So what is the worst Financial Mistake you have ever made?

[Kung Fu Wang]

So what is the worst Financial Mistake you have ever made?

I got into the stock market when Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1,500 point. I got out of the stock market when Dow Jones Industrial Average was 800 point. Today Dow Jones Industrial Average is 28,121 point.

 

[marques]

Forex.

 

[Chrisinmd]

Financing my first car loan through a dealership at 16.75% interest.

I did the exact same thing. Interest rate I think if I remember right was about 16 percent as well. Very bad deal. Not good to be paying 16 percent on an asset that goes down in value the longer you keep it. Lesson learned not I try to save up a small amount of money every month so I can pay cash for a new car. Don't have to worry about the interest rate then

 

[Chrisinmd]

I got into the stock market when Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1,500 point. I got out of the stock market when Dow Jones Industrial Average was 800 point. Today Dow Jones Industrial Average is 28,121 point.

Yea that cost you a whole bunch of money over the years. I did a little bit of the similar thing . I sold some of my investment when Trump got elected. Thought the market would go down once he took office. Its up quite a bit since then

 

[dvcochran]

I hear you there. I attended one of those high pressure timeshare presentations. They make it sound real good at the time. Luckily I was able to resist and just take the free hotel room for 3 nights they were handing out. Where was your timeshare at? Were you finally able to get out of it?

There was no high pressure sale; we had been planning it for a while. We could use our timeshare up to 6 times/year which is unique. Not long after we purchased it life happened.
We still travel quite a lot and have even used the same house on Montego Bay. Go figure.

 

[Chrisinmd]

Forex.

Never tried Forex before but Ive heard its really risky and difficult to make money on. I invest in the stock market but through less risky things like index funds

 

[Chrisinmd]

Wasted a lot of money on groceries as well before I figured out that I could use coupons. Saves you a whole lot of money if you take the time

 

[pdg]

Biggest financial loss was deciding that family was more important to me than money.

I could still be in IT, earning a fair amount of money, getting up and commuting for over an hour every morning and not getting home until after the kids have gone to bed then use that money to guilt buy toys and frippery for them in an attempt to make up for my absence.

But I chose to be a bit skint and walk my kids to school every morning, sit down to eat with them every night and be able to do things with them in the evenings and weekends.


From a solely financial standpoint, it was a mistake.

From a life standpoint, best decision ever. It's always possible to make money somehow, but you can't make time back.

 

[Flying Crane]

I bought Amazon when it only sold books. Paid 22 bucks a share. A year later, when it still just sold books I sold it for 212 a share. Nice little score, had to pay 75 grand tax on the gain.

If I had kept it, and sold it today, after taxes I would have fourteen million and change.

I wish I could say this was the only financial mistake I’ve ever made over the years.
But it ain’t.

Any time you made money on the trade, it was not a mistake.
It just wasn’t the right choice.

 

[Buka]

Any time you made money on the trade, it was not a mistake.
It just wasn’t the right choice.

True.

And fortunately, at the same time I initially bought it, I also bought shares of Amazon and Microsoft for the infant children of my best friends. Who knows, maybe they still have it.

 

[Chrisinmd]

I bought Amazon when it only sold books. Paid 22 bucks a share. A year later, when it still just sold books I sold it for 212 a share. Nice little score, had to pay 75 grand tax on the gain.

If I had kept it, and sold it today, after taxes I would have fourteen million and change.

I wish I could say this was the only financial mistake I’ve ever made over the years.
But it ain’t.

Nice score on the Amazon stock. Don't beat yourself up for not holding it until today. You made a great profit. No way you can know what the exact high a stock will hit. You made a nice profit and that's all you can hope for.

 

[Chrisinmd]

Going to have to change my previous answer. Going to private school was my biggest financial mistake. And one that I was against.

Did your parents make you go to a private school and that's why you were against it?

Yea Private schools usually not worth the money. Your not the first person to make that mistake

 

[Steve]

Did your parents make you go to a private school and that's why you were against it?

Yea Private schools usually not worth the money. Your not the first person to make that mistake

Don’t parents kind of make you go to whatever school they want?

 

[Buka]

Another mistake I made- The smartest person I know begged me to buy Bit Coin when it first came out. Begged me.

But I didn’t understand what it actually was. I’m still not sure.

But did I listen to the smartest person I know?
Nooooooo.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Did your parents make you go to a private school and that's why you were against it?

Yea Private schools usually not worth the money. Your not the first person to make that mistake

Sorta. My plan was to go to community college for 2 years and transfer to a state school. My parents were initially onboard with that. Then my brother wanted to go to a private college for some specific music/tech degree (he's since done a 180 and now works in PR), so he did that. My mom was convinced that I would hold resentments against him/them if he went to a private school and I was stuck in a community college, so all of a sudden I had to go to a private school too.

The degree I got would have been the exact same from a state school. From a non-financial/vocational perspective it worked out though. I started up fencing then-most state colleges only have fencing clubs, not teams, so I would have probably joined either a wrestling team if they had it (and accepted walk ons) or tennis instead. More importantly, I met my fiancee during college orientation freshman year.

