What was the biggest mistake you ever made with money

A Battered Mars Bar

I didn't buy a house during the celtic tiger era so my mistakes probably pale in comparison to some here. I'll regret not studying bitcoin more and buying a couple of 100 when they were a dollar a piece. I bought so much other crap and gambled on junk in my 20's so it was very not like me to not dip my toes in back then.

I regret getting a loan from the bank. Pointless ball and chain I shackled myself with to feed the big man.

What's yours?

The Hill Billy

Telecom Eireann shares.

gifted

Telling the missus I had some....

EICVD

Having a fairly large (for me anyway) bet on my own horse last week. 2nd!

Or an expensive kinky pair of boots I bought for an ex, she ended it before she worn them! :-(

bear1

Increasing the limit of the credit and topping up the loan at the same time during the boom only for it all to come crashing down on me later.
They were literally throwing money at you.
Topping up the loan I remember was a matter of minutes over the phone.
Never again and the credit card now has a 1k limit so if I do use it all I can easily pay it back.
Madness.

Barry Badrinath

I bought 10 Tayto chocolate bars a few years ago.

Instant regret.

Mister Vain

I bought 70 hookers.

TPD

Spent about £100 on a remote control plane when I was 12, just before they became cheap and easy to maneuver. Crashed it the first time it left the ground.

The Raptor

Bank loan, credit card, car loan, laptop loan. They really were throwing money at you during the Celtic tiger. Never again.

Miss Demeanour

A treadmill worth 600 Euro that became a clothes horse......

Hollister11

Only 20, so none yet.

Armchair Andy

Lit a fire with 2 million dollars in a former life.

wotzgoingon

Credit Union loans in the past also buying my house that I never lived in but rent out. It's well and good for people renting out places in Dublin, Cork or Galway getting big money down here in the sticks we got feck all especially during the bust but tbh the rent is rising in my area now so may look to annoy the tenants with a price increase.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

My dad put my annual car insurance into my account when I was a young one (almost 2k if I recall correctly) and I blew it on clothes makeup and sneaking off to London for my friends birthday (she was in college over there).
I had to lie to him and say I paid it but truth was I had to pay a deposit and paid monthly. That was very stressful having to pull that money together every month myself

tayto lover

Having a joint bank account at one time. I was fleeced.

wotzgoingon

tayto lover wrote: »

Having a joint bank account at one time. I was fleeced.

I could well imagine.

happywithlife

LexieOnRale wrote: »

My dad put my annual car insurance into my account when I was a young one (almost 2k if I recall correctly) and I blew it on clothes makeup and sneaking off to London for my friends birthday (she was in college over there).
I had to lie to him and say I paid it but truth was I had to pay a deposit and paid monthly. That was very stressful having to pull that money together every month myself

But a lesson well learned I'd imagine

Mine was leaving account details accessible to someone who had a gambling addiction- was robbed repeatedly over the years but thankfully was able to absorb the fallout. Same person eventually made a great recovery after a stint in rehab

BorneTobyWilde

That nigerian prince was so convincing

ChikiChiki

10k loan over an email from staff business which was supposed to be for a car and I subsequently drank my way through.

It killed me making repayments on that one.

kirving

Spent €381 (yes I remember the exact figure) on a remote control car, most of my confirmation money.

My parents gave me a good talk on why it was a waste of money, but let me go ahead and make my own decision. Of course I bought it, and used it about a dozen times.

Ever since then though, I've spent my money far more wisely and have gone on a load of great holidays as a result of not wasting it on rubbish.

wotzgoingon

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Spent €381 (yes I remember the exact figure) on a remote control car, most of my confirmation money.

My parents gave me a good talk on why it was a waste of money, but let me go ahead and make my own decision. Of course I bought it, and used it about a dozen times.

Ever since then though, I've spent my money far more wisely and have gone on a load of great holidays as a result of not wasting it on rubbish.

All's well that ends well.

xabi

Spent all my money on women, drugs and alcohol. I squandered the rest.

joebloggs32

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Telecom Eireann shares.

I bought them and got out with a tidy little profit. Got out fairly quick before they took a bath.

Worst purchase for me was my first and only home in February 2007. 10 years paying in and still very much in negative equity territory.

Winterlong

Buying a brand new car.

Morpheus

joebloggs32 wrote: »

I bought them and got out with a tidy little profit. Got out fairly quick before they took a bath.

