Biggest financial mistake/regret?

[JoiseyMom]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kellyscrapbooks
<sigh> I'll make sure my kids don't ever make those mistakes.

As the mom of an adult child let me say, Good luck with that

It really isn't that difficult. I have 2 sons in their early 20's. I got them both credit cards for college, and I co-signed them. They learned by example that mom and dad paid their credit cards off every month, and not to put anything on it you can't pay off. Both of my sons now have their own credit cards, and they pay them off in full. They see their friends though buried in credit card debt. They are both financially responsible. One that just moved out and got his own apartment, hasn't gotten cable or internet yet, because he is going out of town for 3 weeks.

So, it can be done.

 

[StephMK]

Oooooh, mine's easy.

My husband was employed by a telecom company in the mid 90's through 2004. He was good about putting 10% of his income into his 401k with a 4% employer match, he wasn't so good about diversifing. He put the bulk of it into his employer's stock, since that had the best return. You can see where this is going...At one point in 1999 he had 70,000 in his 401k, of course the stock started on a free fall, but we never changed our allocation. Today that account is 35,000.

Live and learn.

Oh yeah, I hadn't thought about that as one of ours but we did the exact same thing. Besides stupid spending when we were younger, we have some financial mistakes that are more hindsight related. If we'd kept our condo 2 more years, we would have been able to sell for $100K+ more. LIkewise, if we'd gone ahead to be house poor when we purchased in 1999 instead of buying a townhouse instead, we'd be living in a great house now. We did well w/our townhouse equity but single family really skyrocketed & we would have been able to trade up. As it was, we did trade up but it's to a small, outdated SF. Maybe a blessing since it's pretty cheap to run though.

My most recent was forgetting to send in a rebate form before the deadline. Just stupid on my part!!

 

[PolyHereWeCome]

My most recent was forgetting to send in a rebate form before the deadline. Just stupid on my part!!

Oh, I am so there with you on this! Don't beat yourself up, I'm sure you don't miss them often, so pat yourself on the back for all you have saved.

No real regrets, did the best I could with the information I had along the years, but sure did waste a lot of money paying rent when I was single. Didn't realize I'd stay there as long as I did (8 years) and it was pricey -- Could have bought a little house or condo for what I dropped on rent.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Not buying a house 7-9 years ago when the market was alot lower, we only had 1 child and I had a good ft job.

There is no way we could afford a house in this state now.

 

[disneysteve]

I know hindsight is 20/20, but to all of you who say your biggest mistake was selling too soon, I don't count those things as mistakes because there is no way you could have known at the time what would happen. You sell when you need to sell.

I think a mistake is when you do something and should have known better or didn't do your homework first or got good advice and didn't follow it. So don't beat yourselves up about selling for a good price at the time and making a decent profit just because you could have made more if you waited. You couldn't possibly have known that so it wasn't a mistake. It was the best decision you could make with the information you had available.

 

[disneysteve]

My most recent was forgetting to send in a rebate form before the deadline. Just stupid on my part!!

I did that last year when I bought my laptop. There were 6 or 8 different rebates between the computer, the printer the wireless router, etc. I got a few of them in but missed two of the largest ones. I wasn't happy but it was my own darn fault.

 

[sk!mom]

I did that last year when I bought my laptop. There were 6 or 8 different rebates between the computer, the printer the wireless router, etc. I got a few of them in but missed two of the largest ones. I wasn't happy but it was my own darn fault.

I absolutely hate rebates! I have said that after my experience this summer trying to get a rebate for a JVC car stereo purchased from Circuit City that I will not buy anything else based on the rebate. It almost feels like a scam. They advertise the price after rebates and then sometimes make it very difficult to get the rebate. Of course they do this because so many of us forget or make a mistake and then they sold it at the regular price.

The JVC rebate was to be in the form of a cash card. I sent in all paper work to receive the rebate and then was to be notified by email with an activation code for the card. When they sent the email they required that I supply my birthdate and SS# to complete the rebate. I can't imagine why they would need this info and have let my complaints be known to both companies.

