worst financial decision you ever made?

Wesser · 31-08-2019 08:57AM

buying a house in 2017 when i was in a perfectly good position in 2016. should have just done it. too much fear.

daveorourke77 · 31-08-2019 09:00AM

getting a credit card.

a financial black hole

duffman13 · 31-08-2019 09:01AM

Early 2007 I think, working 3 days a week while in college, earned good money(relatively) with commission. Was getting 450 to 550 a week. Got a letter from BOI I was pre approved for a car loan for 8k. Got rid of my perfectly good Toyota starlet, car was bullet proof, had it three years and I did feck all with it. New car was an Astra, cost me a fortune.

Job went in the September and that loan broke me to pay back for a heap of **** of a car

Tbh though it's a bit of a blessing, I became much more aware of my financial situation as a result and it's made a huge difference to how I think

Pinch Flat · 31-08-2019 09:07AM

Not starting a pension earlier. Was in a semi-state job with a defined benefit pension about 13 years ago, would be worth a fortune now if I hadn’t of left. In saying that, house nearly paid (around 5 years) and have zero car loans, so have opportunity to save a lot

31-08-2019 09:13AM

L1011 wrote: »

Bought a brand new car on finance

BazzyB wrote: »

Bought a brand new car

I'm very surprised there aren't more 'new car' stories. I nearly pulled the trigger on a new car (albeit a cheap one) a few months ago. Sticker price was 17k, their interest made it 21k (and interest is built in, so even if you clear the loan the next day, you pay the full whack).

I bought a car for 10k, engine went in it and i replaced it for 3.5k (as I'd only got it a year or so). Spent about another grand or so after that in short succession before ridding myself of it. Should have scrapped it when the engine went but figured there was so much life left in it.

Currently driving a car I paid €500 for and it's coming up to a year of ownership with little to no hassle.

I'm sure I'll end up spending the guts of 20k on a car again at some point in my life, but I know I'll feel conned after doing it. Would never pay more than that though for a steel box, unless I won megabucks.

BeerWolf · 31-08-2019 09:31AM

McD's "Iced Latte"... tasted like absolute muck. Was probably a cold pot of coffee left over from yesterday, tasted so burnt...

I want my €3 back...

Tammy! · 31-08-2019 09:32AM

Yamanoto wrote: »

Not buying property after the crash

I bought after the crash and got a very good deal especially looking back at what others were paying for them before.

My father often says to me though, they should have sold their house and they probably could have practically bought my street.

vriesmays · 31-08-2019 09:34AM

Buying lots of music CDs. Can now order any in the local library from another and copy to my PC for free.

The J Stands for Jay · 31-08-2019 09:36AM

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Eircom Shares.

The bad decision was not flipping them for a profit after a week or so.

Tammy! · 31-08-2019 09:39AM

vriesmays wrote: »

Buying lots of music CDs. Can now order any in the local library from another and copy to my PC for free.

I liked owning the CD though and looking at the cover. Loved spending time in hmv and cd shops picking out CDs.

I see sheep · 31-08-2019 09:47AM

puppieperson1 wrote: »

worst financial decision is going to work 5 days a week commuting 2 hours a day - should have had a few sprogs and gone on the lone parents and got a house for nothing

If you think it's so great then what's stopping you doing it now?

monkeysnapper · 31-08-2019 09:58AM

Mine wasnt as much the money but the sheer bad timing of it ....

I had a really nice 99 Audi A4 and company I worked for owed me expenses and we agreed to give me company van in exchange for expenses and I sold my Audi for way less than it was worth.

Then a year later I was made redundant but luckily I found a job but after I'd only been there a week my van engine blew up ....

Under pressure I bought a cheap Peugeot partner car and after a few weeks clutch went ....fixed that then after another month engine blew ... dissaster...

To this day I wish I'd kept my Audi..... heartbreaking is it's still going today ....

xzanti · 31-08-2019 10:18AM

daveorourke77 wrote: »

getting a credit card.

a financial black hole

This.

In actual fact, I never actually applied for mine. I was at the RDS collecting my number for Women's Mini Marathon in 2007. There was also some sort of women's celebration day thing going on, so lots of stalls marketing stuff for the a wiminz.

Anyway this guy was pulling people in to sign up for free Ryanair flights. So I put my details down and thought nothing more of it. I cannot remember if he said it was a raffle or what, but anyway.

A couple of weeks later an MBNA credit card arrived in the post. I called them and told them I'd never applied for it and I didn't want it. I asked how they got my details and they asked me if I'd spoken to someone at the RDS recently.

So back in the day Ryanair and MBNA were apparently sharing customer details.

I kept the card. Bad decision.

Oh and I never got any free flights.

Fr_Dougal · 31-08-2019 10:30AM

Tammy! wrote: »

I bought after the crash and got a very good deal especially looking back at what others were paying for them before.

