Move carefully in your 30’s.

Toddler, high school, college life and finally occupational life – these are stages which we all pass through in our life and of course we do lots of mistakes during these stages. Here I wish to share some guidelines we need to adhere with when we enter a milestone of our life – age of 30s. Our 30s is filled with enormous opportunities, both for success and for failure. These are the years for establishing careers, having children and building a solid financial platform for the future.

In the process of achieving those goals, however, mostly all of us make a number of financial errors that cost us for many, many years to come. Here are some of the worst mistakes.

People in their 30’s often continue to carry credit card debt. A credit card is a useful tool for shopping, but if we can’t pay off the balance in full each month, we make a big mistake. That credit card debt will hang over your head for years, affecting our finances steadily. A 100,000 Rs. balance on a typical credit card, if paid down only using minimum payments, will end up costing us more than an additional thousand rupees in interest. Hence we pay hefty interest and penalties if unable to pay credit card outstanding on time.

In 30s, we often skip diversifying our income. It’s easy to focus on our primary career and invest all our time and energy in establishing a firm foothold there. However, we are always in a vulnerable position in any profession. We can never predict stability of any industry, market or organization. So income is required to be diversified and invest to generate sufficient funds for future needs. A much better approach is to diversify your income. Spend some of your time starting up a side business that will earn you cash. Start freelancing. Start designing or editing. Write a book. There are many things you can do to earn some extra cash on the side without disturbing your primary job.

People in their 30s often spend money lavishly just to compete with other people. We all have different needs and requirement. If our neighborer buys a 50” LED TV so take it as his requirement or capacity instead of you buying the same or superior LED to compete with him. It’s our tendency to spend money – Earn, spend and save whereas it should be – Earn, save and spend.

In 30’s, we have beginning of some responsibilities which consistently increase. We require a tool taking care of our health needs. A hospital bill after a ailment getting cured is more dangerous than any disease. Get a heath insurance covering you and family.

We must have heard a story about ant and the grasshopper, if not hear or read it anywhere. The same rule applies on our life and 30’s is the age to fulfill all responsibilities and to apply futuristic approach. All the best to all 30’ian to drive our lives carefully towards a healthy and wealthy 70’s and above.