Back on original topic:
Biggest financial mistake- loaning money many years ago to a family member. When they did not pay it back as promised it created a very difficult situation. Never again and I have been asked.

 

[sk!mom]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kellyscrapbooks
<sigh> I'll make sure my kids don't ever make those mistakes.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sk!mom
As the mom of an adult child let me say, Good luck with that


It really isn't that difficult. I have 2 sons in their early 20's. I got them both credit cards for college, and I co-signed them. They learned by example that mom and dad paid their credit cards off every month, and not to put anything on it you can't pay off. Both of my sons now have their own credit cards, and they pay them off in full. They see their friends though buried in credit card debt. They are both financially responsible. One that just moved out and got his own apartment, hasn't gotten cable or internet yet, because he is going out of town for 3 weeks.

So, it can be done.

I completely agree that it isn't hard to teach your children to be financially responsible. My "Good Luck with that " comment was in reference to "I'll make sure my kids don't ever make those mistakes." Despite all of the teaching that parents do, adult children make their own decisions and I personally know many parents of adult children (myself included) who shake their heads at some of those decisions.

If your sons have taken all your training and advice to heart and made no financial mistakes, then kudos to you and may you always be so blessed.

 

[disneysteve]

They advertise the price after rebates and then sometimes make it very difficult to get the rebate.

At least in my case, they didn't make it tough to get the rebate. I just neglected to do it in time.

One thing I hate is when the rebate is in the form of a Visa debit card - Cingular does this. I hate those because most of the time the store cashiers don't seem to know how to process them. I'd much rather get a check.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I completely agree that it isn't hard to teach your children to be financially responsible. My "Good Luck with that " comment was in reference to "I'll make sure my kids don't ever make those mistakes." Despite all of the teaching that parents do, adult children make their own decisions and I personally know many parents of adult children (myself included) who shake their heads at some of those decisions.

If your sons have taken all your training and advice to heart and made no financial mistakes, then kudos to you and may you always be so blessed.

I agree. My parents were VERY financially responsible and co-signed on both of my brother and my credit cards when we were younger. They made it look easy. We both buried ourselves in debt (but no late/missed payments or high APR's, just alot of debt for young adults to have). My parents paid off of their cards every month, are very financially stable, and my mom is an accountant and tried her best to show us that you can't always just go charge anything you want. We, of course, thought our parents didn't know what they were talking about and didn't realize how quickly all of those little charges add up. My parents limited our credit line availabilty on the cards they co-signed on but we both opened up cards in just our names, that my parents had no control over. A few years went by and we started realizing the impact of all of that debt. I have dug myself out completely and my brother (27) is still doing the same. I'm glad that's a lesson I learned early in life instead of later. Some kids take in the responsibilities and consequences of having debt from watching their parents and some have to make that mistake themselves, no matter how hard you try to teach them.

 

[vellamint]

At least in my case, they didn't make it tough to get the rebate. I just neglected to do it in time.

One thing I hate is when the rebate is in the form of a Visa debit card - Cingular does this. I hate those because most of the time the store cashiers don't seem to know how to process them. I'd much rather get a check.

AH - Cingular....yes I was supposed to get two $30 rebates back but could have SWORN they said it would be mailed to me separately 3 weeks after I received the phone only to find 6 weeks later that the rebates came IN the welcome kit that came with the phone. I only opened up one welcome kit (we had gotten three phones) and that particular phone did not have a rebate associated with it.

BOY was I MAD at myself!!! Even if it was only a Visa Debit Card (which I DID NOT KNOW until I read these boards - which was what made me go look into the welcome kit 6 weeks later).

 

[SarahKate]

Credit cards, for SURE.

My mother (God rest her soul, she passed away 3 years ago) thought it was a good idea to give me my own credit card when I was about 18. No education on using it, nothing on budgeting. It was an AMEX and had to be paid off every month. Needless to say, I got in over my head and couldn't pay it off every month. Then I got JC Penney, Famous, Lerner, you name it I had it.

