Category Archives: Finances

Black Politics, Life, Finances

Knowledge over Faith

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How does your mindset affect your financial success?

I think that your mindset can be detrimental to your financial success because it will stop you from getting the knowledge or tools that you need while hoping and having faith that things will work out.

I have seen so many people that have faith or hope things will work out and yes you can get lucky but for the average person financial success and luck don’t really mix. You need a plan and to take some actionable steps in order to achieve financial success.

A few years ago I had a TThoughts Podcast series called Fall Finances that was going through some steps that strengthened my financial literacy. I have a wonderfully creative mind and the ability to imagine anything can happen for me but the only thing that helped me get financial success was starting to put money away as well as getting knowledge about the steps I could take to get more money.

If I relied on my mindset alone, I would be in my late 30s hoping to meet some millionaire that would sweep me off my feet and activate the soft life we all dream of. Instead I chose to learn from the wise people around me and realized that a budget isn’t always the best way to achieve financial success. You cannot budget yourself into having more money so in time I learnt that I needed to make more money and that would allow me to achieve more financial stability.

I have witnessed a lot of people especially in the Black community that operate with a mindset of God will provide and relying more on prosperity pastors instead of learning a skill that will actually allow them to get out of the situation that they are in. I understand a big part of knowledge is having the context to know that learning this skill will allow you to do X but there are a lot of people that think just believing or having faith will ensure financial success but that is just not true. This is why you see so many people falling for MLM scams, they think that believing is going to get them financial success yet it is simply not true.

I have seen so many people that are not very positive but they are in a great financial position. You need knowledge, consistency and a solid plan and that will impact your financial success more than any mindset.

Family and Friends, Finances, Health and Wellness, Life

Figure out the root cause

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What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

I think the best strategy to cope with negative feelings is figuring out why you are feeling that way. Is it something that has been bubbling up but you have just been ignoring it?

I was watching a video about getting jealous of friends and of course everyone is perfect on the internet and no-one has ever been jealous of a friend or compared themselves with an acquaintance. I, however, could totally relate to that feeling of wondering “What am I doing wrong?” or “How come this hasn’t worked for me?”

I think one thing that is often triggering is having a wonderful or normal day scrolling on your phone, and before you know it, all you can think about is what is wrong with your life. In these situations I think you just need to sit with yourself and reflect, pray or really dig deep to think why did that make me feel bad? Is this something that I actually want, care about or do I just think I want it because someone else has it.

Another thing to consider is what it represents for you; you may see your friend making more money and think that’s what you want but in reality you haven’t realized that you hate your job and desire a change. So you get that negative feeling but it is really nothing to do with that “LinkedIn post” but instead what you are feeling is a desire for change in your life.

I find once you identify what is giving the negative feeling power it’s easier to cope with it. If you don’t know why you are feeling that way it’s easy to drown in that feeling. Lastly the best way to cope with negative feelings is to know that this feeling will pass, nothing is permanent.

Finances, Life, Travel

Car Rental Admin Fees for Tickets

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What is the last thing you learned?

I’m actually very upset about this. I recently rented the car and driving in the UK while living in Canada is quite an experience. I won’t get into the smart motorway which I think is the stupidest idea ever but those in the UK can tell me if they agree that this is a good idea. For those that don’t know what that is or those that live in Canada a smart motorway is where they have different speeds on the motorway depending on traffic and you have to keep adjusting your speed.

In Canada, if you’re on the motorway or highway you just have one set speed. You know what the speed is unless there is construction or you could follow the flow of traffic if there’s “something” happening on the highway. In the UK they’ve decided it’s a great idea to just change the speed intermittently so that it can slow down traffic in one part and speed up traffic on another part so that I don’t know what exactly is being accomplished but I hate it, and I think it’s dangerous.

So the last thing I learned is that when you have a rental car they let you know that you will pay for your tickets, which I think is fair enough if you get a ticket you should pay for that ticket what I didn’t know was they charge or try to charge you a 68 pound administrative fee. That fee does not include the actual ticket, which if you paid within 14 days you only pay 35 pounds.

Now this is infuriating me because it’s not enough that they just charge the admin fee once they charge it per ticket so right now I have received the three administrative fees of 68 pound not including the ticket that’s either 30 pound or 70 pound depending on when you pay it. What infuriates me is this wasn’t explained to me and I think that this is something that should be explained to people in the same way the re-fuelling fee is explained upfront.

I’m a little bit ashamed because as an administrator I should’ve read it properly and I should know better but this just seems like another sneaky fee and it seems like everywhere you go. I know it should be buyer beware but it feels like you really can’t get a break as a consumer, at every turn someone is trying to rip you off. There are lots of little sneaky fees creeping up everywhere and I’m getting really really sick of it and for one I’m going to be fighting the sneaky fees.

Who’s with me?!?