Before you make plans and pull the trigger on various investment opportunities consider a few basic pitfalls that have ruined other investors.  These are the common mistakes people make based on fear and emotion rather than actual knowledge.

Not doing anything – there is no firm guarantees in the stock market world, no guarantee your money will increase or decrease or that the market will rise or fall, the only real guarantee is that doing nothing will earn you zero dollars.

Behind the eight ball – this is only second in severity to doing nothing at all, if you have already let your twenties slip away without investing than you need to start now.

Investing ahead of reducing costly credit card interest – should be fairly self explanatory.  Say you have $8,000 to invest but you also have credit card bills totaling just under $8,000.  In the conservative mind if you gain 10% per year in interest on the investment and pay 18% per year in credit card interest it only makes sense to get rid of the debt first.  This only applies to depreciating debt, or a home investment you are really upside down on.

Investing short term – should only be done if you need the money back in the short term.  As far as the stock market goes you should only invest money there that you won’t need for at least another three preferably five years or more.  If you are saving money for a family vacation your money is better off in a more conservative investment because the risk of losing it is low and a short term withdrawal is okay.

Never turn down free money – this is a fairly simple yet really overlooked investment option, my wife works for company that matches 4% of her 401k.  So for every $1,000 she puts in they put in $40, which may not sound like a lot, (and most companies offer more,) but for us that’s an additional $120 per year, or one month per year taken off our eventual retirement date.  In the end that may save us a year or so in retirement age.

There are and will be more pitfalls that arise, it is important to educate yourself so that when you seek advice you have a foundation of original thought.  This will help you to not be swayed by every wind of investment ideas your neighbor or co-worker throws your way, like buy structured settlements when you won’t be around long enough to benefit from it.