There are four critical things you can do to avoid financial procrastination, which can endanger your own future and that of your beneficiaries as well.
According to research, Americans pay a price for procrastinating on their financial concerns, but many put these issues off anyways. There are missed financial opportunities abound, whether it’s failing to put together a will, not having enough money in the emergency fund or getting a late start on retirement planning.
Many people know that they ultimately need to take action and plan on doing something someday, and Americans can delay for a broad number of different types of reasons, including the effort involved, the amount of knowledge required just to make these critical decisions, or the fact that many people feel paralyzed about the possibility of making mistakes.
Many people also underestimate the importance of future consequences when making decisions and people prefer to spend now rather than save for the future.
Procrastination has also been tied to inertia which keeps people in a cycle of doing what they’ve always done. Four critical mistakes can affect your financial future most significantly and these include:
· Paying only the minimum on your credit card
· Not having an emergency savings fund
· Ignoring estate planning basics and opportunities to put together documents to protect you while you’re alive and after you pass away
· Failing to get serious about retirement opportunities
All of these issues can easily be avoided by networking with experienced professionals in the field who can give you a better sense of what is involved in protecting your future and how to avoid many of the most common mistakes.