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People Reveal The Worst Piece Of Financial Advice They Ever Received, Here Are 67 Of Them
In our quest for financial stability and success, we often seek advice from friends, family, and even so-called experts. But in a world filled with a vast sea of financial advice, some of it will inevitably be... well, less than stellar. We’ve all heard our fair share of terrible money tips, ranging from the mildly unhelpful to the downright disastrous. It’s often said that experience is the best teacher, but when it comes to literally the thing we need to buy food and keep a roof over our head, learning from the money mistakes of others can save you a whole lot of heartache (and cash).
Guess what? There’s so much trash out there about this topic that we created a compilation of the worst financial advice people have ever received straight from this thread that had us in disbelief. These stories will have you cringing and probably nodding in recognition as you remember the time your Aunt Edna told you to invest your life savings in Beanie Babies.
As you scroll through these tales of financial folly, you’ll likely relate to the well-meaning but misguided advice that has crossed your path. From the friend who swears by bad budgeting techniques to the coworker who insists on sharing their poor investment advice during every coffee break, we’ve all encountered those who unwittingly steer us towards financial blunders.
But fear not, dear Pandas! This collection of bad financial tips is more than just an entertaining journey through the land of misguided money management. It’s also a valuable learning opportunity, as you’ll find financial pitfalls to avoid and gain some insights into making smarter financial decisions.
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"Don’t be a programmer. Your job will get outsourced to India." - my dad when I told him excitedly as a teenager that I tried coding and loved it. I ignored his advice and I’m now a programmer and still love it. Oh, and the pay is great too. I am now making a lot more than he ever did."
Even India and it's big population can't satisfy all our programming needs
"My mom told me that my priority was to find a rich man to marry off to, not work on my career.
She's a stay-at-home mom with bad spending habits, and my dad works a 12-hour job just so we can get by.
I love my mom dearly, and that advice may have been applicable in an era when women were only ever expected to raise children, but it's not 1850, so I'm going to work on my career first."
"Don't make more money, you'll go up a tax bracket and end up paying more taxes so you'll end up making less overall."
This isn't how taxes work, people. If you go $1 into the next track bracket, only that $1 is taxed higher. You can't make less money by making more money."
Not always true for the Netherlands. When I make like 50 euros more a month, taxes say: hey you now make so much, you won't be needing 50 euros in rental subsidies, and 50 euros on child support (governmental) and 50 euros in health subsidies. Ending up making 100 euros less than before.
"My aunt took me to a car dealership when I was looking to buy my own first car. I was looking at the clunkers I could afford, but she said I should be looking at the new cars. She said, 'The total price doesn’t matter because you make monthly payments.' I suddenly understood too well why she had always been so financially unstable."
"I remember 10 years ago people told me not to buy a house, that it was a waste of money and renting was cheaper. I didn’t listen and bought my house for $250,000. Now comparable homes in my neighborhood are selling for $650,000-$700,000. The rent in my city has more than doubled, almost tripled.
Today, if I had listened to that advice I would not be able to afford to live anywhere near my city, renting or owning. A one-bedroom apartment in my city costs more to rent now than my mortgage payment on a 4 bedroom house."
"Had a professor in this kind of bootleg college. He clearly took the job as a favor, he was some Wall Street type. He said he doesn't get why students who are young and have no assets don't just borrow a ton of money to pay for college, then declare bankruptcy, since they have no assets anyway.
Aside from wrecking your credit, student loans aren't dischargeable by bankruptcy."
"Legit got told to, 'Don't buy food, it's a useless investment'. Like what the hell?"
TheAlePower comments: "$tarve."
"Spend it quickly or it’ll get stolen."
Coming from someone with a history of losing and blowing their money.
Yes as the government will find a way to take it from you because you are not one of them or their pals
"Invite me to go to a really expensive restaurant where you can spend easily 250$ without drinks at a time. I only had 700$ in my bank account and had not paid for my car, groceries, and stuff, because 'Come on, we only live once.'"
