Financial Mistakes

"Investing" on the JSE - That was just stupid.

Not buying more property when younger.
 
So I reckon we sweat the small stuff way too much, and then the big ticket items we spend like 5 minutes on.

So Sepeng's advice for the kids:
  • In SA, what you study matters
  • Who you marry matters - your spouse can make or break you. Forgetting divorce which in itself can cripple you financially, a "bad" partner can depress you, demoralise you, while a great one will force you to better yourself, push yourself. Problem here is, how in the world do you know at the time if it's the right choice? And that's a thread for another day
  • So yes, getting the best return on your investment is what we all want. But don't let worrying about whether you'll get 5% or 10% or 50% back stop you from doing something. I'm involved in this fintech startup thingamejig, and one of the big issues we face is, people will ask - if I invest R100, what will I have at the end of the year. And you umm and ahh and say different things but they want a number, so you say R110. Which as a % is OK but as a number is meh. And they think it's meh so they don't start not realising they'll have R0 at the end of the year cos they'll waste that money. So do something. Anything. Get your foot in the door soon as you can. Then quickly learn about various financial instruments that can best maximise your return
  • Spend money (and perhaps more importantly, time) on the things that are important to you. I love travelling, it's crazy expensive and no way I can justify it but I do it. But what it's made me realise is - if I'm going to spend R10 000 on a holiday, it doesn't make sense to worry about the fact that it costs me R2 to withdraw cash from an ATM rather than R1. I'd rather spend time on worrying about how to earn an extra R10 000 a year to afford that holiday. Same goes for cars, gadgets, whatever.
  • And in saying that, we waste an awful lot on junk we don't need - again look at the big waste items
  • Sometimes, step out of your comfort zone. Everyone says when buying a house, buy well below your means. And that's good advice. But, sometimes, it pays to buy above your means so to speak. Can force you to focus a bit more, cut out what's not necessary, and for a bit of pain for say a year, can lead to many more years of happiness/ financial freedom. Trick is knowing when to do that; I've got no advice there
So my mistakes have related to not doing some of the things above - not taking risks, spending time on things that just don't make sense, worrying that my investment only went up by R100 and then blowing R500 on KFC for the family, that kinda stuff.
 
Not buying any more properties.

When I just got married I just bought a house in Randburg for R330k (2001), we lived there 6 months and basically just gave it a lick of paint and did some garden work. I then got a job in CPT and I was too afraid to keep it to rent and sold it for R400k. I was smiling at the time at the stupid profit I made in 6 months, but if I'd kept it, it would have been paid off years ago.

2nd Property I saw when I just arrived in Capetown was a house right next to the beach in Melkbos Strand which went for R350k but needed work. If only I'd know how the area and value of beach houses would explode I could have made a killing. I stopped my OTP because I was still young and the next owner who bought it basically scrapped the house and build a mansion on the plot.
 
I am good at managing debt, that is a plus, but I am hesitant to take risks, and when I did take a calculated risk the pandemic happened, and well, it didn't count towards me. 2019, going into 2020 was not a good time... and it hurts to this day.

The biggest mistake I made was to waste my crypto I made up to 2011, lost some wallets along the way, and dumped in 2017. I was really early with AntShares (now NEO), and should have loaded those gains onto BNB. Missed it because I didn’t trust crypto to succeed.
 
Margin trading yes. Clueless
BTC, I bought the last BTC when it was over a bar. LMFAO
Pretty much any stock. I buy high and sell low. Except for Sasol for me personally, have proper growth there.
Capitec shares. Sold a ton of them at R170. Made some money. Imagine my feeling today. Luckily the family trust got in at R1 a share.

And then of course getting married. Between supporting her and her folks by buying cars and stuff for her and them and the divorce, everything cost me a bar. She got fsckall with the divorce.
 
A lot of good insight in this thread. I have learnt a few things, thanks for sharing people.

But there also a lot of things people are saying which are not really mistakes - and these are more the hindsight is 20/20 kind of stuff. E.g. "I should have listen and bought bitcoin at Rxxxx". But the thing is nobody could have predicated any of it and simply not going down that route it not necessarily a mistake. So dont beat yourself up too much.

Overall my biggest mistake is starting investing later then I could have. I just sat on cash for a long time when I started working. Regardless of where I invested it, I should have been diligent and taken some portion out and invested it - be it property, shares, bonds etc. The earlier you start the great your long term returns. Start as early as you can. Teach you kids to start as early as they can.

I also bought shares based on hype I was seeing on other people buying - this costed me. I have gone back to being a passive investor and buying a different ETFs mostly instead of cherry picking. I don't understand financial statements, balance sheets, company valuations, P/E ratios, HEPS etc. All these terms mean nothing to me. For me, it doesn't make sense to cherry pick shares.

I agree on the point on cars, unless you are super passionate about them - rather see a car as a depreciating asset, that you will lose money on.
 
Not investing and saving from my very first paycheck. I often daydream about how my finances would look now if I invested 10%, saved 10% from the get go.

I also took on too much debt simultaneously with the birth of my kids. We bought a bigger house, bigger car and had twins all at the same time. With the costs of living having skyrocketed, we are really struggling to keep our heads above water.
 
I recently sold my Suzuki Celerio because I WFH and did not use it that much. My biggest want right now is a Ford Fiesta ST200, it's such a great little car. It's all I need, but I cannot justify spending so much on a depreciating asset when I don't even have property or decent investments. Two examples on AutoTrader currently retail for R350k, which is ridiculous imho. Hopefully, things get better when the used vehicle market returns to normal.

As others before me have mentioned, it's so easy to fall into the cool car trap especially when you're a car enthusiast. I agree with what @Sepeng said about getting out of the comfort zone but man I'm hesitant about getting into debt for a car while I don't have any meaningful property or investments.
 
YeLo said:
I recently sold my Suzuki Celerio because I WFH and did not use it that much. My biggest want right now is a Ford Fiesta ST200, it's such a great little car. It's all I need, but I cannot justify spending so much on a depreciating asset when I don't even have a property or decent investments. Two examples on AutoTrader currently retail for R350k, which is ridiculous imho. Hopefully, things get better when the used vehicle market returns to normal.

As others before me have mentioned, it's so easy to fall into the cool car trap especially when you're a car enthusiast. I agree with what @Sepeng said about getting out of the comfort zone but man I'm hesitant about getting into debt for a car while I don't have any meaningful property or investments.
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Yes, priorities. I also had them. Spending way too much on random kak lately.
 
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