What's a lesson you learn the hard way in regards to money and finances

[Cupcakeicecream]

What's a lesson you learn the hard way in regards to money and finances.

That £80 is very easily mistaken for £30 when you're ordering from a menu without your glasses on.

Don’t have a credit card

Not great advice.

credit cards can be great, IF used properly.

Funerals are really fucking expensive.

Learned that when my Mum died suddenly with no funeral plan in place leaving me to pay for everything…

Why what’s wrong? It’s just the internet. ‘Content’ everywhere.

Don’t ever give your card number over the phone. Foolishly ordered a pizza over the phone and gave my long card number and 3 digits. Few days later my card was being used for all sorts! I had a gut feeling but then when I asked google straight away people said it’s ok. Also don’t trust google😄

THIS!

come on guys.... just because someone poses a question doesn't mean you have to answer without questioning why they want the the information 🙈🙈🙈

Don't assume your parents are telling the truth when they say everything is divided equally in their wills.

Start a pension asap, you can open them for children.

And save 10% of everything you earn

Exactly!

Very true. Wish I would have done it; especially the pension and s &s isa

Repay debt when you can. Chip away at credit cards / mortgage as fast as you can manage. When interest rates go up, you'll be glad if the debt is lower

@CantFindTheBeat you do know not every word on the internet is not true, right?

So an OP saying ‘I’ve just finish paying off my credit card after 10 years - lesson learnt! What are the lessons you’ve learned?’

Would be OK?

I’m with @PortalooSunset @Megapint and@NoSquirrels. Never write an article for a lazy Mail Online hack for free.

It would at least be trying.

I don’t care if lazy hacks want to make a post to see who bites. But it IS lazy, so I’ll feel free to point it out if I see it.

And we should all be aware how much information we give out online, sensitive or not, under anonymous usernames or not. Sometimes people share quite intimate details from their lives or the lives of their children or relatives, thinking they’re helping a fellow parent or individual in their situation when really it’s a troll or journo bottom-feeding.

This thread is relatively harmless, I guess. But would people answer as candidly if they thought they’d end up in the Scum or the Fail’s columns or tips?

@Flyinggeesei234

Oh... I didn't realise - silly me!!!

Let's tell people to continue sharing regardless, then.

Don't buy what you can't afford thinking the future will take care of it. Don't borrow money on credit cards or personal loans or buy furniture on the never never or "buy now pay later" anything.
We are hunter gathers. It makes us feel good to go out shopping, selecting the best bargain, "gathering" - it gives us a bit dopamine hit which was our reward for the gathering work when we had collected a big bag of food from foraging, and part of our evolution. When you realise that ( which I admit is unproven and just out of my own head) you think harder before you buy - what else could you do to make you feel alive rather than spend what you can't afford - a run, a game of badminton, whatever.
Do not, under any circumstances, put someone else's debt in your name, even a husband or partner, or family member, or let anyone get you to take a loan out for them. Ever.

Over pay your mortgage if you can

don't borrow money for your boyfriend/girlfriend/anyone.

Lump sum investment beats drip feeding 2/3 of the time: www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/articles/latest-thoughts/how-it-works/what-is-pound-cost-averaging

Slightly off topic, but someone here told me recently the Guardian has had a very successful year financially.
Which is annoying because it's a total shit-rag these days.

Tell us yours maybe...

I can vouch for this one.
MIL died this year. Fil died years before. They always said everything would be divided equally between their 2 children and. Dd and Ds would get a small percentage each

BIL moved in with his mother during lock down and gained POA over his mothers estate. As far as we can tell the will was changed and then mil was put in a home. When she died BIL was very evasive about the funeral arrangements.( Dh was only told of his fathers death until after the funeral Dh never got over that) BIL made up some BS about MIL not being able to afford a funeral. I had to point out to Dh it was BS.
DH finally started to question his brother about his parents estate and was told probate hadn’t been granted

Only when I went online because I knew he was lying and showed Dh his mothers will, how much she left and that it all went to his brother did he find out that his mother had changed her will and he got nothing.

No idea who all the money is going to go to as BIL never spends a thing. He has 3 houses that he says he lives in a 7 figure sum in the bank, a p/t job and his pension.
Apparently he was crying poverty to Dh that he couldn’t give his brother any money as what would he live on.
He isn’t exactly young.
His brother, Dh will die before him as Dh is living in borrowed time.
Because of circumstances I think Dh is resigned to never owning a house again, never going on holiday again.
I don’t think he will ever talk to his brother again either

He feels very cheated especially as he thought they were a close family

I paid for some stuff as a student on a credit card.

I learned fast that if you can't afford to buy it in cash, you are going to struggle to afford to repay the cash plus interest. Borrowing to buy is never a good idea.

Never buy a listed building

From a recruitment consultant - most people achieve their highest salary in their early 40s. Don’t assume you will continue to earn at the same rate beyond that.

That family will steal from you