Finance: How NOT to Budget and How NOT to Ask For Money (That is NOT yours)
Tags: Money, Budget, Finance

Finance is one of those multidisciplinary fields that are highly monetary in nature, which is probably why most financial advice (at its simplest, individualistic level) is usually centered around financial management, investing, lending, borrowing, budgeting and watching your pocket!

I emphasize your, because unlike most financial advice posts, this introductory post will discuss a topic that is probably always discussed but is often never emphasized enough: People who ‘Budget’ or make plans on someone else’s money, money that isn’t in their pocket.

Anyways, picture this:

Your name is Sarah. You wake up early in the morning, every single day, so that you can go to work and earn a relatively honest income. Your income is relatively honest because you are working for a large corporation that probably underpays you and has far from ethical business practices, they probably test their beauty products on rabbits, and put banned substances in their cosmetics, but anyways, who cares, you’re just doing your job, right? And you must be doing it well, because, look at you, you haven’t been retrenched during these dire times.

You finally get paid after all your hard work. All the debit orders go off and you’re left with a little something there to save and a little something here to spend. You choose to indulge your personal material desires and take yourself out with your hard earned cash like a normal, working human being…

But, there’s someone watching you Sarah! Your former colleague, Jackie, who you barely spoke to, who was retrenched a week ago, is staring at you, and she is watching how you spend your hard earned money! And instead of asking you to borrow or lend her money, like a sober minded human being, you know what she chooses to do?

She chooses to criticize you and downright insult you, “Well, Sarah, instead of spending your money on stupid things like liquor, clothes, hair & makeup, why don’t you give it to me instead? Or spend it on something like education!” Because she evidently knows how to manage your finances, even though she is extremely broke and she has only been retrenched for a week! Worse then her retrenchment, she spent her money on material desires too before she became unemployed!

Well, boys and girls, ladies and gentleman, non-binary folks in the corner (I did not forget about you) Jackie is an example of a Pocket Watcher, someone who makes a budget and plans on someone else’s money. They’re over analyzing someone they believe don’t deserve money even though the other person (Sarah) is working hard in order to obtain it. Jackie is a hypocritical, and hypercritical pocket-watcher who is probably motivated by jealousy. Don’t be a ‘Jackie’.

Do you remember the very first time you ever wanted a job?

It’s because you wanted money.

Do you remember why you wanted that money?

It’s because you wanted to buy something lavish & material!

So why do some people believe they have the unequivocal right to criticize how law abiding, tax paying, non-civil servants spend their money?

If you aren’t a Civil Servant, and you obtained your money legally, then you should not feel bad about indulging your desires. It is not your responsibility to make sure the whole country is taken off when there are structures and institutions in place who are suppose to ensure that the country is run efficiently so that people like Jackie don’t get jealous each time they see someone spend their cash

If, for some Godforsaken reason, you identify with pocket watchers like Jackie, then you need to stop making plans on other peoples money:

Do not assume that you can spend someone else’s money better than they can, just because it is not in your hands. (Yes, even if they pour champagne on the floor and have longer motorcades than the President of Saudi Arabia) Ask for money politely, like a normal person, instead of critiquing someone’s monetary guilty pleasures, like a sociopath, just because you can’t put food on the table momentarily. You should criticize your government, members of state and probably financial intermediaries who collude and form cartels every once in a while, not normal people trying to maintain their lifestyles. Once again, DO NOT ASK for money by pointing out someone’s alleged ‘reckless and useless’ spending habits. It’s not yours. And to be redundant once more: Stop making plans on other people’s money!

Anyways, with that said, finance, is a pretty fun discipline and encompasses even more thrilling topics about money, money, money, taxes, investing & insurance etc! Can’t wait to philosophize about it all. Hopefully this introductory post will help you critically analyze banking institutions, corporations, international financial intermediaries and the government, instead of your fellow people!

Let people enjoy things.