"Someone told me they turned down a promotion/raise to stay in a lower tax bracket."
For the record, in the United States when you "go up" a tax bracket you don't pay the higher rate on all your earnings, only the earnings in the higher bracket. So for an example (not real tax numbers) imagine up to $50,000 was 10% tax and up to $100,000 was 15% tax. If you earn $50,000 you will pay $5,000 in taxes. If you earn $60,000 you will pay $6,500 in taxes. It's the $5,000 of the first $50,000 that you earned plus 15% of the amount over $50,000 (or 15% of $10,000). I will admit I'm a bit ashamed to admit how long it took for me to actually figure out how that worked.
"One of my uncles once told me that I never really had to pay my phone bill. He suggested that I simply jump to another carrier and let the first company cut me off. His life has turned out exactly as you'd imagine."
"So when I was 24, I was financially struggling. I had a job that worked me a lot of hours but only paid me $10 an hour.
My parents talked me into buying a brand new 2004 4-Door Honda Civic, the pre-interest price tag on it was about $25,000. A few weeks after getting it, my hours got regulated and it took one entire paycheck to make the monthly note on it - I could not afford the insurance on it. I very quickly realized my parents were bad at money."
New cars are the biggest waste of cash in the planet. Lose a third of your money in the first mile driven
"About 5 years ago, I had a friend who was trying to convince me to study through a private college because they gave her a free iPad.
She never finished the course but kept the iPad (you only got to keep it once you pay your fees and graduate. Mind you, the price of the course included the iPad so it wasn't free).
So last year, 4 years later, I get a call from the college asking for her contact info. She put me down as a reference and they were chasing her down because she still owed her fees and wasn't entitled to keep the iPad."
"Just put your holiday trip on a credit card."
"I live in Australia, and everywhere is far to get to. My friend went to Egypt and other parts of Africa and Europe, and it was not cheap. He put the whole thing on credit cards and is still paying it back, to this day, 6 years later."
"Once you cut up the credit card, you don't have to pay it. My cousin is not doing so hot. I'm pretty sure there are warrants out for his arrest in several states."
kaykez22 replied: "I work for a bank. The number of times I get customers to tell me, 'I just got a phone call saying I owe you but I canceled my card!' I tell them we never received a notice that they canceled it. And they say, 'But I cut it up!' Dude. If cutting bills up would solve anything, life would be great."
What, that's not how it works?? *quickly puts down scissors and electricity bills*
"Saving money attracts bad luck." "Do not save or else, you’ll end up using it for an emergency."
"It’s a Filipino superstition that saving attracts an emergency. Do not save so that you don’t experience an emergency. Being frugal is frowned upon. What if an emergency happens and they have no savings?
They 'borrow' money from frugal people and if you say 'no' to them because you know they spent their money on useless things they will say 'You can not bring all your wealth to your grave'".
"I choose the people to who I lend/give money."
Absolutely you should save money. You should absolutely NOT talk about your savings in front of your vehicle or a major appliance, as they will take the information as evidence that they can stop functioning.
"My father would tell me to max my credit card on a new car and if they asked for payments just say, 'F*** em', what are they going to do?'
My father is several levels of debt hell deep that he's trying to get out of now, but he's at least trying."
"I got 90 dollars and my 11-year-old son told me I should buy 90 dollars worth of kazoos. No real plan past that."
"Not exactly what the question's asking, but my mom has an aunt who thinks the bank is just giving you free money when you use the ATM."
"My cousin bought a camper, went camping once, and then decided camping wasn't for them. Rather than selling it, they decided to just stop making the payments and let the bank come and get it. Which, eventually, they did."
Which is why you should rent stuff like that once to try it out and find out of you like it
"Get a new car as soon as or before you pay off the one you have. They told me, everyone has a car payment their entire lives. Not me, I keep my cars until they won’t go anymore."
"Don't go to community college, you'll never get a job. Instead, apply at X and X colleges."
