The Challenge of the “Best” Choice

This website is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Material shared on this blog does not constitute financial advice nor is it offered as such. Therefore, The Simple Dollar assumes no legal liability for the completeness, accuracy, or suitability of the information provided by its authors.Readers will also note that The Simple Dollar maintains financial relationships with certain third party merchants. If readers access and utilize the services of one of these affiliates through a link on the blog, The Simple Dollar may be compensated for the referral.Please read the blog’s policies on privacy and image-use.And always consult a locally licensed insurance agent, financial adviser or certified attorney before making any financial decisions.

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As I write this article, my three year old son is perched on my lap with my arms around him. He’s playing with one of his favorite toys, a Transformer that’s easy to transition from a fire truck to a robot, and he’s telling me stories about them.

He’s happy and safe and secure sitting here on my lap. He’s not worried that there won’t be enough food for supper or that we might have to move because we can’t afford the house. He doesn’t hear Mom and Dad arguing about money.

He just climbed down onto the floor and is now driving his fire truck around my legs. I’m “jumping” each time the fire truck runs into one of my feet and he thinks that those little jumps are simply hilarious.

His laughter just fills up this little office.

One of the most difficult lessons I’ve had to learn as a parent is that my choices regarding my children need to focus entirely on what’s best for them, not what’s best for me.

For example, when I’m at the store, there are times when I would love to buy my son a special treat because I would enjoy seeing the pleasure that it would bring him. However, I know that buying him that toy isn’t the best choice for him over the long term.

When one of my children does something wrong, it would be easier for me to either just let it slide or to just get angry, but neither one of those are the best response for the child.

The best choice in a given situation is often not what it seems to be.

When we’re making personal decisions, it’s really easy to just default to whatever choice is best for us right now in the short term. A splurge at the store? Sure! A treat in the checkout line? Why not? Do something special for my spouse or kick back and watch this movie? Let the credits roll! Bumping up that retirement savings? Hmmm… it’d make my paycheck smaller, so I’ll wait.

The problem is that the little burst of happiness you get from the short-term choice quickly fades away. That treat at the checkout is devoured quickly. That movie ends. The few extra dollars in your paycheck are spent on completely forgettable things.

At the same time, the other things you care about suffer. You don’t have any pocket money when something you really value comes along. Your spouse quietly feels taken for granted. Your retirement account barely grows.

We usually don’t see those long-term consequences when we’re making the choice in the moment. Instead, we have to think about those consequences outside of the moment and constantly remind ourselves that, by giving up a little inconsequential thing right now, we contribute to something much better later on.

Boost that retirement savings a little bit. You won’t miss the few dollars per paycheck, but you’ll definitely be glad you have more retirement savings down the road.

Skip that treat at the checkout. You’ll find a few more dollars in your pocket at the end of the week which can either be used for something more meaningful or help you get your finances on track.

Spend an hour taking care of a task your spouse is dreading – and maybe cook a nice dinner, too. Your spouse will know in a quiet way that you really care and that will radiate throughout your marriage.

As I wrote this article, my son wandered into his bedroom and came back with another Transformer toy. He played with both toys on the floor for a while, but now he’s running the toys up my leg and whispering, “Daddy.”

He wants me to play with him. In this moment, I’d rather get some work done and then play a game with one of my friends, but when I look over at his smiling face, I recognize that, before long, he won’t be a three year old boy any more. He won’t want his father to play Transformers with him. As we play, I can look for opportunities to teach him little things, talk to him about his life a bit, and make him feel more secure.

It’s time to play with some Transformers.

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A Few Thoughts About My Wife

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It is often said that a major part of success is filling your life with people who encourage your positive growth and your success.

Every single success in my life over the past decade or so has been tightly interwoven with the efforts of my wife, Sarah. There is no major success that I would have been able to achieve without her.

Whenever there’s a decision to be made, Sarah always has a valuable thought or two that I would have never considered. She does an amazing job of pulling our ideas and feelings together and developing ideas and plans for our future.

