Are You Ghosting Your Finances?

When you ‘ghost’ on your finances and consciously decide that you don’t want to deal with them, you’re not doing yourself any favours.

Psychology tells us that ghosting is a form of conflict avoidance. It’s rooted in fear and while it might be immature, it’s human nature to avoid pain... like telling someone you’re not interested.¹ Trying to avoid fear or pain is a justified response to debt, but avoiding something will never lead to positive change – especially in the long-term.

So, how do you know if you’re ghosting your finances?

If you’re not where you want to be financially right now, that’s okay. But what does your financial future look like? Are you making small steps today to help you get there? Stay with us, because these are important questions you need to ask yourself. It's a wise idea to do as much as you can today to create good habits. We’re not saying you need to overturn your life, but putting in place small, meaningful actions is a great start.

Right now you should be able to ballpark your debt balance. If you don’t know what it is, that means you could be avoiding it, which isn’t healthy. We encourage you to log into your bank right now and check how much debt you have. Write the figure down in a note on your phone and start to think about how you can tackle that debt.

If you don’t know what a credit score is, it’s essentially a number that sums up how responsible you are financially, and indicates whether or not you can be trusted with credit. Think of it like an Uber rating, but for your money. The better your score is, the more likely you will be to get approved for credit in the future – which many of us may end up needing one day.

Don’t worry, many Australians don’t. According to a recent Wisr survey, more than 84% of people don’t have enough financial knowledge to make confident decisions about money. It’s not too surprising when we’re not taught the fundamentals in school, but the resources exist out there to help you, and it’s never too late to do a bit of reading and better understand any confusing terms.

Although it might feel good in the moment to ghost a date you’re not that into, or your finances which could really use some attention – it’s not something that you can get away with forever. The best thing you can do to get your finances on track is to have clarity on where you stand. You got this!