Whats been your biggest financial blunder

merlingrey

When i started investing in 2006 i made the mistake of thinking a big blue chip bank like RBS paying a good yield was a good idea and "safe"

Boy did i feel stupid when i sat like a rabbit staring in headlights as i lost about 95% of my investment.

I also had not used enough diversion and was 40% all in that stock, because it was safe right, not like a big bank like that would go bust or anything!

To some degree i was unlucky, wrong place at the wrong time but i also made 3 critical early mistakes:

1.lack of diversification
2.viewing the company as a stock price rather than a real business and thinking the price when it started to drop was wrong and that it would turn around.
3. Thinking something was "too big to fail" and not understanding the wider economic picture and trend was changing. Northern rock going under was the early clue to get out, i would have saved myself painful losses if i took the hint (evidence was actually in front of my face)

Glen_Clark

Buying a new Rover Maestro was a good investment for me, because I looked after it, got 18 years of trouble free motoring out of it, then £2,000 from the Governments scrappage scheme - (a subsidy from the British taxpayer for foreign car makers)
Its only a bad investment if you sell it in the first few years.

Glen_Clark

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

They cant legally force a loss on owners of the business like that.

They could, but they won't. They will continue to give the banks hidden subsidies like cheap money they don't pass on to their borrowers. Then split the banks into a good part - to sell at a 'profit', and a bad part - to nationalise. Political Expediency.

Glastoun

Not quite a financial blunder, but I spent £ks on a film project that ultimately went nowhere – when I look back on it I feel like the ‘sad and wiser man’ from the end of The Rime of The Ancient Mariner (the Iron Maiden version), but it was great fun to do and I learnt a lot, so I kind of look at it as a self-funded graduate trainee scheme.

Others:

Calling LloydsTSB customer services to ask a question about my credit card account, triggering them to switch off the 0% interest rate that had been active for two years but was supposed to be deactivated after six months. That 18 months probably cost them £1500 in interest.

Online betting, which I tried three times and would luckily have made money out of (only £100) if I had stuck to the rules and limits I’d set out at the beginning, but headrush and all that. And miscalculated a ‘take advantage of slightly different odds at different bookies by betting on all outcomes guaranteeing a fraction of a percent return’, losing £100. My friend tried the same system with about thirty quid, but accidentally placed the same bet at two bookies, which both won, and also Beckham to score first, which he did, and ended up with £250. He ended his betting career there.

Being hasty in putting down deposits for rented flats, only to have to pull out and losing around £400 on two occasions.

Not making note of time online while dialing into university computers in the summer holiday, and ending up with a £250 phone bill for three months.

But generally all these are made up for in positives, and as Jack Kerouac said, ‘accept loss forever’. After all, the Ancient Mariner still got invited to that wedding in the Iron Maiden song, so at least he had a social life.

nbrewitt

Selling my first house prior to prices really taking off in 2002 when I should have kept it for rental income. Still kicking myself over that one, lesson learnt :mad:

JohnRo

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Its only a bad investment if you sell it in the first few years.

Indeed, brand new car, 10 years and counting of low mileage hassle free motoring and a very low and affordable FSH maintenance bill. Insurance is half decent too at sub £300.

Skoda Octavia vRS cost me £13K out of the showroom and on the road. It's far from the most sensible car and does have some minor annoyances but the economy is decent and the boot is huge.

PeteW

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Buying a new Rover Maestro was a good investment for me, because I looked after it, got 18 years of trouble free motoring out of it, then £2,000 from the Governments scrappage scheme - (a subsidy from the British taxpayer for foreign car makers)
Its only a bad investment if you sell it in the first few years.

A car is a depreciating asset - classics aside, it's never an investment, good or bad.

You might have got good 'value' out of it, but you could have had 18 years out of a much older, and cheaper car. Even buying the same car at 18 months old would have saved you a huge portion of the purchase price.

I love cars, but they're a total waste of money.

JohnRo

PeteW wrote: »

A car is a depreciating asset - classics aside, it's never an investment, good or bad.

You might have got good 'value' out of it, but you could have had 18 years out of a much older, and cheaper car. Even buying the same car at 18 months old would have saved you a huge portion of the purchase price.

I love cars, but they're a total waste of money.

I take the point about "nearly new" but the investment isn't just a straight purchase money in, sale money out equation surely?

Newbie2saving

Bought RMP, only a small amount, still got them actually in the hope that something will happen!!! Lost pretty much the lot.

Bought BARC at a high and was toying with throwing a chunk of ISA money at them last yr when they were at a low to balance things out and never got round to it. Also 'nearly' bought tesco at this time.

Funds wise - as a new investor I was taken in by HL's marketing and followed Bolton's China SS, down at 30% at one point, not quite that bad now, but still not back to evens.

Glen_Clark

PeteW wrote: »

You might have got good 'value' out of it, but you could have had 18 years out of a much older, and cheaper car. Even buying the same car at 18 months old would have saved you a huge portion of the purchase price.

It is if you can find a good secondhand car. But that takes time, effort, and luck to sort through all the ex company / hire / abused cars. If you buy new and look after it from day one you have got a far better chance of 18 years trouble free motoring.
So, if you are going to keep it for its whole life, it can pay to buy new. But I wouldn't recommend buying new if you are only going to keep it a year or two.