It’s understandable and common for some less than stellar financial decisions being made when in your 20s, especially considering the lack of information and education around the subject in our schools and homes. If only we had Finance 101 in school instead of being forced to prove that a triangle was in fact a triangle!
It’s important to keep in mind that the money choices you make today and the habits you form can very much affect all of your future financial and life decisions. Everyday money mistakes that seem small right now can snowball into larger problems down the line.
Some financial mistakes like credit card debt can even take months or years to fix.
That’s why avoiding costly money mistakes is essential and exploring early investment options can save you a lot of money, time and stress.
If even thinking or talking about money puts you in a negative mind space, understand where these negative feelings about money are coming from and how to deal with them.
In this article we will dig into the top 3 money mistakes you might be making and how to avoid them, so don’t stress!
1. Not tracking your spending
If you don’t look at the numbers it just makes it easier to ignore, doesn’t it? No, we’re not mind readers, we just understand what you’re going through. But don’t let your anxiety about money get in the way of making smart decisions.
Not looking at your expenses doesn’t make them magically disappear.
In fact, tracking your expenses can help you decide, ‘I love it, it’s worth it. This makes me happy,’ or ‘I’m not getting any joy out of this”.
When an expense is a conscious decision, you automatically do it without any guilt.
Even just spending as little as five minutes a day cultivating knowledge and understanding of your spending habit can make a huge impact so that you can spend your hard-earned money on things you really like.
What to do instead: Note your expenses every day and go through the numbers every now and then
2. Spending to impress
If you don’t look at the numbers it just makes it easier to ignore, doesn’t it? No, we’re not mind readers, we just understand what you’re going through. But don’t let your anxiety about money get in the way of making smart decisions.
Not looking at your expenses doesn’t make them magically disappear.
In fact, tracking your expenses can help you decide, ‘I love it, it’s worth it. This makes me happy,’ or ‘I’m not getting any joy out of this”.
When an expense is a conscious decision, you automatically do it without any guilt.
Even just spending as little as five minutes a day cultivating knowledge and understanding of your spending habit can make a huge impact so that you can spend your hard-earned money on things you really like.
What to do instead: Note your expenses every day and go through the numbers every now and then
3. Not investing early enough
We often put investing way down in our priority list because we always feel like it requires a lot of money and time. Starting out can give a lot of anxiety, which is why most times we delay investing for as long as we can. It can also feel like you have too many other things to put your money toward – from bills to thrills – which can make setting aside a sum of money to invest seem impossible. We’ve heard every single reason under the sun for not investing.
But none of them work now, because in this day and age early saving and investing is easier than ever.
A simple way to do this is by starting slow and small.
Deciml enables you to invest your spare change every time you spend, so that you can save early and invest small amounts of money over a large amount of time.
It isn’t necessary that you have to start off your investment journey straight away with an amount that feels out of reach. Even that 10 rupees you put in right now, will matter a lot in the long run. You can actually help your money make more money by putting any amount into small investments.
There’s never a better place or time to start investing than here and now!
Download Deciml and start investing early, daily and automatically.