Bucks Blog: It’s Time to Occupy Your Checkbook

Carl Richards

Carl Richards is a certified financial planner in Park City, Utah. His sketches are archived here on the Bucks blog and on his personal Web site, BehaviorGap.com.

The last few weeks, there’s been plenty written about the Occupy Wall Street protests. As they’ve spread from New York to other cities, it’s been interesting to see people take to the streets to protest everything from bank bailouts to tax policy.

But it’s also made me curious. Does our willingness to protest the bad behavior of the government and corporations distract us from protesting (or even recognizing) our own personal financial behavior?

This question applies to everyone. Regardless of whether you’re marching, or even if you disagree with these groups, I think there’s a lesson to be learned. By focusing on the financial decisions of others — banks, business, government — we risk putting aside our own questionable behavior in the name of trying to make global change.

In some respects, I think it’s easier to focus on what we believe others should do than face our own situations. As W.R. Alger, a Unitarian minister, put it, “We give advice by the bucket, but take it by the grain.”

To be clear, I think there is plenty to be angry about. I think there are things that must change on a national and even international scale. All I am suggesting is that it might help that effort if we ourselves, as the saying goes, try to become the change we want to see in the world. So in addition to marching through cities around the country, I wonder if we can stage a personal version, an “Occupy Your Checkbook” movement.

Last week, I wrote about how difficult it can be for people to figure out where they stand financially. Part of the difficulty comes from an unwillingness to sit down and do the math. Maybe you can outline in detail everything the banks did wrong, but how familiar are you with your own financial situation? Isn’t it time we devoted some attention and passion to our personal finances?

Perhaps it’s time to talk openly about past mistakes we’ve made. Time to take responsibility for our own financial situations and make a plan to improve it. Time to stop buying crap and hoping it makes us happy. Time to stop pretending to be something we aren’t financially. Time to stop trying to keep up with the Joneses, since we all know they’re buried in credit-card debt anyway.

Occupy Wall Street may or may not lead to change. But I know for a fact that if you Occupy Your Checkbook there will be.

Too often I hear people blaming a third party for their financial problems. In some instances (like fraud, theft or medical emergency), we don’t have control. But in many cases, the only person at fault is the one we see in the mirror.

The credit card companies didn’t make you buy that big-screen television. The banks didn’t make you take out a $500,000 mortgage. When it comes to our discretionary financial decisions, we hold full responsibility. How long can we keep pretending that these choices fall on someone else?

So tackle the things that you can control. Figure out exactly how much debt you owe. Work through your budget and understand where your money goes. Ask hard questions about your needs and your wants.

Again, I know these seem like small things in comparison to the other stuff. But be honest with yourself. What’s more likely to have an immediate and direct impact on your life, Occupying Wall Street or Occupying Your Checkbook?

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=950b86011b066e796c7738795f72632c