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[ 2012-1-20 15:05:00 | By: xinugg441 ] |
In my experience, lots of people are missing parts of their financial jigsaw.
How is it that some people, who don't necessarily earn a great deal of money, always seem to have money to spend? On the other hand, there are plenty of people who earn a lot of money, yet they are constantly in debt. So clearly, it's more than a simple question of the level of a person's income.
It's to do with your financial jigsaw. It's all the underlying thoughts,ugg boots on sale, attitudes, beliefs and pre-conceived ideas that someone has about money. It's the total sum of everything you picked up as a child - from hearing and watching your parents' attitude to money; from your friends at school, and observing their parents, through your first job,UGG shop, and your colleagues' attitude towards their income; right up to the present day.
Here's an exercise for you: Take 2 minutes to write down the first thoughts that come into your mind about money.
Have you done it? OK, so what sort of things came up for you?
A lot of people are familiar with the adage: "Money doesn't grow on trees." or "Save it for a rainy day."
Whereas other people might come up with "Money is for spending, you can't take it with you."
Can you see how these simple thoughts about money have a huge influence on your attitude towards saving and spending? Debt in our society is at an all time high. And worryingly, it is now teenagers who are adopting some reckless spending and debt habits. They are bombarded by a constant stream of advertising messages, and are encouraged to spend on the latest fashions, accessories and gadgets.
One of my friends' daughters recently asked her mum for a new toy. When her mother said they couldn't afford it, the daughter went off and came back with her mother's cheque-book. "Look, Mum," she said, "There's still lots of cheques in here..!"
Now that could be a child's simple misunderstanding, and it's a funny story. But that's how an addiction to debt begins. So if you need help to get out of debt, you need to find someone who can look further than simply balancing your cheque-book. You need to start examining your deeper beliefs and attitudes about money.
Here's another exercise for you: When you see an expensive car, what is your first reaction? Do you make some instant derogatory comment about the driver? Or do you silently congratulate the driver for being financially astute enough to be able to afford such a luxury? Please be honest with yourself. Or if you can't think of the reaction you would have,manteaux moncler, then notice what it is next time you see a really expensive car.
So a final thought for you. In the above example, if you have a somewhat negative reaction to seeing an expensive car, for instance, you think, "What a jerk!" yet on the other hand, you hold a desire for yourself to own such a car. What does that mean? By your own admission, it means that you have to be a jerk before you can own a car like that,UGG Pas Cher Australia! And I can guarantee that most people would prefer to suffer the indignity of driving an old banger, rather than admit to being a jerk!
There's no real way of denying it - from motorways to town centres, shopping centre car parks and pertol station forecourts, it's clear that our cars our shrinking.
Less car manufacturers are pumping out adverts for high-power, gut-busting performance cars and seem more interested in telling us, the potential buyer, how many miles we can get for a gallon of fuel in their latest little motor.
Take Alfa Romeo, for example. Not usually one of the biggest contenders in sales but no they're doing big business with their MiTo. Usually associated with style and passionate performance, they've managed to make huge waves in a market they'd previously never stepped foot in. In fact, this author has seen more of their supermini on the road than their other models lately.
So what's behind this sudden shift in habbits that made the launch of the Mito so perfectly timed? First up is the recession. Oh it's doom and gloom out there for many businesses and it was certainly a really tough time for the motor industry. The Top Three in America were on the brink of vanishing without assistance and more than a couple of European car makers were shaking in their boots as Japanese companies also posted losses. Fortunately,www.uggbootssale-ie.net, for the Mito, Alfa's parent company Fiat wasn't in trouble.
With consumerism fading fast, exchange rates playing havoc with prices, car sales were slipping fast. In an attempt to both clean up the air and help put a bit of fire under car buyers, the UK government followed the lead of others in Europe and kicked off the Scrappage Scheme. Encouraging drivers to trade in their big old gas guzzling pollution mobiles with the incentive of up to four thousand of the purchase made a newer, smaller sufficiently more enticing.
The fact that fuel prices are seemingly climbing on a daily basis really didn't hurt the MiTo any either. Everybody is looking for ways to save at the pumps. From driving less to being a bit lighter on the accellerator, saving on fuel is motivating behaviour more than 0-60 speeds ever did. Accordingly, it's little surprise that smaller, more fuel-efficient cars do well even without the added incentive of the discount offered by the Scrappage Scheme. After all, it's more than your normal part-exchange would cover and when you factor in the amount saved in fuel it all looks a lot more sensible.
Looking less sensible is the key for the MiTo though. Not only is it sufficiently fuel-friendly to fit in with the Scrappage Scheme's trade in offer but it doesn't look like every other small car out there. There's an almost disease-like rash of small cars that look identical - can you tell the difference between a Peugeot 107 and a Citroen Saxo without the badges? Alfa Romeo's little supermini looks like nothing other than an Italian styled performance car and it's this quirkiness coupled with perfect timing that means there's bound to plenty more of them on the roads.
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