She’s always taking care of the little things that need doing, often without even saying a word. Many little things will just be done, often without anyone immediately noticing. She just does them.

She constantly makes hard choices and small sacrifices for the people in her life, putting aside what she might want to be doing in any moment to take care of those around her.

She’s incredibly bright, assembling ideas and thoughts into sensible statements and arguments and plans at the blink of an eye. If I’m ever unsure about an article or an idea I’m working on, I talk it through with her. She takes that idea and makes me look at it from many new angles that I hadn’t considered, which often results in a much deeper understanding of things.

She is there when I need someone to simply enjoy an afternoon with, doing whatever enjoyable things the day might provide. She’s there in the evening, too, when we hold each other close.

She’s an incredible mother, with a perfect blend of patience and understanding and a touch of strictness to teach our children the things they need to know for a successful life. She’s there to dot away their tears in a moment of anguish, to laugh and play with them when the mood is right, and to guide them down the path that they need to go on.

Whenever I feel low or inadequate, she knows just how to raise my mood, with just the right words or the right touch or the right look.

She has a great wit, which she rarely recognizes. She has an incredible knack for finding the humor in almost any situation and then bringing it to the forefront in a way that brings a smile to many faces.

She has an incredible sense of the moment. She knows when things need done around our home and in our community, yet she also has a knack for knowing when to put those things aside and let the corners get a little dusty.

She completes me in a way that I would have never understood before she became a part of my life.

I love you, Sarah.

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Avoiding the Comfort Zone

This website is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Material shared on this blog does not constitute financial advice nor is it offered as such. Therefore, The Simple Dollar assumes no legal liability for the completeness, accuracy, or suitability of the information provided by its authors.Readers will also note that The Simple Dollar maintains financial relationships with certain third party merchants. If readers access and utilize the services of one of these affiliates through a link on the blog, The Simple Dollar may be compensated for the referral.Please read the blog’s policies on privacy and image-use.And always consult a locally licensed insurance agent, financial adviser or certified attorney before making any financial decisions.

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It is easy to become comfortable and complacent.

You get a job. You work there for a few years. You get to know the people there and the routine. You earn a few perks for being there for a while, such as a bit of additional vacation. It’s easy to just settle in and ride.

You wake up to your financial situation. You make a bunch of moves to pay down debt and establish some new routines that aren’t as costly. Eventually, you start to simply enjoy the lower bills and it all seems to come easily. You just settle in and ride.

Settling in is the easy thing to do. Usually, it’s the path of least resistance, so unless you’re consciously making other choices, you’ll probably wind up doing just that.

The problem is that “settling in and riding” is more dangerous than you think. Settling in assumes that the thing that comes easy today will last forever.

If you’re coasting in your career, you’re just assuming that your current job will just last and last. You never see the job loss coming.

If you’re coasting with your finances, you’re assuming your income will just last and last and that you’ll just eventually take care of all of your debts and your goals. You never see the changes in your life coming.

On a more positive note, if you’re just coasting with your career, you might never see opportunities for a great promotion at work or a new job opportunity that could put you in a great place. The same is true with finances – if you’re just coasting, you might not be ready to take advantage of something when it comes along.

The challenge for all of us is to avoid falling into a comfort zone. But when the comfort zone is so easy to fall into, how do we avoid it?

How do we keep ourselves ready for change when there doesn’t seem to be any change on the horizon?

One tactic is to make preparing for change part of our ordinary life routine. For example, part of your ordinary professional routine should be to keep your resume fresh through educational opportunities and taking on professional challenges in the workplace. Part of your ordinary financial routine should be improving your financial state month over month and seeking out new ways to ramp up the improvement. This should be normal behavior.

For me, I find it useful to spend some time each week looking at the various areas of my life – my professional goals, my finances, my marriage, my parenting responsibilities, my community responsibilities, my skills and passions, and so on – and ask myself what I’m doing to improve in those areas. If I can’t identify anything I’m doing right now to actively improve, then I make sure to add it to my checklist for the coming weeks.

