Your Friends Influence Your Finances Way More Than You Think

Big Debt With Bigger Delusions

America runs on credit card debt, and maybe your friends do, too. There will be times when you’re in a bind and you need to put emergencies on a credit card. It happens. But some folks are paying for a lifestyle they can’t afford on a credit card. They’re just making those minimum payments and letting the debt skyrocket. Their plan? That one day, they’ll get a windfall of cash when all their dreams come true. And they’ll “just pay it off then.”

If you have friends like this, while their self-confidence is admirable, their actions are dangerous. Going on vacations and buying designer clothes you don’t have the money for, with the hopes that you someday will, is not a smart game plan. Friends might try to mask their financial negligence as “believing in you”: “We believe you’ll sell that screenplay one day and be rich. So, you can afford those $1,000 shoes.”

Yeah…no.

Live within your means. Your current means – not some future, hopeful means. And surround yourself with friends who do the same. If you do get that windfall of cash one day, you’d probably rather spend it on a house than pay off credit card debt, anyways.