Fred Harteis News Articles - Just as a snowball can start an avalanche and one match can ignite an inferno, these mistakes are easy to make and can lead to financial trouble for the rest of your life.
From your choice of college to your choice of spouse, from job selection to retirement planning, we take a look at common ways you can mess up your money future.
Don't Discuss Money Before Marriage
Marrying for love, not money, if not a problem, but be sure to ask your future husband or wife more questions about the latter before you tied the knot. It is not usually until after the wedding that you learn about the six-figure student loans and credit-card balance of $15,000.
Get a Divorce
D-I-V-O-R-C-E. A well-known song, the follow up for which should have been P-O-V-E-R-T-Y. The process of divorce is costly for both parties, financially and emotionally, and the ongoing expenses of divided households and shared parenting, of alimony and child support, often ruin the financial futures of both of the once-lovebirds.
Buy a House You Can’t Afford
What happens when you buy a home that you really can't afford? When economizing doesn't work, people often liquidate assets and borrow from their 401(k) to keep up with payments. Talk about putting your financial future in jeopardy.
Don't Diversify Your Investments
By not diversifying your portfolio -- for example, investing in just a couple of
stocks -- you run the risk of tying your future to the fate of a single company. If you bet on the wrong horse, that mistake could put you in the hole for the rest of your life.
Drive Stupidly
The National Safety Council estimated in 2006 that the average cost per auto crash where there were no disabling injuries was $8,200. If someone was hurt badly in the crash, but not killed, the average cost was $55,000. If someone died because of the wreck, the cost was more than $1.2 million. Survivors of such an accident could spend the rest of their lives recovering their financial health.
Start Smoking
The financial costs of this nasty habit are far more than the cost of a pack of cigarettes. Smokers pay more for insurance, dry cleaning, and dental care. Their homes and cars have less resale value, they are at higher risk of having a fire, and many companies won't even hire a smoker.
Go to a College You Can't Afford
Here's the reality: attending a private school at the expense of taking on a large debt load -- or worse, depleting the parents' nest egg -- will result in increased stress and constrained career choices, without increasing opportunities beyond what a student of the same ability could have done with a less expensive public college education.
Choose Wrong Health Insurance
When you're young and virile, health insurance can seem unimportant. Choose unwisely, though, and you can spend a lifetime paying for your mistake. Too little, and a neck injury can leave you broke for life. Buying too much saps money that could be invested, compounding for decades.
Source: Aol.com
About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.