Another tactic I value is to regularly envision disastrous scenarios. What exactly happens in your life if you lose your job? What exactly happens in your life if your spouse falls ill? What exactly happens in your life if your parents fall ill? What exactly happens in your life if your health starts to slip?

Walk through those scenarios a little bit. What would you do? You’ll quickly be able to find some steps that you could take right now to make that scenario go down smoother. Add those steps to your to-do list.

The key to both of these steps is to add things to your to-do list that will lead you to better preparedness for opportunities and for disasters. Riding in the comfort zone makes you complacent and poorly prepared for both disaster and opportunity. Every day, you have a chance to take little steps to make sure that you’re ready for whatever comes your way.

Don’t be complacent. You’ll miss out.

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Do the Hard Things First

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It’s a pretty common principle of time management. When you have a list of tasks to do, choose the one that’s hardest and do that first. That way, you tackle it with the most energy and the freshest mind.

What’s interesting is that many well-organized people use this principle quite well in the short term, but then completely discard it when looking at the long term. When they figure out today’s to-do list, they’ll choose the hard task, but when they look at plans that cover years, they avoid the hard task.

The easiest example I can think of for this phenomenon is retirement savings. Many, many people, when they’re first given the chance to save for retirement, choose not to save anything at all. They choose the easiest part first – not saving anything at all – and save the hardest part for later – socking away 10% or 15% for retirement.

As many as 40% of households near retirement age have no savings at all for retirement – and the numbers get even worse when you look at younger folks.

Your long term goals work almost exactly the same as your to-do list for today. You have more energy and more mental capacity now than you will have in the future, so you should tackle the hardest parts of your goal now, not later.

Retirement savings? Kick that rate up high now while you’re employed and have youth on your side and a strong ability to find a new job if needed.

Debt repayment? The more extra payments you throw at it right now, the less interest you’ll pay over the lifetime of the loan.

Insurance? A plan to get life insurance or health insurance in a few years doesn’t help you if something goes wrong in the next few months.

Yes, it’s hard, especially when you’re younger and your income level is lower.

However, youth has tremendous advantages. You have a much greater capacity to be flexible with your life. You have more energy and more career opportunities. You also have a much longer time horizon, meaning that you’ll have much more time on the other side of that hump.

What can you do to get started? Clean out your closet and sell your unused stuff. Choose the smaller apartment. Make some harder choices today like eating a cheap dinner at home.

Want a specific example? Try out the 52 week money challenge, but knock out all of the highest numbers first – or, better yet, do the entire thing backwards, starting with the $52 week. It’s pretty sweet when you’re finishing up that project and the last few weeks only require you to sock away a few bucks.

You are never younger and fuller of energy and motivation and ability to solve life’s problems than you are right now. Doesn’t it make sense to step up to the plate and knock down some of the more challenging parts of your goals?

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Make Failure Into a Stepping Stone, Not an Excuse

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Whenever I push myself into a strict diet or a strict exercise regime or a strict set of personal finance rules, I find that I thrive in the short term.

For the first week or so, I’ll hit every benchmark I have within those strict rules. I’ll exercise. I’ll eat incredibly well. I’ll avoid spending an unnecessary dime.

Then, at some point, I fail. Usually, it’s out of thoughtlessness – I just backslide into a bad routine for a moment. I’ll eat something way outside the bounds of what I should be eating. I’ll tell myself I’m going to exercise later today – then I’ll get distracted by playing with the kids. I’ll buy something small on a whim.

Soon after, I’ll realize that failure, and I’ll beat myself up over it. I’ll think really negative thoughts about how I’m hopeless for a little while, then I’ll resolve to get everything back on track. I’ll have a few more days of success, then I’ll fail again.

The cycle repeats itself a few more times, with a smaller and smaller period of success in the middle, until I simply give up.

