You may be able to tell from my title, Lend Not Borrow that my interest lies in becoming a lender and not a borrower. When you think about it, lenders have the financial control that puts them in the position to have more than enough to lend to others. Before you can be in the position to lend money, there are some personal financial items you should evaluate to ensure you are in the right financially able to extend a helping hand to others. The first place you would probably go to is your bank account. Banks have made it technologically user friendly to do a great analysis of your financial portfolio. Just by owning a bank account, you can easily see your money and know if you can lend to others.
A Bank Account and the Ability to Lend
I’m sure many of you know someone who stashes cash in a shoebox, a cookie jar, or buries it in the backyard somewhere. There are many hiding places and many reasons why people decide to stash money there. With the various reasons out there, there is one thing that I can foresee as a problem for each one, disorganization. There is one place you certainly don’t want to be disorganized in and that’s in your finances!!! You want to know where every dollar is at all times, with not a dime missing! Having a bank account that organizes your money for you is a great tool to have. It tracks your spending on a daily basis and gives you your net balance.
This is a great resource to use when you begin to think about your lending capabilities. Banks start off with some of the basic account transactions, but you can get more analytical with it and see your spending patterns. My bank has an option that shows how much I spent in a particular category over whatever timeframe I set up. I can easily point out where I am overspending and should cut back on.
Having a bank account and a written budget together will equip you to have financial strength. Why is that? Because you’ll know what you’re going to spend your money on (from the budget) and you’ll see each transaction (from your bank account). If you want to help someone by loaning them money, put it in your budget! Look at your resources and validate that you have the funds to assist. When you don’t check your sources first, you are spending blindly and that never results in anything good.
I know we are all striving for financial freedom. Along our journey there are great resources and tools we should take advantage of that will help us along the way. Having a solid relationship with a bank and owning a bank account is part of the financial freedom journey. You should always know where you stand financially at any given moment and having your account will make it easier. I have a personal check register that I manually track my spending. I then compare it to my bank account to ensure I am on the right path. Find out what works for you but get your money out of the cookie jar!
Photo By: Apreche