Prepare For an Emergency         

Not being prepared can get you into trouble when an emergency strikes. For most people, the rule of thumb is to keep enough savings on hand to cover at least 3-6 months’ worth of expenses. But understand that the exact number varies according to personal factors like your job security and other risks. You don’t want to rely on more debt or cashing out your retirement savings in order to cover an emergency. The hardest part is getting the fund together from scratch when you don’t have it. But once it’s there, you can have peace of mind in knowing there’s a cash cushion to break a fall.

Invest, Don't Gamble         

Maybe you have a lucky friend or family member who took the only $10,000 they had, bought a hot tech stock, then cashed out with double their money. That’s a gambler, not an investor. You need to know the difference. Gamblers rely on luck and chance – maybe you’ll roll double-sixes, maybe you’ll get snake eyes. Investors put their cash only into things they understand, that have been proven to work time and again. They rarely hit the jackpot, but they also rarely lose it all either, and history says they’ll make money. Which do you want to be?