It’s a common cycle that a lot of people find themselves in when they’re trying to make a major change in their lives. I’ve been through this cycle quite a few times myself, and I’ve come to realize that there’s one big thing at the core of all of it.

I set myself up for failure by adopting changes that offer a very narrow path for success. If you choose life changes that require a significant change from the habits you already have, it’s going to be hard. If you make it so that those changes must be absolute – no backsliding allowed – you’re begging for failure. You need an approach that you can slowly build on.

Instead of saying, “I’m cutting out all food and drinks I don’t eat at home,” simply say that you’re going to cut out those treats three days a week. That way, if something comes up and a friend wants to meet you for coffee on Tuesday, you don’t have to freak out about failing at your goal and you won’t feel like a loser if you do. If you find that this goal becomes trivial, change it to four days a week or five days a week.

Instead of saying, “I’m going to exercise every day for 30 minutes,” simply say that you’re going to work out three times this week for thirty minutes. That way, if you miss an exercise session one day, you haven’t failed at your goal. If you find that this goal becomes trivial, increase the number of days.

In other words, it’s a lot easier to stick with a goal if one mis-step or a simple life interference doesn’t mean failure.

What happens if you fail anyway? If you still find failure, then you should reassess what you’re trying to do.

Failure at a personal goal means that there’s some significant aspect of your life that’s working in opposition to that goal. It’s a sign that maybe you need to work on something else first.

For example, if you find that the reason you’re failing at spending goals is because it’s so easy to buy something incidental with a friend, your challenge shouldn’t be to adopt strict spending limits, at least for now. Your goal should be to separate social encounters from shopping, because it’s that connection that’s causing you problems.

If you find that you mess up on your spending goals because of the ease of online shopping, your goal should focus on your online behaviors.

It’s pretty hard to win a race if there’s a speed bump in the way. Sometimes, you have to stop and smooth out the speed bumps before you can really get going. A failure doesn’t mean you’re incapable of winning the race. It just means that maybe you should stop and smooth out the speed bumps.

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The Best Renters Insurance for 2014

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In my last post, I shared my take on the best home insurance. With the growing popularity of renting, I conducted some additional research to determine which carriers provide the best renters insurance.

After analyzing several national and local companies, Allstate stands out as the best renters insurance provider. If you want a free online quote, you can get started right away. Continue reading and I’ll explain why you need renters insurance and discuss the major components of a solid policy.

Selecting Allstate as the best ultimately boils down to three important factors:

• Policy Management


• Coverage


• Cost

The other national renters insurance providers that rank just behind Allstate are:

• Nationwide


• Liberty Mutual


• American Family

Who Needs Renters Insurance?

To put it simply, if you’re currently renting an apartment or home, it’s in your best interest to get a renters insurance policy. It’s easy to get a free online quote and learn exactly what your rates will be. Once your policy is purchased, you then have the assurance of knowing your possessions are protected.

Some people mistakenly assume that a landlord’s home insurance policy includes coverage for your personal property. In most cases, this is not true. Chances are, your landlord’s policy does not cover your personal possessions.

College Students

Needing renters insurance as a college student depends primarily on where you live. If you live in a dorm or a rental unit close to your college campus, there’s a good chance you’ll be covered by your parent’s homeowners or renters insurance policy (assuming of course they actually have one of these policies). The same is not true if you rent a house or apartment off campus.

College Student Living in a Dorm

Many home or renters insurance policies limit your coverage as a college student to 10% of your parent’s personal property coverage. To give you an example of how this might work, if your parents have $100,000 of personal property coverage, as an eligible college student you could receive 10% ($10,000) of coverage for your possessions. The exact percentage you’re eligible for varies from policy to policy, so be sure to verify with your parents before you assume you’re covered.

College Student Living Off Campus

If you rent a house or apartment off campus, get your own policy. The best thing to do is start with a free quote and go from there. As a college student, you might not think your belongings have a lot of value, but just the cost of your computer, cell phone, books, and clothes can quickly add up.

