Waste of Money

[cardude]

Pre-retirement:

1. Paid top dollar for a house back in 2007. Our market has not dropped (in Texas) like on the coasts, but I still paid too much and it's pretty embarrassing. However, DW is happy so maybe it's not THAT big of a deal.

2. Boats. I never get enough use out of them or much money back when I sell them.

3. Hot rods. Same as above.

4. Motorcycles. Four wheelers.

5. Fish camp I don't really use much any more.

Post-retirement:

1. Spending more on travel than I thought we would.

2. Swimming pool to go along with the big house I paid too much for. Yes, I'm an idiot.

 

[kyounge1956]

Multi-level marketing.

'nuff said

 

[Nords]

A $5000 non-refundable deposit on a North Shore home that we ended up not buying.

Tuition at the School of Experience-- priceless.

 

[FinanceDude]

Crap from all those "parties of friends"...i.e. Pampered Chef, Silpada jewelry, Longaberger baskets, and some candle company that sold $15 candles..........

 

[popowich]

As you reflect back in time what have been your areas of waste or inappropriate use of your money/funds both pre FI and during FI using the retrospectoscope ?

I let my company stock become too much of my wealth in the early 2000's and it let it go BOOM (essentially $0)!

I bought a new F-150 truck in 2005 when I should have stuck with my 2000 F-150. I got a good deal on the trade in but I'd be financially happier today if I was still driving the 2000 that would be up around 100,000 miles now. The odl one went through some Buffalo winter and was fairly rusted up underneath and starting to give me troubles... but still cheaper to repair than get something new. Next vehicle will be 2 years used to save bucks hopefully at least another 5-7 years away.

I went bonkers with my margin ability as things were collapsing in 10/2008 and only managed to make bad worse. This was limited to my discretionary trading account and did not do any damage to my 401K or IRA, but still, i lost a couple extra thousand at the time that I didn't need to waste away.

 

[happy2bretired]

Crap from all those "parties of friends"...i.e. Pampered Chef, Silpada jewelry, Longaberger baskets, and some candle company that sold $15 candles..........

Yes, yes and yes.

 

[popowich]

My beer consumption has gone down too. I think I had 2 Guinness in January.

 

[beowulf]

Crap from all those "parties of friends"...i.e. Pampered Chef, Silpada jewelry, Longaberger baskets, and some candle company that sold $15 candles..........

Gotta agree with this one. We have never had such a party, yet the DW feels obligated to go to one whenever she is invited and always comes home with crap we never use. It's not a lot of money, just annoying.

The really big waste was buying a vacation condo in 2004. We did get use out of it a few weeks a year, but it would have been far, far cheaper to just stay in a hotel or rent a place. Of course, we had this wild idea that it would actually increase in value (which it did, by about 50% in late 2006 before the market collapsed).

 

[TooFrugal]

Gotta agree with this one. We have never had such a party, yet the DW feels obligated to go to one whenever she is invited and always comes home with crap we never use.

I stopped going to those years ago. One friend got really mad because she had a pampered chef party and no one showed up. But is it really a party if guests are expected to buy over priced goods?

As far as my regrets....Our second and current house is in a good location but has been kind of a money pit in terms of repairs. I'm too cheap to hire a general contractor so it is taking forever to have the plumbing, windows, floors, etc all updated as I only get one major project done every 6 moths or so. I think I'd buy a newer, or at least more updated, house next time.

I also regret buying inexpensive cars with poor repair records when we had young kids and were on one income. I think in the long run we would have spent less overall on cars with a higher initial price tags but better repair records.

 

[MarthaT]

Hobbies.

 

[freebird5825]

I stopped going to those years ago. One friend got really mad because she had a pampered chef party and no one showed up. But is it really a party if guests are expected to buy over priced goods?

Ditto...I swore them off years ago. The whole concept of using a personal friendship to make sales that another person benefits from (the sponsor, not the hostess) always turned me off.
The hostess spends a lot on the party itself and then has to turn around and impose on the attendees to do the same nonsense all over again.
Huh?

 

[Billy]

Billy and I tried to think of purchases where we felt we had wasted our money…

Like the time in the mid 1980’s where we sold our Exxon stock to purchase our home… Although we made money on the sale of our home, we sometimes think we should have just held onto the stock. But then having a home at that particular time in our lives was satisfying and nurturing in a way that owning stock wasn’t.

Or all the money we spent on vintage wines (Californian, French, Chilean, Italian, etc.) during our restaurant and upper-end dining years. Sure, we could have saved that vast amount of money, but then we would not have had those experiences. And we do feel enriched by them.

I guess for me it would be the Bang and Olufsen turntable I bought in the late 1980’s just before we retired in 1991... Sold it at our estate sale (along with all the beveled and inlaid furniture we had) to someone who was just thrilled to get it at such a discounted price. Even that is all part of the experience.

Akaisha
Author, The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement
The Adventurer’s Guide to Chapala Living

 

[DangerMouse]

Crap from all those "parties of friends"...i.e. Pampered Chef, Silpada jewelry, Longaberger baskets, and some candle company that sold $15 candles..........

Add me to the list of those who hates these parties. I refuse to go and always schedule something to make sure if conflicts with the proposed "party". I got hit on just a couple of weeks ago by the ladies at my step aerobics class to go to an Arbonne party after class. Mind you none of them had ever so much invited out for a coffee. Rather than offend them I made an appt. that required me to leave 5 minutes before the end of class.

