What was your worst financial mistake?

[LaserBlueZ71]

When you look back at your life, however long it has been, what is the worst financial decision you have ever made?

 

For me, it was my 2010 Silverado. I purchased it brand new off the lot, a victory red regular cab with factory 20's. After only 1 year of ownership, I could not stand not being able to recline the seats, or carry any cargo that is weather sensitive. I am 6 foot 3, and I found the regular cabs were cramped. So, I traded it in on a 2011 extended cab, and obviously, had to take a loss. I will end up paying more for this 2011 than it showed on the spec sheet, and that makes me sick to my stomach. A lot of things in my life went wrong at the exact same time, and I was dumb enough to sign when I was in the bottom of a deep pit. Needless to say, I signed for 7 years, and only 2 have gone by. I keep hoping I can make early payments, but things just have not worked out.

 

About the only way I stay sane is that I am only 25. I learned my lesson young. The funny thing is, I always shop around do my research first, I compare and compare and compare. I go in with all my evidence and all my facts ready. That one time I didn't, and I got it up the poop chute!

 

At least the truck is a laser blue metallic special edition paint. I have not seen another one yet in my travels, and I get compliments on it everywhere I go.

 

So, what was your worst choice?

[Chris]

Credit card at 18 years old. Dug me into a pit I'm still in. I am 24 for reference. I cut the card when I was 20. Bad credit and I don't use credit cards anymore, just what I have in the bank.

 

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[SarahsGMC]

College..

[RedXray]

Getting married

[travishale84]

Credit cards for sure. I didnt get them until i got out of college. Had fun spending fake money, then took out a personal loan to pay them all off. had a lower payment with a lot less interest some how managed to acrue more credit card debt (dumbass), and the loan payment...

I have recently paid off my loan payment which was enough, but am still wishing i never had a credit card. and no im not anywhere near 10K in debt, just enough that its taking me a while to pay it off.

[JrocK817]

Snowmobile. Ski-Doo MXZ 800 X bought for 7K. Winters in and around Buffalo kind of sucked for the couple years i kept it. Ended up selling it for what i owed on it. After rolling it once, dumping another 800 bucks for new handle bars, skis, and carbides. All said and done, it costed me about $300 every time i had it out, not including gas.

 

Ill stick to wheelers until i can grab some land in the snow belt

['01LS1]

Leaving my day job in 2007 to start up a auto transport trucking company that is completely independent. Too many big players if you are not connected or have big pockets of cash to play their game. Will be looking to sell it all before the plates renew next March.

Don't know what to do after that though.

[Bad17BowtieZ71]

When I was younger I bought a brand new 2003 S-10 ZR2 pickup. I had always loved those trucks and had to have a brand new one. After a while I began to realize how much it sucked to really only be able to have two people in it cause the "backseat" was so small. I still loved the truck (and still do to this day when I look at old pictures) but it just wasn't big enough. So I bought a brand new 2006 Silverado extended cab Z71 a couple years later. Of course, I couldn't take trade in on the S-10 so I decided to sell it myself. I was dead set on it's value, which or course was too high. I ended up sitting on it for a while, and taking much less than some original offers I had on it. Overall I lost a lot on that truck and all the aftermarket stuff I had for it, when I could have sucked it up and lived with the small size or gotten a full size truck in the first place.

 

I also bought a brand new sport quad in 2004 that is just sitting around now. I used it a lot for about 5 years, but my buddies and I all got married a few years ago and my wife and I just had a baby, so I haven't touched it in years. I really need to get it running again and sell it before it isn't worth anything.

 

Like LaserBlueZ71, I learned my lesson young, I'm only 28 now, but paid a hefty price for having fun and having my toys. Some of these type of things just have to be learned from experience, because no matter how many times my parents told me better or tried to advise me to go a different route, I didn't listen. I like to think I'm a little smarter now, even though I still have some toys and still have some fun, just not too much with the baby now.

[SnakeEyeSS]

Turned down my first offer when I sold the 69 Camaro. Every other offer afterward was 7000 less. Called the people back and they had bought different one already.

 

Other than that (and trying to sell a vette after the economic collapse in 2008)ive always done very well with my money management

[NitroCherokee]

Divorce, HUGE financial hit other than that I have done quite well

 

 

When they say "Cheaper to keep her" they are not lying, worth every penny tho

[zach1990]

Student loan. Didn't need it since I had full ride, just wanted the money. Also a credit card when I was too young for it. Regret that one still

 

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[waumo1]

I can tell you the best thing to do - get out of debt and loans no matter how painful. Other than for a house/land, loans are the worst situation. You end up paying way more for everything you buy. If you are asking "how much is the payment" instead of "how much does it cost" - that is a bad indicator. Once you are out of debt it opens up many options.

 

My worst mistake was basically only paying the interest on a loan for several years. I realized this was dumb and learned a lot from it - so that lesson was probably a bargain.

[dcheeseman]

Credit card at 18 years old. Dug me into a pit I'm still in. I am 24 for reference. I cut the card when I was 20. Bad credit and I don't use credit cards anymore, just what I have in the bank.

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I agree with ya about no more credit cards anymore only what you have in the bank........VERY SMART MAN! Credit cards are spending money you dont have......if you dont have it DON'T BUY IT! Thats what I live by.

[RyanbabZ71]

College..

 

Not college but you may have made a bad choice of majors. Anyone who became a Mech or chem engineer walks into a 100k job. Anyone with an RN degree gets a 80k a year job. The job market is very strong for the right people.

 

100K? Right

 

 

Ryan

 

 

[kstruckcountry]

Avg yearly starting salary for ME is under 50k IIRC. There may be a few outliers but most are going to be in the "all bills paid, and some left for beer" category.