Young Professionals

You may’ve been able to get through college using a couch you found on the street, but

chances are you’ve made some improvements to your standard of living. Maybe you bought a new TV, overhauled your furniture, or upgraded your electronic devices. Along with these improvements, you’ve probably moved into a nicer apartment. According to research conducted by the National Multifamily Housing Council, roughly one-third of apartments in the U.S. are rented by someone under 30 years old.

Although it’s not legally required, many property management companies that manage multiple complexes in big cities make renters insurance compulsory. Whether it’s a requirement of your rental agreement, or you’re just taking the initiative, protecting your new investments with a renters insurance policy is a wise move.

Grandparents

If you have a grandparent that rents a home or apartment, you should check in with them to make sure they have some protection. Many seniors are retired and living on a very fixed income. If a major incident were to occur, it could be especially tough for them to get back on their feet.

Older adults also have valuable jewelry or family heirlooms they have collected over the years. Some of these items may have more sentimental value than anything else, but it’s still worth it to protect these items with a basic renters insurance policy.

Finding the Best Renters Insurance

All of the best renters insurance companies provide a similar set of basic coverage options. Knowing that you can get the basics covered, factors like price and the ease of policy management start to take on more importance. The following sections dig deeper into these topics and illustrate why Allstate comes out on top.

Renters Insurance Policy Management

Managing your renters insurance policy really starts with determining how much coverage you need. This is an important part of the purchasing process that you need to get right.

You don’t want to overestimate your coverage level and pay for insurance you don’t need. But you also don’t want to underestimate and end up in a bad place if you have a major loss.

Many of the best renters insurance companies provide access to a simple calculator to help you estimate the cost of your possessions. But the online tools provided by Allstate are a step above what much of the competition has to offer.

To begin with, Allstate’s What’s Your Stuff Worth? tool walks you through several categories like clothing, electronics, hobbies, office and living, kitchen, and more. As you progress through each category, the tool shows you images of common items and enables you to specify how many of each item you own.

For example, in the clothing section, you might specify that you have four pairs of shoes and six pairs of pants. Meanwhile, a calculator in the lower right of the screen keeps track of your running total.

Digital Locker Mobile App

Allstate’s Digital Locker app includes several features that help you manage your renters insurance policy. Perhaps most useful, the app enables you to catalogue your possessions with pictures. You use the app on your smartphone or tablet to take pictures of all your possessions, assign values to each item, and upload the images to your account.

Available on Apple and Android platforms, the app also enables you to:

• Organize your possessions by room, category, or in lists.


• Provide more accurate estimates by using the Google or barcode search (especially helpful if you’re uncertain of the value of an item).


• Take advantage of room and category templates to help make sure you don’t overlook anything important.

Using the Digital Locker app makes it incredibly easy to keep your inventory current and gives you the peace of mind of knowing that if you ever have to file a claim, all the information you need is literally at your fingertips.

With all the tools and resources provided by Allstate, managing your policy is a breeze.

Renters Insurance Coverage

In the insurance world, a “peril” is a cause of loss. Most renters insurance policies are listed as “Named Peril” policies, meaning that your policy will identify exactly what you’re insured against.

Some of the most common perils include:

• Theft


• Water Damage


• Vandalism


• Fire


• Smoke


• Lightning

When you get a renters insurance quote, be certain to review the perils you’re protected against. If you live in an area particularly susceptible to fire or lightning, verify that these perils are listed in your policy.

Types of coverage

All of the best renters insurance companies provide access to four types of basic coverage:

Personal Property Coverage: This includes coverage for items you use on a daily basis, like your clothing, appliances, and furniture, as well as specialty items like your jewelry collection or musical equipment. (You’ll want to look into extended coverage for really expensive items, but more on this later).

Liability Coverage: This portion of your renters insurance policy provides protection when you are legally liable for bodily injury or property damage that occurred as a result of an accident or incident involving you or another member of your household.

