5 Financial Mistakes We Make in Our 30’s
The 30’s are all about major milestones and new priorities – marriage, owning a car, having your own place, and maybe even kids! You are much older, wiser, and eager to leave the money issues of your 20’s behind you. However, there are possibilities of making mistakes that could have repercussions for the years to come down the road. Here are some financial mistakes that you can avoid in your 30’s and invest wisely instead.
1. Making debts a way of life
In your 20’s, you may have had to take on student loans, car loans and credit cards debts. But continuing to rack up debts into your 30’s, especially, that of credit cards and un-affordable mortgage can result in a downward financial spiral that is hard to recover from.
The best habit one can develop in the 30’s is to plan ahead of time and save up so that all of one’s purchases can be paid off with one’s current income and not potential income.
2. No record of daily expenses
Dubai offers both the opportunity to earn and spend. It is what you choose to spend on that matter.
Records of savings and expenditures are always a recommended practice in one’s daily life. Once a month, sit down and look at your bank accounts and credit cards to see where you have spent and how much you have spent. Keeping a close eye on expenses will not only helps you maintain discipline of keeping your outgoings less than your incoming; it will also highlight areas where you might be splurging more than you should. Perhaps, it is time to lower your restaurant bills by cooking more at home! These changes are easier to make when caught well in time before they become part of a lifestyle that is un-affordable.
3. Not saving for retirement
It is recommended that one should save at least 10% of their income for retirement. That is not easy but let that nothing holds you back from saving whatever little you can, now. Saving now matters, even though retirement is far away, because time matters. Time matters because of the magic called “compounding”. Read our blog here to learn more about the cost of delaying savings.
With so many options available for investments, Systematic Investment Plan or SIP is one great investment option where one can invest a fixed amount in a mutual fund scheme at regular intervals. SIP can lead to handsome wealth creation in the long run.
For example
If you invest AED 1,000 a month, with the selected mutual fund scheme unit being AED 10 in the first month, you gain 100 units. The following month, if the unit price drops to AED 9, you gain 111 points and further if the unit price drops to AED 8 the gain would be 125 units. By the investment of AED 3000 over the 3 months, you are allotted 336 units. As per SIP calculator if the entire investment of AED 3000 was done in the first month itself then the units gained would have been just 300.
SIP investments can thus help grow your investments with compounded benefits.
4. Not investing in Insurance
As parents or to be parents, you always want the best for your child(ren), which is natural and healthy.
A lot of your financial and career choices are impacted by your wish to securing your children’s financial security. You know that life is complicated, unpredictable and throws challenges at us when we least expect it. So, while most of us make sure to financially protect our families while alive, we deprioritize protecting our families in case, just in case, something was to happen to us.
Life insurance is a way to protect your family financially in case of your sudden and unexpected demise. The toll of a financial loss will be the last thing affecting your family. The life insurance cover will be a means of steady financial income during hard times when your family is coping with a deep loss. Critical illness insurance and disability insurance are other options that one should consider as these can impact your income-generating ability while you are alive.
5. Letting your professional life to stagnate
In your 30’s, it is necessary to actively invest in your professional development. The pay-scale study shows that 20’s is the time for significant income growth of about 60% but as one moves into the 30’s, one can expect to see a slowdown in salary growth to about 20% over the decade. The reason for this is- additional demands outside of work such as relationships and family obligations. This is why one needs to stay on top of industry trends. One must continue looking for career opportunities and stay prepared for challenges and growth.
Your determination to keep your financial life in order while you are in your 30’s, will lead to your building real wealth that lasts. Any questions? We are happy to help!
