worst financial decision you ever made?

Gregor Samsa · 02-09-2019 09:01AM

cournioni wrote: »

Hotel breakfasts are usually a rip off and horrible too. I never bother with hotel breakfast and head out somewhere for it, usually a far better experience.

Ah no! The buffet fry-up is the best part of a hotel. Can't be dealing with wandering the streets first thing in the morning looking for grub. I'd sleep in a pile of boxes in a stairwell, but you need your plate piled high with sausages, rasher, eggs, black pudding and toast, washed down with tea and orange juice, and to know that you can go up and get more if you want. Obviously abroad, they're unlikely to have the black pudding, but that's fine - it's good to appreciate other cultures. They usually have a spicy sausage or something. I'm off to Bulgaria for work in a couple of weeks, and I'm already looking forward to the breakfasts.

Unless of course it's the "breakfast" that consists of noting but a pastry and coffee. If I wanted elevenses at 8 AM, I'd... well actually I don't know what I'd do, because it makes absolutely no sense.

Sleepy · 02-09-2019 09:10AM

A bit of a different take on this one: I stayed in my first job for way too long. Straight out of college I got a job on the support desk for a fairly niche ERP system. Had a few promotions over the 7 years I worked for the company and thought I was doing fairly okay for myself. Managed a couple of holidays a year, pissed away fortunes at the weekends etc.

Only "left" when they made me redundant during the recession. Found out then that from the end of my second year on I could have been clearing €500 to €1,000 a day over in the UK because there was (and still is) a huge market for consultants with expertise on that ERP system. By the time I found out, I had a family to support and while it was a handy fall back to get me through 6 months after the redundancy, the weekly commute wasn't exactly ideal for family life.

Had I joined that consulting market as soon as I could have (and while I was single) I could have easily saved the price of a house, picked up something cheaply during the crash and be living mortgage free now.

Mad_maxx · 02-09-2019 10:02AM

Lollipops23 wrote: »

My parents gave me €15k at 19 years of age from an inheritance. I was made invest €10k of it, and the remaining €5k on what I wanted. Bought a car (and got my full licence), traveled a bit and generally had a good time with that part.

Of the invested €10k, I got maybe €2k back. We invested it in Sept 2007, so when it matured 3 years later it had been decimated.

That doesn't make any sense unless the bank ripped you off, did the money go into an extremely high risk bond portfolio with a three year maturity rate?

Even you invested in an equity fund in late 2007,by late 2010, it would not have dropped by the amount you claim

Maybe you bought shares in an Irish bank?

Lollipops23 · 02-09-2019 10:16AM

Mad_maxx wrote: »

That doesn't make any sense unless the bank ripped you off, did the money go into an extremely high risk bond portfolio with a three year maturity rate?

Even you invested in an equity fund in late 2007,by late 2010, it would not have dropped by the amount you claim

Maybe you bought shares in an Irish bank?

It was with First Active- a friend of my brother's managed the portfolio for me (I was 19 and didn't have a clue). From memory I know most of it was invested in retail property...it was deemed 'medium' risk at the time.

Elemonator · 02-09-2019 10:37AM

None of these are worth stressing about. It's in the past and you're better off moving on. You can't change it and its in the past.

That being said, I'm still annoyed I didn't get into Bitcoin even as recently as five years ago after a friend told me about it. Here's me living at home just starting off and he's got a house, an unreal IT job, a few holidays a year, and an Audi A3 in his early 20's

Wish him the best but I'm envious.

SusieBlue · 02-09-2019 10:42AM

I took out several frivolous loans in my late teens early 20's to pay for holidays to exotic, cultured, glamorous locations such as Magaluf, Aiya Napa, and Ibiza. Holidays I could have easily afforded on my part time wage if I had bothered my arse to put some money away every week.

Now I always paid them back, never missed a payment or had my credit rating effected but I really regret borrowing money to essentially go on the piss for a week in the sun.

andekwarhola · 02-09-2019 10:47AM

Buying a house when we did..

The payments are affordable, thankfully and It's actually worth around the same now as when we bought it, and we still live in it years later and we like the area but if we'd have waited about 5-6 years longer and kept saving, we'd have got it for around half the price.

There wasn't even huge pressure to buy as rents were not as crazy then but we just jumped in like a lot of people.

Wildly Boaring · 02-09-2019 11:08AM

Cars cars cars cars cars

Have had about 20 (between me and wife)

Most were grand but 2 stick out.

Bought a legacy with engine management light on. Got it cheap enough and then spent half my wages sorting it. Fecking o2 sensor went and I ended up letting it off for about a 110% loss over 6 months.

Bought a mark 2 gti and head gasket went twice. Let it off after a year at a fifth of what it cost me.