Worst purchase for me was my first and only home in February 2007. 10 years paying in and still very much in negative equity territory.

Same here, only I did it with an ex and now trying to figure out how to get her name off the deeds as she has nothing to do with it any more and I just want it in my own name. harsh lesson that i relive every waking second

hairyslug

My second house.
When I bought my first, I was only 22 or 23, I turned that around fairly quickly and made enough for a deposit for a bigger house. Because the 1st went through so smoothly I didn't research the 2nd enough, I didnt consider advice from others and look at alternatives. I was left was the very small house, where property prices had crumbled and ending up losing over 100k on it (buy price compared to sell price)

That and a **** load of cars that I only kept for a year max.

andekwarhola

Flirted with the idea of buying a small house around the same time as a friend of mine but decided it was too much at a young age. He eventually made an absolute packet on his and lives in a smashing house now.

valoren

Spent €400 on an iPod in August 2004.
These are amazing, Apple is going to be huge, I should buy shares!

But I procrastinated and didn't invest.

The same €400 would be worth circa 20k today.

boobar

Taking it for granted

gramar

A mistake I've been making for years and continue to make - not putting a few quid away regularly.

Timmyr

I bought a mad car when I was 17 for around €6,000, gave major trouble and was seemingly unfixable

9 years later it still rots away in a shed

hairyslug

Taking an extra months wage every 6 months instead of the equivalent value in shares in a company that sold for 3 times the value of what the shares were worth was also a bad decision

charleville

Food... all my money pretty much goes on food

ahlookit

hairyslug wrote: »

Taking an extra months wage every 6 months instead of the equivalent value in shares in a company that sold for 3 times the value of what the shares were worth was also a bad decision

Foregoing bonuses and putting a chunk of every months salary into a share scheme in a company I worked for .... I worked in a bank...

beggars_bush

Putting savings into a bank, instead of putting it into a proper financial investment savings product

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

timmy880

Gambling throughout my 20's was really the biggest mistake.

smurfjed

Opening an Irish Bar in Bali..... closing it 3 years later

the evasion_kid

Starting a business in Ireland..

AlmightyCushion

Back when bitcoins were relatively new there was a bit of a buzz about them on all the tech sites. I decided I'd try mining them. At the time, because they were so new, they were quite easy to mine and I had a high end PC so could have mined quite a few coins. My dad also had a couple of PCs in his office that were pretty powerful as well so I could have used them as well. I spent a bit of time trying to get it working but struggled with it a bit and gave up. I said to myself I'd come back to it another day. Of course, I never bothered and now they're worth a grand a bitcoin. I could have made a small fortune by now if I had stuck with it.

Saying that I probably would have cashed out when they were only worth a few dollars and I'd be posting here giving out that I had sold a load of them when they were worth $5 a piece.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Spending far too much money on motorbike insurance. I started on a moped and got the bug and just wanted bigger and bigger bikes. In the space of 5 years, I had 4 different bikes, and spent a total of 13k on insurance alone (the first year was fully comp, the remaining years were third party only) . I somehow managed to pay for all that insurance while working part time in college

weldoninhio

The Raptor wrote: »

Bank loan, credit card, car loan, laptop loan. They really were throwing money at you during the Celtic tiger. Never again.

Because self restraint was sooooo over-rated.

Toots

ahlookit wrote: »

Foregoing bonuses and putting a chunk of every months salary into a share scheme in a company I worked for .... I worked in a bank...

I think we worked in the same bank. Makes me very depressed to see what my shares are worth now compared to what I paid for them.

ahlookit

Toots wrote: »

I think we worked in the same bank. Makes me very depressed to see what my shares are worth now compared to what I paid for them.

Just waiting for that 50-fold increase in share price. To just break even. Any day now...

.......

This post has been deleted.

tayto lover

timmy880 wrote: »

Gambling throughout my 20's was really the biggest mistake.

Hope you finished gambling.
One of the greatest addictions of all.
You could lose a hundred thousand in a few minutes.
I knew a guy years ago who owned a whole street inc the bookies. He ended up emptying ashtrays and sweeping the floor in it.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Holding on to Eircom shares was my one and only mistake with money.

Fuzzytrooper

Boards membership annual subscription. Must cancel that direct debit

Lurker1127

I loaned people money.



Don't ever lend people money.

RayM

Three words: MiniDisc Player. 2005.

larrykinney

Me too (2003) used it a handful of times, now gathering dust :-(