Share your financial mistakes or coups

[Anonymous]

I’m hoping readers can learn from your experiences, good or bad. Anything to share?

I noticed that lots of folks regret their unnamed financial mistakes, or are enduring financial pain from decisions made long-ago. I’m thinking some folks made some good decisions or have good ideas to share - how did you get on solid financial ground?

My biggest mistake: trying to time the market with buying and selling stocks
My financial strength: I've been a saver since I was a kid

[Anonymous]

Don't buy individual stocks. Ever. Unless you have inside info. Of course then you might end up going to jail. See my first sentence.

[Anonymous]

mistake: private school.
Mistake: taking jobs with higher salaries and worse benefits.

[Anonymous]

coup - working in non-profit jobs we loved right out of school. It probably would have been a mistake but the economy tanked and all of our stressed out friends lost their investments, we were all back on square one together. We at least njoyed ourselves and did some good thing when we had the chance.

coup - leaarning to pay off credit cards in full each month from a very early age

[Anonymous]

mistake: not really keeping track of all expenses on something like mint.com. Frittered away money on stupid things like subscriptions to things we weren't even using, service agreements on appliances that weren't worth it, stupid long distance plans. Once I saw all the expenses explicitly listed as they occurred I was able to cut down on tons of things. Should have done that years ago.

[Anonymous]

Having your bff's husband be your financial adviser! While the market tanked it was understandable that we were losing money. However, the market has bounced back but our net worth has not. We have another financial advisor who we hired and he's been making us money for the last two years. We need to fire the guy that continues to lose our money.

[Anonymous]

My parents made an excellent financial decision on my behalf that I believe shaped my life and turned me in a successful direction: I was a trust fund baby, and was never told. I had to maintain a B average AND work AND volunteer for a combined total of 15 hours each week from sophmore year of high school onwards. My parents were willing to pay for private school, tutors, private college, as long as I kept maintaining that. It was only when I started talking about grad school that they told me there was an education fund for me that would pay for it if I decided to go.

DH & I are doing the same with our kids. They will NOT grow up resting on being trusties and not working hard.

[Anonymous]

Positive - DH and I both bought used cars from reputable dealers. They give a 3 month warranty and live by their reputation, so there's protection if something is seriously wrong. We made payments above the minimum to finish early. And we haven't had a car payment for the last 3 years.

Negative - we don't have nearly enough in savings or retirement. We are always cutting corners, but we need to just make more money if we want to put more away. This hasn't affected us yet, but I fear one day we will regret this.

[Anonymous]

Not buying anything on credit (only debt ever has been undergrad loans, first car and mortgage, all long paid off).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Positive - DH and I both bought used cars from reputable dealers. They give a 3 month warranty and live by their reputation, so there's protection if something is seriously wrong. We made payments above the minimum to finish early. And we haven't had a car payment for the last 3 years.

Negative - we don't have nearly enough in savings or retirement. We are always cutting corners, but we need to just make more money if we want to put more away. This hasn't affected us yet, but I fear one day we will regret this.

We have both always bought used cars too. Pretty much the second you drive a car off the lot it depreciates in value so it seems silly to buy new. We've always paid for our used cars in full.

[Anonymous]

The biggest coup, which I'm afraid was just timing and not a lesson anyone can learn, was buying a house in a down market and selling it at the peak. We doubled our money on that.

Next, in terms of bottom-line impact, instead of going for an expensive masters degrees, we applied to PhD programs. I stopped after my MA, which was free because I had been working for the university as a PhD student; my husband went all the way. My husband still has a little student debt from undergrad (his parents were very poor), but compared to our peers, it's not much.

Finally, never ever buying a new car. Always used, and always with cash, and then drive it into the ground. We have never spent more than $10k on a car, and never had a car payment. We've only had one clunker in our lives, and well, it cost $1000 and because it was a "luxury" brand, it brought a good trade-in price.

Also, I agree about not chasing the big money in the volatile industries. We have both been plugging away at our (relatively) modest salaries while others have been victim to the economic swings and crashes. I suppose you could argue that a $300k a year lawyer can afford to be unemployed for two years, (though maybe not, given the inevitable student debt) but still, it feels good to have a solid, steady place in the economy.

[Anonymous]

(1) If you're going to buy individual stocks - buy reputable companies with the intent of holding. Market timing just does not work unless you are an expert who watches the market constantly.

(2) Go with the high paying volatile industries when you're young and can take the risk and the stress.

(3) Live below your means while in those industries so that you have a good nest-egg whenever you inevitably have to exit -- whether due to a lifestyle change, economic crash etc. Then you'll have your options open to go non-profit or whatever else you love/want to try out because you'll have a solid cushion.

(4) Don't ever act like an job is "permanent" unless it is actually a gov't job/lifetime appointment situation. There are too many highly paid types who spend thousands in a yr, get themselves used to and locked into certain lifestyles, and then are completely lost and depressed when forced to downsize if things go south.

[Anonymous]

My parents tought me the value of saving for retirement when I was 10!
They started IRAs for all of us - and forced us to deposit $3k a year to the account until we all graduated from college. I have done the same for my kiddos.

Also, pay off the credit card every month!

Never pay full-price

sleep on it - before I make a large purchase ($100 +) I sleep on it. I would say that 90% of the time, I end up not purchasing as I realize it's an impulse purchase.

Don't eat out too often.

max out the 401K!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having your bff's husband be your financial adviser! While the market tanked it was understandable that we were losing money. However, the market has bounced back but our net worth has not. We have another financial advisor who we hired and he's been making us money for the last two years. We need to fire the guy that continues to lose our money.

Please the name of the good FA!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents made an excellent financial decision on my behalf that I believe shaped my life and turned me in a successful direction: I was a trust fund baby, and was never told. I had to maintain a B average AND work AND volunteer for a combined total of 15 hours each week from sophmore year of high school onwards. My parents were willing to pay for private school, tutors, private college, as long as I kept maintaining that. It was only when I started talking about grad school that they told me there was an education fund for me that would pay for it if I decided to go.

DH & I are doing the same with our kids. They will NOT grow up resting on being trusties and not working hard.

Details please on what you and your parents did to make the trust fund grow.