What is the worst financial mindset you can have? What line of thinking would almost guarantee a financial catastrophe? Let’s begin by comparing with other mindsets.
The best financial mindset is to pay yourself first. Save and invest a portion of your income first. Then spend the rest. The more you can put aside, the better. Eventually your returns from the investments will be more than you spend. Then you can choose to stop working.
The normal mindset is to spend first and then save the leftover. Somehow the leftover will never be enough and you keep working till you cannot anymore. This is what most people do.
The bad mindset is to spend more that you earn. Borrow to fund spending habits and accumulate compounding debt. A hundred years ago, this behavior lead to debtors prison. A few hundred years ago, this behavior lead to serfdom and having to sell family members into slavery. Fortunately those days are long gone.
The worst mindset is to think it is ok to steal from someone, to cheat someone out of his money. This might work out for a small time period but eventually leads to horrible consequences. Bernie Madoff cheated people out of billions of dollars and became very rich. His actions earned him a 150 year prison sentence and he died in prison.
When you cheat people, you bring grief and misery to them. Eventually your actions catch up with you and it is time for you to pay for your misdeeds. This is how it always ends.