6 Everyday Money Habits That Quietly Destroy Your Wealth
Written by
Nicole Spector
Edited by
Kristen Mae
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When we think about wealth, we tend to think mostly about building and maintaining it. But we need to look at the other side of the equation, too — losing wealth. It’s easier to do than you think, and you could be losing wealth regularly with no idea that you’re doing so. GOBankingRates spoke with financial experts to learn about wealth-destroying mistakes people make every day, without even knowing it.
Not Monitoring Expenses
Got an iron-clad budget in place to help secure your financial future? Great! But are you also meticulously managing and monitoring your daily expenses? If not, you’re likely living paycheck to paycheck or even losing wealth.
“Many misjudge their expenses or don’t keep an eye on their spending patterns,” said Steven Kibbel, certified financial planner (CFP) and senior editor at InternationalMoneyTransfer.com. “The ‘leak’ may impede attempts to increase wealth. You may reduce wasteful expenses and increase your savings by keeping a close eye on your spending and developing a thorough budget.”
Holding Too Much Cash
It’s crucial to have liquid cash easily available in the event of an emergency, but it’s also important not to leave extra money in a savings account. By keeping too much in savings, you’re losing money in the long run, especially when it comes to compound interest you could be earning on investments with much higher returns.
“You’re not only missing out on a huge opportunity to invest and grow your money, but you are also allowing your money to erode in value over time relative to inflation,” said Carla Adams, founder and financial advisor at Ametrine Wealth. “Certainly, you should keep a portion of your money in cash (an emergency fund should typically be about 3-6 months of your living expenses), but long-term savings should get invested in stocks and/or bonds.”
Yes, investing in the stock market does come with risks, but there are ways to go about it so you still come out on top.
“Investing in the stock market may seem incredibly risky — and it can be if you’re investing in individual stocks — but if you invest in broad index funds, you can expect an average return rate of about 10% per year,” Adams said. “Short-term market fluctuations can be huge at times; but, for long-term savings, the risk you take on will pay off, and your money will double roughly every seven years if you’re invested in an all-equity portfolio.”
Making Just the Minimum Monthly Payment on Credit Cards
It can be tough to pay off your credit card balance in full every month, but you should try your best to pay off as much as you can. By not doing so, you’re thwarting your financial success and losing a lot of money.
“Credit card interest rates can be 20% or even higher,” Adams said. “If you don’t pay your credit card off each month, then you are going to end up paying a lot over time in interest. High credit usage also impacts your credit score, meaning you are likely to end up with higher interest rates on loans you take out, such as a mortgage or car loan, if you are even able to get approved for such loans.
“Ideally, you should keep your credit utilization rate at 10% or less, meaning that the outstanding balance on all of your lines of credit combined should be 10% or less of your combined credit limits.”
Waiting To Invest
Adams frequently hears a lot of excuses from people, particularly younger adults, as to why they’re waiting to invest. In reality, there’s never a good reason to push this off.
“The truth is lifestyle creep is very real and, if you’re not able to put away anything today, it’s likely this trend will continue even as you continue to make more and more money,” Adams said. “And it’s also incredibly important to understand the power of compound returns. Even if you can only save and invest a small amount each month right now, when you have decades until you actually need that money, your money will start to grow exponentially.”
Paying High Fees on Investment Funds
“There is one major mistake that too many people make that destroys their wealth over time and that is paying high fees for their mutual funds or exchange-traded funds,” said Doug Carey, chartered financial analyst (CFA) at WealthTrace. “Many investors have no idea they are even paying a fee on their funds because the payment is taken directly out of the fund return. Other investors think anything less than 1% won’t make much of a difference. But it can make a huge difference over time.”
Here’s an illuminating example.
“An investor is saving $20,000 per year and is looking at three similar funds,” Carey said. “One has an annual fee of 0.1% (typical of index funds), one of them charges 1%, and the last one charges 1.5%. At the same annual return of 8%, the lowest cost fund would have $1.5 million in it after 25 years. The fund in the middle would have $1.3 million, and the highest cost fund would have $1.2 million. These are very large differences, and most people don’t even understand how big the impact can be.”
Not Working With a Financial Pro
Enlisting the help of a financial professional, such as an investment advisor, isn’t free, but it’s a very worthwhile expense. If you skimp on this, you’ll likely lose money in the long run.
“While not all advisors are great, a good one can save you from making emotional decisions that hurt your investments,” said Joe DiSanto, founder and CEO at Play Louder. “It’s easy to make rash decisions when you’ve worked hard for your money and fear losing it. A third party can act as a sounding board and help talk you off the ledge during volatile times.
“However, finding a good advisor requires research, and many require a minimum account size. If you’re just starting, even using a robo-advisor can be better than going it alone.”
Caitlyn Moorhead contributed to the reporting for this article.
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