3 Financial Hazards To Avoid in 2018

With the new year comes (to borrow a parlance from Star Wars) a new hope. We hope for improvements in our jobs or careers. We hope for new levels of success and prosperity for our businesses. We hope for new accomplishments and achievements for our kids. New memories and milestones in our relationships. Most of all we hold out the hope that this will be the year when we finally right the ship in terms of our finances. This will be the year when all the bad habits of old will be cast aside and in instead 2018 will be a new era for financial responsibility. It will be an era marked by sage investments, sound and well informed fiscal choices and the curbing of some of our more reckless urges.

These goals are all very noble but be sure to steer clear of some of the financial hazards that could offset, or even completely derail your good habits in 2018…

New Year’s Eve

You may scoff, but after the traditional spendathon that is Christmas, do you really need to make it a one-two-punch with a pricey (and inevitably underwhelming New Year’s Eve). Restaurants, bars and clubs hike up their prices (sometimes so that they can pay their employees extra for their hard work but mostly just because they can) and some of us over compensate for this in some less than helpful ways. Loading up on booze before hitting the town is never a good idea. Not only will your tipsy state make your relationship with money more laissez faire, you’re more susceptible to trips, slips, falls and other wintry hazards which could injure you in ways that prevent you from earning money to recover from your festive spending. You may want to spend your New Year’s Day talking to a professional like Scott Gottlieb personal injury lawyer… but they’d probably much rather be with their families. Be money smart by limiting your activities (and your alcohol intake) this year.

Post-Christmas Sales

Seriously. You’ve just had Christmas. What more could you possibly want? The seasonal appetite for spending has been stoked beyond the normal spike created by Christmas with such manufactured occasions as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. You really don’t want another excuse to wreak havoc with your carefully planned finances do you?

Over-bullish investments

If your finances have made significant gains in the previous year, you may start 2018 with a buoyed sense of confidence. This is great, just try not to get too bullish with your investments. Many markets are in a strange state of flux at the moment especially with a whole lot of new regulations set to hit the financial services industry in 2018. Just look at the recent spike and slump in the value of Bitcoin and you’ll see what I mean. Keep your investments conservative and spread over a diverse portfolio until the markets see some hints at stability. You may not reap huge dividends but you’ll be insulated against risks. And risks can hurt you more than gains can help you in the long term.