The last two months we talked about the decades of our lives and things we need to do within those decades to prepare ourselves for our Golden Years. This month and the next, I want to give you 10 tips to avoid when it comes to financial mistakes we tend to make more so than men. Here are the first five.
Financial mistakes to avoid.
1) Not investing in yourself. If you are in your mid 20's or older, and on a career path you think you will stay on, you should be thinking of buying a property while you are still single. It can be a condo, patio home, or a small single-family dwelling, but consider buying something to secure your home life setting. Why wait if you don't have to. Make this decision for yourself and feel better about the control it gives you with your homestead.
2) Spending too much on personal hygiene products and care for yourself. In March's article, I talked about Inflation in our economy, but I also talked about A Woman's Inflation that directly affects us. Review the article if you need to, it's on my website. There is good information in that article.
In summary of the article. We spend more money to be ready for the day personally then our male counterparts. We spend more for make-up, our hair styling, our clothes and so on. We need to be more conscious of what we spend in this category on personal care because it does consume a considerable about of our finances. This category is something that needs serious budgeting limits, or it will get out of hand quickly for us.
3) Saving too much in cash instead of investing. We all should be building an emergency fund as a first priority, but once you have reached the recommended limit of either 3 to 6 months of living expenses, it's time to move up the ladder for short-term goals and retirement goals. You need to make your money work for you, not the bank. Think about investing in a fund that gives you a chance to make a better return on your money. Take the risk needed to achieve your financial goals.
4) Worrying about short-term volatility with the markets. There is little you can do about market volatility, it's part of the game. Be sure to know your time horizon for the investment, your objective, and how much risk you are willing to take, and then let the investment run! It's like a race horse. Get yourself at the gate and be ready to run with it for the long haul. As long as you stay true to your investment goals, your outcome will out weigh the volatility in the markets. Be positive you're doing the right thing with investing, and you will be fine.
5) Not saving enough for Retirement. We know life gets in the way, but if we don't put some effort into investing for retirement, much of our other efforts will be in vain. Remember these few facts to help motivate you to save for retirement.
- Women are good savers, but we are too conservative with our choices. We need to take on more risk with our investments.
- We need to save more because we live longer then men on average, and it cost more for us to live.
- We make less income then men most of the time in our jobs.
- The average woman takes off about 11 years of her working life to raise her family. That affects her 401K balance or pension, and social security benefit.
We need to focus on our future and our savings plans. This is not an option, it is in the cards for us. I am here to help if you need any assistance getting started or checking to see how well you are doing.
