The 3 dumbest purchases I’ve madeHey zxcv, it’s Mark. Most people think millionaires are disciplined money machines who never waste a penny… but I’ve burned cash on some pretty dumb purchases in my lifetime. Surprisingly, I don’t regret all of them. Making a dumb purchase usually ends up as a good learning experience because sometimes, wasting money is the only way we learn what NOT to do. So, here are three of the dumbest things I wasted my money on, so you can learn from my mistakes and skip those painful lessons. 1) Sports BettingWhen I was younger, one of my mates came to me and said he’d been getting horse racing tips from a bloke who apparently ‘never lost’. I had some spare cash lying around, so I put $500 on a horse I knew absolutely nothing about. It almost won too. However, it came in second by a nose, and I lost the bet. I was gutted. My mate said that wasn’t meant to happen… So i thought if I just doubled my bet, I’d win my money back faster. I bet $1,000, and the horse came second again. I decided to skip the next two races, and funnily enough, both of them actually won, which convinced me I’d just been unlucky, and the next one HAD to be the one. I then went all in, $4,000 this time, and sure enough, the horse came third. So if you’re going to bet, treat it like entertainment, not a way to make money. Set a budget, stick to it, and when it’s gone, that’s it. 2) Buying Cheap GoodsI once bought a car for a guy I was trying to recruit onto my team. He didn’t have one, and I really wanted to help him out. To be safe, I thought I’d better buy a lock for the steering wheel, but instead of buying a good one, I went for the cheapest lock I could find. In my head, I figured it was just a deterrent, and as long as it looks secure, that’d be enough… It wasn’t. Within a week, the car was stolen, and the thief actually took the time to dismantle the cheap lock and leave it neatly on the ground next to where the car had been. That moment taught me a big lesson: if you want something to actually do its job, the cheapest option almost never will. Buying cheap often ends up costing more in the long run. They don’t say, “Buy cheap, buy twice” for nothing. The money you think you’re saving is just an illusion. 3) The Car I Didn’t NeedI learnt to drive in a Volkswagen Golf, i remember thinking it was the perfect first car for me. To my surprise, my driving instructor offered to sell it to me once i passed my test… I thought it was a perfect opportunity, but turns out it was a massive mistake because the car had been hammered with all the miles from the lessons. The gearbox was rough, the clutch was on its last legs, and, of course, I ignored all of that. I was blinded by emotion. To make things worse, I even took out a loan to buy it. Within a few months, the repair bill started stacking up, and I realised just how badly I’d messed up. That experience taught me something really important: never get emotionally attached to a purchase. The moment your feelings start driving your financial decisions, your wallet is going to take the hit. To end this email on a more positive note, one of the best purchases I’ve ever made was buying assets like index funds. If you want to start investing yourself, you can get free fractional shares worth up to £100 by using the promo code TILBURY on the Trading212 investing app or by visiting https://www.trading212.com/join/TILBURY. Terms apply. zxcv, what’s the dumbest purchase you’ve ever made? I’d love to know, so hit reply to this email. All the best, Mark Tilbury |