How smart women ruin their finances

The six most common financial mistakes we might find ourselves making are:

• Living on credit: unsecured consumer debt such as credit card debt, personal loans, and students loans is like a cancer. It starts small and then begins to grow. “If not treated aggressively, it can take over and do horrible things to your life.
• Living beyond our means: If you spend more than you have in order to keep up appearances, you’re likely headed for financial disaster. Living below your means, and saving a little each month, is the best path to security and happiness.

• Misusing (or overusing) our home’s equity: Withdrawing from our retirement plans. If you use your home to help make big purchases, say a wedding or college tuition bill, and can’t keep up with the payments, you risk losing that home to foreclosure.
• Raiding your retirement accounts: Will halt the account’s growth momentum, you could get hit with a double tax bill. Don’t think of your retirement account as a liquid asset. It is a frozen asset that is out of your reach for now.
• Taking on more debt than we can handle for the sake of our kids:
• Putting off saving: you may rationalize that you’re not saving for retirement now because you’re young and poor, but you’re missing out on the power of compound interest. When you throw away time, you throw away money.

Smart women may certainly fall into financial inferno (and they often do); but crafty women always find a rope with which to pull themselves out. The good news – ignore these common pitfalls and you may not have to!

 Source: The Business Insider