Listening to the news we come across numerous examples of people striking rich through a lottery ticket (Lottery winners who lost their money) or an inheritance. Maybe some of us secretly dream of being one of these people. I know, I have in the past dreamt of winning a million dollar lottery or discovering a long lost relative who left me their million dollar inheritance. Truth be told, secretly we all have; the allure of instant riches is just so consistent in our lives with the media, news, television and sometimes our friends and family.

We hear examples of people squandering their millions on fast cars, huge boats, and fake relationships and consciously we think, ‘I’ll never be like that’ – the brain think ‘I’ll never be rich’. Money-rage is what this gets us on. We are upset with people with money internally and we are upset with money itself. We become defensive when someone talks about money, and we shun people around us who flaunt their money. We look for excuses and errors in the rich. He’s corrupt, he’s a liar, a fake, a cheater, a gambler. And so we aren’t rich and wealth. It appears that these observation are very common, even popular on the TV shows that we watch and apparent in the opinions of our favorite news anchors.

These are however extreme manifestation of wealth; the fast cars, the huge boats and the fake relationships. On the other extreme are the philanthropists, like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet who have donated billions of their own personal money to charitable causes. Of course, we think to ourselves, they can do this because they are billionaires.

What most people feel near the end of their paycheck cycle is ‘being-broke-anxiety’. Each month they are nearing being broke. They know if they don’t get the next paycheck, they won’t be able to pay the mortgage, the car payments, and the credit card bills and will just be plain broke. This causes them much grief and keeps them tied to a job they don’t particularly like. Some people are so high strung on this anxiety that any disruption, even the ordinary, everyday kind (like a flat tire, or a broken glass at home) can send them into a homicidal, unthinking rage. We wonder how these people lose control so quickly and completely, and are comforted knowing that we are more rational, more balanced and better adjusted. Are we, really?

Though most of us are not on a path to self-destruction and committing obscenities when things don’t go our way; thankfully, many of us have serious problems dealing with unexpected events that require an outlay of money, even if a small amount of money. We are a nation of Jones, keeping up with each others material possessions; albeit subconsciously. Our plan is plan B; there is no plan. We rush through our monetary problems as if in a crisis management agency, rushing to take care of one problem before we get to the next. Obviously becoming adept at juggling our money management problems by pushing the thought of money management to the side each time it is mentioned.

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Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!

—Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English author, Through the Looking Glass

Here’s a simple test to see if you are suffering from ‘being-broke-anxiety’. Ask your spouse or a partner or a friend to order anything they want off of Amazon.com without telling them how much it cost, or what they can order. To start the test you give your partner your credit card / debit card and let them order whatever they want for themselves without you peering over the computer screen.

Once they are done – gauge how long it takes you to actually see what they ordered from Amazon and your reaction to it.

Did you jump to see how much it cost? Did you throw a tantrum? Did you cancel the order immediately? Did you overestimate the amount of money they would spend?

If so you’re in the majority.

The solution of escaping ‘being-broke-anxiety’ is simple – don’t be broke. Each month even before you do anything else, put aside 10% of what you earn, if that seems too big, put aside 5%, put aside even a 1$ and you are on you way to becoming a millionaire – escaping the ‘being-broke-anxiety’.

What can 1$ do for you – that’s for another post. Watch this space.