The 5 Worst Purchases I Made In My 20’s (That Killed My Wealth)

What are some dumb purchases you've made? Let me know by leaving a comment! No wrong answers

I would not find your "hobby" section wasted. They provide valuable experience for your life, which is not all about saving money. I know what you are going to say, but playing a musical instrument, 800 dollar camera, and PPL are hardly a waste. Actually, you could have ended up wasting more. I have been using 600 dollar Sony mirrorless camera for 6 years. If you stick to these items long enough, they will pay out themselves.

Cell phones - buying one each time a new one came out.

Love how honest you are about these very realistic situations that people come into in life. Dumb purchase: $2500 in a car warranty with a used car purchase. Also spent a few hundreds of dollars on household items immediately after moving into my first home. It took awhile of living in the home to realize it didn't fit the home or space, so it was wasted and later sold at a loss. The benefit is knowing that these items did help other families since it was much cheaper for them to buy these things that were basically brand new.

Grad school. Only go to grad school if you A) get an assistanceship/fellowship. B) that graduate degree lead DIRECTLY to a career certification (engineering, medicine etc). On a micro scale, the other worst purchases were on a couple of Free-to-play games.

dumbest i’ve been is being addicted to a mobile game app, and spent an amount equal to a new car’s price tag. it almost ruined my life, glad i got out before it did.

I'm really impressed that you can track and talk about these poor purchases. Most people talk themselves into believing they are good or they forget about them

When I was dipping my toes into a bunch of different hobbies in my early 20s, I found it super useful to try to find really good used deals on Marketplace, that way I could always get my money back (or sometimes sell at a profit) if I wasn’t committed to the hobby. This is much cheaper than buying everything brand new.

Thank you so much sir, you're like an elder brother or father figure for me, this video is literally a blessing in disguise for me as my 20s just begun,...all in all thanks a lot for making the video so personalized and teaching such a valuable lesson..also wanna mention one of my wasteful purchase,..Ok so like a month ago i bought Airpods (the older version, bcz obv it's cheaper) and i thought or used to think that it will just change my life somehow but now i regret buying it bcz i bought it from my savings without telling my parents haha and now i have to cut down on literally everything just to hide the fact and compensate...But i guess i learned a valuable lesson :)

A lot of respect to you for listing your personal worst purchases. Many people don't share their personal experience and just discuss generally.

Humphrey thank you soft admitting your “failures” . Sometimes we need to remember even respectable people made huge financial mistakes.

Off topic… I would love a video on what’s the best thing to do with windfall money. From a couple thousand up to $500,000.

Grad school application fees. I've spent hundreds on applying to schools plus extra on supplemental applications. I even applied to ones where I didn't really want to go to but did anyways as a safety net. Also spent hundreds on applying to several different residency programs because I was told doing a residency was good. (Pharmacy residencies are not required to work as a pharmacist.) I ended up picking the closest pharmacy school to me where I can commute plus I went straight into the work force without residency. I regret wasting all that money to this day.

Some purchase suggestions in your 20s (non essential). Get yourself measured and buy a made to measure suit in navy or gray with a well fitting shirt and conservative tie. Buy a pair of black oxfords, a mechanical watch, leather boots, a bag, skin care products, invest in a lifetime activity like cycling, fishing, hiking, reading/writing, painting, musical instruments.

I feel like you’ve lived so many lives! Thanks for sharing!

3D printer. After the novelty of printing free files from Thingiverse wore off, I realized I didn't really enjoy 3D modeling and printing my own stuff. Ended up selling it to an engineer friend who is getting way more utility from it than I ever could. Server. I was just starting my career in IT and wanted to be that "cool tech guy" who had a server/networking rack as his house. Spent way too much money on hardware and while I don't regret any of the networking gear I got, I went way overboard on the server hardware. Basically anything I deployed on my server I could have either run on a VM on my gaming desktop for free, in the cloud for less than $10 a month, or on a cheap Dell/Lenovo desktop bought from the university surplus department.

I wasted (still wasting) a lot of money on bodybuilding. 20 years of buying supplements, food, gym memberships, etc only to lose money every day. And women don't even care about muscles.

At least, "I spent $5,500 developing a slots game" isn't as bad as "I spent $5,500 playing slots."

dirt bike and pre paid service plan 5000$ in 2008. I really loved that dirt bike but in retrospect I should have been saving my money instead. I should have bought a used bike and leaned to do the basic service myself. Eventually I did just that with a street bike. oh, and a warranty on my tundra I ended up using it but I still lost 1000$ after all was said and done. the only other thing I can think of was buying small crap that added up over years, you know, things that no one really needs just crap. one more, bars......... I spend 5000$ one year at one bar.......dumb choice.

Pets. I love animals, and have always had pets. But I got in over my head. I don’t think people realize how much pets cost. A typical dog will cost you over $20,000 over its lifetime when you include food, vet bills, and accessories. Most people are not prepared for that and the animal suffers. And never get a bird. I have 7 and I love them but they will probably outlive me and they cost a fortune.