An estimated 70% of U.S. residents report feeling significantly financially stressed. Meanwhile, 33% of U.S. residents have at least one storage unit. The average cost for an American storage unit is $121 per month or $1,452 per year.
You have been misguided! You have been raised to feel financially stressed for no great reason other than feeling bad about yourself. And you have been raised to keep so much stuff that you need a separate place to put it. Math: If you remove $121 from your monthly budget, the goal amount to save for in retirement drops by $36,300 (based on the 4% rule).
If you then invested that $121 per month for 25 years and received 7% compounding interest, it would be worth $98,018. Read that again.
Don’t let stress get the better of you. Lose the drama, know you are smart enough to be financially swole.
So, what are you complaining about right now? Why are you giving that thing so much power? Complaining is just the action of power leaking out of your body. Does any of this sound familiar?
“I can’t ever get ahead.”
“I’m so bad at X.”
“My boss sucks.”
“My job sucks.”
“My president sucks.”
My current complaint is that I can never seem to get a haircut I like. I have curly hair and I inevitably wind up with a 90s pageboy middle-part ‘do. So it’s time for me to get educated. Interview hair stylists, watch YouTube videos, read books for beauty school, etc.
When we complain, we’re squarely in the bubble of our comfort zone, looking out and pointing at all the things encroaching on our space. We must expand our comfort zones and get to know new surroundings. This will feel yucky, uncomfortable, wretched at times, horrible and many other negative things. Your nervous system will say, “No! Don’t go over there!” But in order to live the life you want to, you simply must go over there. You must. Why is it so much easier to rent a storage unit and fill it with crap than take 15 minutes to learn what a Roth IRA is and fund it with $121 per month?
Why is buying so much more dopamine-filled than saving? Can you name 10 things that are sitting in your storage until right now? Can you name the last 10 things you bought? Can you, with certainty, say that you are saving 20-30% of your income?
The best and easiest way to change is with a buddy. Or many buddies. Find someone to keep you accountable. Find someone who will say, “Yes, keep going, I know you feel yucky but you’re doing great.” Find someone who will celebrate the small but oh-so-important victories you will inevitably ignore. Find someone who is doing something better than you and follow them through the deep dark tunnel of muck until you emerge, a new baby butterfly on the other side. This is the only way to actually change your life.
Grab the bull. Be in charge. Accept the yuck and the anger and the “this-feels-wrong” of the whole thing and get a different life. What if you emptied your storage unit, sold everything inside, put the money in a money market account and then automatically deposited the rent saved? You’d be richer, happier and everything would be less complicated. Good luck!
Megan Janssen is the founder of Money Juice (www.money-juice.com) and a financial advisor with Forum Financial Management, LP. The ideas and language written here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Forum.