Money mistakes you don't regret?

[Waffle]

This thread was inspired by the recent basement office remodel thread.

There are many money mistakes I wish I had never made, but at least one comes to mind that I don't regret.

By most standards my decision some years ago to put a $14,000 patio enclosure essentially on a credit card was a financial mistake. But I love my patio room and don't regret it for a moment.

How about you have you made any "money mistakes" that you don't regret?

[telephus44]

Since it's my original thread - LOL - we also took out a 401K loan to be able to put a full 10% down on the house. It's now paid off, but I don't regret that either.

[KaraBoo]

I don't regret running up $10,000 in credit card debt helping my DH get custody of his kids.

At the time, we didn't have cash to pay for the motion to change custody (that DH brought), and could only pay for it with credit cards. My only regret is I wish he had done it 4 years sooner.

Kids went from moving every 6 months to a stable home, barely passing school to being accepted into advanced-placement/honors courses, having the truant officers hauling mom into court for the kids having 15+ absences per semester to having perfect attendance, and a whole slew of other bonuses.

It's a challenge and having 4 kids can be stressful at times, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

[swasat]

Using FSA student loans to fund my graduate education. I know YM says that you save for it or get a job that pays for the education.

I used student loans and only started paying them back once I joined the workforce back. Granted it was only $25K and I went to a state university. But a lot of people IRL gave me crap for going that route. I got a MS in Computer Science and man has that paid me back multifold.

[shanendoah]

I think mine might count as double-

buying our timeshare, on a credit card.

Its been paid off for years, and while we don't use it all the time, its allowed us to take some amazing trips that otherwise wouldn't have been feasible.

[swamp]

I financed a jet ski at 9% while also owing $ on a car loan and about $50k on student loan. I paid it off early, as I did my car and the student loan, adn I had so much fun. I still own it, and while I don't get to use it that much, it's still fun.

[midjd]

I received an inheritance from a great-great aunt at age 12 or so... it amounted to about $15K. My mom got it in her head that I wouldn't qualify for any financial aid for college if I had cash in the bank (even though she made <$20K a year at the time) so talked me into getting a new car at age 16. I ended up with a POS 2yo Ford Taurus that cost about $12K.

Oh, this was things you DON'T regret?

Taking an unpaid internship requiring a 140-mile roundtrip commute was probably not the financially wisest thing I've done, but it led to me being offered a FT job with benefits, so it all worked out for the best.

[thyme4change]

I bought my first house when we were in debt up to our eyeballs and we couldn't afford it. (3% down, sub-prime rate!) It really was a stupid thing to do, but, it pushed us to the point of desperation, so we pulled ourselves together. I could have seen us being people that bobbed around, in and out of debt, in and out of savings, etc. But after being desperately broke, we were inspired to fix that, and give ourselves enough cushion that we wouldn't be in that situation again. Also, I bought my first house as the housing market was going up. We made enough on that house to give us the full 20% down on our current house. I'm not convinced we could have (or would have) saved that much during those same years, and would have been priced out of our current house. If we waited until we could have afforded the house we are in, we would have paid twice as much for it and now would be underwater by several hundred thousand dollars.

So, all in all, we have been lucky in home ownership. Dumb, stupid luck.

[Deleted]

I don't regret borrowing money for my education despite choosing a comparatively low-paying field.

I don't regret leasing cars when I was too broke to cover the costs of a downpayment on a car or any repairs it may have needed.

[Tired Tess]

We had NO right to go to the Outer Banks in NC but we went anyway. We rented a fantastic beach house, ate out meals at home, sat on the beach all day, and have a family memory I relive over and over in my mind. No regrets.

[Gardening Grandma]

Well, many years ago, I committed a YM no-no. I was invited to Mexico City by a friend who was going to visit her family. She owned a condo so I'd have a free place to stay. I was living paycheck to paycheck in those days and did not have any money for a vacation (nor an EF). I borrowed the money for airfare and some extras and went for two weeks. Took me about a year to pay the loan off, but I had a wonderful experience. Beside the regular sightseeing, I enjoyed a number of meals at her family home.

[MN-Investor]

After working for a company for 20 years, I left in 1999. Basic YM advice is to roll your 401(k) over to an IRA. I didn't. I just ignored the money. The money was in company stock and a couple of large stock funds. If I had put the money into an IRA, I wouldn't have done better than the S&P 500. Fortunately, my company stock has really outperformed the market. In a year I'll be 59-1/2 and can use the Net Unrealized Appreciation rules without the 10% penalty. Woo-hoo!

