Are You Broke or Poor?

Do you realize there is a difference of being financially broke & poor? There is a difference from not having any money compared to thinking you will never be financially secure. When we look at our lives & money we tend to only look at it in terms of amount, but the reality is that beneath the amount there is something way more powerful driving our lives, it is our mentality.

When you are broke it means you don’t have any financial resources; your pockets are empty & the only things that live in your bank accounts are crickets. When you’re broke you are living pay check to pay check, your savings account has it’s “vacancy” sign buzzing, & you can’t rub two quarters together. But, when you are broke you still may have something in you that never says die, a drive that keeps you envisioning for a better tomorrow.

However, when you’re poor you have allowed yourself to seep into a mentality that is never satisfied, fulfilled, & always in lack. Of course there are systemic things that contribute to poverty, but someone can be financially broke without ever entering into a poverty mentality. A poverty mentality is always a victim mentality; no matter how much it receives, the poverty mentality can never envision beyond the experience of lack.

Here are a couple ways to identify if you are experiencing being broke or if you are possessing a poverty mentality:

Being Broke:

1.      You don’t constantly lack, but at this time you don’t have resources you need.

2.      You are living pay check to pay check, but only because you haven’t made good financial decisions.

3.      You are constantly envisioning for ways to move forward & you are acting on them.

4.      You don’t have resources, but you are making efforts to increase your resources in a healthy way.

5.      You have not yet developed the skills & habits of good spending, saving, giving, & investing, but you are working towards it.

Being Poor:

1.      No matter how much you are given you spend it immediately or hoard it because you don’t know if you will ever have it again.

2.      You don’t see any end to your financial woes.

3.      You have no plan for your financial future & you don’t want to set one because you think things can never change.

4.      You constantly blame the system & people for holding you down & not giving you opportunities.

5.      You have no desire to develop the skills & habits of good spending, saving, giving, & investing because you don’t see yourself being out of where you are; you don’t think those things are possible or needed for you.

The first step to truly being financially free, getting out of debt, & walking in God’s fullness for your life in the area of finances is recognizing where you are & where you will end up if you keep going the route your going now. You have to be real with how you think & what you believe about finances. You can never come out of poverty if you don’t realize that you are in it in your heart or mind because poverty is not a financial issue, it is a heart & mind issue.

Let’s Do This Together

In what areas are you experiencing being broke or poor? What ways of thinking need to change in order for you to move toward financial freedom?

*Finances Fridays #2