Avoiding Mistakes with Your Money

The most common financial mistake is a failure to define your goals. Few people know what they really want their money to do. Several years of accumulation of savings or a sudden inheritance or other windfall leaves with money to invest and no idea of how to make it best work for them.

Another common mistake is failure to follow through on your financial goal. The cost of not making investment moves immediately can add up, Say that, after check of your personal finances, you decide to shift some money from your low-paying savings account into higher yielding Treasury bills. If you delay just a few month, your procrastination will cost you a bundle if money.

A third financial mistake is the failure to maintain careful records. You have to keep and keep updated the list of your investment, your bank accounts and file should list names and amounts of all policies. It also should give the location of your safe deposit boxes and contain your tax records and credit-card information, as well as wills and deeds.

Still another common financial mistake is greed. some people are so obsessed with making tax-exempt or sheltered investments that they often miss much more lucrative, if taxable, investments. you weigh the tax benefits.

It is a mistake to heed advice from people who are not qualified to give it. Amateurs like your next door neighbor or your cousin's son in law can do more damage than good. You are better off soliciting and then carefully considering professional advice from brokers, bankers, attorneys, accountants or financial planners. Fees should be agreed on in advance, but sometimes the advice is free.

Another common mistake is a failure to keep an open mind about investment opportunities. Many invest in just one thing and stick with it.Huge sums of money are still locked away in passbook savings accounts, many of which pay low interest. Higher yielding money market funds, treasury bills, short term income trust or tax-deferred annuities are safe as well as rewarding.

The biggest mistakes most people make with their money is not hedging their assets and not diversifying their investments. If you have a variety of investments, you stand a better chance of riding out any financial storm.

The worst mistake an investor can make is to assume he or she will not make a mistake. It may be comporting to learn that some of the most knowledgeable people in the world of finance have made some awful gaffes with their own money.

To Recapitulate, here are ways you can head off serious losses in your personal finances.

Define your goals
Give careful thought to what you want your money to do for you.
Follow thought, by saving and investing .

Keep careful records
Review and up-date your financial plans regularly.
don't be carried away by tax-sheltered investments.
They make some only if they would be worthwhile investments even without the tax breaks.

Get your advice from professionals:
Stockbrokers
Bankers
Attorneys
Accountants
Insurance agents
Financial planners

a. Keep your knowledge of investments up to date by reading widely.
b. Put your money in a variety of investments that can flourish in different financial climates. That way you can minimize the cost of any errors.
c. Put yourself hard to ask questions of yourself, your advisers and anybody trying to sell you an investment.

Remember, nobody is infallible, and there are no dumb questions--- only dumb answer.