Have you ever found yourself scrambling to make ends meet at the end of the month? Or perhaps you've missed out on investment opportunities due to a lack of funds? These are just a few of the many financial challenges that can arise when you don't have a solid financial plan in place.

Without a financial plan, it's easy to fall into common traps like impulsive spending, ignoring debt, and neglecting retirement savings. These seemingly small mistakes can have a significant impact on your overall financial health, leading to stress, anxiety, and even financial ruin.

In this blog post, we'll explore the eight most common financial mistakes people make without a plan and offer practical advice to avoid them.

1. Undersave
   
   Without a financial plan, how do you estimate how much you need to support your financial goals and commitments?
   
   

2. Oversave
   
   In this scenario, individuals hoard cash at the expense of other financial priorities or experiences that could enhance their quality of life.
   
   It’s important to evaluate if excess savings are hindering progress toward other financial goals, so instead of letting excess savings sit idle, you can consider putting them to work in ways that align with your financial goals.

3. Overspend / underspend on a child’s education
   
   Without a financial plan, you can’t see the impact of your children's tertiary education funding on your other financial goals. The idea is not to overspend on one child and affect the funding of other financial goals.
   
   

4. Invest in unsuitable investment products.
   
   Without a sound financial plan you won’t be able to identify the ROI, that will help you achieve financial freedom, leading to situations where you end up investing in too high risk investment products.
   

5. Overinvest in properties
   
   Some investors invest in one particular real estate asset class, which exposes you to too much risk and badly affects your portfolio if the property sector takes a dip. It can also affect your cash flow. 

6. Retire too early or too late
   Understanding where you stand in your career path can help you avoid this mistake ensuring you put in place a sound financial plan that can be able to support your retirement lifestyle and have enough time to enjoy life. 

7. Planning and acting too late.
   
   Without a financial plan, you don’t know the exact price you will be paying for procrastination - either in saving, investing or insuring. You might take it easy until it’s too late. 

8. Failing to seek professional advice 

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