Financial

Missteps

It’s a common scenario, men and women in theirearly twenties entering the job market with little tono knowledge of personal finance. As a result,

these men and women are prone to making whatare avoidable mistakes, and then these misstepsproceed to affect said young professionals

throughout the rest of their career.

In light of such, I have elected to lay out what Ibelieve to be the most common of these mistakes,

so as to mitigate the negative repercussionsassociated with poorly managed personal finance

practices:

Being Hesitant to TakeResponsibility for your

Finances

It can be frustrating to many that, although making the leastamount of money they will (ideally) make in their career, they are

expected to begin saving money and acting responsiblyimmediately. This all said, there are two main takeaways here:

-Protect your income and don’t run up new debt (like creditcards, for example)

-Balance your finances; and don’t get upset if you haven’tdeveloped the fiscal discipline required to properly do so at first.Like anything else, practicing responsible personal finance takespractice and you are not expected to master it instantly. In fact,

there are many ‘well-adjusted’ adults who have yet to figure itout.

Not Having Disability Insurance

While not all insurance is relevant to youngprofessionals, disability insurance, on the

other hand, is nearly always a smartdecision. Believe it or not, suffering adisability that keeps you out of work

contributes to 62% of all personalbankruptcies. That said, a measly third of

Americans have disability insurance.Perhaps this immense irrationality is due to

ignorance, but it nonetheless indicates avital need for education regarding finance

and appropriate insurance.

Not Having Enough Life Insurance

Most people qualify for group insurance through someemployer benefit or another. However, this sort of coverage

very often does not provide the necessary coverage onerequires in the modern world. In reality, individual insurance

is often a better choice for most men and women.Furthermore, it generally costs much less than what peoplethink, and it doesn’t just evaporate when you change jobs.

Mistakes are inevitable. No one isperfect. You will make the wrongdecision, but that’s no reason to

mitigate a potentially wrongdecision’s consequences. Strive for

the best, and although you willcertainly misstep here and there,you will be in a far better place if

you begin taking responsibility foryour finances early on in your

career.