5 Financial Traps You Don't Realize You're in
These common financial traps will drain your budget and erode your wealth-building capabilities.
In the hectic pace of everyday life, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger financial picture. You may have your 401k contributions set and maybe even an automatic monthly transfer to your savings account keeping you on track with your long term goals.
But it's still easy to fall into financial traps that slow down your progress toward your goals and put unnecessary pressure on your monthly budget.
From money behaviors that hold back financial success to those little purchases here and there that add up to a larger chunk of your cash than you realize, here are five common financial traps and some tips for pulling yourself out of them.
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1. Keeping your emergency fund in a low yield savings account
There is a well earned sense of accomplishment you feel once you hit your target emergency fund number. But too often, savers get so focused on how much they're putting into savings each month that they don't think about how much they're earning on those savings.
But a high-yield savings account does a lot of important work for your emergency fund:
- A competitive interest rate can help your emergency savings keep pace with inflation. While it might not fully offset rising prices, earning more interest helps limit the loss of purchasing power over time.
- The interest you earn grows your emergency fund without requiring additional contributions. If you eventually need to withdraw money for an unexpected expense, that extra interest means you’ll have a little more available when you need it.
- Once your emergency fund is fully funded, the interest it earns can support other financial goals. You could leave it in the account as an extra cushion or periodically move the excess toward retirement, investments or another savings goal.
So if you just opened whatever savings account your current bank happened to offer, take a few minutes to compare your current interest rate to what you could be earning elsewhere.
You can start by using the savings tool below to search for some of the best high-yield savings accounts available right now:
2. Lifestyle creep
If you feel like you're living paycheck to paycheck despite your income growing over the past few years, you might be dealing with lifestyle creep. This happens when you start to spend a little more each month as you earn more because, technically, you can afford it.
But do you actually want that hard-earned raise you got to go toward a few extra nights of takeout or a more expensive car note? Or do you want it to go toward a more luxurious retirement and better protection from financial emergencies?
While there's nothing wrong with using some of your money to enjoy your life now, it's important to stick to a budget and be intentional about where each dollar goes, even when budgeting is no longer about just surviving to the next paycheck.
If you feel like your money is disappearing without knowing where it's all going, there are a lot of great budgeting apps that can help you regain control and figure out the best way to fund both your long term goals and your life today.
3. Piling up forgotten subscriptions
It seems like just about everything has a subscription now. It's not just streaming services or the gym you never go to — though those are a big part of the problem. It's also the subscription features in your car, the "subscribe and save" auto-ship orders you forgot about, the software or apps you forgot to downgrade to the free version after the free trial ended.
The average American now spends over $200 per month on subscriptions. That's $2,400 per year that could be going to your emergency fund, your 401k, or even just toward more valuable experiences like vacations or dining out at your favorite restaurant.
Taking just 30 minutes every year to do a subscription audit can potentially free up thousands of dollars each year to go toward more worthwhile purchases and goals.
4. Being too risk averse
Squirreling away all of your money in only the lowest risk assets doesn't feel like a financial trap. It feels safe. But there is such a thing as holding on to too much cash or having too much in your emergency fund.
For money you don't need to touch in five or more years, you should embrace at least a little more risk in order to maximize your wealth-building potential.
One of the easiest ways to manage your anxiety around risk while allowing yourself to allocate a little more of your cash to higher risk, higher yield investments is to work with a certified financial planner. With the right match, you can discuss your concerns and develop an investment strategy that takes advantage of higher return opportunities without pushing you too far out of your comfort zone.
If you don't have a financial adviser yet, you can start the process of finding one with our matching tool below, powered by Bankrate:
5. Letting one spouse make all of the financial decisions
Even if you've been vigilant about avoiding other common financial traps like lifestyle creep or forgotten subscriptions, this one can be especially hard to notice. Whether you're in a single-income or dual-income household, you should always make sure that both adults are equally involved in financial decisions.
Why is this a financial trap? Firstly, because it can cause a lot of strain in the relationship when only one partner fully understands the household's financial picture. It's not fair to expect your partner to help you achieve financial goals that they aren't really aware of.
Secondly, if the spouse who handled the money passes unexpectedly, the one who wasn't involved is going to be left with the monumental task of figuring out the finances while in the depths of grief over that loss.
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