Medical Payments to Others: Covers the medical costs for any house guests that are injured at your residence, regardless of whether you are liable or not. Medical payments could include things like x-rays, doctor’s fees, or hospital stays. It’s important to note that medical payments protection does not cover you or other members of the household.

Additional Living Expenses/Loss of Use: Covers additional living expenses if damage to your home or apartment is so severe that you are temporarily displaced. This could include hotels, restaurants, or other similar expenses. Your policy will specify how long you have access to the coverage.

Nationwide is one company that stands out for offering superior coverage options. In J.D. Power’s 2013 U.S. Household Insurance and Bundling Study (Renters) , Nationwide was one of only two companies to be rated among the best in Policy Offerings.

Extended Coverage

As alluded to earlier, there are a few circumstances where additional renters insurance is worth looking into. Extended coverage (also called a floater policy) is appropriate if you have a particularly expensive piece of jewelry, a valuable stamp collection, or other similar item that has especially high value.

Extended coverage is offered by Liberty Mutual, American Family, and other top renters insurance companies.

Renters Insurance Cost

Similar to what I mentioned in my post about home insurance, the best renters insurance carriers provide access to an online quote tool. Getting a quote really is the only way you can see how much it will cost given your unique circumstances. Many first-time purchasers are surprised at how affordable renters insurance is. Past studies by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America and Trusted Choice Independent Insurance Agents indicate the average price for $30,000 of renters insurance ranges from $12-$15 per month, while experts at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners suggest you can expect to pay $15-$30 for a policy depending on your level of coverage.

I was curious to see how these numbers held up and got quotes from three different companies using the same renter profile. The quotes were generated for $30,000 worth of coverage, with replacement cost, for a rental unit just outside a major U.S. city. Here’s what the monthly rates looked like:

• American Family: $11.50


• Allstate: $17


• Nationwide: $22.42

These rates are pretty close to what the studies and experts suggest, but rates always vary based on your location.

The bottom line is that you can cover $30,000 worth of possessions for roughly the cost of a large pizza.

As you can see, the difference in price between the providers will definitely add up over time. If you’re looking for the cheapest renters insurance, the best thing to do is to compare quotes from at least two providers.

Discounts

All of the best renters insurance companies offer discounts. The most common discounts include:

• Multi-Policy: Available if you have an auto insurance or other policy with the same company.


• Claims-Free Discount: Available if you haven’t filed a claim over a certain period of time.


• Protective Devices: Available if you have fire or smoke detectors or a home security system installed. Although there are not as many discount opportunities when compared with home insurance, taking advantage of all available discounts can result in big savings.

Factors That Impact Renters Insurance

Similar to home insurance, there are several factors that influence the cost of your renters insurance premium.

Level of coverage: The level of coverage you choose is one of the major factors that impacts the price on your renters insurance premium. The level of coverage you need is going to vary from person to person. The easiest way to determine what you need is by using the estimation tools provided by Allstate and other top companies.

Location: If you live in an area that has higher crime rates or is more susceptible to wildfire, tornadoes, or other natural disasters, you can expect to pay more for your renters insurance policy.

Deductible: The deductible is the amount of money you pay out of pocket before the insurance kicks in. The formula for deductibles is pretty straightforward: a low deductible means higher premiums; a high deductible means lower premiums. Again, you might be tempted to choose a high deductible, but be sure to choose a level you can realistically meet.

Replacement cost vs. Actual cash value: Most renters insurance providers give you the option to choose between replacement cost and the actual cash value. If you choose replacement cost, you are covered for the actual cost to replace the item that has been lost. If you select an actual cash value policy, the insurance company covers what the item is worth at the time of the loss. In other words, it would be the replacement cost minus depreciation. Replacement cost is the more expensive alternative, but you won’t regret going with this option if you ever have to file a claim.

Is Renters Insurance Worth It?

When you live in an apartment building or a house with multiple units, it doesn’t matter how careful you are — you are only as safe as your most irresponsible neighbor.

When you actually sit back and crunch the numbers, the cost of replacing everything you own can add up quick. This is exactly what makes finding the best renters insurance so important.

