Feeling entitled can cost you money
Entitlement, or the feeling of being entitled, is the belief that a person deserves or has a right to something. Entitlement is one of the biggest problems facing our country. It exists in our adults, young adults and teenagers. It creates greed, envy and many of our money problems. It replaces hard work, delayed gratification and disciplined living.
Feeling entitled stands in the way of reaching our financial goals. We have gotten used to thinking along these lines – I see it, I want it, I deserve it, I buy it.
What we need to work on is the deserving part. There is nothing wrong with seeing things and wanting things. It’s the buying things we shouldn’t buy that gets us into trouble and when we believe we deserve things we over spend. Commercials, ads, promotions and marketing would all have us believe that we deserve things. They tell us that if we have a job and we have money to spend then we are entitled to buy whatever we want. People are left thinking that if Mr. Jones has it, I should have it too. If I want it, why shouldn’t I buy it?
Entitlement causes people to overspend and accumulate debt. It keeps us from saving and reaching financial freedom. If left unchecked we could go our entire life feeling like we deserve everything and buying whatever we want. That behavior will keep us from saving for retirement, saving up for a home or paying off our mortgage and having any financial freedom.
Entitlement is a poison and we need to find where it is in our lives and get rid of it. We as Americans need to change our perspective an realize that we cannot have everything we want. It’s essential that we separate our wants from our needs and realize that our wants must fit into our budget. Using our budget as a guideline will help us to stay disciplined with our spending.
Feelings of entitlement cause people to become bitter and dissatisfied with their lives when they do not get what they feel they deserve. Spending is one way these bitter people try to deal with those feelings of emotional hunger, even if they have to spend every dime they can get their hands on or convince a creditor to let them borrow.
However, when the dimes run out or the credit is ruined, they are left with no way to manage those feelings of entitlement, except to drift back to yesterday, living in a past when they had the resources or credit cards to eat, drink, travel, pamper themselves, spoil their children, indulge their every fantasy, be-jewel all their extremities, buy expensive toys, live and drive LARGE.
Who owes us anything, anyway? And what makes us think we are so special that we think they do? Well, my answer is nothing and nothing. All we can do is work very hard at something and MAYBE we can get something out of our effort. But there are no guarantees in this life.