Doesn’t have to be thousands of dollars. Just a thing you spent money on that turned out to be a complete waste.
Changed major from civil engineering to computer science
Not being born rich.
Waiting for the bubble to burst before buying a house.
Anytime now…
Ha, get ready for hyper inflation, your saved dollars will lose their value. All the rich finance bros will get sweetheart loan deals and buy up every scrap. Enter into fascist-feudal world. Where it gets hotter every year. Fuck you is the general plan I guess.
I was waiting too. Sorry buddy.
It will the day I buy.
I doubt it’s the worst financial decision but I paid a lot of money during the iTunes era where you paid a buck for a song.
I was conned into going into ITT Tech out of high school. I learned a lot but didn’t find out until later it was unaccredited so nothing would transfer to colleges and that they had lied heavily about their placement numbers. There were a few issues keeping from going after them: it was my parent’s money, the point in time I went wasn’t part of the lawsuit, and my parents were dead when the lawsuit came about. I cannot put ITT Tech on my resume because of everything related to it, it’s a literal black mark. So I have to stretch the truth of those two years because of it.
I used to sell plasma, and I used the funds on Robinhood to try investing without affecting my regular cash flow. Through sheer luck, in one day, my account went from around $200 to over $2500. I was overjoyed. I’d clearly made a genius-level decision that would only continue to pay out.
Anyway, I woke up the next day with less than I’d had to start. Should’ve taken the money and run. Or not tried to time the market. Either way, it felt like I’d lost $2300 instead of $50.
Need to read a random walk down wall street. Great book. The premise is no matter what news story hits the market, that information is already reflected in the stock price. Therefore, his theory is that you cannot out beat the market and it is in your best interest to dollar cost average a market tracker. That is investing. Myself I believe what you are describing is gambling.
Might want to check this out: Beat The Couch.
That’s an interesting game but it assumes the same amount either in or out all at once. Not what I’m describing where each month you invest a set amount into the market each time. This is what 401ks do. While the beat the couch is pretty cool it doesn’t take into account the dollar cost averaging aspect. It’s all in or all out. It’s not in, then buy more, then buy more, then buy more then buy more etc…you get the picture.
Having said that it is absolutely true that time in the market is better than timing the market.
I fully agree it’s not a complete stock market model, but I don’t think It claims to be.
I don’t remember it addressing what happened to dividends paid; are they just banked, reinvested, etc.
This is why I don’t invest. I tried it for a relatively short span of time. It was a large company that isn’t a scam or anything but I can’t remember the name of it. They had three sort of options for investing…1. high risk/reward, 2. Medium risk/reward, and 3. Low risk/reward.
I either picked 2 or 3 or something. Can’t remember which. All that stupid thing did was lose money due to broker fees. I watched the money slowly drop over the span of around a year from “fees” with literally never earning a dime. I thought it was ridiculous so I pulled the rest of the funds.
I instead chose to place that money in a high yield savings account. Does it earn money quickly? No. But it isn’t wildly unpredictable like investing and it will never lose money unless I take money out. Investing isn’t for me.
Paying my ex wife the money she wanted just to be rid of her
No no, getting married was the poor financial decision. After that, paying for the divorce to be rid of her was an investment in your sanity and happiness.
Letting my partner quit their job so they could focus on working on a comic full-time… I completely supported them. Buying them supplies and whatever else they needed. This lasted 2 years… with absolutely nothing to show for it. NOTHING. I have no idea what the fuck they did 10 hours a day while I was at work.
you provided emotional support, I commend you for that. but they needed guidance as well, something you couldn’t possibly provide.
I have no idea what the fuck they did 10 hours a day while I was at work.
probably being depressed af 😅
I made a comic book while also working part time…not impossible.
Bruh I worked part time while working full time.
If you’re talking strictly financial, getting married. I wouldn’t trade that part of my life, or the kids if got out of it, but strictly financially, I lost more than most people make in a lifetime.
I went into it with a sizeable emergency fund and well on track for an early retirement
Then I got laid off at the wrong time and used my emergency fund in a fancy wedding ceremony. I figured I could make it back pretty quickly, especially with the second income
But I quickly realized I wasn’t saving anything. When a medical emergency hit, my only recourse was a loan and emergency withdrawal from 401k
Fast forward 20 years and still no savings. While I had paid off the 401k loan, I made no contributions. Now I was way behind being able to retire. Then divorce happened. Lost half my house, half my 401k, but no savings to lose.
Now I’m living alone in the same house. I have a huge car loan. I have huge child support payments. I have college expenses for two kids. Yet I’ve been able to rebuild my emergency savings and max out 401k contributions. I’m in much better shape financially, just running out of time to save
Dude…if it has tits or tires it’s going to cost a lot of money
Continuing to breathe has repeatedly proven, over several decades, to be the most devastatingly stupid decision I’ve made. Financially and otherwise.
Changed over the ownership of the house I bought with my own money to my now ex because he was the one with the job. Am now house-less and renting an apartment at triple the mortgage payments.
I made a lot of mistakes divorcing my husband last year so there’s plenty of mistakes to go around. I lost my job six months before we separated and that made me feel powerless. Only now am I reclaiming my power, happiness, and inner peace. Sending good vibes your way as you grow in strength and knowledge.
fuck man, sorry to hear!
Buying shares in Superdry, J D Wetherspoon and Boohoo. All three lost me about £2k combined. I don’t know much about the fast fashion industry, and the purchase of Spoons’ shares was because I thought the hospitality industry was going to go through a post-COVID bounceback.
Second to that, investing in a few startups via Seedrs/Republic (crowd equity platform) that eventually folded. One was a dating app that only ever managed to get a few thousand users. One was a digital painting tagging company that seemed sus in the first place. Another was DeadHappy, a life insurance broker that lost all its business after running an offensive ad campaign referencing notorious British serial killer Harold Shipman.
Giving money to people on the street for most of my life was a terrible financial decision on my part. I could’ve invested that money in something “right-wing” and be drowning in cash today! /s
Put my life on hold to pursue a PhD in CS, because I thought that would guarantee me a future. Well, it did not. Going straight into an industry job would have made my life a lot better financially and I would probably be buying a house by now.
Not a big one, but surely the worst one. There was a “make your own perfume” stall in our college fest. I didn’t like the fragrance of most of what they had to offer. It took me time to pick one, but I picked one that I thought was the most unique one.
Then when I came home, I realised it smelt exactly like my dad’s car freshner.
