5 all-too-common excuses that will keep you from building wealth by Todd Kunsman on Jan 26, 2018, 6:10 PM Advertisement
 - Too many young people are using the same money excuses that hold them back from building net worth.
- Personal finance does not have to be time consuming or confusing.
- Millennials should focus on paying off debt now in order to build a larger worth.
One of the most important numbers you should calculate and track consistently is your net-worth, which is your total assets (those things worth money like your house and any investments) and your total liabilities (what you owe money on like credit card, mortgages, and student loan debt). Your net worth is how much money you would be worth if you paid off all of your debts: Assets – Liabilities = Net-Worth Over time as your investments grow and you pay down your debt, you net-worth will go up. This is why it's so essential to invest while paying back your students loans. Ever since I started my financial journey I've been tracking my net worth using free tools like Personal Capital. Median net worth in the United States Recently, a friend and I were discussing an interesting statistic from an article about net-worths. The statistic that we were talking about was was from an article in Business Insider from Jim Wang showcasing the average net worth for the different age groups of Americans. Given that the average savings rate in the United States has fallen to a 7 year low at only 2.9%, it's not really surprising, but incredibly disconcerting to see that the members of my age group (under 35) have a net worth of less than $6k. The 35-44 age group isn't much better with a net-worth of $35,000. That's crazy considering This is a recipe for disaster. All of these numbers paint a bleak picture of Americans and the hole is getting bigger to get out of. It also doesn't get any prettier for just millennial net worths either based on a more detailed analysis on The College Investor: 
My friend asked me why I thought more people in our age group are stuck at a certain net worth or why I thought it was hard for many to change their financial situations. Then he asked, "Was it that hard for you to change your situation?" In a simple answer: yes and no. Top 5 money excuses holding you back But after we had some back and forth text messages, I realized there are are a few common excuses people make about money that keeps them from saving and investing. These are the same money excuses that are keeping people from pursuing (and eventually achieving) financial independence. Send this to any of your family or friends who are making excuses and need to start saving more money. All of our futures depend on it. Let's get those net worths up! SEE ALSO: The 23 best cities to move to if you're a broke millennial SEE ALSO: Here are Warren Buffett's most valuable investments Excuse #1: I don't have time to budget and look at my personal finances  One of the main excuses I've heard among my friends, colleagues, and others is the same old excuse for most things: a lack of time. Sure, pretty much everyone has busy schedules whether it be school, work, family, kids, etc. A majority of people lead extremely busy lives. Yet, I bet that majority also find time to binge watch Netflix for hours (Hey, me too!), play sports, watch sports, and go shopping, etc. Americans watch an insane amount of television each week. The average millennial watches television 26 hours a week (3.7 hours a day) and older Americans (35-44) watch it 36 hours a week (5.14 hours a day). And those things are all fine to do in moderation, but it's fairly easy to take 20-30 minutes a month to devote to planning and managing your finances. Seriously that not much time. And it actually takes a lot less time than you think. There are tons of free tools out there like Mint and Personal Capital. Use them.
Excuse #2: Personal finance is too confusing This was the biggest excuse that personally held me back in my own financial journey. Thinking personal finance was confusing was one of my biggest money mistakes. The biggest reason people think that personal finance is too complicated is for two primary reasons. The financial industry is set up so personal finance seems complicated, with its acronyms and fine print, so that some finance companies can make more money and we aren't taught much about money in school. The challenge here is, unless you were in accounting or some financial track in school or college, Americans really are not taught a lot about personal finances in the education system. Although "money management" is one of the most requested classes by high school students in the United States and it looks like the trend is starting to shift a little bit. A vast majority of personal finance you can learn online for free by reading blogs and listening to money podcasts. Or by reading the best money books.
Excuse #3: It's too hard to get out of debt  Whether it's student loan debt, car debt, credit card debt, personal debt, or mortgage debt, it feels like everyone is swimming in debt these days. But paying off debt is really a numbers game — always pay down the highest rate interest rate first, then move onto the next one. In almost all cases credit card debt will have the highest interest rate and should be paid off first. No matter how large your debt is, some people actually have over $1 million in student loans and they were able to pay them off. While I used to have a lot of debt, every year I'm surprised how much more debt I paid off when at first it only seemed like a minimal amount. The sooner you start crushing it the sooner it will be gone. No one likes having debt, but you need to face it head on instead of the, "I'll worry about it later."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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