Top 3 Economic Mistakes Families are Making

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

In an uncertain economy families are making economic mistakes because there is not a lot of information about what to do. The first key to remember is that there are no experts right now. Experts that are available now have all built businesses, run governments and become successful based on an upturn economy with extremely easy credit and soaring consumer confidence.

The playing field is different and leaders have not had any experience in growing businesses, jobs and wealth in a downturn economy, with a looming global debt crisis, tight credit, where governments are suing banks for unethical behavior. Along with having some of the highest unemployment ever, lawmakers are looking at government credit rating falling and are still arguing about how to cut budgets.

Top 3 economic

With these issues surrounding recovery families are making fundamental economic mistakes because they are basing their economic future on a past model that is no longer here. Let’s look at the top three economic mistakes families are making.

1. Waiting: This is the biggest mistake families are making. They are waiting for something to get better, waiting for the job market to recover and waiting for consumer confidence to be restored. Waiting for something to get better is the most damaging thing you can do now, because things are different and waiting for the past to return is not what will happen.

Budget cuts are coming and they will be hardest on people who are waiting for things to change. They will be caught off guard when they find that the changes do not benefit their circumstances. Entitlements will be cut. This means don’t wait. Educate yourself. Find solutions that will benefit your family. Make contingency plans together but do not wait.

2. Short and long-term cash: I know that many people are wondering how they can save some cash when they can’t make ends meet, however, I cannot stress the importance of growing your long-term and short term cash reserves. You will have to find ways to grow reserves now while you still can. If you can afford to buy some gold then I would. If you have gold, you may not want sell it for awhile as it will help you build cash reserves.

If you do not understand why gold prices are soaring then you must educate yourself as to why that is happening. Gold prices are up based on future not on past or current. It will help you understand what people are expecting about the future.

3. Having only one source of income: If two people in a household have a job, you still only have one source of income and that is a job. Having another source of income does not mean getting a second job because you are then only having one source of income. In our past we had the luxury of having a job because our investments brought us another source of income. Every time our houses raised in price we essentially got paid to live in them. Our stocks would rise and we had another source of income.

These tools are no longer the money makers they were in the past and therefore we lost more than one source of income. Learning how to create more than one source of income will be important for the future.

I think that everyone should grow a business. This is one of the best sources of income you can have. Businesses from home are low cost and can be started part time and grown for your future.

Addressing these areas of your economic situation now will help your future in ways that you can’t imagine now. It is time to begin looking at the future and not saying that your past must become your future. Things in the world will be changing permanently. Some jobs will not be back for a long time so learning to make money differently should be at the top of every family’s list going into an unknown economic future.

 May you direct your dreams.