18 people share the worst mistake they ever made with money.

Money can be a complicated topic, but a cautionary tale about investing your savings into a shady scam or bad budgeting could save others from a similar fate...

So, when a Reddit user asked, 'What is the biggest money mistake you have ever made?' people were ready to share their worst financial risk or reckless purchase. Remember: the slot machine after 3 drinks at your friend's bachelor party is not on your side.

1.

Agreed to take over my ex gf's bills so that she could pay off her debts. 5 years and over $100,000 of my money later she was in more debt than when we started and cheating on me. Don't ever do this, just make her be an adult or dump her a*s. It's never worth it - Stoneluthiery

2.

3.

I was not good at checking my company email inbox, nothing important came through there anyway (we mostly used Slack). And that is how I missed the deadline for my company’s IPO. They offered us stock at $10 and it opened at $40. Now I read my emails. - BehindTrenches

4.

Buying 1 ply toilet paper - harrypotterkush

5.

I signed up for Girls Done Wild DVDs then kept forgetting to turn off the automatic delivery of the next one for several months. The subsequent DVDs were pricey and not very good. - tomdincan

6.

Thought I was just being a generous and kind person helping people out and never really expected them to pay me back. I was an IDIOT - Helpful-Ad4570

7.

Procrastination. I have paid so many procrastination fees for late bills, and missed opportunities that the mind boggles. - hippo_canoe

8.

I work in tech and some dude wanted to pay me for my consulting work in this fantasy 'bitcoin' crap that was just coming out. I figured it'd be worthless so I turned down what would have set me and my family up for life. - billbaparker

9.

Timeshare. I went to the seminar for a three nights stay at a beach resort. They got me. Phenomenal salesman, but they lie out of their as*es. Spent thousands over a few years, only used the timeshare once, paid a lawyer to get us out of the contract (basically a mortgage). Now we’re free! - [deleted]

10.

Sold my signed Banksy prints for a couple of grand to fund a new kitchen. Saw the same prints a couple of years later selling for £80,000. Blurgh. Just swallowed another mouthful of sick thinking about it (and they did a sh*t job of the new kitchen floor). - RobotGoatBoy

11.

I discover bitcoin very early: I bought 100 of them at 63 cents a piece. Sold the whole bunch for 300 dollars. - Abject-Student-2446

12.

Going to college right out of high school. College is great if you know why you're there, but not for someone who isn't yet sure. - Common-Actuary-2982

13.

43 years of buying and smoking cigarettes - GrandpaKel

14.

Opened a credit card in college, bought...something (I don't even remember what), completely forgot about it. Never got a statement, three years later I suddenly have collections agencies calling me nonstop over a $20 debt with hundreds in 'collection fees'. Took years to get my credit back to 'not sh*t' levels. - Hured2001

15.

One of those bootcamp style gyms opened up walking distance from our apartment. We wanted to get in shape and figured we'd check it out. It was run by a married couple who was really nice. Initial classes were very small but the exercise was great. The husband also did martial arts instruction so I was considering getting into that.

They were doing a really reduced special to get a year membership so I went for it and paid half upfront. A few weeks later, I can't remember the conversation but they asked for the remaining payment and I said sure, why not.

A little bit after that they called and said, sorry but we opened the gym with a verbal agreement we would be getting a large amount of karate students and that fell through, so we have to shut down. We will get your money back once we get settled after we move back home. I foolishly had paid for all this but never had even gotten a written contract or whatever. They just ended up ghosting me and stopped replying to everything. - urchisilver

16.

Bought a mobile home as a starter home. No one ever explained to me as a young adult the importance of investment and future planning. Mobile homes of course do not hold nor increase in value so you never build equity. It's akin to renting except you have to cover all your own repair costs too. Terrible financial decision. Don't buy mobile homes kids. Just don't do it - eatafetus632

17.

Sports betting losses have cost me about a years salary - Good_Burger77

18.

I bought a vintage guitar from England (I’m in Canada) and had to get it shipped over the pond. Being a somewhat delicate item, I went for some pretty expensive shipping (think it was 200£), which was a lot, but not much compared to the 3100£ I paid for the guitar.

I wrote my address wrong, and the item was shipped to Canada, had an invalid address, held at the depot for a couple weeks, then shipped back to the guy in England. I had to cover a fee and once again get it shipped over the pond. - P0ster_Nutbag