Jagoans, have you ever spent more money than planned? Or did you have no plans to buy something but ended up buying it because your friends bought it? Socializing and maintaining friendship is a good thing. However, you need to be aware that overspending can be caused by frenemies. Maybe you have frenemies all this time?
Get to Know 4 Types of Financial Frenemies
1. The pressurizer
As the name suggests, frenemies who fall into “the pressurizer” category are those who make you feel guilty when you don’t do what they do. For example, a friend asks you to go on a vacation to an expensive place with them. You initially refused because you can only afford a budget vacation.
However, the pressurizer tried to make you feel bad by keeping on saying things, such as "all of our friends are coming, you should come too". You ended up feeling guilty so you decided to go on a vacation with them. If it continues, in other situations of course, eventually your finances will be in trouble.
To deal with the pressure, you can suggest alternative activities that don't cost a lot of money. For example, you tell them you can't go on that vacation, but you would like to catch up with them over dinner and hear all the amazing stories once they get back from the vacation.
2. The prompter
Which frenemies fall into “the prompter” category? They always encourage you to buy this and that because you deserve them. For example, they like to say, "you've worked hard for a whole month, you should pamper yourself."
Maybe the prompter has a good intention, but if you always think the prompter is right, you will suffer the consequences because the money that you spend is your own, not the prompter’s money.
The various financial goals that you want to achieve may be delayed because of the prompter. You will spend money on things you don’t actually need and don’t have money left for your emergency savings.
How to deal with the prompter and prevent overspending? When you go to the mall with this friend, make sure you only bring a debit card to control spending.
If you have a Jago Visa Debit Card, you can set a transaction limit. If the transaction has reached the limit, then you will not be able to complete it. The debit card needs to be linked to one of your Spending Pockets.
Ideally, you need to stick to the budget that has been created for the linked Spending Pocket. In other words, if the budget has all been used up, then you are the one who must be disciplined by not adding another budget to the Spending Pocket.
Another way that you can do it is by not visiting places that easily tempt you to overspend when you are with the prompter. If this place is the mall, then you can meet the prompter in a park or restaurant. This way, you only spend money on your meals instead of buying unnecessary stuff.
3. The show-off
You may already very clear about this type of frenemy. Some people really like to show off what they have and make others feel jealous.
Actually, jealous or not it all depends on us, Jagoans. If you often feel jealous of what other people have, you need to change your mindset. We don't need to follow other people's standards to be content with what we have or to be happy.
Everyone has their own journey. Let's just focus on the financial goals you want to achieve, which of course you set yourself. Successfully achieving your financial goals will make you feel accomplished and proud. Agree?
To help you focus on your financial goals, you can create a Saving Pocket in the Jago application. If there are several financial goals, you can separate them by creating several Saving Pockets.
By saving money in a Saving Pocket, you can set a target and monitor your saving progress at any time. You can also activate the Autosave feature to ensure there is always money set aside for savings before being used for non-priority needs.
4. The optimist
Have you ever had a friend tell you that it's okay to go over-budget every now and then? After all, you can readjust your budget the following month. These are frenemies who fall into “the optimist” category.
It's good to see things from the positive side. When we make a mistake, we promise not to repeat it and there is always an opportunity to correct it in the future.
However, when it comes to the use of money, the optimist can make you forget about responsibilities and ignore the various financial obligations that must be met because there is always tomorrow. Not having money for your emergency savings? No problem, you can save more next month.
If you go on with this mindset, you can danger yourself. Your emergency savings may always remain zero and when an emergency does occur, you don't have the money to deal with it.
To deal with the optimist, you need to set financial goals and really try your best to achieve them.
By continuing to do so, you may be able to inspire the optimist to also set their own financial goals. Together, you can encourage each other to use money responsibly and maintain financial health.
Let's be aware of the different types of frenemies out there and do what needs to be done to deal with them. To help manage finances, you can use the Jago application and the features elaborated above. The Jago application can be downloaded here for those who don't have it yet.
