10 Financial Steps You Can't Afford to Put Off

Putting off for tomorrow what you can do today could end up hurting your wallet.

According to University of Calgary professor Piers Steel in a study published earlier this year in Psychological Bulletin, a peer-reviewed journal by the American Psychological Association, more than one in four Americans consider themselves chronic procrastinators, while only 5% felt this way in 1978.

Why should this concern you? According to Steel, "People who procrastinate tend to be less healthy, less wealthy and less happy." For example, a delay in filing taxes costs the average person $400, while credit card use for last-minute Christmas shopping increased 500% from 1991 to 1999. ...