Thing is I loved both cars and whilst financial suicide I'd do it again

sdraobs · 02-09-2019 11:21AM

Buying a house, timing was okay as in wasnt hit in a financial crash.

But the costs of fixing roof, gutters, doors, carpets, new kitchen. its a money pit even though house is only 20 years old. Fell into the trap of thinking renting was dead money and took the house purchase plunge.

also i stupidly follow the phrase "watch the pennies and the pounds will watch themselves". worst phrase ever. spend time on your career and investments as opposed to concentrating on saving 10cent on cheaper groceries.

Also when leaving school, do something that you are good at and will make money rather than something you enjoy. i love music but the music degree has cost me mega $$$$ in opportunity cost in a better career. you might say there are more important things than money and a career with $$$. But this is a financial decisions topic.

stratowide · 02-09-2019 11:56AM

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Cars cars cars cars cars

Have had about 20 (between me and wife)

Most were grand but 2 stick out.

Bought a legacy with engine management light on. Got it cheap enough and then spent half my wages sorting it. Fecking o2 sensor went and I ended up letting it off for about a 110% loss over 6 months.

Bought a mark 2 gti and head gasket went twice. Let it off after a year at a fifth of what it cost me.

Thing is I loved both cars and whilst financial suicide I'd do it again

Back when I worked as a mechanic the old saying went.."If it's got t*ts or tyres it'll cost you money.."

o1s1n · 02-09-2019 12:10PM

Buying a house in 2013 for 270k, splitting with the co owner and selling it in 2015 for 280k...

Then seeing that the people who bought it from me sold it the following year in for 350k.

So not only did I lose my first time buyer exemption (and now have to save 20% deposit on my next property), I also have the icing on the cake of knowing that if I'd hung on an extra year and sold the house in 2016 rather than 2015 I would have potentially made an additional 70k.

Geuze · 02-09-2019 12:34PM

Lost nearly 10k buying Irish bank shares.

Lost 50k selling a house.

sdraobs · 02-09-2019 01:17PM

o1s1n wrote: »

Buying a house in 2013 for 270k, splitting with the co owner and selling it in 2015 for 280k...

Then seeing that the people who bought it from me sold it the following year in for 350k.

So not only did I lose my first time buyer exemption (and now have to save 20% deposit on my next property), I also have the icing on the cake of knowing that if I'd hung on an extra year and sold the house in 2016 rather than 2015 I would have potentially made an additional 70k.

your wolfenstein 3d profile picture goes well with how you feel about losing out. Your decision wasnt a bad financial decision. the market could have crashed again in 2014 and you have been lucky. deciding when to buy and sell is like the throw of a dice, you cant predict. splitting with someone is a good financial decision in my opinion.

Feisar · 02-09-2019 01:25PM

Got circa 10K redundancy during the crash. Was going to throw it into AIB shares, you know buy low sell high. Wiser council said that would have been madness.

Instead I pissed it away.

Ash.J.Williams · 02-09-2019 01:27PM

formed a company to fulfill an IT contract...worst idea ever unless you're extremely disciplined, Miss/mistake a VAT payment and your essentially worse than a rapist!

tony1980 · 02-09-2019 01:29PM

Sleepy wrote: »

A bit of a different take on this one: I stayed in my first job for way too long. Straight out of college I got a job on the support desk for a fairly niche ERP system. Had a few promotions over the 7 years I worked for the company and thought I was doing fairly okay for myself. Managed a couple of holidays a year, pissed away fortunes at the weekends etc.

Only "left" when they made me redundant during the recession. Found out then that from the end of my second year on I could have been clearing €500 to €1,000 a day over in the UK because there was (and still is) a huge market for consultants with expertise on that ERP system. By the time I found out, I had a family to support and while it was a handy fall back to get me through 6 months after the redundancy, the weekly commute wasn't exactly ideal for family life.

Had I joined that consulting market as soon as I could have (and while I was single) I could have easily saved the price of a house, picked up something cheaply during the crash and be living mortgage free now.

What was the ERP system out of curiosity?

flexcon · 02-09-2019 01:39PM

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

formed a company to fulfill an IT contract...worst idea ever unless you're extremely disciplined, Miss/mistake a VAT payment and your essentially worse than a rapist!

Going through that at the moment - same scenario - just to fill one or two big contracts.

I have to pay an account for advice on how all of this works - it’s a right balls if I mess it up.

Ash.J.Williams · 02-09-2019 01:43PM

flexcon wrote: »

Going through that at the moment - same scenario - just to fill one or two big contracts.

I have to pay an account for advice on how all of this works - it’s a right balls if I mess it up.