My father often says to me though, they should have sold their house and they probably could have practically bought my street.

You should have both parachutes.

Tammy! · 31-08-2019 11:13AM

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

You should have both parachutes.

In what way? Because in retrospect they said to me they probably could have sold their own house and downsized to buy a house for myself, my brother and one for them?

31-08-2019 11:24AM

daveorourke77 wrote: »

getting a credit card.

a financial black hole

Credit cards 💳 are conceptually fine..... It's the use of them is the potential problem.

Car99 · 31-08-2019 11:35AM

Met a girl in 1997 just before i went to South Africa on a work assignment for 8 weeks . Got one of these new GSM mobile phones the day I was leaving and rang her everyday from SA with no thought of the cost. Came home to a £2400 phone bill which today is a monstrous bill but 22 years ago it 2 months salary.
Anyways the mobile phone was a bad investment but we're still together plus 2 kids which have cost many many multiples of the phone bill but I wouldn't change any of it.

razorblunt · 31-08-2019 11:56AM

Car99 wrote: »

Met a girl in 1997 just before i went to South Africa on a work assignment for 8 weeks . Got one of these new GSM mobile phones the day I was leaving and rang her everyday from SA with no thought of the cost. Came home to a £2400 phone bill which today is a monstrous bill but 22 years ago it 2 months salary.
Anyways the mobile phone was a bad investment but we're still together plus 2 kids which have cost many many multiples of the phone bill but I wouldn't change any of it.

How much have the kids cost you though?

31-08-2019 12:03PM

Augeo wrote: »

Credit cards 💳 are conceptually fine..... It's the use of them is the potential problem.

Similar to nuclear proliferation.

Car99 · 31-08-2019 12:45PM

razorblunt wrote: »

How much have the kids cost you though?

Impossible to quantify , in monetary terms quite alot I'm sure but if i got the same value out of everything else I've spent over the years I wouldn't complain.

BDI · 31-08-2019 12:48PM

Car99 wrote: »

Impossible to quantify , in monetary terms quite alot I'm sure but if i got the same value out of everything else I've spent over the years I wouldn't complain.

What if you worked overtime instead of doing stuff for them. Like if you didn’t have to drive them to school everyday and did an hour of overtime instead. Or sit at their sports ****e. Would you be rich now?

Car99 · 31-08-2019 01:16PM

BDI wrote: »

What if you worked overtime instead of doing stuff for them. Like if you didn’t have to drive them to school everyday and did an hour of overtime instead. Or sit at their sports ****e. Would you be rich now?

I wouldn't be rich but the business I was working for at the time would be a little bit richer. My grandfather used to say if you know how much money youre getting at the end of week you'll never be rich. So I prefer to work my shift and live my life.

emilymemily · 31-08-2019 01:37PM

My teaching qualification. Expensive, useless and left me worse off in the long run.

BDI · 31-08-2019 01:38PM

Car99 wrote: »

I wouldn't be rich but the business I was working for at the time would be a little bit richer. My grandfather used to say if you know how much money youre getting at the end of week you'll never be rich. So I prefer to work my shift and live my life.

Say if you got 25 euro every time you made their dinner. How much would you have.

Zirconia · 31-08-2019 01:58PM

Getting married,
When it didn't work out ruined me financially for a couple of decades.
Won't be doing that again!

The Tetrarch · 31-08-2019 02:08PM

I bought a thoroughbred broodmare in 2017 for 12k.
The idea was she would have baby horses, one year for the next fifteen years.
When I bought her she was five years old, already had two foals, and was pregnant with a third.
She gave birth to the foal she was carrying, but has not got pregnant in 2018 or 2019 despite eight or nine visits to stallions, and plenty of vet work.

Jimbob1977 · 31-08-2019 02:16PM

Confederated slave holdings

harr · 31-08-2019 02:32PM

As for property... we were offered silly money for a very average 3 bed semi when prices were through the roof.. we should have sold it and rented for the next few years , same house sold for 90,000 when the arse feel out of the market..
we could be mortgage free and have a nice little nest egg now even after renting for the few years.

Squall Leonhart · 31-08-2019 02:41PM

Would have to echo the credit card comments so far. The interest rate really means you can end up paying an awful lot of extra money if you don't clear the bill monthly. I put a few silly purchases on one a few years back and only recently cleared it, spent a fortune doing so. Lesson learned.

fmpisces · 31-08-2019 03:17PM

Signing up for a 2 year contract with Vodafone mobile, paying €40 per month and the phone I got both times cost just under €300.
I know.....how can I be such an eejit......I just didn't have the money to buy a new phone so a "free" upgrade was what I decided to go with :rolleyes:

Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this?

worst financial decision you ever made?

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