生活給我們提供了很多便利，有人說(shuō)這是個(gè)懶人的時(shí)代。然而懶惰會(huì)在個(gè)人理財(cái)?shù)臅r(shí)候讓你付出高額的代價(jià)。要知道，勤快能生財(cái)。

    Last month, Forbes published an article aboutall the ways your laziness is costing you. As a semi-reformed layabout （Kris would say I haven't reformed at all!）, I read the article with interest. I recognized some of my old money habits - and some I still have.

    Author Daniel Adler writes:

    These days countless businesses make hay by taking advantage of our collective indolence - everything from not bothering to spend 15 minutes surfing the Web for a better rate on a savings account to not taking half as much time to mail a $50 rebate on a new laptop computer.

    Here are some of the ways Forbes says laziness can cost you money. （The bullet points are from Forbes, but the rest of the text is from me.）

    · Not choosing the best rate on your savings account. While it's probably not a good idea to become a rate-chaser, it doesn't make much sense to keep the bulk of your savings in a big bank savings account earning 0.20%. Find a local credit union or an online bank where you can earn a decent return on your money. Even though rates are low right now, they'll rise in the future, and you'll be glad your money is earning interest for you.

    · Not opening a retirement fund （as soon as possible）. Never forget the power of compounding. The younger you begin to save, the more time your money has to work for you. Even if you're older, you should still get started as soon as possible. I didn't begin saving until I was 37, and I've now watched much of my retirement money wither away, but I'm continuing to put money aside for the future. If your employer matches your 401（k） contributions, take advantage of this free money. And don't forget to max out your Roth IRA.

    · Not sending in rebate offers. Ah, yes. That "not sending in the rebate" thing has bitten me before. It's a good way to turn a bargain into a run-of-the-mill deal. Manufacturers offer rebates instead of actual discounts because they know a large percentage of purchasers will never follow through.

    · Not paying attention to 0% financing deadlines. When you buy something with zero percent interest, there's a catch. If you don't pay in full by the end of the grace period, Adler writes, "the often very steep interest rate that kicks in applies not to the remainder of the debt, but the entire original purchase price." Zero percent is only a bargain if you aren't lazy.

    · Waiting until the last minute to send mail. This one has nailed me, too. A decade ago, I was a chronic sloth with my mail. （"Sloth Roth," Kris would call me.） I'd mail things on the day they were due, and then moan about the late fees I received. Now I try to mail my bills on the day I receive them. （Or, better yet, to pay automatically online.）

    · Not taking advantage of corporate wellness incentives. If your employer pays for health-related benefits, you ought to take them. I think this is true of many benefits. Some companies offer paid gym memberships （though you may have to pay taxes on this）. But most employees are too lazy to take advantage of the offer. At the box factory, we would pay for one class per employee per term at any public school they chose. Few employees took us up on the offer. （I took many classes via this benefit!）

    · Not bothering to negotiate a deal. Many people are averse to haggling. But if you're just avoiding it because you're lazy, you're missing out on a chance to save. You don't have to haggle on everything. But haggle where it makes sense, and your pocketbook will thank you. （Here's how one GRS reader uses haggling to save big bucks.）

    The full article has more details, and the accompanying slideshow highlights other ways in which laziness may be costing you money.

    Laziness isn't as much of an issue for me as it used to be. I'm much more motivated to manage my money. Still, I do make mistakes from time-to-time. Here are a few of the ways laziness continues to cost me money:

    · When I'm just too lazy to make dinner at home, I end up spending more in restaurants.

    · When I'm too lazy to maintain my tools, they rust or break. （I recently had a scare with my lawnmower. I hadn't changed the oil on it once in five years - because I was lazy - and the blade seized up. Turns out the oil wasn't an issue, but you can bet I'll change the oil every year going forward!）

    · When I'm too lazy to reply to e-mail from potential advertisers, they find somebody else to work with. I miss out on that revenue.

    · When I'm too lazy to go see the doctor, my running injuries linger for months instead of being resolved in weeks.

    Not everyone is lazy, of course. And even those of us who are chronic loafers have areas where we shine. I've written something substantive nearly every day for the past eight years, for example. Plus I'll often walk to do my errands. I'm not completely lazy!

    What about you? How has laziness cost you money? Did you take steps to prevent problems in the future?

    上個(gè)月，福布斯雜志上發(fā)表了一篇名為"懶惰帶來(lái)的代價(jià)"的文章。我是個(gè)革命還未成功的懶人（克麗絲會(huì)說(shuō)我根本就沒(méi)怎么變過(guò)）、我饒有興致地讀了這篇文章，在其中發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些自己用錢(qián)的老習(xí)慣，有些壞習(xí)慣我至今還沒(méi)改過(guò)。

    作者Daniel Adler是這么寫(xiě)的：大家都很懶，而無(wú)數(shù)的商家從中把握了賺錢(qián)的機(jī)會(huì)---從你不會(huì)花十五分鐘上網(wǎng)為自己的存款賬戶(hù)找找好一些的利率，到你不會(huì)花什么時(shí)間為了一臺(tái)新手提電腦發(fā)郵件索取50元折扣。

    以下是福布斯雜志列出的懶惰帶來(lái)的代價(jià)的幾點(diǎn)。（著重號(hào)后面的一句話(huà)是福布斯上的內(nèi)容，其他內(nèi)容是我的評(píng)述。）