"My grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousin all told me this, and I really considered their advice because my parents really didn't give a s*it what I did.
Since I didn't get any scholarships from high school, I decided at least if I went to CC and didn't get a job, I wouldn't have student debt and I could just do something else.
I went to CC for two years totally free on FAFSA grants (it was 800$ a semester) and did so well that I transferred to a university with an (almost) full ride. I am now a semester away from graduation with a job lined up and all of 4k of student debt which is likely to be forgiven anyway."
Good for you! You will have a much better life due to your education.
"Don't worry about how much your wedding cost. Go full out and don't worry about the debt because being in debt together just brings you closer as a couple. I was essentially told to not worry about almost 60k in debt and to just suffer through it together as a couple.
I was speechless."
"It'll make you closer," they said. "It's a bond together," they said.
"Have a kid first, figure out the finances later."
Little dino chicks be eating the feathers off my head, so to speak *sigh*
"When my mom said that she will hold my money for me as a kid."
Kougaiji_Youkai replied: "My grandfather was pretty wealthy and gave us $50-$100 each birthday. My mom 'kept it safe for us'. I'm pretty sure she used it at least once to pay the light bill when the power got shut off so at least it went to good use. Never saw a dime of it myself."
"Go to college. You'll figure out what you want to study later. But if you don't go now, you'll never go."
F*ck that. What kind of fool spends $80k without a goal or purpose?
"Let's go to the casino and double your paycheck."
"Buy things to see the fruit of your labor."
"When buying new expensive items, sometimes things they don’t really need. I have no problem with this if only they use these words once in a while but doing it every paycheck is too much. Then they will proceed to tell me to buy stuff like them and not be frugal because you know, you can’t bring all those money to the grave so might as well use it immediately."
I think there is a thin line between enjoying your life and overspending, but also between being frugal and cheap. It's best to stay somewhere in the middle - don't spend money you don't have to impress people you don't care about, but also don't drive to the shop across town to save 5 cents on a bottle milk (true story of my friend's grandma).
"'Just get in there and refuse to leave until they offer you a job,' - said my boomer father-in-law who doesn’t understand the process of applying for a job."
"The worse piece of financial advice somebody has given me is no advice at all. When my dad died, he left a substantial sum of money for me. At this point, I’m pretty sure he probably would’ve been able to have an advisor guide me with my finances once I received this money, but there wasn’t one.
Anyway, the financial advisor I was given gave me a blank checkbook, and at 19, I blew threw it. The moral of the story is if you’re leaving a will, please make sure you have your finances completely set up for whomever you leave your assets to."
"Used cars are stupid and not worth buying."
My family has had a used car for probably six years+ now. It is doing great and cost a good bit less than a brand-new one would.
"When you get your salary, only spend 10% of it. For anything else, ask your parents." - from a cousin of mine who hasn't worked a steady job in 12 years.
"'Just get another credit card', - my friend who hasn't worked in 3 years and he currently just vibing with his new credit cards he somehow got approved for."
VisualReflection comments: "Credit card company seeing application: 'No job, multiple credit cards, spending habits... Good enough. Alrighty, let's make some money! Approved.'"
"Spend whatever is in your bank account the day before payday, you obviously don’t need it."
user replied: "That's what a savings account is for."
"My ex (in his mid-twenties and living at home with no expenses) went out of the country for two weeks with a budget of $2700. He was really proud of his breakdown: $1000 credit available on credit card A, $1000 credit available on credit card B, $300 in available overdraft, $100 in chequing, and $300 in savings.
I tried to explain that this is not a great way to budget for a trip, and his response was 'Credit cards are meant to be used. As long as you pay the minimum payment, you're good. What do you know about credit cards? You never use it. Start using yours more before you talk to me about money.'"