[haapai]

I kept on making student loan payments when I was unemployed for a year. When I finally did get a job that paid $7.15 an hour, I never investigated the possibilities of getting a forbearance or getting on an income-based payment plan.

The two years between losing my original job and finally consolidating my old-style Staffords were pretty rough. I was pitifully broke and scared nearly out of my mind for most of it. But it did teach me a thing or two about budgeting and managing cash flows. When I finally consolidated, the unnecessary payments had made a nice dent in the balance and were a very large part of the reason why the new payment was so manageable.

[Epiphany]

- don't regret taking on (and paying off) 65k in SL debt for a career that doesn't pay that much (only make 50-55k now 10 years out

-don't regret buying our house with 0% down so we could use our savings to renovate

-don't regret putting 1k on my cc in college with no means to pay for it to go with DH to hawaii.

those are just a few I can think of

[stats45]

In my first year of graduate school (I was 21), I put airfare, train passes, and lodging expenses for about six weeks in Europe on a credit card. It didn't take too long to pay it off, but I should have saved instead.

I really wanted to go, and I was jealous of all my friends who had traveled overseas. I probably should have waited another year or two, but I wouldn't have traded the trip for anything. I haven't stopped planning trips since.

[Deleted]

LOL, there's a long list of them!

Probably the earliest is when I owed the IRS some money. I was newly self employed (19) and really didn't understand the concept of withholding for income taxes. I paid the IRS its full amount complete with penalty, and interest over a 2 year period of time. I subsequently learned about folks who made "Offers in Compromise" (effectively negotiating a settlement with the IRS). I would have been a good candidate because I didn't own anything and being self employed would have made the IRS' ability to collect difficult.

But I'm glad I went through that pain because after that two year period I never got into debt again other than the real estate we acquired (and nothing exotic with those loans either!). The "successful" IRS debt negotiators were back in debt again a short time later. I'm grateful I learned the lesson early!

There have been others; perhaps a nomination for being run off the YM Message Board would have been the purchase of our 1st house in the SF Bay Area in 1990 with 10% down and about 5X our gross income. Somehow we survived. And while we didn't really make any money on that house 6 years later it put us in position to be able to buy another house non contingent with 10% down. Hands down that house has been the best investment we've made short of DH's career.

[RoadToRiches]

Oh my...

Well, as funny as it sounds, I don't regret of getting into credit card debt. I learned a valuable lesson during this journey that I am still on. It costs me money of course, but I learned how important planning, budgeting and thinking about the future when it comes to money. It allowed me to appreciate money a lot more and don't take it for granted. It totally changed my way of thinking about money to the point that I never thought I would think like that.

But the best of all, even though I am still in debt, I learned what it feels like to be in control of my life. Getting in credit card debt also allowed me to act like an adult.

Some people learn from their parents about money, some learn hard way.

[sil]

-Used student loans to finance 4 semesters abroad. Even considering interest, that was probably the cheapest 2 years of travel I'll ever experience.

-Borrowed money from my sister to move across the country, to San Diego - a city where I knew no one, had no job prospects and then asked my parents to co-sign a lease on a studio apartment about a mile from the beach. I networked my butt off and got a decent job within a month. Paid my sister back in 4 months and renewed the lease on my own the following year

-Quit a job without having another job lined up. Actually, a director tried to have a manager write me up. I told the manager that if he really belived that I was guilty of the crap that was described in the warning letter, then as a shareholder I demanded to be laid off immediately (yeah, I was a bit over-dramatic) I got the layoff and spent the summer living near the beach, looking for jobs, and collecting unemployment. By Fall I got a new job paying 10% more.

Of course, all of this was in my 20's, before I met DH or had kids. I'm much more "by the book" with money these days

[chiver78]

indebt - it does sound a little funny, but I absolutely agree with you. I've raced down $40k in just under 3 years - all built up from my current place (I'll get to this below) I found myself pricing cars this past weekend, because I was bored. after spending 3 years here on these boards, I can't fathom spending that much on a car. I guess I should be thankful that I opted for an Acura (Honda) when I bought my new car back in '04 - if I maintain properly, I'm good for another 100k miles at least! but as far as my own mistakes I don't regret:

-I bought an apt condo about a year out of college (good move!) and about 6 months later, I decided to join DirectBuy - with a membership fee payable in 3 monthly installments of $900, followed by 10 years of $159 annually. (stupid move) I have yet to use my membership (another stupid move) but have a total overhaul renovation of my kitchen, as well as completely pulling the flooring up on my 1st floor. that stupid move 8 years ago is looking pretty good right now, with that reno staring me in the face!