 

[Flying Crane]

Sorta. My plan was to go to community college for 2 years and transfer to a state school. My parents were initially onboard with that. Then my brother wanted to go to a private college for some specific music/tech degree (he's since done a 180 and now works in PR), so he did that. My mom was convinced that I would hold resentments against him/them if he went to a private school and I was stuck in a community college, so all of a sudden I had to go to a private school too.

The degree I got would have been the exact same from a state school. From a non-financial/vocational perspective it worked out though. I started up fencing then-most state colleges only have fencing clubs, not teams, so I would have probably joined either a wrestling team if they had it (and accepted walk ons) or tennis instead. More importantly, I met my fiancee during college orientation freshman year.

Interesting road, there.

Life is a series of choices. I also went to a private college, a choice that I would definitely do differently if I had the chance to do it over. As it turned out, that school was just not the right place for me, but I stuck it out and got through it.

However, a series of events that happened because I was there got me into scuba diving which landed me in the Bahamas for a couple months after I graduated. It also got me exposed to capoeira, which ultimately lead me to move to San Francisco where most of the good capoeira schools were located in the mid 1990s, which lead to meeting my wife at the capoeira school, and also lead to me building my life on the West Coast and taking some vacations on Maui. Being in San Francisco gave me exposure to a lot of martial arts, including some that are pretty rare in the US, including Tibetan White Crane, which is my thing now.

So even tho that school was the wrong choice for me, a lot of good things came out of the fact that I was at that school, things that likely would not have happened if I had gone to one of the other schools I had been considering at the time.

Funny how that works.

 

[Chrisinmd]

Interesting road, there.

Life is a series of choices. I also went to a private college, a choice that I would definitely do differently if I had the chance to do it over. As it turned out, that school was just not the right place for me, but I stuck it out and got through it.

However, a series of events that happened because I was there got me into scuba diving which landed me in the Bahamas for a couple months after I graduated. It also got me exposed to capoeira, which ultimately lead me to move to San Francisco where most of the good capoeira schools were located in the mid 1990s, which lead to meeting my wife at the capoeira school, and also lead to me building my life on the West Coast and taking some vacations on Maui. Being in San Francisco gave me exposure to a lot of martial arts, including some that are pretty rare in the US, including Tibetan White Crane, which is my thing now.

So even tho that school was the wrong choice for me, a lot of good things came out of the fact that I was at that school, things that likely would not have happened if I had gone to one of the other schools I had been considering at the time.

Funny how that works.

Yea funny how one decision can completely change the course of your life in ways no one could have predicted. If you had went to a different school you would have a different wife, never been exposed to capoeira and probably not be on the west coast. You probaly can not even probably begin to imagine what you would be doing today or your life would be like if you had chosen the other option?

Same for me as well a decision or to would have changed everything

 

[Flying Crane]

Yea funny how one decision can completely change the course of your life in ways no one could have predicted. If you had went to a different school you would have a different wife, never been exposed to capoeira and probably not be on the west coast. You probaly can not even probably begin to imagine what you would be doing today or your life would be like if you had chosen the other option?

Same for me as well a decision or to would have changed everything

Yeah. My life could be better than it is, or worse, or the same but different, if I had made a different decision about schools. No way to know. I’m happy with where I am and what I am doing, so I have to see it as a win.

 

[Flying Crane]

Yea funny how one decision can completely change the course of your life in ways no one could have predicted. If you had went to a different school you would have a different wife, never been exposed to capoeira and probably not be on the west coast. You probaly can not even probably begin to imagine what you would be doing today or your life would be like if you had chosen the other option?

Same for me as well a decision or to would have changed everything

There is actually another point where my life might have been drastically different.

In the early and mid 1990s, there were very few capoeira schools in the United States. Most were in the San Francisco area and New York City. There was a teacher in NYC who I really wanted to study with so I did seriously consider moving there, but I ultimately decided I would rather be in San Francisco.

I ended up working in San Francisco’s financial district for a long time, including at the time of the 9-11 attack on NYC. It stands to reason that I might have ended up working in NYC financial district, had I moved there. So it is possible that I might have been caught in the attack and I could be dead now, or struggling with the lung injuries from breathing the pulverized concrete when the buildings came down. I might not be here, or I might be very sick and with a short life expectancy.

 

[Chrisinmd]

There is actually another point where my life might have been drastically different.

In the early and mid 1990s, there were very few capoeira schools in the United States. Most were in the San Francisco area and New York City. There was a teacher in NYC who I really wanted to study with so I did seriously consider moving there, but I ultimately decided I would rather be in San Francisco.

I ended up working in San Francisco’s financial district for a long time, including at the time of the 9-11 attack on NYC. It stands to reason that I might have ended up working in NYC financial district, had I moved there. So it is possible that I might have been caught in the attack and I could be dead now, or struggling with the lung injuries from breathing the pulverized concrete when the buildings came down. I might not be here, or I might be very sick and with a short life expectancy.

Sounds like things most likely worked out for the best. Would never have meant your wife in NYC and could have possibly been killed or injured on 9/11.

But you never know. You could have been in the towers on 9/11 and become a hero helping people get out of the building. Then got married to a great woman in NYC once you became known as a awesome and heroic guy.(not that your current wife isn't awesome im sure).

A whole lot of life is out of our control and we are influenced a great deal by chance and circumstances