Suze Orman Says These Are the 3 Obstacles to Building Wealth

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KEY POINTS

  • Fear, shame, and anger can prevent you from meeting your financial goals.
  • If you've faltered in the past, it's time to move beyond that and start working on shoring up your finances.

They're barriers worth eliminating.

Building wealth is certainly not an easy thing to do. This especially holds true if you're not a particularly high earner. But sometimes, all it takes to grow wealth and get to a place of financial stability and satisfaction is having the right attitude. And part of that means overcoming some key mental barriers.

Obstacles to move past

In a recent interview, financial expert Suze Orman identified three obstacles that tend to stop people from building wealth:

  1. Fear
  2. Shame
  3. Anger

Many people worry they'll never be financially stable, or that they'll be stuck in a rut financially forever. They feel shame over financial blunders they've fallen victim to in the past, like incurring too much debt or buying a house that was too expensive. And they're angry that their finances and circumstances aren't better. But Orman insists it's important to get past these feelings and work to get to a better place.

Now, if you're thinking "What does Suze Orman know about struggling financially?" the answer is, actually, a lot. There was a time when Orman was so broke she actually lived out of her car. That's right -- her finances were in such disarray she couldn't even secure housing.

Of course, Orman has come a long way since that point. But if you're at a financial low, you can turn things around, too. It just takes the right attitude and approach.

How to get to a better place financially

Maybe your goal is to be financially stable. Maybe it's to have more than $200 in your savings account at a given moment. Or maybe it's to be able to cut up your credit cards and never have to rely on them again.

To get to that place, first, stop worrying that your circumstances will never change. Secondly, stop beating yourself up for mistakes you've made in the past. So you charged up a storm on your credit cards and are stuck in debt. So you took on too much house and now you have to sell and downsize. Nobody's perfect. Rather than harp on it, make a plan to pay off your debt or change your housing situation and avoid a repeat.

And finally, instead of being angry about your financial situation, take steps to improve it. Don't like your low paycheck? Boost your skills and try to find a better job. Feel resentful that your credit card companies are getting all of your spare cash? Work a side job for a while to drum up extra money to pay off your debt so you can start keeping your money for your own needs.

There are many steps you can take to improve your financial situation, whether it's building or boosting an emergency fund, eliminating debt, and just plain learning to budget your money. But the key to meeting your financial goals could really boil down to having the right attitude. And if you believe in yourself and do your best to move past the negative feelings you've been harboring, your chances of success might multiply.

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