 

[WM]

I wasted over $20/month on AT&T instead of using a dialaround service.

What's a dialaround service? I'm still paying AT&T.

 

[haha]

But then again, we've been living happily together for 36 years so maybe it was actually money well spent as separation would have cost a whole lot more

This is quite true. Women need their needs fulfilled at least to some degree; and for some women the need to decorate is strong. Also it "proves" that you love them and will subordinate your desires to theirs.

Ha

 

[Maurice]

I've been pretty fortunate. I played around rather foolishly with stocks in the dot-com era, but I didn't actually have much money. I came into some money after the crash (a 2001 IPO that put me over the $1MM mark), but I had already been 'scared straight', so to speak.

So while not every decision I've made has been the wisest, I can't look back at major wastes of money that would have made a noticeable difference in the outcome.

 

[Maurice]

Although if I had to list something it would be the purchase of an 86 Ford Tempo back in 1990. The constant repairs that car needed basically ruined me financially at the time (it didn't take much then, I was 22).

 

[knucklehead 61]

cars: i spent a few hundred thousand drag racing & driving hot rods. should have saved the cash!
our house: got jealous of one of my employees who bought a very nice home for 1.2m when i make 3 times his salary, so i bought a fixer upper for 990k & dumped nearly 300k into remodeling it. should have just stayed in our other house & saved the cash!
motorcycles: my weakness is antique harley davidsons & have owned over 50 of them. made money on many of them, lost some on others. still have 9 in my possession. should have saved the cash!
rental houses: figured everyone else was buying rentals. i make great money, so why shouldn't i buy some as well. bought at the top of the market. only down about 12-15% but the return on equity sucks. should have saved the cash!
tools: i buy snap-on tools as if i printed money. i use them almost every day in my hobby shop, not my job. my tool collection is getting close to 200k if not over. ok, on this one i am glad i spent the money. i only buy quality tools & machinery, nearly everything is american made, much i buy used to save costs. i will die with my tool collection & my 1938 harley still in my possession.

 

[nanannjen]

The really big waste was buying a vacation condo in 2004. We did get use out of it a few weeks a year, but it would have been far, far cheaper to just stay in a hotel or rent a place. Of course, we had this wild idea that it would actually increase in value (which it did, by about 50% in late 2006 before the market collapsed).

Boy, can I relate to that! We did the same thing - in 2004 - watched it go up (while we enjoyed it - but not as much as we thought that we would) and now have watched it crash. We think it's worth what we paid for it back then - but we don't really want test the market. Maybe in 10 years.....

 

[haha]

Financial mistakes are a category all their own, and I have definitely made some, but to me they are a cost of doing business.

Purchase or spending mistakes for me are usually smaller, but clear. If I added up every stupid purchase that I made (where I didn't get value added greater than the price) it probably does not amount to more than $20,000.

I would like to have that back, but it really doesn't matter. Get the big things right and the small things take care of themselves.

By far the biggest hit I have taken is the divorce, but there is really no way around that once it gets to "Your money or your life". You cry, you become better acquainted with Mr.Vodka, and you pay.

Ha

 

[KM]

My daughter was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic at a young age. I didn't handle it very well. She adjusted quickly - but I felt so bad her. I pretty much bought her a beanie baby for every blood test and/or doctor visit she every had - for about 5 years. Trust me - that's a lot of beanie babies. One would have thought I was trying to fill Noah's Ark.

And because I didn't want my son to feel left out, he got baseball cards.

They now sit next to each other in plastic crates in our cellar. Here's hoping I have grandchildren some day.


Then there was the ever popular "weight machine" that was replaced by the ever popular "treadmill" that I "would use more" a few years later. Always seems like a good idea until they get in your house and then you are really expected to use them......

 

[Bestwifeever]

My daughter was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic at a young age. I didn't handle it very well. She adjusted quickly - but I felt so bad her. I pretty much bought her a beanie baby for every blood test and/or doctor visit she every had - for about 5 years. Trust me - that's a lot of beanie babies. One would have thought I was trying to fill Noah's Ark.

And because I didn't want my son to feel left out, he got baseball cards.

They now sit next to each other in plastic crates in our cellar. Here's hoping I have grandchildren some day.


Then there was the ever popular "weight machine" that was replaced by the ever popular "treadmill" that I "would use more" a few years later. Always seems like a good idea until they get in your house and then you are really expected to use them......

"Weight machine" like this $500 piece of metal that I bought on impulse at a mall kiosk, that sat in my family room for a year, idle, until being sent to the Salvation Army?

 

[easysurfer]

"Weight machine" like this $500 piece of metal that I bought on impulse at a mall kiosk, that sat in my family room for a year, idle, until being sent to the Salvation Army?

I've found that weight machines work really well for hanging clothes to dry when the dryer isn't functioning properly

 

[Notmuchlonger]

As you reflect back in time what have been your areas of waste or inappropriate use of your money/funds both pre FI and during FI using the retrospectoscope ?

Purchased a Garmin NAV system too much for what we needed a waste of money. A video camera probably one level above what we needed a waste of money. Those are the ones I recognize...woeeees me for the ones I dont..

Best purchase was an expensive treadmill (1500 to me is expensive). Never got such use out of a piece of exercise equipment. It was one of those purchases I thought might be a waste. But turned out to be one of the best purchases in my life. Lots of weight loss and lower bp later!

 

[Moemg]

I've found that weight machines work really well for hanging clothes to dry when the dryer isn't functioning properly

Yep , best $1,000 sweater dryer I could buy !