Due to my overly conservative nature, I have been fortunate not to make any catastrophic financial blunders. Ranking them from least serious to most serious I never paid an FA, never trusted my "friend" on a hot deal he found that's "just for me", never invested in a Ponzi scheme, and never bought a whole life policy :P
Probably my biggest blunders are:
I continually try to carry less cash. The current level of 10% is down from 20% a couple years ago, and not just from asset value appreciation and more savings!
On the 3D printing stock, I was at least able to accumulate some tax losses that I still have! I also learned as someone else did in a recent thread not to try my hand at stock picking.
When I bought my house I got a 7 year ARM. I guess time will tell whether that was a blunder or not. I say no, but I know you guys hate mortgages and ARMs. I saved about 150bps in interest expense when the loan was the largest, so I think it was a good trade, but I haven't run the math for a while.
So what blunders have you guys made and what did you learn from them?
Probably my biggest blunders are:
- carrying too much cash (~10% of assets excluding home) despite having a high paying job and being under 40, and
- buying a 3D printing stock five years ago that I lost 75% of my investment on.
I continually try to carry less cash. The current level of 10% is down from 20% a couple years ago, and not just from asset value appreciation and more savings!
On the 3D printing stock, I was at least able to accumulate some tax losses that I still have! I also learned as someone else did in a recent thread not to try my hand at stock picking.
When I bought my house I got a 7 year ARM. I guess time will tell whether that was a blunder or not. I say no, but I know you guys hate mortgages and ARMs. I saved about 150bps in interest expense when the loan was the largest, so I think it was a good trade, but I haven't run the math for a while.
So what blunders have you guys made and what did you learn from them?
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