It’s the end of summer and many of you will have enjoyed taking some time out from the normal routine to spend it with your family and friends. Or maybe you got away somewhere sunny, worked reduced hours or generally just appreciated the more laid back approach to life and work during the summer months. I certainly did.
However, with the transition to autumn on the horizon and the inevitable return to a more hectic schedule, it will be easy to get caught up again in the pressures of life, work and money. So on that note here’s a common sense money advice list to keep you on the straight and narrow:
- The Jones’s are not as rich or as happy as you think they are
- You will never have ‘enough’ money. There’s always something else
- Your life and experiences are a better benchmark for you than your wealth
- Beware of ‘lifestyle creep’. A rise in income doesn’t mean you need a rise in lifestyle
- Spend less than you make
- Saving is more important than investing
- You don’t have to be rich to invest, but you do have to invest to be rich
- If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is
- Get rich quick and get poor quick are two sides of the very same coin
- No one knows what is going on with the economy
- Forecasting is best left to the weather people
- Time, not timing is the key to investment success
- When it comes to money you’re probably not as smart as you think you are
- Do the average thing when others are losing their heads and over time you’ll end up better than most
- The one sure thing about investing is that there are no sure things
- Market corrections come more frequently than birthdays so expect them
- If you’re excited about an investment then it’s probably a really bad idea
- Investing done well is really boring
- Simplicity is your friend, complexity your foe
- The more complicated the advice, the more expensive and less useful it usually is
- Fees erode performance. Fact
- Your house is a place to live, not a retirement portfolio
- A financial advisors job is primarily to save you from your worst impulses
Now get back to work!