The Common Financial Mistakes We Make

We all make mistakes in life. And it does seem that the majority of us make the same money mistakes over and over again. Spending excessively or living beyond our means can quite often leave us in trouble with our finances – it can sometimes come from a wish to impress or just pure carelessness.

Trivial purchases such as daily takeaway coffees, gym memberships we never use, or a magazine you barely read but have been too lazy to cancel the subscription to – it may all seem like nothing at the time, but adding it all up, in the long run, will make a huge difference.

Living beyond your means

As mentioned before, living beyond our means is easily done. The people around you are doing it, so why can’t you? But stop and think, is this outside your budget?

It’s so easy to get caught up in what others are doing simply for the sake of it, especially with the influx of social media.

But, unfortunately, the only person you’re fooling here is yourself. Living outside of your means will only come back to bite you, usually in the form of credit card debt.

There are many ways to stop yourself overspending, but an easy one to always remember in the back of your mind is that things on social media are not always as they seem.

Just because it looks as if someone’s feed looks expensive, it doesn’t mean they have the bank account to match.

Know how much money you have spare to spend a month and limit yourself on drinks or dinners out – stop stalking and focus on yourself and your own goals.

Not planning for retirement

It’s never too early to start planning and saving for retirement. In fact, the longer you put it off, the less you’ll have to retire with.

As a person grows old your state of health declines; make sure you have adequate health insurance and care in place whether it’s the NHS or private.

These savings can also be put away for tragic life events such as funeral costings. Discuss what you’re put together if you are arranging the funeral yourself, check Freedom Funeral Insurance or compare funeral directors and share a list of tasks with your family who wish to help.

Thanks to your saving, this will all be made a lot easier for your loved ones.

Living off borrowed money

Using credit cards to buy everything has become somewhat normal for everyone.

But the number of people who are willing to pay a double-digit interest rate on petrol, food shopping and a whole host of other items that are gone long before the bill is completely paid in full, has increased hugely.

The interest rates on credit cards make the price of charged items more expensive.

What you need to remember is that this isn’t fake money, you have to pay all of this back. Consider transferring small amounts of money into your savings a month and try to cut back on your spending between each payday.

Being a sucker for a good deal

We can all get suckered into a good deal every now and then, but are you really saving much? Even when buying things on sale, you’re still spending money – money you perhaps wouldn’t have otherwise.

Sometimes a deal isn’t as good as you thought – just take a second to stop and think about it.

Try not to get drawn into substantial and sometimes very unnecessary expenses. There’s a right and wrong way to take advantage of discounts so make sure you’re not giving in to the tempting offer that doesn’t make any financial sense.