What financial mistakes would you love to go back in time and handle differently? (funds, pay)

[mchelle]

Obviously we can't actually go back and change anything, but I'd like to think that sharing our mistakes has the potential to help other people who may be in similar positions. In addition, self reflection is usually beneficial

My worst financial mistakes:

• Buying a $13,000 car when I was 16. But it was originally $19,000 so I was saving a lot, and it was SO pretty and cool! Yeah...and now it's worth half of what I still owe on it. The car and insurance payments are destroying me financially and preventing me from using my money on things that would benefit me far more.
• Dropping out of college...a few times. I shouldn't have even began to attend college without having a clear purpose in mind. Now I owe quite a bit in student loans and have only actually earned six credits. On the bright side, it's a public school and not as expensive as others in the area.
• Job hopping for far too long, quitting just because I felt like it without any kind of plan. This led to racking up a lot of CC debt that I could have done without.
• Not saving money. This is a huge one. I have no savings to my name and I've been working since I was about 13 years old. I spent it all on useless junk.

So how about everyone else?

[CTR36]

I would have picked a better major in college and not wasted my time and money on a Psych degree since I am an accountant now

I wish I hadn't bought my first home in that neighborhood. I wish I had known more about mortgages and real estate before buying that home.
I wish I had saved more money when young. I wish I had been taught by example to pay bills on time and not use credit cards.

I wish someone had taught me about credit scores!!!
I wish someone had taught me how to balance a checkbook and make out a budget!!

I had to learn all these things the hard way but am now teaching my own kids everyday about he real world!!

[sonarrat]

I wish I hadn't sold my car to come up with the down payment for a house, before I backed out and bought another new car.

I wish I had saved up for my piano instead of borrowing.

I wish I had stayed with my parents a lot longer. So much money wasted.

[joey2000]

I don't know that I'd call dropping out of college a "financial mistake," altho it does obviously impact you in a big way there. That's more of a "life mistake." Anyway -

- I put $4K down on my first new car. Stupid. Yeah I saved some in interest, but my tendency at that young age was that the more I had in the checknig acct the more I spent so I more or less pissed the "extra" away anyway. I could have put little down and essentially saved the $4K.

- Not starting my retirement sooner in life and putting more into it (like most people).

- FAR WORSE: tapping it to help with expenses on my next house.

I'm sure there are more but I'd rather not think about it any more.

[Ceece]

I wish I had understood the proper way to use credit cards, I would be in a much better position now if I hadn't wasted so much time digging myself out of debt.

I wish I had stuck with college right out of high school rather than putting it off until I was in my 30s.

I wish I had the foresight to have taken advantage of certain investment opportunities that came my way many years back. But it all seemed to science fiction-y at the time. I'm sure we can ALL relate.

[MissNM]

I would have never cashed out equity in my house.

[Jaggy001]

I would not have sold those Apple shares I bought at $18

[mchelle]

Originally Posted by CTR36

I would have picked a better major in college and not wasted my time and money on a Psych degree since I am an accountant now

I wish I hadn't bought my first home in that neighborhood. I wish I had known more about mortgages and real estate before buying that home.
I wish I had saved more money when young. I wish I had been taught by example to pay bills on time and not use credit cards.

I wish someone had taught me about credit scores!!!
I wish someone had taught me how to balance a checkbook and make out a budget!!

I had to learn all these things the hard way but am now teaching my own kids everyday about he real world!!

I'm sorry that you didn't have much direction in finances. I think it's fantastic that learned from your mistakes and are helping your children by making sure that they understand everything that you may not have at their age(s)

Originally Posted by sonarrat

I wish I hadn't sold my car to come up with the down payment for a house, before I backed out and bought another new car.

I wish I had saved up for my piano instead of borrowing.

I wish I had stayed with my parents a lot longer. So much money wasted.

Yikes, did you end up buying a house eventually or just stick with renting?

Originally Posted by joey2000

I don't know that I'd call dropping out of college a "financial mistake," altho it does obviously impact you in a big way there. That's more of a "life mistake." Anyway -

- I put $4K down on my first new car. Stupid. Yeah I saved some in interest, but my tendency at that young age was that the more I had in the checknig acct the more I spent so I more or less pissed the "extra" away anyway. I could have put little down and essentially saved the $4K.

- Not starting my retirement sooner in life and putting more into it (like most people).

- FAR WORSE: tapping it to help with expenses on my next house.

I'm sure there are more but I'd rather not think about it any more.

The reason I consider it a financial mistake is because of all of the money I took out in loans to pay tuition, the money spent on transportation (I commuted), food on campus, books, etc. It was ridiculous.

Hmm, retirement is an interesting one to bring up. That's something that I rarely think about but probably should

Sorry to bring up the bad memories Hopefully things are better now?

[Lacerta]

I don't know that I've done anything I would consider a financial mistake.

I would say I wish I could have started contributing to an IRA sooner, but I paid off debt instead, which I am happy about.

[Charles]

I would have invested more aggressively in my IRA in the early 1980s. Back then, I didn't know much about investing and my earned income was mostly from working as a courier or carpet delivery guy while I was in college. It was part time work for beer and gas. My dad put money into IRAs in my name but he invested it in CDs - not that bad in the early 1980s as CDs were paying double digits (and for a while mortgages were 18%). Later I changed from CDs to growth mutual funds but it probably would have been better if those IRA investments were growth funds in the first place.

Otherwise, I don't' think I've made any significant financial mistakes.