    * 懶到不去給自己的存款賬戶(hù)選一個(gè)最佳利率。整天追逐高利息的做法可能并不怎么好，但是那種把所有的存款就那么放在一個(gè)大銀行賬戶(hù)里，拿著0.20%的利息的做法似乎也不太說(shuō)得通。到當(dāng)?shù)卣壹倚庞蒙�，或者網(wǎng)上銀行，為自己的存款找個(gè)有不錯(cuò)收益的地方。盡管最近利率很低，可將來(lái)會(huì)漲的，到那時(shí)你就會(huì)為自己的選擇感到高興了，因?yàn)槟菚r(shí)你的錢(qián)會(huì)為你賺來(lái)更多的利息。

    * 懶到不去（盡快）給自己開(kāi)一個(gè)退休基金。永遠(yuǎn)不要忘記復(fù)利的作用。存錢(qián)存得越早，到時(shí)候你的錢(qián)給你帶來(lái)好處的期限就越長(zhǎng)。即使你已經(jīng)不怎么年輕，你仍然要盡快開(kāi)始。我知道37歲才開(kāi)始存錢(qián)，現(xiàn)在我看著自己的退休金一點(diǎn)一點(diǎn)地萎縮變少，但我仍舊為將來(lái)留出那部分錢(qián)。假如你的老板給你的養(yǎng)老金計(jì)劃里存錢(qián)的話(huà)，請(qǐng)利用好這筆錢(qián)吧。請(qǐng)不要忘了羅斯退休計(jì)劃。

    * 懶到不去索取折扣券。是的，以前這種事情也曾困擾過(guò)我的。要知道，把享受折扣的特價(jià)商品當(dāng)作你常去光顧的購(gòu)物選項(xiàng)是個(gè)好做法。制造商不會(huì)打折，而是提供折扣券，原因就是他們知道，大部分購(gòu)買(mǎi)者都不會(huì)所要這個(gè)折扣券。

    * 懶到不去注意最后期限。當(dāng)你用零利率購(gòu)買(mǎi)東西的時(shí)候，這里面肯定有個(gè)圈套。假如你沒(méi)有在最后期限之前付清，Adler寫(xiě)道，通常情況下，要繳納的利息會(huì)漲的很厲害，不只是債務(wù)的零頭，而往往是原商品的價(jià)錢(qián)。如果你不懶，及時(shí)付清賬單的話(huà)，零利率就會(huì)是個(gè)好交易了。

    * 懶到最后一秒才把郵件寄出去。這一點(diǎn)說(shuō)的就是我。十年前，我是個(gè)徹頭徹尾的懶人，郵件不拖到最后不會(huì)發(fā)出去的。（"懶人羅斯",克麗絲這么叫我。）我會(huì)在到期的那天寄郵件，然后又抱怨自己因此而繳的費(fèi)用�，F(xiàn)在我一收到賬單就會(huì)寄出付款單了。（或者，更好的方法就是在網(wǎng)上自動(dòng)支付。）

    * 懶到不利用好公司給你的健康優(yōu)惠政策。假如你的老板給你提供健康類(lèi)的福利，你應(yīng)該把它利用好。有些公司提供付過(guò)款的體育館會(huì)員資格（盡管你得在這上面付點(diǎn)稅）.但是大多數(shù)員工都很懶，以至于沒(méi)有什么人利用好了這個(gè)福利。原來(lái)在盒子工場(chǎng)工作的時(shí)候，我們給每個(gè)員工提供一個(gè)課程的福利，他們可以在任意公立學(xué)校選擇充電課程。然而，很少有員工跟我們要了這個(gè)福利。（我通過(guò)這個(gè)福利上了很多課。）

    * 懶到不愿去討價(jià)還價(jià)。許多人都很討厭跟人討價(jià)還價(jià)。但如果因?yàn)閼卸�不還價(jià)的話(huà)，你就錯(cuò)過(guò)了存錢(qián)的機(jī)會(huì)了。當(dāng)然，沒(méi)必要在所有商品上還價(jià)，但你可以在某些商品上還一下價(jià)，你的錢(qián)夾會(huì)感謝你的。（這里是一位讀者用來(lái)討價(jià)還價(jià)，存大錢(qián)的方法。）

    整篇文章還有很多細(xì)節(jié)，附帶有幻燈片，告訴大家懶惰還會(huì)帶來(lái)什么后果。

    現(xiàn)在懶惰對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)已經(jīng)不算什么了。我會(huì)更主動(dòng)地管理自己的錢(qián)。當(dāng)然，我也會(huì)時(shí)不時(shí)犯?jìng)�(gè)錯(cuò)誤什么的。以下是懶惰給我?guī)��?lái)的代價(jià)：

    * 當(dāng)我很懶，不想在家做飯的時(shí)候，我就會(huì)在餐館花更多的錢(qián)。

    * 當(dāng)我懶得打理我那些園藝工具的時(shí)候，它們就生銹變壞不能用了。（最近，我家的割草機(jī)嚇了我一跳，我已經(jīng)五年沒(méi)有給它換油了-因?yàn)閼?所以刀口卡住了。換油并不是件難事，但我以后肯定會(huì)每年給它換的。）

    * 我懶得給廣告商回email,因此他們找了別人，我也就錯(cuò)過(guò)了這部分收益。

    * 還有我懶得去看醫(yī)生，所以傷口疼了幾個(gè)月，其實(shí)可以幾周就治好的。

    當(dāng)然，并不是所有的人都很懶。即使那些很懶的人也會(huì)有不懶的時(shí)候。比如，我在過(guò)去的八年時(shí)間里一直堅(jiān)持每天寫(xiě)東西。還有，我常常步行去做事。我并不完全是個(gè)懶人！

    你呢？懶惰會(huì)讓你受到什么損失呢？你嘗試過(guò)什么方法避免自己將來(lái)出現(xiàn)這些問(wèn)題嗎？