Yeah I thought I was up to date but missed a vat payment...doesn't take long for the sheriff to call

partyguinness · 02-09-2019 01:44PM

I had €1500 worth of Anglo shares. Worthless now of course but at the same time came very very close (mortgage offer and contract papers in front of me) to buying an over priced Celtic Tiger vanity buy to let in early 2007 just before the crash for €195k.

They were trying to flog them for €40k the last I heard. So will take the €1500 hit gladly.

I actually have no idea why I changed my mind- I like to think someone upstairs for looking out for me..:o

wyf437gn6btzue · 02-09-2019 01:55PM

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

formed a company to fulfill an IT contract...worst idea ever unless you're extremely disciplined, Miss/mistake a VAT payment and your essentially worse than a rapist!

Did you get a fine for it?

Car99 · 02-09-2019 02:14PM

Sleepy wrote: »

A bit of a different take on this one: I stayed in my first job for way too long. Straight out of college I got a job on the support desk for a fairly niche ERP system. Had a few promotions over the 7 years I worked for the company and thought I was doing fairly okay for myself. Managed a couple of holidays a year, pissed away fortunes at the weekends etc.

Only "left" when they made me redundant during the recession. Found out then that from the end of my second year on I could have been clearing €500 to €1,000 a day over in the UK because there was (and still is) a huge market for consultants with expertise on that ERP system. By the time I found out, I had a family to support and while it was a handy fall back to get me through 6 months after the redundancy, the weekly commute wasn't exactly ideal for family life.

Had I joined that consulting market as soon as I could have (and while I was single) I could have easily saved the price of a house, picked up something cheaply during the crash and be living mortgage free now.

Or as young adult on 3k a week you could have become addicted to coke, hookers and booze. Who knows.

Sleepy · 02-09-2019 02:36PM

tony1980 wrote: »

What was the ERP system out of curiosity?

Agresso (now called Unit4 Business World but only by the marketing department!).

Car99 wrote: »

Or as young adult on 3k a week you could have become addicted to coke, hookers and booze. Who knows.

Unlikely, TBH. I've never taken coke and never will as it just turns otherwise nice people into utter cvnts. I was drinking as much as I wanted to back then already (way too much) and even had I developed the interest, you'd be hard pressed to piss away thousands a week on hookers while holding down a job!

Kermit D. Frog · 03-09-2019 07:27PM

Spent some money visiting a prostitute in Western Australia. Couldn't get it up I was that nervous.

Comhrá · 03-09-2019 08:08PM

Saved around 25k back in the day with the SSIA scheme. Invested the lot in Anglo and IPBS shares. Lost the entire lot. Never thought the banks would crash and held the shares too long. Valuable albeit costly lesson learnt.

Ash.J.Williams · 03-09-2019 08:15PM

Azariah Sticky Monument wrote: »

Did you get a fine for it?

No goes straight to a collector with fees

Sammy2012 · 03-09-2019 08:17PM

Fixing our mortgage for 10yrs at 4.85%... fixed term is up in 8 months! So we can finally avail of cheaper rates!

Ash.J.Williams · 03-09-2019 08:18PM

Azariah Sticky Monument wrote: »

Did you get a fine for it?

Also forgive me for my choice of words but it was meant as satire as I genuinely believe you'd be jailed quicker for taxes than violent crime in fact it's obvious I guess

Tell me how · 03-09-2019 08:20PM

cournioni wrote: »

Hotel breakfasts are usually a rip off and horrible too. I never bother with hotel breakfast and head out somewhere for it, usually a far better experience.

That's rarely an option when on a work trip and you expect to have left hotel to go to work site by 07:30 or 08:00.

BrokenArrows · 03-09-2019 08:21PM

No major individual bad decision.
However i have been working my whole life in reasonably well paid jobs but didnt really start saving any money until my late 20's.

Previously had wasted away any amount of money i saved on cars, motorbikes, holidays, spending way too much money on nights out.

Had i saved even a little consistently from 20-29 i would have had a nice little nest egg.

I still managed to save a deposit for a house and purchased a few years ago, so not really in too bad a shape. But could be better off.

I also didnt sign up for my work pension scheme for about 5 years. So lost out on about 20k in free money there.

03-09-2019 09:10PM

Comhra wrote: »

Saved around 25k back in the day with the SSIA scheme. Invested the lot in Anglo and IPBS shares. Lost the entire lot. Never thought the banks would crash and held the shares too long. Valuable albeit costly lesson learnt.

this one is gas (sorry!) - a little microcosm of Ireland's boom/bust period.

my worst investment was probably just not bothering to take out an SSIA. I was working in a bank and all and just didnt bother.

Or maybe it was spending years doing a PhD that nobody gives a **** about. I dont even wanna think about the lost income. :mad:

worst financial decision you ever made?

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