What is your worst and most expensive financial mistake?

[HorseHeist]

Long time ago now, but mine was in my early twenties. Managed to buy two very unsuitable horses in succession over a short period of time They must have cost me thousands, to deal with the subsequent mess. Which was a lot of money going back almost a couple of decades.

I keep wondering if I'd put that money in a pension, what would it be worth now? I would have been off to a great start pension wise at an early age.

What stupid financial decision did you make, that sticks with you years later?

Another property related one.

Moving from London to the countryside, we opted not to pay a bit extra to include the field adjoining our house. We ended up paying 3 times more for the same land about 5 years later.

I was wondering the same thing. Surely breaking even is a hell of a lot better than spending tens of thousands on rent over 12 years!

In my mid to late 20s when I was single and living in a house share then 1 bed flat, I went out far too much with 'friends' that earned more than me.

They also went on fabulous holidays with partners, travelled, saw the world . I just got into debt.

It may seem a minor thing to some, but now I'm 30 years older , settled with mortage and family, I know that I will never see the world and have the adventures of a young person . My DH has been to NZ, Japan, USA etc...I've never left Europe. It won't be the same as a retired person.

I just think if I'd had only gone out half as much I would have had money for two adventures a year at least.

I don't know why, but it bothers me more and more as the years go by.

Used Land Rover

A stupid dumb stupid dumb interdisciplinary Masters in the 1990s. Did zero for my career, wanky cohort, shitty advisor who asked me to babysit her kids but didn't have time to read my thesis. I should really have left halfway through but I decided to persevere and at least get the degree.

My worst one was buying in 2007 or 8 and locking in at a high interest rate. I like certainty, but the rates dropped during my 5 yrs. My Mum has one, she and my Dad had a little place on the edge of what was a smallish town. They moved away. It's of course now highly sought after.

I always think, if we could just be like the royal family and stay in properties our family already own we would all be so much better off.

Coming out of the Teachers' Pension Scheme for four years 😭

Selling our first house. I was 20 when we purchased it for £67k it's in a great area good schools & transport links etc but we moved to a bigger house which I didn't love & have since moved again. In hindsight we should have stayed in the first house & extended it. It would have been worth similar to our current house (which I also love & am very happy in) but we would be mortgage free by now

"Investing" my inheritance instead of paying off the mortgage. Lost 95% when the company went in to administration.

Not selling some shares I'd bought when they massively increased in value from 0.05p per share to 35p per share. I waited too long and then they crashed again. Could have been £100k better off at the peak.

I second the horse debacle! Bought mine 6 years ago and in that time she's cost me over £30k in vet bills over and above what insurance has covered. I retired her last month at just 12 due to constant issues and 5 weeks in I get a call saying she's cut herself so that's another few hundred as I'd cancelled my insurance a few days before! I'd cancelled it because I wasn't prepared to take extraordinary measures for her anymore...

I can totally empathise with this. I slowly regaining 4.5st and currently only have about 2 pairs of trousers that fit. Sold anything that would fit on eBay. Not thousands but still annoying

Not taking more of a gamble with house buying, buying 2012 should have pushed to the max we could have borrowed due to the interest rates being so low for so long. Taking a tracker mortgage etc. We always played it safe.

We could be in a much better financial situation now, it’s not awful but I do wonder where we would be if we were more risky

"Free money from the Govt". No such thing. It is money paid for by the Taxpayer administered by the Government.

Agreed. Good for him, sticking to his values.

Horse!! Not my worst though. She was a wonderful mate. She was 36 when she passed.

I've read all replies, and property is a common one. I guess most people could say "If only I'd bought X in X place at X time".

I bought my first house in Aug 95 (great move!), traded up in 97 (another great move) and sold up in 2001 when OH and I split up. At 30 I was doing well, and had 60k in my back pocket and went travelling. Mistake #1 I should have bought somewhere before travelling. Came back, rented for a bit and by the time I bought in 2003, prices had risen so much I scraped a 2 bed flat but needed a lodger. In 2005 I met a man (think the Tinder Swindler) and ended up having sold my flat (Mistake #2) due to all his bullshit and broken promises, having to rent again. I then bought a 1 bed flat in 2007 (peak market) while spending way too much money clubbing and trying to keep up with rich mates. I sold again in 2008, at a slight loss, (stupid stupid move, mistake #3). Subsequently I rented for 11 years, while getting my shit together, ie a well paid job, a final salary pension, and watching house prices increase more than I could save. I finally bought with a 50% deposit in 2019 at aged 50, and ill have the whole mortgage paid off in 2026.

I'm financially OK now, but instead of paying 40% into my pension and massively overpaying my mortgage right now, I could be enjoying life a lot more, probably not working etc etc if I'd just been more savvy (while still having fun) when I was younger.

Picked the wrong uni and wrong degree. Was very unhappy and dropped out.

Still had to pay back circa £20k in student loan.

Very expensive mistake right out of the adulting gate.

Both involve property

First was not buying when I could easily have got a 100% mortgage. I still agree with why I didn't because negative equity etc but at the time the housing market was flying and I was too scared about losing my job. Perfectly valid reason but with the benefit of hindsight I would have been fine and now would be mortgage free.

Second was the first house I ended up buying - didn't love it, ignored some serious issues with it which meant I shouldn't have bought it. Overall it cost me nearly £100k to move and get a new house.

First one is a mistake I would probably make again because that was pure luck. Second one I still get upset about.

Oh and - like many people - I should have started a pension about five years before I actually did!

not really because presumably they have been spending the equivalent of rent on mortgage payments over the years? It's not like you buy a house and then live there free of charge

A few but one that bugs me is that over twenty years ago I had the chance to buy a round the world plane ticket with 7 stops. The price was very good. I was so tempted to go on my own and have an adventure but I got cold feet and didn't do it. No way would I afford it now and I couldn't anyway with a family. I should have travelled more when I could afford it.

Not starting my pension earlier!

I was going to buy a flat in Hackney in 1994 for about £40k but decided not to.

This was when Hackney was a shit hole with no transport links.

I want to weep when I think about that decision.

Leaving my civil service job. My husband was fired shortly after and then had problems getting a decent job.

We would have been really struggling if i didn't have generous in-laws.

Well, I probably should have bought my flat in London for 60k in the mid-90s. I would have made at least 150k selling it when we left London in 2003. I have no regrets though as we would have used it to buy a big house in Cork and no doubt have taken out a big mortgage to do so, as mortgage lenders were willing to throw money at us then, even with a tiny deposit. The housing market crashed by 50% a few years later so we would have been well and truly fucked, and stuck in negative equity for a very long time, unable to leave a county in a very deep depression. So a blessing in disguise! Instead, we were able to move to Australia where we could buy a beautiful house which has gone up massively since we bought it. So it all worked out in the end!