Everybody makes bad financial decisions and impulse buys from time to time. Some of them end up hurting our bottom line more than others.

Here are some of the bad financial decisions I made when I was younger that I wish I would have handled differently.

First Computer - I grew up with computers but I bought my first computer with my own money when I was about 22 and in the Air Force. I spent about $2000 and put it on the Best Buy account where I had one year to pay it off to avoid interest charges. I just did manage to pay it off in time, but ended up with more computer than I needed and if I would have waited two months, I could have bought it for several hundred less when the new Pentium II chips came out.

First Car Loan - The first car that I bought, I purchased from my parents. I think I paid $9000 but took out a bank loan for $1000 more. I convinced myself that the extra money was to make sure that I had money for maintenance and repairs. Instead, it turned into drinking money and an extra $1000 to pay interest on. On the positive side, I did drive that car for 8 years and 100K miles. The purchase ended up being financially sound, just not the extra $1000 I snuck onto the loan.

College Loan - I had about $8000 of college loans when I dropped out of college after two years to join the Air Force. That hurt to pay off afterward. Especially when I think how easily most of that amount could have been earned working while I was in school. I made the situation even worse by flunking out that second year. My parents would have paid off all of the student loans if I had not entirely given up on my education. $8000 plus interest of good ol’ fashioned college rebellion and independence.

Airplane Ticket for Girlfriend - I had a long distance relationship when I got my first credit card in the military. We decided that we would fly her down to visit. I paid for the plane ticket and she paid for the hotel/food, etc. I ended up with several hundred dollars on my credit card accruing interest and she never ended up never coming to visit but she did not tell me about that decision until the day she was supposed to fly.

I have learned a lot from these bad financial decisions. I am very cautious before spending anything more than about $40 these days. My wife and I worked very hard to get out of these early debts and I do not plan on letting foolish or impulsive decisions get me into debt again.

 

Tags: ,