The First Rule For Financial Success:

What is the first and most important rule if you want to succeed financially?

Spend less than you earn.

Sounds simple, like something we all do, but really is it?

If we all spent less than we earned, then Barclays credit card agents wouldn’t be so busy calling people to tell them about their exciting new products. I got the second call from them on Saturday, and the call went something like this (we’ll call the agent Carol):

Carol: Hello, I’m I speaking to Kellie?

Kellie: Yes you are, how may I help you?

Carol: My name is Carol, I’m calling from Barclaycard. My log shows that Joe my colleague called you earlier this week to inform you about our new products…

Kellie: Yes he did Carol, and I told him that I’m not interested in your loans.

Carol: No! No! It’s not a loan, it’s an offer we are running where you can withdraw up to 50,000 shillings using your credit card… (at this point I cut in)

Kellie: And do you charge interest for this?

Carol: Yes but..

Kellie: Then it’s a loan, and I’m not interested. Please tell your senoirs I’m happy with the services I get from you right now, and you need to stop calling me, unless you want me to stop using your services completely. Ok?

Carol: Ok, I’m sorry… (cuts in again)

Kellie: Thank you (disconnects call).

What she didn’t know is that my credit card was in my wallet, in 4 pieces then, but I digress.

Like I was saying, if we all spent less than we earned, then Barclaycard would be out of business. Immediate gratification is a term that we all have grown very familiar of…

We no longer watch an episode a week of our favourite TV programs, we download an entire season and watch it over a weekend,

We don’t save up for homes, we take mortgages,

We no longer watch 7pm news, we get the news as it happens on Twitter, never mind the fact that the happenings rarely spur us into any kind of action,

Why get married when we can just move in with each other and live like we are married?

Why wait for the end of the month for that pair of shoes, when you can own it today at a swipe of a card?

Sadly, unless we change our financial habits, we will be where America is in a couple of years, a country funded wholly by debt, by China, where it’s citizens save up to 50% of their income.

So, in light of the above rule, how do we make it happen? What is the practical way to spend less than we earn?

Look out for the next post.