10 Mistakes People Over 40 Make With Money

Guys, what is your biggest fear when it comes to retirement? Let me know in the comments below. As for me, it's growing old and not having the money to do the things that I want to do. So, on this video, if you're near 40 years old or you're over 40 years old, I'm going to give you 10 mistakes that a lot of people that I talk to about money tend to make as they get closer and closer to retirement age. So, if you're over 40, you want to avoid these 10 mistakes that I'm going to give you because these mistakes will have you working way longer and way harder than you want to work as you get older. I don't want you to retire broke. So, let's jump into these 10 mistakes that you need to avoid. Now, the first mistake that you want to avoid making with money is failing to pay off debt. Guys, the less debt you have, the more money you're going to have to do whatever you want as you reach retirement age in your 50s or your 60s. If you fail to pay off debt before you reach that point, you're going to be forced to work longer and you're going to be forced to work harder. And that is the incentive to get out of as much consumer debt as you can before you reach that age. You want your expenses to be $2,500 a month as you reach retirement age, not $5,000 or $6,000 every single month. The less expenses you have, the less you're forced to work. So, you need to get rid of as much debt as possible. Avoid the mistake of having a whole bunch of debt as you get a little bit older. Now, number two is this. The second mistake that you want to avoid is letting these small home repairs and small automobile repairs turn into larger, more expensive repairs. Guys, a leaky sink is going to cost you a couple of hundred dollars to fix right now. But if you don't fix the leaky sink and you don't take care of it, guess what's going to happen? That's going to turn into a replacement of a floor or a replacement of a whole vanity, right? There could be all different types of problems because you didn't attack the problem early. So, you want to make sure these small little things that can be taken care of, if you take care of your stuff, you don't want to turn them into large repairs, expensive repairs. So, be conscious about taking care of the big ticket items that you have already. And that way, you can save money in the long run. Now, the third mistake that you got to avoid is financing newer and newer cars. Because here's what happens, guys. We get a little older, we start making a little bit more money and we start convincing ourselves that we deserve more, a nicer car. We deserve a more expensive car. We deserve that Mercedes, right? That Jaguar. We deserve these things. So, what happens is, we start financing cars as we get older because we say to ourselves, hey, I deserve it. I've worked 20 years, 30 years. Let me go get this car that I've always wanted. And so, we finance it, right? We buy nicer and nicer cars and we finance nicer and nicer, more expensive cars. And what ends up happening, guys, is we end up wasting a lot of future money and future wealth on depreciating cars that are going down in value as we get near 40 years old or as we get over 40 years old. Just be careful to avoid that mistake. Now, number four, the fourth mistake that you need to avoid is not getting help, not asking for help with your money and not allowing another set of eyes to see your money or to see your money situation. Guys, most people handle their money sort of in a cocoon, right? Their own little bubble. A lot of people don't talk about money, never talk about their personal finances with anybody else and keep their money sort of a secret and walled off from everybody else. So that what happens is, if you do that, you never get a fresh set of eyes or fresh new ideas to penetrate your cocoon in terms of how you handle money or what you do with your money. See, sometimes, guys, with money, we all need an infusion of innovative ways of looking at our money, innovative ways of viewing our money and the possibilities of our money because that helps us grow money when we have fresh new perspectives and new ideas about our personal financial situation. So talk about your money. Have the conversations with other people you trust about your personal financial situation or employ the services of a good, solid, reputable financial professional or a financial person who you feel good about and comfortable with. And maybe you don't have to do that all the time, but just from time to time, somebody to bounce ideas off of or somebody to listen to and give you new information about the possibilities of managing your money or managing your personal finances. We all can use a fresh set of eyes on our money situation from time to time. Now, the fifth mistake that we need to avoid as we get near or over the 40-year-old mark and we're marching closer and closer to our eventual retirement is we get stuck in some of these old plans and old subscriptions, right? We get stuck using the same car insurance that we've used for 20 years or we get stuck using the same cable TV service that we've used for 25 years because we're stuck in our old habits and old ways, right? How many of you have had the same insurance company for the last 15 years, right? Let me know in the comments below if that's you and you understand and can relate to what I'm saying, right? Or you have the same cell phone plan for the last 20 years. Look, I'm guilty. I've been there, done that. I understand. But listen, there are other less expensive versions of whatever service that you have that's out there that you've had for 10 or 20 years. You got options today that weren't around 10 years ago. You don't have to get stuck with the same subscription or the same plan that you've always had. Shop around and see what else is out there right now for you. Look, it's been 15 years. Things have changed, right? You can get another different new cell phone plan. Speaking of cell phones, guys, on this video, I partnered with Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile offers premium wireless services and you don't have to sacrifice any coverage or speed or data because Mint Mobile is built on the world's largest 5G network and they keep costs low because they sell directly to you, the consumer. They don't have the box stores. They don't have the employees, all those things that they have to pay for. So instead, they pass that savings on to me and you, right? Why should you have to pay more money than you have to for access to the same 5G network? Feel free to click the link in the description box below if you're interested in the best value in premium wireless services. Now, let's get back to the