I ended up with several thousand in cc debt. I went thru Consumer Credit Counseling and they set up a plan for me, which I successfully completed (I HIGHLY recommend this organization - there are a lot of shady places out there now, but this one is truly non profit and there to help you, not rip you off).

Fast forward a few more years (to around 1999), planning a wedding, honeymoon, etc. Started using a credit card again. So now in 2006 we have about 12k in cc debt. We are doing much better and very rarely use them except for emergencies - and all the balances are transferred to a brand new Capitol One account for 2.99 for life (drops down to 1.99 after a year!).

The other thing I regret is retirement. I still do not have one set up. All I have to do is walk down to HR and do it (and HR is in MY building!) but have I done it? Nope!

We are making baby steps though - getting the debt paid down, getting money into savings.

 

[sbpuckett]

Wow! I don't even know where to start... in the 10 years I've been married I've made quite a few. Let's see... how about the usual credit card debt. I didn't have any real debt until I got married and my DH started charging everything. His family never had any money (mine didn't either for that matter) so he had no idea how to act when he started getting a real paycheck. We didn't save anything and still have no savings at this point. Then, after my father passed I used my inheritance to buy my DH his dream car (an 80's model Camaro) and we bought our first home without a down payment and a step-rate loan rate (gotta love the military benefits). Then my DH decided to leave the military to work for my uncle with a promise of a very nice salary... yeah, we all know how that worked out. We went without his paycheck for 4 months before we got smart and he found a paying job. Hmmm... then let's add refinancing to pay off the credit card debt and various other debts we had accrued by this point. Then... yes, there's more... we ended up filing bankruptcy a couple of years ago and are slowly building ourselves back up. Our credit still sucks but we aren't in any real debt except for some medical bills I owe due to a car accident I was in last year. I had no medical insurance (everyone but me had it) and the guy who hit me didn't have sufficient insurance to cover all of my bills. Sooo... my lessons learned:

1. I do not need numberous credit cards with enormous credit limits.
2. Never buy a house without a down payment.
3. Credit scores are very very very important
4. Never work for family or friends.
5. Life happens...

I finally got health insurance this past spring and am trying to pay off the rest of my medical bills so that we can start putting money into savings, retirement funds, college funds, and a down payment for a house.

Oh yeah, when I left teaching I received a letter from the state about my 401K. It didn't say how much I had accrued but wanted to know whether I wanted to roll it or cash it out. Thinking I shouldn't have much in there (I had only taught for the system for 4 years) I decided to cash it out for help with moving expenses (we were moving back here at the time). Imagine my surprise when the $5000 check came... I knew tax time was going to be ugly but we also really needed the money to get the utilities turned on and to make ends meet until my DH got his first paycheck. Next time I'll ask...

 

[jay-nee]

(1) Getting married to a spender! FYI, divorced now.
(2) Putting all my 401K $ into company stock - diversified now.
(3) doing a huge addition to our house that ex-H had to have - selling house now to move to small condo
(4) buying a car with 6 yr financing - what the HECK? - only 1+ yr left though
(5) CC debt - paid off recently, but had to pay for car repairs and DS15 medications because ex-H lost job and didn't have med insurance
(6) having too many pets - sometimes our vet bills would be bigger than our house payment for months on end - now we only have a dog, a cat, 2 pet rats, and a pony (who might have a new home today - pray for us that this is "the" home for her...).

Honestly, if #1 hadn't ocurred, probably only #2 would have been an issue, but who knows... I am also the product of parents who never talked about money with their kids. Yep, my siblings are both in trouble money-wise. Please talk to your kids about how much stuff costs, planning for expenditures, paying cash as much as possible, and saving for later in life (you know, delayed gratification - can you imagine that?).

Now...present day...very small CC debt, paying bills on time (early if CS paid on time), small EF in place, etc --- yep, I'm getting there...even as a single mom of 2 working only PT so that I can homeschool. It can be done people, but it's hard, really hard...