Financial Mistakes

Now that I think about it we don't marry any of the following...

Nags, bags, hags, wags, sags or drags :cool:
 
My word - just a bunch of investors on here.

I have made pretty lousy financial decisions, but will vouch for each and every one. Investing in mental wellbeing is also important - it comes in the form of holidays, fishing gear and spending money on yourself or loved ones without expecting a return other than the warm fuzzy feeling.
 
YeLo said:
Have you made a financial decision in the past that you regret today? Any experience that we can hopefully learn from is welcome.
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Many. I'll share two major ones:

1. Blew my bonus in January on US stock market and look where its at. Should have just left it in 5% interest account. Obviously I don't look at a 1 year window and ill get my money back eventually, but still.
A side note: dont use all your bonus to save for something, use 25-30% to buy something nice for yourself as a reward.
2. Bought a car in 2014 for R400k cash but should have settled for a R200k car and invested the rest. Still have the car and love it, but you dont forget the decision, ever. Could have bought R200k worth of Amazon at $15, today its worth $112. Lesson: dont let your emotions control your financial decisions. this is also valid for pt 1 above)

LD
 
Not taking a bigger risk on the right opportunity.

Watched Sasol go to R22 and on that day under invested on that opportunity...the amount of return if I had just pulled the trigger.

Oh well, until the next one.

For me it's that and not getting into property early enough in life.
 
Lukcydog said:
Many. I'll share two major ones:

1. Blew my bonus in January on US stock market and look where its at. Should have just left it in 5% interest account. Obviously I don't look at a 1 year window and ill get my money back eventually, but still.
A side note: dont use all your bonus to save for something, use 25-30% to buy something nice for yourself as a reward.
2. Bought a car in 2014 for R400k cash but should have settled for a R200k car and invested the rest. Still have the car and love it, but you dont forget the decision, ever. Could have bought R200k worth of Amazon at $15, today its worth $112. Lesson: dont let your emotions control your financial decisions. this is also valid for pt 1 above)

LD
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Would have, should have, could have doesnt really count as a financial mistake. It could have turned out great.

You can even make the same mistakes in the future, without knowing.
 
Signing up for old school style RA with when I was 23 with Old Mutual and committed paying until the age of 55.

I thought I was responsible ….. but who signs a contract for 32 years. Now I know they charge high fees and preform worse than their own benchmarks.
 
lord-of-war said:
Signing up for old school style RA with when I was 23 with Old Mutual and committed paying until the age of 55.

I thought I was responsible ….. but who signs a contract for 32 years. Now I know they charge high fees and preform worse than their own benchmarks.
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Have you moved the fund somewhere else yet?
Often even after penalties it makes sense to move to a low fees provider, like 10x or there’s plenty others in the market.
 
I have stopped the annual increases and only contribute the min payment. Signed up with Sygnia for their cost effective RA. Got a quote from Old Mutual to move it and almost had a heart attack. Decided as that is now such a small % of my premium and overall RA value it does not make sense to just lose money. I hope that there are some regulations update in the future banning these high transfer fees.
 
lord-of-war said:
I have stopped the annual increases and only contribute the min payment. Signed up with Sygnia for their cost effective RA. Got a quote from Old Mutual to move it and almost had a heart attack. Decided as that is now such a small % of my premium and overall RA value it does not make sense to just lose money. I hope that there are some regulations update in the future banning these high transfer fees.
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The high transfer fees have been banned but that doesn’t retroactively apply to the poor guys like you they had already caught out, swine.
 
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