Actually, having a credit card and not using it isn't great for your rating either (depending on your country's regulations). Your score includes "credit utilisation" as part of the calculation, and not using your card puts this at zero. You're better off using it a bit and paying the card of in full each month
"Guy I haven’t seen in three years or so wanted to talk me into starting a business with him because he just got into college for a bachelor's degree in business. Yeah sure, let me get my checkbook out in this badly illuminated garage while we’re both drunk. Guy also got into MLM and weird self-optimization preachers."
My dad in 2008: "Don't invest that $1,000 into Apple."
My dad in 2012: "Tesla is a pipedream. Stock won't be worth the paper is printed on."
What does he say in 2023? Maybe we should ask him and do the opposite :)
"Not the worst but a common misconception I hear is parents telling their kids to use their credit cards and keep a balance to get better credit. Absolutely false."
Lady_L1985 replied: "Yeah. You use the card for little things and then pay back every penny, every month. That is what improves your credit score: paying s*it BACK."
My credit score was abysmal until I refinanced my mortgage, then made 5 years worth of payments on time. Not only is my credit score fantastic now, but my mortgage company rewarded me with $5k off my principal. Edited to add: my mortgage is the only thing listed on my credit report. (Actually good advice: If you can afford it, pay a bit extra to your mortgage's principal every month. You'll save loads on interest over the life of the loan AND increase the equity in your home faster.)
"My father-in-law when I mention our retirement plan: 'I never contribute to my retirement account. Money now is always better than money later.' I needed to have a conversation with my husband about how we would not be supporting his mom and dad and their insane spending when they have no retirement plan and make huge financial mistakes on a weekly basis (good news is they both make good money)."
"Why do I need to save money? I expect you to pay for our retirement home later..."
"Get a bigger mortgage, you can deduct more from your taxes!"
"Yeah, and I'll be spending double that amount in interest so why should I?"
"Someone gave me great advice to take out a loan to pay off a loan, I didn't listen to this advice. They are now in £80,000 debt, I am not."
This all depends on the interest rates. I have a PLOC with a 12% interest rate. You BET I'm going to pay that off with my HELOC at 4.5% interest. The problem is people just run up the balance on the PLOC again so now they just have 2 loans instead of 1.
"A relative tried to recruit me into 'Amway'. He wound up stuck with a garage full of their products."
"These beanie babies are an investment in our future."
Thirty_Helens_Agree replied: "1997 I’m sitting in the office of my college job. An office mate’s husband is visiting. He makes a phone call and starts negotiating over a price like he’s selling Manhattan real estate. Turns out he’s negotiating the sale of a Beanie Baby with a 12-year-old. After a few minutes, his wife rolls her eyes and yells, 'LET THE LITTLE GIRL HAVE THE TOY!'"
"First-year outta college, working for a financial advisor, and he tried to convince me to put 5% down and buy an apartment in Chicago. It was the summer of 2007."
"The best way to ensure financial success is to always pay my (now ex) church 10% of my gross income. Even if you can't afford rent/food/utilities, etc.
Not doing so results in privileges being revoked including getting kicked out of heaven and spending eternity alone without your family."
God doesn’t need money. The most dishonest profession is clergy.
"My parents and grandparents keep pressuring me to quit my job because I'm pregnant. They think my husband's job will sustain us and we'll just have to penny-pinch a little more.
I don't know if they realize that we all live in America. It will absolutely take both of our incomes to raise our child, especially since I'll be taking 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave in about a month."
"If you love your girlfriend propose to her with a diamond ring worth 2-3 months of salary. She will love you."
Got the ring back after her infidelity and that stuff is worth 10% of what I paid."
The whole concept of "precious stones" is bogus. They're rocks and their value is artificial.
"Take out a student loan. You'll be able to pay it back easily when you have a degree."
"My husband and I were looking to sell our home and buy another and the realtor told us to put 99 dependents on our taxes so we make more. She said she had done it for years and it was fine. We left pretty quickly after that."
"To buy a house when they were giving them out like candy several years ago. I had bad credit and an unstable job, I said no way. So many people were pressuring me. All those people lost their houses. Those balloon payments are no joke."
