Move forward, even a step at a time
- B.J. Yoder: Young Money
- February 18, 2022
- 769
Recently I bought a house, which meant that I had to sell mine if I wanted to cash in on the equity.
This also meant that that had plenty of things that needed to be fixed up. In my mind, I had five months of work to do in about three days. That seemed impossible. I took a day off work and decided I needed to hammer down. I ended up mulching, pressure washing, cleaning carpet and anything else that popped up. I was absolutely overwhelmed and exhausted by the time I had to go to bed. The next morning, I woke up at 12:30 a.m. and couldn’t sleep because all I could think about was everything that needed to be taken care of.
Over the next two days I had help and was able to pull weeds, put new gravel in and mow. I even got a great night’s sleep during the next two nights, so why was I overwhelmed? It was because I waited to do all these things until I absolutely had to. I was so behind on everything that needed done and felt like there was no end in sight, so there was no point in even starting the process.
Does any of this sound familiar at all? It doesn’t matter what it is, whether it’s physical labor around the house, starting way behind on your 401k, saving for a car, investing, or learning about money. If it’s too late. it feels overwhelming and like there’s no point in doing it or starting it.
Everyone hears about the compound interest value a dollar has when you’re 20. If you haven’t, it means that if you would start a retirement fund in your twenties, when you retire, that dollar could be worth $88.
Now, when you take that same dollar and start the retirement fund in your 30s, the future value of that dollar dwindles significantly because the time has passed. This fact alone can get people in the mindset of “well, if I have lost out on so much money already, what’s the point of even starting?” This is a terrible mindset to enter because it can harm future you more than you think. Not starting at all can only damage you, at least an effort was put forth and most of time, even if it is a small reaping, you can reap from a little bit of hard work.
Like I stated before, it doesn’t just apply to the future value of money, it can also apply to knowledge or something as simple as saving. If you have been bad with your money your entire life, don’t take the approach of “this is how I have always been, and this is how I will always be.” My favorite movie, “Remember the Titans,” sums this up perfectly when a lineman on the football team was set in his ways and said, “I’m just a down home, no good for nothing, never going to college white trash.” If he would have kept this mindset, he obviously would have never made the grades to get to college, but like any feel-good movie he made a “C” average and made it to college.
What are you stuck in and overwhelmed about? For me right now it’s eating healthy, obviously not related to finance, but I keep getting stuck in “it’s not even worth starting anymore.” Think of what it will take to get out of this mindset, even the smallest action to get started in the right direction. Save $20 per paycheck and that will be $500 more than what you had saved at the beginning of the year. Start today, because it will feel overwhelming, but any step forward is closer to your goals.
Holmes County native BJ Yoder is an insurance agent by day and a finance enthusiast by night. This column is for informational purposes only. He can be emailed at benjamin.john.yoder@gmail.com.