Your friends and family members have been buzzing about all of the great deals they got over Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
They bought the latest electronics, cell phones, games, jewelry, designer clothes, and more. And they are not alone. According to the National Retail Federation, the holiday weekend was a huge success with shoppers spending a record $52 billion.
In the meantime, you may be working long hours and making personal sacrifices just to support your family and pay the bills. Holiday gifts? How in the world are you ever going to buy presents when you can’t even afford essentials like gas, food and medicine?
This season is full of joy. But for those of you just trying to stay afloat financially, it can be a time of worry, sadness and stress.
But I’m here to tell you that you have a choice!
Instead of concentrating on the negative aspects of your life, what you don’t have or all the gifts you can’t give your family, it’s time to think about what you do have. For example,
- You may be in better financial state than your friends and family.
While they are boasting about all of the great deals they got on the latest, technological gadgets and bling right now, they may have a completely different attitude come January.
After all, that’s when they’ll start seeing their huge, credit-card bills for their holiday purchases. Instead of buying assets, or things that put money in their pockets, they’ve bought items that take money out of their pockets, or liabilities. You, on the other hand, probably created thoughtful, homemade gifts and did not waste your money because you didn’t have any money to spend!
- You can change your situation even if you have nothing.
In my new book, “It’s Rising Time,” I talk about what it really takes to enjoy financial freedom, and I give examples of women who started with just a few coins in their purse and became very wealthy.
Being a Rich Woman is just a matter of increasing your financial education – and this involves more than study and research alone. It takes gathering facts and figures, putting it into practice and actually doing it.
But if these women can do it, so can you!
- You have nothing to lose and more to gain.
Unlike those with money, if you start with nothing, your risk-level is lower and your drive is probably higher to make positive changes happen. Plus, if you don’t have any money to invest, you’ll likely be more creative and learn more in order to use other people’s money to obtain assets.
It’s Time to Experience Financial Freedom
When you are overworked, underpaid and struggling to make ends meet, it’s easy to take a Scrooge-like approach to the holiday season. But when you look at where you are now, you may actually be in a better position than some of your friends and family members who are on a gift-buying frenzy acquiring significant debt from liabilities.
Start increasing your financial education now. Then, when your friends and family complain about their holiday debts in 2012, you can secretly take pride in the fact that you didn’t purchase any liabilities and are turning your financial situation around. More important, you can share the financial education process with your children and help them have bright, financial futures too. And isn’t that a much better gift than the latest, video game?
To start your financial education now, check out our free community here.