Digging Up the Dirt: Checking the Virgo Forecast Against Real Money
Man, sometimes I get these weird ideas stuck in my head. A few weeks ago, I was just scrolling through some old calendars and suddenly thought: what if I actually tried to prove, or disprove, if those monthly horoscopes we read ever actually nudge our financial decisions? Not in a fluffy way, but like, did I literally pull the trigger on a purchase because some vague celestial advice told me to?
I decided to lock onto one specific month and sign: Virgo, April 2019. Why that time? Because April 2019 was a pivot point for me financially. I was making some serious decisions about consolidating debt and maybe starting a small side hustle. I figured if astrology ever influenced me, that month would be it.
The first thing I had to do was backtrack. I needed the exact words. I spent a whole evening on the internet, deep-diving into old astrology archive sites. I scraped through cached pages and old blog posts until I finally nailed down the exact quote from a popular, though slightly cheesy, zodiac site I used to read. The financial forecast for that month was classic double-speak, something like: “Be cautious with sudden outlays, but the universe is rewarding those who seize unexpected opportunities for growth.” Classic, right?
The Retrieval Process: Matching Advice to Action
Once I had the horoscope text, the real work began. I had to open up my dreaded April 2019 expenditure log. I keep everything in these messy Excel sheets, coded by category: ‘Red’ for debt, ‘Green’ for income, and ‘Yellow’ for questionable purchases. It took me hours just to sift through the mess and mentally reconstruct my headspace from four years ago. I was trying to figure out if I acted based on logic, or if the vague advice I’d read that morning had subliminally pushed me one way or the other.
I identified three major financial events in that month that could have been influenced by that “cautious but seize opportunities” mantra. I listed them out:
- Decision 1: The Quick Flip Investment.
- Decision 2: The Equipment Delay.
- Decision 3: The Contract Negotiation.
I then started digging into the paper trail for each one.
Decision 1: The Quick Flip Investment
The horoscope said, “seize unexpected opportunities.” I remembered seeing a tip about a very specific, tiny micro-cap stock that month. Usually, I stick to boring index funds. But April 2019, I took a flyer. I didn’t think twice. I pulled $1,500 out of my savings and plunked it down. I told myself it was for “growth.”
The Outcome Check: I pulled up my brokerage statement. That stock tanked hard within six weeks. I ended up selling for a significant loss, maybe $800 wiped clean. Did the horoscope cause it? No, bad research did. But did the horoscope make me feel okay about taking a risk I wouldn’t usually take? Yeah, it definitely lowered my guard. That was a clear financial failure following the “seize opportunities” part.
Decision 2: The Equipment Delay
The horoscope also said, “Be cautious with sudden outlays.” I had been planning for months to upgrade my home office setup—a new massive monitor, a fancy standing desk. Total cost: about $2,200. I had the money ready to go. But when I read that ‘cautious’ warning, I suddenly felt hesitant. I hit the brakes, telling myself I could wait just one more month. It felt like I was listening to the cosmos, not my bank account.
The Outcome Check: This is where things got interesting. I checked the prices for that specific monitor model. In June 2019, the manufacturer had a huge promotion, dropping the price by almost 30%. Because I held off based on that vague cautionary advice, I ended up saving nearly $650 two months later. Pure profit via delay. Financial win.
Decision 3: The Contract Negotiation
This wasn’t directly in the forecast, but my general mood that month, fueled by the feeling that I should be “assertive but calculated,” led me to re-read a consulting contract I was about to sign. I usually just sign stuff and move on. But that month, I spent three days arguing over the payment structure for a freelance job. I pushed hard for net-15 payment terms instead of net-30.
The Outcome Check: I looked at the signed agreement. I won the shorter payment term. This meant I got cash flow 15 days faster on a $10,000 contract. That rapid influx of cash let me pay off an old high-interest credit card balance much sooner, saving me perhaps $100 in interest fees right away. Small win, but a definite success spurred by that assertive feeling.
My Takeaway on the Celestial Influence
So, did the Virgo April 2019 horoscope literally dictate my finances? Of course not. But here’s the reality I pulled out of this whole exercise: the horoscope didn’t predict the outcome, it just served as confirmation bias for the existing decisions I was already considering.
When I was feeling risky, the “seize opportunities” line made me feel smart about the bad investment. When I was feeling cheap or hesitant, the “be cautious” line gave me the excuse I needed to delay the big purchase, which actually paid off. The total outcomes were mixed: one definite loss, one definite save, and one operational improvement.
What I learned from this deep dive is that we are constantly looking for permission. That horoscope wasn’t a crystal ball; it was just a little whisper in my ear saying, “Go ahead, do the thing you were already thinking about.” And sometimes, that little push is enough to make us change the timing of a decision, which, as I found out, can be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.
I’m gonna keep doing these retrospective checks every now and then. It’s way more fun than just looking at balance sheets, and it truly shows you how easily we rationalize our financial moves!
