Doesn’t have to be thousands of dollars. Just a thing you spent money on that turned out to be a complete waste.

  • DigDoug@lemmy.worldEnglish
    311·
    20 days ago

    University

    I spent 50 grand and 4 years of my life to be told by prospective employers that I either lacked real world experience, or that I was overqualified. It took me another 3 years to find a job after university - one that doesn’t require training and is barely relevant to my field.

    I get to hang a pretty piece of paper up on my wall, I guess.

    • Return_of_Chippy@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      20 days ago

      Yeah that’s rough. I can kind of say the same. The career I chose doesn’t require the degree I have. It absolutely helps but if I could go back, I would have just gotten licensed at 18 and started working in the trade. Degree is mechanical engineering, trade is operations side of stationary engineering.

  • Starya67@lemmy.world
    19·
    20 days ago

    Changed over the ownership of the house I bought with my own money to my now ex because he was the one with the job. Am now house-less and renting an apartment at triple the mortgage payments.

    • Aneb@lemmy.world
      5·
      19 days ago

      I made a lot of mistakes divorcing my husband last year so there’s plenty of mistakes to go around. I lost my job six months before we separated and that made me feel powerless. Only now am I reclaiming my power, happiness, and inner peace. Sending good vibes your way as you grow in strength and knowledge.

  • cinoreus@lemmy.world
    18·
    20 days ago

    Not a big one, but surely the worst one. There was a “make your own perfume” stall in our college fest. I didn’t like the fragrance of most of what they had to offer. It took me time to pick one, but I picked one that I thought was the most unique one.

    Then when I came home, I realised it smelt exactly like my dad’s car freshner.

  • miraclerandy@lemmy.world
    16·
    20 days ago

    Bought a house with my ex and we were instantly house poor. We didn’t account for buying things for the house at all. Ended up selling and moving two years later at a loss even though we sold for a bit more than we bought it for.

    • Zerlyna@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      20 days ago

      I was married, in my 40’s and listened to my now ex hubby #2 because his family had several. The payment was $600 a month… a second mortgage for a one week vacation? The timeshare, nor our marriage, lasted long after that.

  • fubarx@lemmy.world
    121·
    20 days ago

    Leasing a car.

    I’d always bought a car and driven it into the ground. Leased an EV once. Hated the experience. Felt ripped off at the end.

    Bought a used car after that. Back to normal.

    • SelfHigh5@lemmy.world
      2·
      20 days ago

      I did kind of the same thing but just a new Acura. I did love the car, but toward the end of the lease it felt like I was renting an AirBnB, making sure nothing fucked it up right at the end and making sure I kept it under the mileage agreement.

  • WhatISawInTheWoods@lemmy.world
    9·
    19 days ago

    Letting my partner quit their job so they could focus on working on a comic full-time… I completely supported them. Buying them supplies and whatever else they needed. This lasted 2 years… with absolutely nothing to show for it. NOTHING. I have no idea what the fuck they did 10 hours a day while I was at work.

  • DonkeyStar@lemmy.world
    9·
    19 days ago

    I used to sell plasma, and I used the funds on Robinhood to try investing without affecting my regular cash flow. Through sheer luck, in one day, my account went from around $200 to over $2500. I was overjoyed. I’d clearly made a genius-level decision that would only continue to pay out.

    Anyway, I woke up the next day with less than I’d had to start. Should’ve taken the money and run. Or not tried to time the market. Either way, it felt like I’d lost $2300 instead of $50.

    • dingus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      19 days ago

      This is why I don’t invest. I tried it for a relatively short span of time. It was a large company that isn’t a scam or anything but I can’t remember the name of it. They had three sort of options for investing…1. high risk/reward, 2. Medium risk/reward, and 3. Low risk/reward.

      I either picked 2 or 3 or something. Can’t remember which. All that stupid thing did was lose money due to broker fees. I watched the money slowly drop over the span of around a year from “fees” with literally never earning a dime. I thought it was ridiculous so I pulled the rest of the funds.

      I instead chose to place that money in a high yield savings account. Does it earn money quickly? No. But it isn’t wildly unpredictable like investing and it will never lose money unless I take money out. Investing isn’t for me.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
        1·
        18 days ago

        I instead chose to place that money in a high yield savings account. Does it earn money quickly? No. But it isn’t wildly unpredictable like investing and it will never lose money unless I take money out. Investing isn’t for me.

        Even though I do invest in stocks, until recently I was a long time user of high yield savings accounts for years for my “safe” money. What I eventually realized was how the bank was able to pay me the comparatively higher interest rate for a savings account. Whatever money I had in the savings account they’d just buy short term US Treasuries (probably 4 week Tbills), they shave off .5%-1% interest earned for their company profit, and passed the remainder onto me. I finally sat down and learned how to cut out the middle man and buy the Tbills myself. So instead of the High Yield savings account paying me 3.01%, I’m earning 3.94% on the same money.

        Also understand that Savings accounts and even Tbills usually drasically underperform compared to broad stock index funds. For example 2025 was 16.39% and 2024 was 23.21% returns for boring S&P500 funds.

  • taiyang@lemmy.world
    8·
    20 days ago

    Almost every single movie I’ve seen in theaters. At home is just better. Hell, sometimes the bike ride with my partner to and from the place is better than the movie-- could have just hung out at a park, lol.