more desires that are always fleeting. Keep in mind that to

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_00]: live a joyful life, you have to let go of unhealthy attitudes and embrace new, sometimes unfamiliar concepts.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: In this case, releasing yourself from the desire to please others and choosing to live joyfully by

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00]: accepting the beauty of who you were created to be. Begin to reflect on what makes you beautifully

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: different and remember where your worth comes from. And it's not from anything that you can buy or own.

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_00]: You just listened to the post titled, Stop Letting Pride Keep You Broke by Andrea Joy of SavingJoyfully.com.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Buy low, sell high. It's easy to say, hard to do. For example, high interest rates are crushing the

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[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: prospectus at fundrise.com slash flagship. This is a paid advertisement. I'm hypothesizing here that most

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_00]: of our urge to buy things is because we assume this spending will make us feel a certain way.

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So when you see people spending on things you think you want, you're seeing what it looks like on the

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_00]: outside and assuming it's making them happy. But remember that comparison is the thief of joy.

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_00]: You can never know another person's inner life. And many people surrounded by luxury are deeply unhappy.

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I think the reason is because you can't buy lasting happiness. You can merely buy fleeting moments of

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_00]: pleasure. Many of us witness another person's fleeting moments of pleasure and interpret it as peace of

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_00]: mind. Well, you can't buy real lasting happiness. You can cultivate it through the way you spend your

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_00]: time and energy and the people you surround yourself with. And this is where money plays an important

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_00]: role. It can give you more autonomy over your time and energy. Think of it this way. I'm sure that many

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_00]: of you believe that a new Tesla would be a hotter ride than my 2010 Mazda 3, for example. But a fancy

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_00]: car is just not my style of status symbol. Walking away from my full-time job and spending my time doing

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: anything I want is much more appealing to me than posturing with a status symbol. So I drive that

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Mazda 3 with pride and I have a bumper sticker on the back that says, my other vehicle is a 401k

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: to annoy the Teslas driving behind me. That should do it for another edition of Optimal Finance Daily.

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll be back tomorrow as usual, where your optimal life awaits.