Unfortunately, I spend way too much time with clients helping them clean up their financial messes that were made from poor decisions. This article should help you develop better money management skills, while teaching you how to make better financial decisions for the future. In my fiteen years of helping clients just like you, these mistakes, I have found to be the most common:

1. Allowing someone to pressure you-Some of the best deals that I have made are those that I never made. Now don’t confuse pressure with procrastination or taking too long to make a decision. Pressure is when you hear lines like: “if you don’t buy or invest now, the car or deal will be gone;” or, my manager will only allow me to do this price today.
2. Making a financial decision based on money that you expect to receive-This is called deficit spending and will lead to a sure financial problem very quickly. Make and keep this rule. If you don’t have the money in your bank account then you don’t have the money to spend, even if you expect it to come in the next day.
3. It sounds to good to be true-Typically when things sound too good to be true they are. HOWEVER, that is not a hard and fast rule. Do a proper due-dilligence. Sometimes these investments are terrific. However as stated above, don’t let someone pressure you into a deal that sounds too good to be true, if it is real then it will still be there after you have done a proper due dilligence. Don’t ever allow someone to pressure you!
4. Everything has to work out or there will be trouble-Before you ever spend or invest money calculate your downside risk. Never make a financial decision that the decision only makes sense if abc happens; because if abc does not happen you will endure a whole lot of financial pain.
5. Do Your Homework-Mistakes are easily made when you don’t know what you are doing. There is nothing wrong with not knowing. It only becomes a problem if you fail to ask. Surround yourself with great advisors. Do not spend your hard-earned money; or invest your hard-earned money without doing your homework.

You must protect your money at all times. Nobody should care more about your money than you. Doing a proper due-diligence on each and every expenditure/investment is crucial to creating financial independence.