I could have been rich! Biggest financial mistakes

[rememberitalltoowell]

And how you come to terms with them?

I turned down a really well paid role for something else that didn't turn out as planned, and could only find much lower paying roles afterwards. When I work out what that decision cost me over the course of my career, we're talking hundreds of thousands!

Love this! Wise words.

Also asked a question

So how did you work out how much it cost you over the years?

Years ago, I was house sharing with a bunch of random people. Cheap rent. One guy was a computer geek and we had a sort of "situationship".

He was really into Bitcoin, and during a drunken Friday night in his room, he wrote down a load of stuff on the back of a notebook and handed it to me saying "you've got 50 (maybe even 500) bitcoin now". There was definitely a number 5 in there. I thought nothing of it, we had sex, I went back to my room, and never took the notebook. He moved out a few weeks later.

I had 2 bitcoin given to me when it was very very new. It was worth about 26p at the time, a little less. I found the wallet system confusing, back then it had to be installed on your PC. Decided the hassle wasn't worth it for 26p, uninstalled the wallet and didn't save the wallet ID or anything (don't remember much about it).

Emigrating to the wrong place. Taxes and bills never allowed me to create wealth. My family and friends who went to the US are so wealthy after years of working hard as me. My biggest regret and what have crippled me financially.

@Tatwrap

1999

The flat then was priced at £295k, it sold in 2024 for £925k.

The idea was to use the season ticket money to buy it and live there during the week, in order to achieve more work / life balance. We both loathed our hideous daily commute.

I vehemently disagreed with the idea because I knew the developments on Docklands had a difficult period in the early 90’s and I was dubious about how many developers were throwing cash incentives at potential buyers in 1998/99

I got it terribly wrong and wish he was still here to gloat about my stupid decision.

£295k in 1999 was a huge amount of money for a flat in the only developing docklands

It would have been like you buying a flat for >£700k

I understand the impact of inflation @Chillithai, but the whole proposal DH put forward was based on not handing over £12k a year to the Rail Company, but rather investing it in a property that would give us a much better work / life balance.

No matter which way I replay it, I think he was right and I was wrong !!

I don’t think you were wrong

That £295k property in 1999 would have been the equivalent of you buying a £700K plus property

I can vividly remember a guy telling me and some friends to invest in bitcoin about 12 years ago. We rolled our eyes at him but even if we have bought £100 then on my god! Would be SO much money

I bought a horse 😣, hate to think how much he’s cost me in livery, food, shoes, rugs and vet bills over the past 8 years. I’d have a very nice car with the money, but my life is much richer and I love him to bits 🥰

I can beat that, I nearly bought in East London, near Victoria park in the late 90’s. My idiot ex husband wouldn’t live in East and we fannied around looking at West which we couldn’t afford. I’d be sat on a £1.5 million property and got divorced 3 years later. I do have a property so realise I am luckier than many, but it’s very modest and had to give my career, mainly for caring responsibilities so will have to work way beyond what I expected to several decades ago.
Late ND diagnosed and menopausal so try to cut myself a bit of slack and not think about it too much!

I bumped into a colleague the other day and asked about my old workplace. They left a few months after I did with a redundancy package!!!! I had to give myself a talking to, I left at the time for a ton of reasons and wouldn’t really have stuck it out ….

Well I'd have been rich from bitcoin cos I wouldn't have looked at it until I read it hit £13.5k each because I spent most of that period of timing building my business and looking after my ill husband. I'd have had £105m of bitcoin at that stage. We decided against investing for one reason - who would be using an unregulated currency? And we thought of criminals snd the dark Web. How pious were we?! All currencies are used by criminals.

Tbh a big slug of money then, just after my DH had died would not have been good for us as a family, we were in turmoil.

I'd take it now though, lol!

Where did you buy in the end?

You could literally apply this to most situations though. If I hadn’t had kids i would have had at least £100k saved as I was putting away £500 per month. BUT I wouldn’t have had my cuties who are now teens and I get more pleasure out of them than any amt of money.

My husband didn’t have life insurance when he died!!!! Am I bitter a little if I think about it, BUT It is what it is and as a fiercely independent wife I never wanted him to pay for me anyway 🫣.

I deeply regret buggering about with my mortgage. House went up steadily in value and I kept remortgaging for daft stuff like holidays etc. If I’d left it alone I’d have been mortgage free 6 years ago. As it stands I’ve still got 5 years left. 🙄

Yea, I decided to start my own business. It was a lot of stress, no thanks and poor returns. So I closed it down, returned to my supermarket job, poorer but wiser. We have a good laugh at work.

Yup, my partner used to have 50 I think, we used them all when times were lean.

I was too busy playing with play doh and barbies in the 90s when I should have been buying property.... what an error.

Not me, but someone I know, was offered a place in a pop group and a first song. The song is a perpetual party hit.

Yeah, but as an industry it's pretty terrible for work/life balance on the whole. I used to be a bid manager for a medium sized city firm.

My OH didn’t put a substantial amount on Jenson Button to win the 2009 drivers championship when he was 1000-1. Even though he was convinced after testing he’d win it. He still goes on about it. That and not buying gold.

In house is generally regarded as having a good life work balance