Attitudes that compromise your financial planning

Buying on impulse, paying the minimum on your credit card and not having an emergency fund are attitudes that compromise financial planning. Furthermore, the risks of debt and loss of assets increase.

Therefore, organizing the use of your money is essential to ensuring the health of your finances and achieving your goals.

Harmful practices compromise the organization of the budget
According to the Consumer Debt and Default Survey (Peic), in 2026 Brazil reached the highest level of household debt since the beginning of its historical series.

A survey carried out by the National Confederation of Commerce in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC) shows that 80.9% of Brazilian families declared that they had some type of debt in April this year.

In addition to general aspects of the country's economy, such as high interest rates and pressure on the cost of living, growth in the use of revolving credit and other money use habits impact the commitment of families' income.

Below, understand what attitudes should be avoided to have healthy finances:

Leave planning for later
The first step is financial organization, and this involves planning what you will do with your money over time. Starting today, and not next week or next month, guarantees a better chance of resolving your personal finance problems and avoiding new unforeseen events.

Define your goals in the short, medium and long term, including how you will increase or maintain your income over time. Investing in a specialization course in your profession, in investments for passive income, properties or in business projects should be on your radar.

Also do a complete analysis of how money moves in your accounts, your earnings and expenses and how this changes throughout the year.

For example, it is common to spend more in the months of December and January due to festivities, holidays, and obligations such as IPVA, IPTU and school expenses. This difference must be in the planning.

There are tools and interfaces that help with this planning, such as Compass, My Credit and Inter's AI assistant.

Waiting to have money left over to save or invest
Leaving money to invest or save just for what is left at the end of the month usually results in no amount being saved. The ideal is, within your financial planning, to have a defined amount for this.

So, when you receive your salary or other payments, separate the money that will be used for bills throughout the month and how much will be saved.

Not leaving money sitting in the account avoids extra expenses, and it is interesting to research types of investment. If you are a beginner investor, the ideal is to start with lower risk and high liquidity modalities.

Not having a financial reserve
The financial reserve is what guarantees that, when unforeseen events happen, you have a lifeline that keeps you from default or even the impossibility of resolving your emergency.

Unexpected expenses won't scare you or disrupt your monthly or annual planning.

Still, the reservation should not be confused with long-term investments or with saving for travel and purchasing a property or vehicle.

My Porquinho do Inter is a piggy bank option that can be used for financial reserves.

Not having control over your spending
Impulse purchases or overindulging in items and services that you don't know if you'll use will harm your budget. Especially if they are outside of your financial planning.

The ideal is to write down your expenses to know where your money goes every month, and set a limit on expenses per month for non-essential items.

This also applies to purchases in installments: paying in several installments means that part of your budget is committed for a period of time. It is important not to confuse the credit card as extra money, it is just a payment postponement.

Always include future installments in your spending estimates and give preference to cash purchases, especially for quick-to-use products and services, such as food.

Do not negotiate your debts
If you are already in default, in addition to planning your finances for the month in the traditional way, you must identify the size of these debts and your ability to pay them.

After that, renegotiate your debts, defining interest and other payment conditions that allow you to get out of negative status and regain your reputation for credit in the market.

Source: CNN