Why Personal Finance Experts Need to Stop Pointing a Finger
- Author: Chris Remington
- Posted: 2024-08-20
It seems like so many personal finance experts these days are lecturing and pointing a finger at you. If you read many columns on the internet, they seem to be intent on shaming you. Sometimes, it is personal finance experts that need to take a look in the mirror and consider the tone of the advice that they give. The best thing sometimes for personal finance experts to do is to understand that people face real financial difficulties and just want to enjoy life. However, a focus on rules and tips often leaves out the human element of personal finance.
Personal Finance Experts Do Not Automatically Know Your Circumstances in Life
Many personal finance experts seem to think that they know and understand your exact situation in life. As a result, they purvey some uniform and generic rules that seem to apply across all people and demographics. They claim to have all the answers for your problems along with the ready-made solutions that can fit into a handful of simple rules. Of course, not everyone who claims to be an expert really is one, but even the sages need to take a step back and realize that they are dealing with human beings. The pandemic has thrown a lot of people for a loop and there is pain spread throughout the country. Moreover, people may be coming to grips with the financial effects of a mistake that they made a long time ago. People live and learn in life, and finances are one area where people have their share of trial and error.
Personal finance gurus will steer you wrong with a bunch of finger-pointing and judgment. It is easy for someone sitting behind a computer to tell you how to live your life at every minute and urge you to become a machine. However, you are a human being with a heart and emotions. You smile when you are able to enjoy yourself. Thus, a more flexible and kind school of personal finance is in order.
If you see a personal finance expert blaming you for your own situation in life, you may want to think about looking for someplace else to get your advice. There are any one of a number of different people who can give you sound advice without the judgment that you get from many of the well-known finance experts. Seeing someone come to an expert for advice and being told that they are to blame for their own problems is devastating. It may even keep people from asking for advice in the future since they are made to feel self-conscious about their own problems.
Advice with Blame Is an Automatic Turn-Off for Many People Who Need Help
People need to want to make the changes necessary in order to help their own situation in life. The problem is that many will get defensive when they are told that they have mismanaged their finances. The fact is that many people do not have the money available to cover emergency repairs because they have lost jobs or have had an emergency medical expense that cleaned out their bank account. In many cases, the reason why someone is in debt is not important. The only reason why the origin of their debt problem would be important is if they have a spending problem that they need to get under control. However, in many cases, living paycheck-to-paycheck is not someone's fault. Wages have not kept up in this economy, and the people on the receiving end of this go to work each day and do the best they can.
Some people just need to know that the person that they turn to for help understands their situation and does not hold them accountable or responsible. If we want people to turn to experts, we should not turn them off when they seek help. Nobody in this world wants to be judged, let alone by a complete stranger. Therefore, the personal finance industry needs to change, especially as millions of people have been affected by a pandemic and face circumstances that are not their fault. A listening ear is a better thing right now than a heaping helping of judgment. Sometimes, people need a figurative hug before they are even receptive to hearing advice. It certainly works better than an open-handed slap as a means of welcoming someone to receive counsel.
