dumbest financial mistake

[Snicks]

I have made some pretty big financial mistakes. We live in a kind of a depressed area of PA. And, there are not a lot homes for sale so when we purchases, we ended up buying a money pit. Sunk a LOT of money into it trying to make it better but it became clear that we were just wasting money and we ultimately sold it and yes, we sold if for more than we paid but nowhere near the cost of the stupid rennovations we did. I never sat down to add that up cuz I would probably cry a lot!

[Snave]

I would say not diversifying my 401k for the first many years I worked in corporate America. I worked for a big company and their stock had always done well. I knew I should be maxing out and just listened to some employees I considered mentors and didn't diversify. Of course it didn't do anything for 5 years until I diversified. Dumb, I know. At least I was putting money away. It just wasn't growing initially.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Hot rodding spent about $20,000 in Webber carbs, Holley carbs, Nitrous Oxide, cams, gears, pistons, rims/tires, gauges/tachometer, etc. Big waste of money.

[bennkar]

maybe my first marriage
that ranks up there
luckily I got out before it cost me too much

That would be me too. My finances turned around fast after I got disentangled from her. I learned alot during the marriage, so I like to look at the positives. It could have been tons worse.

[Singuy]

Not learning the market and used my money to pay off my house instead when I was in my 20s. Learning the market would have led me into buying Appl and Amazon shares during the financial crisis recovery.

[jenn_jenn]

My biggest mistake was moving into a rented apartment after college rather than purchasing one. I never even entertained the idea of buying a condo/apartment because I didn’t think it was possible. Looking back it would have been and I missed out on equity growth.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I rushed to refinance early-mid last year when it felt like the interest rates were bottoming out. Even though my boyfriend, who has a PhD in Econ said "eh, I think you should wait a bit." I did it anyway (I also have an undergrad degree in econ, but all the articles were saying that we were at historic lows and at this point it was early enough in the pandemic that people thought it was going to turn around and not last). Well, go figure, paid way too much for my refi and literally just yesterday I closed on my second refi to lower the rate even more. Waste of money that first time around!! Though ultimately in the long run still a savings.

what rate did you get 1st then now? What did you pay each time?

[breathemusic]

I rushed to refinance early-mid last year when it felt like the interest rates were bottoming out. Even though my boyfriend, who has a PhD in Econ said "eh, I think you should wait a bit." I did it anyway (I also have an undergrad degree in econ, but all the articles were saying that we were at historic lows and at this point it was early enough in the pandemic that people thought it was going to turn around and not last). Well, go figure, paid way too much for my refi and literally just yesterday I closed on my second refi to lower the rate even more. Waste of money that first time around!! Though ultimately in the long run still a savings.

[bjl584]

Is it really? I mean I think that has emotional piece that is hard to measure. You didn't really know. Inexperience = stupid for relationship. All relationships that end could be construed as financially a mistake.

It was more of a across the board mistake
A "fill in the blank" mistake

Lesson learned I suppose

[LivingAlmostLarge]

maybe my first marriage
that ranks up there
luckily I got out before it cost me too much

Is it really? I mean I think that has emotional piece that is hard to measure. You didn't really know. Inexperience = stupid for relationship. All relationships that end could be construed as financially a mistake.

[ua_guy]

Buying our first house was a mistake. In hindsight, we were trying to follow good advice and take a little risk at the same time. High COL area. Buy as much home as you can. We knew our incomes would increase, so we stretched a bit. Then, the housing market collapsed. And the house needed significant repairs. We ended up living in it for 7 years, tested our marriage, it warped our finances. At the end of 7 years and after dumping more than 100k into it, we sold it for not much more than we bought it for, just to get out.

We made a better bet on our next home. Walked away with a check for net proceeds at almost half a million dollars last year after owning it for just 6 years.

[bjl584]

maybe my first marriage
that ranks up there
luckily I got out before it cost me too much

[disneysteve]

Buying whole life insurance right after we got married. I fell for the whole investment sales pitch. We paid the ridiculous premiums for a couple of years before I wised up and cancelled it, chalking it up to "stupid tax".

Redemption came later when the company was among those sued in a large class action suit for misrepresenting insurance policies as investment products. As part of the settlement, we were reimbursed the money we had paid in.

[mumof2]

years we refinanced our morg/car...then a year later hubby went and traded our car in for a better 2nd hand car...which meant more debt....now we pay cash for our cars

[kork13]

I think my dumbest mistake was jumping into a precious metals MF in 2007 (while in college) with ~$5k of borrowed money, panic-sold when the fund crashed in 2008, then watched it recover & then some over the next 2 years. I think I lost a total of $3k in that one.

Next-dumbest would have to be disregarding my father's advice against buying a brand new car, financed through the dealer (at something like 12% interest).

I've learned both of those lessons, and I'm not much more deliberate & careful with my investments, and grew an aversion to debt.