We all dream of a secure future, and wish we had more control of our finances. But we all make mistakes when it comes to money. Be nimble and avoid these common personal financial mistakes that most people make:

Spending more than you earn.

This is perhaps the most common mistake of all. If you want to be wealthy, you have to a spend less than you earn. If you know you can’t afford something or if you will have a hard time paying it off, then don’t buy it. If you live above your means, you’ll always be in debt and you’ll always be stressed about the fact that you’re in debt.

Not saving enough money for retirement.

Let’s face it. We all want to live our golden years in comfort. It is imperative that you plan ahead on how much you need to save today for your retirement. Think of all of the things you love to do now and ask yourself if you will be able to afford them when you are no longer working. If you love to travel, make sure you put in a lot of extra cash to continue to enjoy your travels and to experience the other luxuries of life.

Not teaching your children how to earn and save money today.

Most parents make the mistake of handing everything to their children for immediate gratification. What you can do is to give your child an allowance and let him or her learn the value of money. Allow them to learn that it takes time to build up the amount of money needed to purchase what they want. Let your child buy an item after they saved a few dollars. This will teach him or her to make better money decisions in the future.

Not paying in cash when you can.

If you have a credit card, try to charge as little as possible. But if you do have to charge items on your credit card, make sure that you are able to pay the bill on time. If it is something you do not need immediately, you can probably wait until you have enough cash to pay for the item. Or at the very least you will be able to pay off your credit card bill when the money is due.

Getting into credit card debt.

If you want to avoid trouble in your personal finances, do not open several credit cards and start charging every time you purchase. A similar mistake is to put all of your debt onto one low introductory rate credit card and keep charging and pushing up the bill. The best thing you can do is to put all of your debt into one area and continue to pay it off without charging and piling up more debt, reducing the stress in your life.

Investing in bonds.

If you think your money is safe in bonds, think again. In case you didn’t know, the extra money percentage rate is so low that you will be better off putting your money into the stock market. Many people, especially retirees, make the mistake of putting a large percentage of their money in bonds. They may end up losing money in the last fifteen years invested.

Failing to invest wisely.

The stock market goes up and down. Every time it does this over a short period of time, it is called market volatility. The only way to keep yourself insulated is to invest in a wide range of companies in various market sectors that you can expect to move somewhat out of step with each other.