"Back when the tech stocks crashed my FA had me sell 1000 shares of a start-up company called Google."
"When I was a sophomore in high school my science teacher told me not to do the running start program where I could take and earn college credit classes for free because it would take away from my high school experience. I would have had my AA and a high school diploma at the same time."
High school counselor's can be the worst. I had the mandatory IQ test in 9th grade, and they refused to give me the score like everyone else. Eventually got my parents in...I was "gifted" and there were worried it would go to my head and I would "hurt other kids feelings" Now mind you A.) they should be focusing on ME regarding MY stuff, and B.) "gifted" is like 10 pts higher than average, not like I'm gonna solve time travel or something....So, what about a career?...."You could be supervisor at FORD....."
"Sign up for a credit card with a 17% interest rate in exchange for free tacos. You’ll pay it off each month, don’t worry."
Puzzleheaded-Tree561 asked: "What credit card comes with free tacos? I really want to know."
SnapesDrapes replied: "College campus, table set up with a pile of tacos. They would give you tacos if you filled out a CC application."
"Don't take a raise if it puts you into the next tax bracket. And pay the minimum on your credit card to establish good credit.
**as others have pointed out, sometimes getting into another bracket or other threshold may affect other benefits such as food stamps and other government/non-governmental assistance. Mileage may vary. I was specifically talking about taxes."
"Take out a 401k loan to build a pool. It will raise the value of your house."
Hmm, interesting. Let's assume you get 100% value for the pool (you don't), average house appreciation is 3% a year, so, at best you'll get 3% a year, vs the 11% average for your 401k in an index ETF.....but you DO have access to it as soon as you sell your house, vs 59+, so ....there's that?
"Not me, but my roommate wanted his girlfriend, someone he admitted couldn't manage money well to get a credit card so that it would 'teach her financial responsibility.'
It sounded like she was being set up for failure. Making someone get a credit card who is already bad with money is just a recipe for future debt."
EvolutionInProgress replied: "That's the equivalent of throwing someone who's scared of water in the ocean to teach them how to swim... great it if works out, horrible if they fail."
"That'd I'd get better credit if I let my credit card accrue some debt and interest month to month."
"Buy low, sell high."
"I wish I had been taught 'Use expendable income to buy incrementally and hold for long-term growth.'"
"I was told to invest in CDs, so I initially invested about 25k and then, over time, invested more as I could.
Now, nobody listens to them because streaming is the thing. So I've got, like, rooms full of these things I don't know what to do with. Maybe someday they'll come back and someone will pay top dollar for Joe Jackson's greatest hits. Or Atari Teenage Riot?"
I'm assuming this is a joke. Are you sure they didn't mean Certificates of Deposit?
"People all the time tell me not to let finances get in the way of my dreams. Um, yes I'm gonna let that get in the way?! I'm not gonna dig myself $100k deep in student loans so I can get my dream job. I'll get something a little less moderate that still makes me happy, thank you."
"A friend once advised me that it's important to make yourself happy because that's what money is for. Therefore, anytime you spend less than fifty dollars or so on something you want (candy, stuffed animals, toys, comics, knickknacks...), it doesn't really count as spending money because it's 'such a small amount.' It's nice because you can do it as much as you want.
So yeah, I've never taken his advice. He continues to struggle to pay his bills and can't understand why."
"You don't need more than 500$ in your savings account."
"Haha. Thank God I never listened to that."
"That an emergency fund wasn't necessary when you can always get a payday loan or use your credit card. He wasn't joking."
"Just ignore the collection call and eventually they will leave you alone. I didn’t follow this advice. I had a parking ticket I didn’t know about that ended up on my credit and the guy I mentioned it to gave me that bit of wisdom."
"Buy a universal life insurance policy. When I was 24."
It's bad advice. Buy Term Insurance. All Universal is, is a Term Policy with a low yield investment account attached. You are better off buying Term and investing the difference yourself. You will save the monthly management fee they charge if nothing else.
