There’s nothing I love more than a good scary story. While, I typically opt for a good ghost story, or creepy true crime documentary, I also geek out on a story about scary money mistakes we make. I turned to my FinCon friends to share their scary financial mistakes made.Here are some of them:
Sarah Wilson-“I took out more students loans than I needed for school to “live on”/ “for emergencies.” I ended up spending that money on dorm decor and taco bell. By the time I paid off my loans, I paid at least double, if not triple the original price in interest for the things I bought, none of which I still have today. Not worth it at all. ”
Melissa Hoffman–“Assuming that graduate school was expensive. Little did I know at the time, but graduate school doesn’t have to cost a lot of money IF you can find a school that will take you and has a lot of teaching assistant opportunities. This would have been a bigger school than I ended up going to, but I wouldn’t have taken out so much debt if I had gone to a bigger school and researched TA opportunities. At the time, I didn’t think I would be hired as TA. I shouldn’t have doubted myself, and I should have just went for it!”
Melissa Thomas– “My biggest mistake was simple: not paying attention.
Had I been paying attention, I would have not been so quick to buy things I really couldn’t afford. If I had been paying attention, I would have realized the amount of debt I was accruing. If I had paid attention, I would have seen the signs that pointed directly to our financial rock bottom.
By the time I hit rock bottom, we were living paycheck to paycheck, using credit cards to make up the difference and over $43,000 in consumer debt.”
Troy Grant- “In my early twenties, I took out credit cards when I was unemployed, simply because I wanted stuff and felt I deserved it. I literally had zero income at the time, but yet I’d rack up charges for video games and pizza, with the thought I’d pay it back once I had a job. That job didn’t come soon enough, and collection calls started. I’d unplug the phone and throw away the bills when they came in the mail. Eventually my family had to bail me out. This was my rock bottom. I’m thankful it happened though – had it not, I might still be that stupid today.”
Samantha A. Gregory–“Letting a family member use my credit card to start a business. I was 19 with a $4500 credit limit and a lot of naïveté. They never launched the business and never paid me back. Needless to say it went to collections and my new credit history was shot.”
Jackie Beck–“One of my biggest mistakes was getting a credit card “strictly for emergencies”. So rather than building an actual emergency fund, I went deeper and deeper into credit card debt because of what felt like emergency after emergency. I could have taken charge of my financial life much earlier, instead of charging it.”
Lila Donovan– “Eating out for almost every meal. At one point I ate out for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner, and putting everything on a credit card. I racked up my credit card to $4,000 all on EATING OUT! I was so dumb. I wish now I had gotten over myself and learned how to cook. These days I now cook quick & healthy meals I love. You know what? It’s really not that hard this cooking thing.”
Adam Fortuna- “In my 20s I came into some wealth through an inheritance. At the time (2005) everyone was saying “Housing never goes down!”. For a while I didn’t listen, but after hearing this chant over and over again, I bought a home in 2006. Two years later the home was worth half its value. I learned a good lesson about going against my own judgement and following the crowds in that time.”
Chris Abrams– “I made an investment in a speculative real estate deal that never happened. A trusted friend met with the developers of the project and I felt good about the projections. 2008 hit and the project never started and the developers declared bankruptcy. Along with several others, we lost all of our money. It was the most expensive lesson I ever learned and still burns 10 years later.”
Jim Wang- “My biggest one was not negotiating harder on our first house because it was such an overwhelming experience. This includes with the seller, with the various contractors and services, and finally with the fees. We just accepted most of it. I’ve learned to be a lot firmer and pro-active – have to research everything and you can’t take things at face value.”
Teresa Mears–“I bought a condo that didn’t cash-flow as an investment in 2005 and ended up having to do a short sale after the market crashed. I had no trouble making the payments when I had a partner and a good job, but after my partner died and I left the job to freelance, I couldn’t keep up.”
Caroline Vencil– “My husband and I started sharing a bank account right after we got married. I didn’t pay attention to it because I knew what I was spending and where it was going… but I didn’t take his spending into consideration. He’s a “spender,” I’m a “saver.” I had no idea that little by little, my $10,000 emergency fund was getting eaten away to protect my account from overdraft fees from spending more than we made. It took less than 1 year to destroy that emergency fund… and I had no idea it was happening. I felt so dumb (in my defense, I was 19 at the time). But the day that our savings was at $0 and our checking was at (-$291) was the turning point in my life when it came to money. I still kick myself for being so airheaded, but it was a lesson I needed to learn.”
Todd Tresidder– “Selling my business was the dumbest financial mistake I ever made. I slaughtered the cash cow for a few pounds of hamburger when I could have enjoyed the sweet milk for many years. The investment return on the after tax proceeds from the sale resulting in a tiny fraction of the the income that the business would have earned.”
Joseph Hogue– “I was working two jobs and saving every penny on the hope of someday leaving a job I hated and retiring early. The problem was I wasn’t being realistic with my money goals. I would burn out on pinching every penny and go out on a spending binge every few months. Set realistic goals for spending and budgeting, leaving yourself some room to enjoy life. Balance your future goals with present happiness.”
Jennifer Hemphill–“Upgrading our lifestyle with each increase of income. We felt we deserved it but it limited our progress in paying down that debt we were working so hard to pay off! Instead we should have celebrated the increases in a more meaningful way without spending it all.”
Alex Whitehouse–“The mistakes are:
1-I drank my money
2-I ate my money
3-I ignored my money
4-I overspent on entertainment
5-I bought a really expensive frisbee (credit card)
6-I didn’t pay my bills on time
7-I gave my retirement money to Uncle Sam”
Elle Martinez– “I got a car loan that I had no business having, especially as a working college kid. The interest rate was terrible and I had my mom co-sign – all red flags. The car payments (and the required insurance coverage) were a strain on my already tight budget.”Ellie Kay-“I didn’t ask my husband for a credit report before we got married. I inherited 40k in undisclosed consumer debt, (but he did look good in a flight suit). We spent the first few years living paycheck to paycheck even though he was an Air Force fighter pilot.”
Amy Savage Blacklock– “Cashing out my 401k when leaving an employer instead of rolling it over was my biggest financial mistake. Not just once, but twice. My lack of financial knowledge early in life cost me penalties for early withdrawals and much investment growth.”
John Nardini- “Waiting to invest. I missed five years early in my career where I didn’t save or invest anything. Twenty-five years later that mistake cost me an extra several hundred thousand dollars in net worth.”
Camille Gaines–“My biggest financial mistake was hiring a financial advisor for the wrong reason, to avoid responsibility for investment decisions, even though I had the knowledge. If you choose to hire a financial advisor, a sound reason is because you understand the basics of investing, you understand how this person will help you get the results you want, and you are able to be a leader in your relationship with this advisor by monitoring her and making changes as needed. Power around your money can never truly be delegated. You can outsource management of many aspects of your money, but never your power. This is because your money is ultimately in your care, and because no one (repeat no one) will incur the dire consequences if your money is lost but you. This means that you own the power around your money, and it can never truly be given away.”
In the spirit of Halloween, these stories are a little on the scary side, but I want you all to know it’s a very normal situation to experience financial hardships. The thing that separates us all is what we do to learn from our mistakes and horror stories and make our future something incredible.
Which of these stories resonates most with you? Comment below and share which one really spoke to you.
