MyMoneyBlog is hosting a reverse carnival in which personal finance bloggers confess their dirty little money secrets. Here are the skeletons in my cupboard:
- I once had tons of in-the-money options in a technology company, which at one point was 70% of my net worth. Let’s just say it ended very badly.
- My very first investment was in a venture capital fund, which I bought for its generous tax credits. The fund is down 60% and I can’t even sell it because it has a minimum holding period. Though I bought it at the recommendation of an “advisor”, I should have been more diligent with my money.
- Invested money in JDS Uniphase (TSX: JDU) and Nortel (TSX: NT). Enough said.
- Bought above-mentioned stocks in my retirement account. Couldn’t even get a capital loss out of the two dogs.
- Bought a technology mutual fund at the peak of the bubble because the fund returned around 90% in the previous year. I sold at a 70% loss, but at least I got capital losses out of it.
- Researched Apple (AAPL), which was selling at a split-adjusted $7 and almost had that much cash on the balance sheet but did not buy. It is $64 now.
- Our sons are six months old and we are only now getting a term-life insurance and a will. We should have done it sooner.
- When I first started working, I wasn’t very diligent about saving. My “latte factor” was eating lunch out everyday.
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6 responses so far ↓
1 Dave // Feb 11, 2006 at 10:23 am
Oh my god, I am always so embarassed about my money mistakes but after reading yours, I am not anymore. Not because yours are worse than mine (they aren’t), but because I’ve realized other people make them as well. I can say that I have definitely made mistakes similar to yours above:
1. I put $1000 into a small company that I worked for on a co-op term. The stock went no where.
2. My first investment was 100% in AIC Advantage Fund. Not much diversification there…
3. I wanted to buy Nortel but didn’t have the money. I’m guilty of telling people to buy Nortel stock while I worked there as a student.
5. I bought a lot of the TD Science & Technology fund based on some huge return in a previous year.
8. I also used to eat out every day, ever since I went to university.
plus many more… maybe I’ll blog about this. Excellent idea for a carnival.
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