s/o the worst financial decision you made

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buying into the nonsense that renting is throwing money away and everyone should buy a home no matter what. Bought a home at the top of the market, spent thousands upon thousands on maintenance, outgrew it during the crash, held onto it for several more years in the hopes it would recover, went through several lackluster tenants, and finally cut my losses. Would have been better off keeping that money under my mattress or wiping my butt with it instead of spending $$$ on toilet paper.

Same thing with car leases. I pay $200/mth for 15,000 miles/year through a relative's employee discount. Tell me how buying a car with a big down payment and watching things start to break at 100,000 miles is better financially, especially after tires, batteries, belts, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Same thing with car leases. I pay $200/mth for 15,000 miles/year through a relative's employee discount. Tell me how buying a car with a big down payment and watching things start to break at 100,000 miles is better financially, especially after tires, batteries, belts, etc.

Car leases are generally terrible deals. YOUR difference is that you have a relative's employee discount.

Earth to PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My worst financial decision was pursuing a degree and career field I loved without realizing it would largely not allow me from having children.

What was the field?

Journalism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
3. Buying a condo. Worst investment ever

Homes are not supposed to be investments. Investments indicate some rate of return. The market provides better investments than homes.

IMO condos are a big rip off unless you put a lot of money down and plan to stay in it for a very long time. Condos and co-ops in DC have OUTRAGEOUS monthly HOA fees that are often $500 or more and special assessments are always around the corner. The only way I'd buy a cond in DC is if the market collapsed and I could a good one for cheap. There are so many risks that come with buying into a crappy condo property that you could be held liable for that it's nuts to buy one just to "own property."

Real estate includes ground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buying into the nonsense that renting is throwing money away and everyone should buy a home no matter what. Bought a home at the top of the market, spent thousands upon thousands on maintenance, outgrew it during the crash, held onto it for several more years in the hopes it would recover, went through several lackluster tenants, and finally cut my losses. Would have been better off keeping that money under my mattress or wiping my butt with it instead of spending $$$ on toilet paper.

We do a huge disservice in this nation with the whole American Dream property buying nonsense. We demonize renters as being subhuman and manipulate zoning laws to favor rich property owners and protect their property values. Outrageous.

While if you're smart, lucky and savvy, you can "make money" on buying houses at the right time and in the right neighborhoods. But home are not supposed to be investments, they're supposed to be homes. If you're buying homes, not investment properties, to "make money," there are better, safer investments elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Bailing out our adult kids. We taught them fiscal responsibility unfortunately they married spenders and didn't put that foot down. Even after straightening them out several times they still managed to fall into heavy debt.

After realizing we are $100,000 less in our pockets because our children can't, excuse me, won't practice what we have preached, we decided to cut them off. We deserve a life too. My husband and I never relied on anyone for help. If we didn't have the money we saved for whatever. Basics were never a problem but extras were. Our kids were well aware growing up how the household ran. Seems like no one even tries to sacrifice anymore. It's gimme I want.

It still amazes us how they grew up to be such non planners and ignorant about finances. College graduates with no common sense. Or maybe they just don't care. Still pondering their neglectful ways. Can't figure it out.

Speak of the devil, one kid is on the phone right now asking Dad if he can swing a warehouse shopping trip later today. They are low on stuff and money. We never say no to food or things the house needs but damn, launch already okay ? The joys of parenthood. And grandparenthood. And whatever else.

[Anonymous]

Investing with a friend that was a broker. Sadly, more than once.

[Anonymous]

Not having a budget.

[Anonymous]

Buying a cheap car and then continuing to repair it rather than get rid of it. Bought it brand new, broke down after six months and continued to break regularly for the next 7 years. Easily paid more than the original price of the car in repairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Investing with a friend that was a broker. Sadly, more than once.

Did this and it was very difficult to move the money to another broker.

[Anonymous]

Buying older house with lots of charm but it turned out to be a money pit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bailing out our adult kids. We taught them fiscal responsibility unfortunately they married spenders and didn't put that foot down. Even after straightening them out several times they still managed to fall into heavy debt.

After realizing we are $100,000 less in our pockets because our children can't, excuse me, won't practice what we have preached, we decided to cut them off. We deserve a life too. My husband and I never relied on anyone for help. If we didn't have the money we saved for whatever. Basics were never a problem but extras were. Our kids were well aware growing up how the household ran. Seems like no one even tries to sacrifice anymore. It's gimme I want.

It still amazes us how they grew up to be such non planners and ignorant about finances. College graduates with no common sense. Or maybe they just don't care. Still pondering their neglectful ways. Can't figure it out.

Speak of the devil, one kid is on the phone right now asking Dad if he can swing a warehouse shopping trip later today. They are low on stuff and money. We never say no to food or things the house needs but damn, launch already okay ? The joys of parenthood. And grandparenthood. And whatever else.

My sister is 32 and is supported by my parents because she (of course) has a 6 y/o daughter and can't hold down a job. There's some mental illness and self-medication via weed and alcohol going on too. It is very stressful on my parents. My dad wonders what they did wrong.

[Anonymous]

Sold our house in San Francisco in 2004. It's tripled in value since then....

[Anonymous]

Cashing out a tech stock mutual fund circa 2000, after the dot com bust. I was 18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kept my TSP investments in the G fund for the first 2.5 years of my Fed career. Whoops

Ugh, me too.

Double ugh. They should make the default a lifestyle fund based on your projected retirement date, and force people to opt into moving everything to G (or any other allocation combination) if that's what they really, really want. I think a LOT of people keep TSP in the G fund for so long because they don't know any better, and the process for changing it is not very intuitive for new employees and/or those not experienced with investing.