Biggest Investing Mistakes

Aretnap

After I got my first proper job in 2002 I procrastinated about buying a house, in part because prices seemed to be going absolutely crazy and I believed the people telling me that they had to fall. That was in the days when you could still get a 100% mortgage for 4 times your salary at reasonable rates, so even parts of Cambridge were still well within the reach of a new graduate with little in the way of savings and a decent but not exceptional salary.

Luckily I did take the plunge at the end of 2003, but I reckon the delay cost me about £20K in terms of the price I eventually paid, £30K if you add in eighteen months' rent, and goodness knows what once you factor in the extra mortgage interest, not to mention opportunity cost.

Of course it could be a lot worse - I could have ended up locked out completely and could even now be sitting on HousePriceCrash listening to people telling me what a narrow escape I had.

Other than that, not saving enough when I was younger, and when I did start saving keeping it all in cash for too long because stocks and shares seemed scary. Like most people I suppose.

Superscrooge

BananaRepublic wrote: »

Fifteen years ago putting six thousand pounds in a Japan PEP. It is almost back up to six thousand pounds.

Similar story to me. 15 years ago I put all that years PEP money into a technology fund shortly before the dotcom crash and lost about 75%

webnibbler

Not taking on enough investment risk when I was in my 20s and early 30s. I didn't know better and simply paid into an insurance company low risk fund.

Taking on too much investment risk in my 40s. At least I can still do something about this!

Dan83

My biggest mistake to date investment wise (bare in mind I only started to make my money work for me in August) I fell for the adverts on a price comparison website, invested £3000 in a peer to peer company with 4% interest (and a free iPad mini) for 18 months and £1000 with 2% interest in a 9 month bond.

Although I'm confident I'll get my £3000 back in full from the peer to peer company, I can't help but feel like it was a bad move, as I could of made abit more with out the risk, if I'd done my home work properly.

Ifts

Not using my full S&S ISA allowance each year first (no CGT or any tax on dividends and no record keeping for the tax return) before buying outside it.

darkidoe

Ifts wrote: »

Using my full S&S ISA allowance each year first (no CGT or any tax on dividends and no record keeping for the tax return) before buying outside it.

What's wrong with that? Most people would be lucky to be able to invest the full S&S isa allowance and doing so within the ISA would be better no?

darkidoe

Aretnap wrote: »

After I got my first proper job in 2002 I procrastinated about buying a house, in part because prices seemed to be going absolutely crazy and I believed the people telling me that they had to fall.

Same old debate here. In my 20s and having the internal debate daily about buy vs rent and when to buy? In the end, I reckon it would be to buy when I find somewhere I would live in for decades. I don't think there is ever a right time to buy.

gadgetmind

darkidoe wrote: »

I don't think there is ever a right time to buy.

There is an old Chinese proverb that says "The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, the second best time is now."

Marine_life

Back in 2001 I put €5,000 into an internet fund right before the crash. I lost everything and wrote off the investment.

Last year I went back to look at what has happened to the fund (it took me 12 months to track it down as i had lost all the paperwork) and its now worth just over €5,000

Ifts

darkidoe wrote: »

What's wrong with that?

Sorry I didn't make myself clear, it should have started with a 'Not'.

I wish I had started to put more of my investments in a S&S ISA a lot earlier.