video. Now, the sixth mistake that you got to avoid as you reach your 40s and get into your 40s or older is the whole idea of making more and spending more. This is the cardinal rule when you make more money. Don't necessarily spend more money, right? You're going to have inflation so things are going to increase in price but just because you make a whole bunch more don't mean you got to spend a whole bunch more. If you make a whole bunch more and you keep your expenses at or near the same, you're just growing a cushion of money that you can do a lot of things with, right? You're growing that cushion of money that you can pay off debt with, that you can put towards your emergency fund, that you can invest more with. So, don't make more and spend more. It happens but what I want you to do is I want you to dial back your spending or keep your spending the same as you make more money, right? That's the opposite of what all of us naturally tend to do. If you want to invest more in appreciating items, I understand it but throwing more money at clothes and shoes and cars and vacations and you're just wasting money that's going to serve you well down the road. I'm not saying don't enjoy your money as you make more money. What I'm saying to you is be conscious about spending more money on a regular basis with your regular expenses. You don't have to do it just because you make more money. I get it but in your 40s and 50s is really when you want to start kind of untethering yourself, untying yourself from the need of stuff because the stuff that you spend a whole bunch of money on today that's going down in value takes away from the stuff that you can enjoy as you get older, right? The future you wants to enjoy some stuff too. Just something to consider avoiding, right? The make more spend more syndrome. You don't want that to be your downfall for later. Now, another big mistake that you need to avoid as you get into your 40s with money is investing too little. If you're going to spend more when you're over 40, spend more investing into the stock market or real estate or some type of investments that's going up in value, that's appreciating. If you plan to spend more money, see a lot of people invest way too little when they're 30, 40 and 50 and they wonder why they don't have any money when they're 55 and 60. If you're 45 years old, what's it going to take on a monthly basis to pay your bills when you're 55 years old? You should be thinking about that number well ahead of time. That way you can start preparing early and investing enough money early so that it will translate into enough money later. Now, the eighth big mistake that people over 40 tend to make on a regular basis is they forget about long-term care insurance. Now, I'm not saying you want to buy long-term care insurance when you're 45 years old, but as you get a little older, you need to start thinking about long-term care insurance. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 7 out of 10 people, 70% of all people in America who turn 65 will probably need some form of long-term care. You may be asking yourself, well, what about Medicare? Won't Medicare take care of it? No. Medicare does not cover, at this point of the making of this video, Medicare does not cover long-term custodial care. When you have to pay for that stuff out of pocket, guess what, guys? That will eat away at whatever money you've saved and invested over the years. We already know that inflation is going to be there, but then you have to start paying for some type of long-term care or long-term care facility. Guess what, guys? That could mean a total depletion of whatever nest egg that you've invested and saved up over the years. So, just keep that in mind, guys, to be thinking about long-term care insurance as you get over 40 years old and over 50 years old. Now, the ninth big mistake with money that you should avoid if you're over the age of 40 is simply this, failing to create some type of estate plan. Look, if you have $50,000 of net assets, you need an estate plan. If you have $30,000, you need an estate plan. And a lot of us, when we get to 50 and 60 years old, we have $100,000 or $500,000 or a million dollars. You need an estate plan. Why? Because we're all going to die and you want to be able to tell your assets what to do when you leave this earth. So, why not create an estate plan so you can tell your money what to do and where to go and you can avoid probate? Now, without going into the details of what an estate plan is, an estate plan is usually going to cost you about $1,000 to maybe $5,000 depending on where you are and what assets you have. An estate plan that includes a will and power of attorney and more stuff, an estate plan is incredibly important. Do your research. Find out what you need. Get a few quotes from a few attorneys and go forward. It's well worth the money. Now, the 10th mistake that you need to avoid if you're over 40 with your money is simply neglecting your health. Now, what does this have to do with money? It's got a lot to do with money, guys. What good is it to have all the money in the world but you're not in good enough health to actually enjoy the money? And I realize some things that happen with our health are unavoidable and they're just generic and they happen to us and we didn't do anything to get it. But there's a lot of stuff that happens with our health as we age that we can do something about. So, what I want you to concentrate on with this number 10 is not the things that you can't do anything about but I want you to concentrate in terms of your health on things you can do something about. How you eat, how frequently you exercise, your heart health, all those things are that you can change today. And it's what a lot of people that are over 40, over 50, they totally neglect and totally forget about. So, you need to focus on what you can do to have a better shot at having good health as you age so that when you do get older, you can enjoy your money more. So, hey, there you have it, guys. If you're near the 40 and over crowd or if you're in that crowd of people that are over the age of 40, those are the 10 mistakes with money that you need to avoid. Now, if you want to know the six steps that I used personally to get out of debt, you need to check out this video right here. Or if you want to know some high income paying skills that don't require a college degree and they're going to be in demand for at least another decade or more, you need to check out this video right here. Or if you're like some folks and you want to know what are some excellent side hustles that I can do to bring in more money from home, then you need to check out this video right here. Peace.