In the spirit of Halloween, I feel obliged to write a Halloween themed post. This holiday is full of ghosts and monsters and clowns that scare the pants off a lot of people. I, however, have a different fear.
Have you ever seen that guy calmly walking down the street when he suddenly bursts into a crazy awkward run-dance-scream thing?
That’s me every time I see a bee, wasp or heaven-forbid walk into a spider-web. As a side note, when Spiders are so big they have hair so long it looks like it can be braided, even just looking at pictures on the internet seriously gives me the chills. Fo’ real.
I don’t know what it is about those little buggers (pun absolutely intended) but my bodies natural reaction to insects or arachnids is to jump, run, and scream like a girl. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized the absurdity of my behavior. Those creatures don’t want anything to do with me, just like I want nothing to do with them.
I am trying to overcome my fears. It’s difficult and I’m admittedly making very slow progress, but I hope one day I’ll be able to act like a man in the face of one of these creepy crawlers.
I think most of us have some financial fears as well. There are some scary financial situations (such as death of a wage earner, natural disaster, disability) that are completely rational fears and can be mitigated with insurance. However, there are other irrational fears that it seems plague many people in our society:
- Fear of not having the latest and greatest cell phone
- Fear of not taking an extravagant vacation every year
- Fear of “looking cheap” in front of friends or coworkers
If you are tormented by one of these (or many other irrational fears), my advice to you is simple: Grow a pair and get over it.
I’m not suggesting that people stop buying new phones or taking vacations. I think it’s great when people budget and save for things they want, and then follow that budget and make informed purchases.
I take issue with the people who make poor financial decisions based on fear of what family, friends, or other people will think. It’s even worse when people spend money they don’t have because they “deserve it” after working so hard. If someone puts an expensive vacation on a credit card with no intention of paying it off right away, he is definitely getting what he “deserves”: High interest payments for months or years.
It is important to recognize our fears, and then work on fixing them. Just a few months ago my net worth became positive, and my biggest fear is my net worth going back into the negative. The only way I could see that happening is if I get hurt and miss a lot of work, or if I get fired. I can only work my butt off and hope I don’t get fired, but I did sign up for long-term disability insurance just last week. This way, no injury or sickness can keep me from reaching my financial goals.
Today’s Halloween Thousandaire Question: What are you scared of, and what can you do to address that fear? Also, what are you gonna be for Halloween?
P.S. I’m also afraid of taxes. Especially Obamacare taxes.
P.P.S. I’m gonna be a banana for Halloween.
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
Haha, I though that “Grow a pair” was a link. You need to write a post and link it.
My biggest fear is that I will die surrounded by gray cubical walls!
The company put these death notices on the internal web page and I’m like wtf! I don’t want to know about somebody who passed away with a heart failure during a meeting. I’m working hard to get out of here soon.
no costume this year 🙁
I’ll definitely work on a “Grow a Pair” article. Great idea!
And why on earth would your company post death notices? I’m glad I don’t work there. Creepy!
yeah…so spiders scare the crap out of me. I’ve never run into a scorpion, but pretty sure I’d have a heart attack and die if I did. Not sure there is anything I can do to address these fears. I’m to the point where I can kill a spider if I need to and I only scream a little bit. When I was younger I would just stand and scream till my little brother came and killed the spider. I’m also afraid of getting in a bad car wreck, so I’m super aware when I’m driving. there you have it…my biggest fears!
I’m with you. I bet you could put me in the olympics and have me race the 100 meter dash, and if there was a huge hairy spider at the starting blocks, I would run away from it so fast I could beat Usain Bolt.
My biggest fears hmmm? I think financially it’s becomming like my dad. He’s terrible with money and it has effected me with everything from being able to ask him for help regarding school ( Hey Dad, can I borrow money for a textbook?) to my credit score. ( I’m still fighting with a collection agency for a medical bill when I was 16 and he didn’t pay. Really?) Needless to say, my Dad is who I don’t want to become, at all!
I’m also afraid of roaches ( I find them at work and freak out and all of my kids laugh at me and tease me for weeks), clowns ( I can’t watch Killer Clowns From Outerspace at all without flinching and I started hyperventaliating when a clown came at me in a haunted house last year) and for Halloween this year, I’m Snooki. 🙂
That’s great that you were able to learn from your dad and realize he wasn’t a very good financial role model. Sounds like you’re on the right path though.