8 Ways to Accidentally Sabotage Your Financial Strategy

There are numerous different ways to invest and grow your personal wealth. Conversely, there are just as many ways to sabotage your long-term financial strategy! Working with a skilled financial advisor can help you identify beneficial opportunities as well as avoid potential pitfalls. The following eight mistakes are some of the more common ways that people cost themselves money in the long run, although there are certainly many more ways to sabotage yourself.

(Obviously, we’re sharing these so you can avoid them!)

You periodically mix up your priorities. Some people make the mistake of mixing things up. This year, you’re planning for retirement, next year you’re buying a house, the next year you want a boat, and then the following year you decide to focus on retirement again. Your long-term financial strategy should be your most important priority, always.

You don’t have a savings account for emergencies. So when an emergency strikes, you find yourself raiding your retirement fund – a big no-no.

You get in a hurry. Regard any get-rich-quick scheme with extreme skepticism; more than likely, it’s really a get-poor-quick scheme. It’s extremely rare for an investment to pay huge returns over a very short period of time.

You’re trying to beat the market. Some investors try to “play” the market, but this is extremely hard to accomplish without years of experience and quite a bit of luck. For most people, buying and holding investments for the long term is the best way to proceed.

You let your emotions get the best of you. Since your long-term financial strategy should indeed be long-term, try not to panic and sell investments each time the market drops just a bit.

You don’t know what you’re worth. Obviously, it’s easier to fund your retirement account when you’re earning more money. But many people make the mistake of undervaluing themselves, and fail to ask for a raise or develop new skills that could help them earn more money.

You buy into self-limiting beliefs. There is such a thing as self-fulfilling prophecy, in which people act according to their secret beliefs about themselves. If you believe you can’t earn more money or that you can’t accomplish your goals, you probably won’t. That’s the blunt truth.

You procrastinate. You know you need to save for retirement… but after only you buy a house. Or after you pay off your car. Or after you pay off your student loans. The truth is, if you don’t make retirement savings a priority now, you’re just losing valuable time that you can never get back.

On that note, call us to schedule an appointment. We can help you get started saving for retirement, or bump up your current savings rate. The best way to avoid potential pitfalls is to work closely with a skilled financial advisor and continue regular meetings as you hone your strategy.