Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Worst financial decisions?

Read that whole debt free thread and saw lots of anecdotes about individual financial success.
My finances are finally moving in the right direction after years of dumb decisions. I’m not sure I had any single terrible decision other than taking out my first credit card at age 22 to buy a Winchester M70 Sporter in 300 RUM that I never really liked. But that set the ball rolling toward carrying around 5 digits of maxed out credit cards for nearly 15 years. I even did a personal loan to transfer that debt and then re maxed out the card so I then had nearly double the last balance to pay off.
The year I got married, things had begun to to at least stabilize or so I thought, but my truck broke down towing our dumpy camper so I traded it in for a newer one worth three times the last one and financed it. Got married and overspent on honeymoon (we had money for it, we just doubled what we had available), then my wife financed a car worth 7 times her last. Later that same year she announces she’s pregnant with our first.

The pregnancy was my wake up call and from there we’ve had some good timing and made some good decisions to clear things up.

So how about you? What are some of the biggest stupid taxes you’ve paid, or biggest financial decisions you regret and would like to see others not make those same decisions. I realize this is the opposite of most of what we do where when we just toot our own horns here. But if you want to pass on wisdom from experience , it might be to air some of those regrets here.

Buying a bass boat. They're definitely money pits.

I have made some bad ones.

Getting a "free" breakfast and getting the hard sell for a time share. Didn't buy, but felt pissed off for the remainder of the trip.

Pretty lucky, have a few bad episodes of buyers remorse, but nothing major or catastrophic.

Buying a used JD Gator[diesel]..........

Damn boat, been lots of fun, but damn sure a money pit.

Just for laughs, the old, "I spent most of my money on beer, and women, the rest I just waisted".

Going to graduate school and getting my M.S..

Fireworks

I spent a lot on pussy the 4 years I was single

Buying a boat, selling it and not learning my lesson so I bought another boat. The biggest mistake was letting my wife (now my EX-wife) have access to the investment account.

Give it enough pages, someone's bought a Peloton. Haha

Thirty+ years ago not taking that starting job in a wireline truck and continuing in academia instead.

I dumb cause I still have the boat.

Saw the commercial the other day with the cute gal who got one from her hubby.

Asked my wife if I should get her one.

She laughed.

So I guess it won't be me you get to chuckle at.

Geno

I've spent too much on vehicles over the years. Even when I was single I had 4 vehicles, nice truck, hunting truck, nice car, beater road trip car. I'm always getting a hard time about vehicles. I should have been putting most of that money in retirement accounts.

There were some vehicles I made money on but most were a loss. Even now I have a 19 ram crew, my old 2 door 94 hunting Yukon, a 19 Cherokee trail hawk, and a 14 sienna. If I could only keep one it would be the 94 Yukon.

My other 2 financial weaknesses are guns and gold&silver. Luckily I've made money and am still ahead on the metals hobby and the guns have probably at least held their value overall.

Bb

If that had been the case, would you still be able to address the questions, and correct the ignorance, on some threads that you do now? You sometimes serve an important function here, you know.

Geno

I started my current job, and within a few months, I decided I needed to finance a new pickup truck. I was paid twice a month. One check just did make the truck payment. Never again do I intend to finance a vehicle. Dave Ramsey refers to this as "stupid tax".

Back in the 70's I took a neighbor's advice and wound up losing my azz on Winnebago stock.

Bought a brand new 1976 Ford pickup. POS.

Left the Air Force with only 20 in, should have stayed.

My first and repeated mistake was buying new vehicles on credit.
My second and repeated mistake was living above my income means with credit cards.
My third mistake was not paying myself first (10% off the top) that my dad always said was important.
My fourth mistake cost me about $100K. Playing a single tech stock, like a lottery ticket, with options, at the advice of an internet chat acquaintance.

I think that Dave Ramsey has the blueprint for all young couples on how to build lifetime wealth, from the get go, by following the Seven Baby Steps.