Living paycheck-to-paycheck is much more common than you might think!

Living paycheck to paycheck, and struggling to get by month after month happens to many more people than we likely realize.

Earlier this year the Financial Post conducted a study that concluded that nearly fifty percent of Canadians are living paycheck to paycheck.

PR Newswire published a study that showed that nearly half of Americans are also living paycheck to paycheck. Why is it that so many of us in North America are struggling to make it through the month?

You would think that this only applies to people who are low-income earners; however this affects many people of all income brackets, even those earning six figures. Although this might be surprising for some of us to realize, but the issue is not how much you earn but rather how you manage your money!

Whether you are earning $30,000, $50,000 or $100,000, it’s all about financial management.

No matter what your earning capacity, even if it is on the lower spectrum,

there’s no reason why you can’t be setting aside a small amount every single month. This is so important in order to be able to create for yourself a “cushion” to fall back on during those unexpected financial emergencies.

If you find yourself in the situation where you are living paycheck to paycheck, the first thing I to do, is take a good hard look at your finances. It’s important to understand exactly how much money is coming in and exactly how much money is going out in expenses.

While at a first glance you may think to yourself, “oh but how could I

give up that car or that gym membership or those fun vacations?” You might on second consideration understand that the emotional stress that comes with this lifestyle is not really worth the small temporary pleasures you might be gaining which end up in you living paycheck to paycheck. Take a very careful look at your finances and see if there are expenses that aren’t really serving you.

I know it may not be that easy or fun to cut your expenses, but even just for the short term until you can build yourself up a little bit of a buffer so that you can have a worry-free sleep at night. There’s no point in living a lavish lifestyle, when every night when you lay your head on your pillow you feel anxious, stressed and even embarrassed at the thought of not coping with the next day’s expenses. What would happen if you lost your job? How long could you continue without an income?

It’s not necessarily about cutting coupons and eating more macaroni cheese, it’s about money management and more importantly about making more money. For more on this, you’ll should watch the my video on HOW TO HAVE MORE MONEY.

With small steps of better managing your expenses, putting small amounts of money aside and looking for opportunities to make more money, living paycheck to paycheck will be a thing of the past and you’re well on your way to becoming Financially Fabulous!