Renters insurance is affordable, it’s easy to get, and has a huge upside. Choosing to live without a renters insurance policy may end up being a big financial mistake.

Written by Andrew Hansen

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Five Ways to Keep Good Money Choices in Mind All Day Long

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This article first appeared at U.S. News and World Report Money.

Personal finance rests on a bedrock of choices. Each day, we’re faced with thousands of little decisions, many of which have financial implications. Our ability to consistently make good decisions plays a huge role in whether or not we achieve financial success.

For example, when you’re at the grocery store, do you consistently choose only the items you need, or do you find yourself loading the cart with unnecessary items?

Another example: when you’re out with friends, do you keep control over your wallet or are you tempted to go to expensive places?

Life is filled with choices like these – and many others. Here are five strong techniques I use myself to make sure that I consistently make good decisions that help out my long-term financial picture.

Start your day with a reminder of your goal. A new day is filled with fresh opportunities to work toward whatever goals you have set for yourself in life. There are few better ways to keep yourself working toward that goal than to remind yourself of what you’re working for at the start of each day.

For some, a visual reminder works well. For others, a written reminder is powerful. The key is to make sure that you see that reminder with enough focus to recognize what it means early in the day, before you’ve started making decisions. An automated text to yourself at the start of each day is a great way to make this happen.

For me, the strongest reminders I have of my financial goals are my children, who serve as a living reminder in the mornings.

Plaster your usual places with visual reminders of your motivation. What motivates you to make better choices? Often, this is merely a visualization of whatever it is that you’ll have if you succeed at your goal. Perhaps it’s your dream home. Maybe it’s a thriving small business.

Whatever your goal is, find a visual reminder of that goal and plaster it in lots of places that you look in a given day. Attach one to the bottom of your rear view mirror. Put one on your bathroom mirror. Set one as your desktop wallpaper on your computer and on your phone.

My favorite technique is to take a picture of my children and wrap it around my credit cards, making a sleeve of sorts. In order to actually use my card, I have to remove it from the picture of my children, which virtually requires me to look at them and think about them for a moment. This, in turn, pushes me to second guess my choices.

Perform decision-heavy tasks that involve money early in the day. Decision fatigue refers to the mental wear that comes from a day in which we’re inundated with decisions. In the modern world, decisions come at us all the time and thus, by the end of the day, many of us are simply mentally worn out from all of the decisions, making us more susceptible to making poor decisions.

The best way around this is to front-load your day with decisions that have financial impact. Pay your bills and make financial choices early in the day when your mind first starts clicking well. If you simply can’t perform some tasks until later in the day, push some of the decision load earlier in the day by making shopping lists or meal plans.

The goal is to minimize the number of decisions you have later in the day that involve financial choices so that you’re less likely to make a poor decision while in a mentally tired state.

Alter your commute and other daily routines to avoid common temptations. For many of us, our daily routines are filled with temptations and decisions. We drive by a coffee shop or a drive-thru restaurant and we’re tempted to stop for a goodie. My weakness is bookstores, as I am almost magnetically pulled to stop when I see them.

I found that my daily commute took me directly past several highly tempting locations, meaning that each day I would entertain the thought of stopping there. That simply added to the decision load and the possibility I’d stop and spend money on something I didn’t need.

The solution to this problem is to simply change one’s commute and other daily routines. I found a new way to drive home that took virtually the same time as the previous route and didn’t take me near bookstores and coffee shops.

At the end of each day, think about the positive choices you made and feel good about them. The thoughts we have at the end of the day often set the mood for the unconscious thinking that we do while sleeping, so it’s always worthwhile to think about the positive moves you made during the day as you’re getting ready to sleep.

Not only does this fill your nighttime hours with positive thoughts about your behavior, it also helps to reinforce the sense that financially positive moves are usually the right ones to make.

Surrounding yourself throughout the day with decisions and thoughts that point you toward financial success is a sure way to see that financial success come to life for you.

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