-my current place is a 1250sf townhouse. I live alone. I have 2BR/1.5BA, and more storage space than I know what to do with. I bought it at a slight discount, as it had been empty for 6 months and was about to become a rental if it didn't sell - the listing piqued my daily RE update because the listing was being cancelled! I was able to put 10% down, but even with that, I'm about even on my loan-to-value due to the current market slump. I should regret this because the only reason I could "afford" the place was due to the lax lending rules in place at the time. in the 6 months after buying, I built up the non-car payment, non-SL portion of my starting WIRR balance. I'll just echo indebt here, in that I have learned a ton by putting myself into that position - stuff that I definitely didn't learn from my parents! I am now on the board of trustees here, and when all is right in the RE world (i.e. - the 10 years prior to my purchase) my unit will sell at a profit for what I paid. I'm OK with this.

-while paying off said race, I still built into my budget a line item for my annual vacation - a chartered cruise where the entertainment is mainstream/indie recording artists and songwriters. I discovered this trip before I found myself in a WIRR race, and made space in my budget to continue taking this trip while paying stuff down. I absolutely do not regret this decision because I have met some amazing friends (family, really) through this annual trip, some that I consider closer than some natural family! I've continued this trip, and added others throughout the year as my budget has gotten more leeway in the past year. at this point in my life, I can't imagine how different my life would be right now if I hadn't met these "chosen family members" along the way.

[Deleted]

The only money "mistake"I made (and I've made several) that turned out incredibly well is divorcing my ex-DH. He earned bigger bucks to my mini bucks so I should have been destitute. I never recognized that I was an ant to his grasshopper. I have saved so much more money and am in so much better financial shape since my divorce.

The ironic part is that he earned $100,000 to my $18,000 when we got divorced in 1998. He actually told me when I asked for the divorce that I couldn't "afford" to be divorced. (Hello, Macy's.) No, I didn't get alimony. (Kids were in college, one with a mega scholarship that PAID him $2000 a year to go to college; the other was in pharmacy school that we couldn't have afforded still married so she took out the same student loans she would have had to regardless.)

Somehow I have managed to save for retirement in a couple of outside accounts, work toward a pension that will pay 50% when I retire, and cut what I owe on my house my about 1/3 since then.

I am very proud of myself, which I mentioned to my now DH today. He told me that I should be. Guess why I love him? I am not called "stupid" any more. ")

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...I got married... had I let the numbers do all the talking in that decision, I would have regretted THAT...

[kgb18]

I don't regret borrowing money for my education despite choosing a comparatively low-paying field.

Same here. I had a great college experience. I think I learned a lot. I loved my school. I met my best friend there. And I like my job, even if they pay isn't great.

[SVT]

Spending like $75k for private college.

[hockeygrl]

I took out student loans for a Master's Degree I don't need for my job and didn't need to get the job at all. I had my undergrad paid for by Uncle Sam in return for four years of service, so I could be earning 100K+ with no student loan debt.

However, I learned the most valuable lesson of all: Academia was NOT for me. I got out of grad school with my consolation prize (the Master's - I was on a full PhD track, ugh!) and am sooo much happier working in the real world.

Also, no one can take that education away from me, and I loved every minute in the student section at all of the LSU football games I went to for 3 years, woohoo! I have so many fond memories of tailgating and the games that I am taking my son to his first game this year - before he even turns a year old. My best friend's mom and dad have had killer season tickets for years, so we are using them to indoctrinate the boy early. GEAUX TIGERS!!

[TheOtherMe]

I have committed so many money mistakes, I can't begin to remember them all. I did learn from all of them.

I put 0% down on my current home. I've been here 2 years. It was a rural development loan. I have no regrets about it even though others say I shouldn't have done this.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Taking out an extra $5k in loans to go to Borneo on a college trip. It was the experience of a lifetime and I am glad I did it when had no responsibilities or obligations.

[Pants]

An extra $3k on student loans to go to Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates last year.

[jd2005]

Don't regret taking out $100k in student loans for law school...well, I don't regret $80k...the other $20k I do as I did not need to live the "i have a job lifestyle" while in school.

[Deleted]

Buying our big, old, needs work house. Husband laid off less than a year later. Financially should have stayed where we were but I so love it here.

[midwestlily]

Quitting my IT job to go back to school to become a librarian. I now make 60% of my old salary, but I'm much happier. Also, paying out-of-state tuition for grad school would probably have sounded like a mistake to most people, but it gave me the opportunity to move to a different part of the country, which has also made me happier.