Five Money Mistakes to Avoid

Everyone is trying to be smarter with their money these days, but there are some really dumb things that you can do with it as well. So what are the worst ones?  Here are five, according to Yahoo Finance.

1. Don't Invest in What You Don't Know

When people are hurting because of the economy, they tend to try new things. This includes taking risks and investing in products that they don't really know about. Read more on these high-yield risks here.

2. Don't Go Broke Sending Kids to College

One thing that most parents try and do is send their kids to the best possible school. That can unfortunately get pricy, and end up costing you a nice chuck of change. Investors are discouraging parents using their own retirement savings to help pay the cost of tuition. A smart move would be getting a bachelors degree at a public university, rather than private.

3. Don't Buy Stock in Your Employer

Think about it. Say things go south for the company, you are going to get it twice as hard. Paycheck is gone, and so is your investment. Most places actually encourage this type of thing, which can be a bad move. Stay away from this, if you can.

4. Taking Social Security Too Early

If you can avoid taking on your social security retirement benefits too early, do it. Holding off on retirement may not be something that you want to do, but at 62-years-old someone making $50,000  a year will only get a check of $1,000  a week. If you wait until your 70, that amount will double.

5. Buying Long-Term Bonds

According to this report, these types of bonds are a real risk. They say the only reason to even consider them is to gamble on a '1930s-style depression'. Fingers crossed that sort of thing won't be happening anytime soon.

Information provided by Yahoo Finance