Comments on: Ask The Readers: Money Mistake Monday – What’s Your Biggest Mistake?

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:44:49 +0000

Haven’t made too many mistakes.

I probably should have contributed to IRA earlier on, while in high school and college. But if i would have i would have been broke as i didn’t earn enough to cover the limits and in college i needed that money to live. Maybe i would have worked have worked more to make up for it.

By: David

David — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:17:22 +0000

Thanks for the great comments guys, appreciate them. I will leave the comments open all week and will assemble everything I receive into a new post next Monday – and will announce the winner of the book as well.

By: Zachary

Zachary — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:56:42 +0000

Not enrolling in my college-job’s 401(k) program when I was 18.

By: K2

K2 — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:42:09 +0000

I don’t know if this is by biggest mistake, but the most irritating one by far was bailing out/being swindled by a “friend.” I’m pretty money conscious and developed good habits like paying myself first when I got my first job. The problem was, my friends didn’t have these habits and thought that because I did, I was making more money than they were (I wasn’t.)

In one particular case, we would go out to dinner and he would “forget” his wallet. I would pay and he would “get the next one.” He never did. It took several times before I realized this really was intentional (don’t we all like to think the best for a while?) I stopped going out to eat with this “friend” but I really wish I had, just ONCE, asked for separate checks and left him sitting there wondering what to do next :}

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:22:08 +0000

A money mistake that always comes to mind is how much money we spent out our puppy when we first got her. My husband (fiancé at the time) and I got a puppy about 2 years ago. We were so excited that we immediately signed her up for a Puppy Kindergarten class. We don’t regret this, it was a great way for her to interact with other dogs at such a young age… and it was so cute watching a bunch of puppies play and fall all over each other. After this class ended, we then signed up for Obedience I. Again, this isn’t a class that we really regret taking, we learned a lot of basic training tools that we can use with future dogs as well as our current pup. We do, however, regret taking Obedience II… then we were “convinced” to take Agility I and II. These three classes were definitely not necessary and we kept telling ourselves we were “doing it for the dog,” but I’m not sure any of us (myself, my husband, or our dog) really enjoyed these last few classes. At well over $100 a pop, this was a huge waste of money. Especially considering how disobedient our dog really is now!

By: Kacper

Kacper — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:17:40 +0000

I should learn some basics of investing on stock market before jumping into it and picking different stocks almost at random.

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:37:16 +0000

My big money mistake was a rockin’ stereo and alarm system in my first “nice” car. I think I spent $2300 which could have gone towards debt…or a newer car.

I did enjoy the stereo quite a bit however….

Mike

By: Clare

Clare — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:15:56 +0000

Let’s see: biggest mistake? My former attitude about money. Looking back, I practically believed that shopping was a perogative, the only real way to spend one’s leisure hours. That and the supposition that a glut of possessions was directly proportionate to success. No, no, no–quite the opposite.

Now I’m much more discriminating. I believe that saving = success. And my quality of life has enjoyed a slow but steady increase. I’m grateful for the 180-degree shift.