what was your #1 money mistake?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Marrying DH.

Me, too!!

[Anonymous]

Using the realtor who did a great job helping us buy our current place to also sell our first place. We ended up selling low to buyers that we brought to the table.

[Anonymous]

Private school when living in a great school district. We finally figured it out this year and are going public and will be saving over $600,000 in the coming years.

[Anonymous]

Marrying my wife.

[Anonymous]

14:42 - don't people just LOVE asking you when you bought? As if they are rubbing it in your face? Little do they know if you were also selling a place, you were more than covering it! People really are stupid, huh?

[Anonymous]

Dropping out of college junior year and allowing student loans to double in size because I was dumb and kept deferring. No degree and a ton of debt. Sickening just to think about it.

[Anonymous]

First mistake: I bought my house at a good time, and I didn't over-extend myself, but wish I'd bought in the location I really wanted. I settled for close-in Fairfax when I should have bought in Arlington. (a boyfriend was consulted on this one - HUGE mistake.) Fairfax was never a great fit for me. And houses I could have bought instead of mine (they cost the same $ then) have appreciated a lot more than mine has, and I'm going to have to spend a ton more to buy in Arlington now. Very annoying.

Second mistake: I left a job I liked for a job that seemed really glamorous and prestigious. It was not a good fit and I got laid off 7 months later. Took me 6 months to find a new job - for less money, and not as good as the first job I left, and my savings still haven't recovered. Still kicking myself.

Third (more minor) mistake: I didn't apply for tuition reimbursement for my MBA from a job because for some reason I thought my boss didn't like me and would not approve the request out of her budget. Turns out she loved me, she just didn't show it well. Found out after it was too late. No biggie, but it could have saved me $5,000 in student loans.

[Anonymous]

Allowing my now ex to get us into $50k of debt remodelling our house.

[Anonymous]

Not keeping my first home as an investment. That was the easiest $300,000 I could have ever made

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not keeping my first home as an investment. That was the easiest $300,000 I could have ever made

Similar here. Selling real estate I should've held onto. Easy money out the door.

[Anonymous]

Buying a house in California. We didn't buy at the height of the market. Our house went up 100k two years after we purchased, then when the crash hit it went down 250k. Now, even with the slow recovery we are under water by 75k.

We still own it and are renting it out until the market picks up or we move back.

[Anonymous]

Jumping on the real estate bandwagon ... buying our house in 2007. If we had waiting even a year, we could have gotten so much more for the money. But I was adamant that we would buy a house before the baby was born, even though DH could see the writing on the wall re: the market. Stupid stupid stupid.

[Anonymous]

Buying a brand new TH in the suburbs instead of an older SFH that would have held value better.

[Anonymous]

It wasn't so much of a mistake as circumstances. If I had bought my house (or a house like it in my neighborhood 18 months earlier I would have pai half what I did. I couldn't move because I was caring for my Dad--and was too upset to make a drastic change. But my mortgage would have literally been half what it is now. My neighbors all around me pay crazily low mortgages. Oh well. I'm not really complaining as we got in during 2002.

[Anonymous]

We're still @250k ahead but the neighborhood is blue chip and comes at a high cost. We basically couldn't move up to a level that would be worth to us. The house is worth @850k but we can't afford to move to 1m. That sounds so cushy but in our neck of the woods that gets you 2200 extremely cramped feet.