10 Money Moves You Should Never, Ever Make

We all make money mistakes in our lives, and some of them are much more significant than others. The time you spent more than you wanted on a pair of shoes doesn’t count; and that’s just simple. Money mistakes that matter most in life are the ones you make at some point that you are unable to deal with. These are the mistakes you make throughout the course of your life that affect you in a way so negatively you can’t come back from them. They are the small mistakes you make over and over again, and the big mistakes you make or put off making until a later date. There’s no easy way of telling you that your money mistakes are real; they are. And we have a long list of money mistakes that you should never, ever make throughout the course of your life if you want to have a good, healthy financial future in which you can enjoy life and make more manageable decisions.

Not Paying off Credit Cards

If you have credit cards, you pay them off. You never, ever keep them and use them until you can’t use them anymore. These mistakes are so big that they can cost you more than you are willing to give up. For example, are you willing to give up the dream of owning a home because you max out credit cards and can’t get a loan for a home because your debt to income ratio is so high? No, you’re not.

Not Buying Health Insurance

You need health insurance. Don’t say that you never go to the doctor or that you never get sick; all it takes is one broken bone – even if it’s just a toe – to send you to the emergency room with an emergency and then a financial crisis at hand when you get that bill. Get the health insurance, even if it’s not the best plan in the world – it’s better than none.

Not Buying Life Insurance

You have to have life insurance even if you are not the primary breadwinner of your family. For example, what would you do if you lost your life and the kids that you stay home to care for have to go to daycare? That might not be something you ever paid for in the past, so it’s an added expense that the actual breadwinner might not be able to afford. Everyone needs life insurance.

Not Saving

You must save if you want to have a happy financial future, and you know it. We don’t care if you save every last penny you make or if you save as much as you can without putting yourself in a financial bind. Just save as much as you can so that you always have something there for you when you need it – which, hopefully, you don’t.

Not Saving for Retirement

You might think to yourself that at 23 you are too young to have to worry about saving for retirement, but you are not. Just ask anyone who is already retired and they will tell you that the worst thing they ever did was wait to start saving for retirement. Do it as early as you can and you will reap the benefits greatly when you are much older.

Not Creating an Emergency Fund

You must have an emergency fund with at least $1000 in it. This is the fund that is going to care for you when things get very tough. For example, if you create a fund and you realize that you suddenly need to pay for a medical bill you were not expecting to incur and cannot otherwise afford, you will be so thankful to have this fun available to you.

Not Going for It

You have to go for it at some point in your life. Even when it comes to your finances; and this might mean making some big sacrifices, making some small ones or just making sure that you have something that will get you what you need. You need to go for it; go for the further education, the better job or the investment that will change your life.

Not Diversifying Your Portfolio

You cannot put all your eggs in one basket. You have to diversify and make sure that you are doing what you need to do to help your money make money and to help your financial situation grow to the proportions it needs. You can do this; and it’s not that hard. Just invest wisely and across the board. Never let anyone talk you into putting all your funds somewhere that you are not comfortable putting them, and never let this get in your way.

Not Planning for the Future

You have a future, now plan for it. This could be the kids you already have, the kids you want to have, the house you want to buy; it can be anything. You have a future and you want to make it as nice as possible, so you have to do what you have to do to make sure that it is nice. You have to go for it and ensure that you can afford to raise kids, send them to college and pay for their weddings if that’s what you want to do and that’s what you feel is appropriate. It’s not going to do anyone any favors if you don’t plan for the future, so take the leap and start planning now.

Not Paying off Your House

Your house is the single biggest investment you will likely ever make, so you should do yourself a favor and make sure that it’s paid off. You have to do this because you don’t want to go into retirement with a mortgage. It’s hard for some, because they feel that once they have equity in their home they should refinance or remortgage the house so that they can get the cash they need to do other things, but this is a mistake.

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