Share a money-saving strategy you tried that has backfired
SUSAN HELY
Susan has been a senior writer at Money for more than 10 years. Susan says: “I wanted to teach my 15-year-old daughter about shares. We went halves in $500 worth of shares in a mineral sands company. She was excited when the price went up. But it started to go down and didn’t stop. She lost her money but did learn how shares can go down as well as up.”
PETER DOCKRILL
Peter is a science and technology journalist and a senior writer at ScienceAlert. Peter says: “I used to save by putting money aside at the end of each pay period. Big mistake. If you proactively deposit your savings on payday instead, your spending habits adapt to the tighter cash flow, and it makes a huge difference.”
GRAHAM WITCOMB
Graham, a senior analyst at Intelligent Investor, says: “I’m a sucker for good value. Every month, Costco lures me in with their cheap cheeses and enormous trays of seafood – and every month I find myself throwing away some expired cheese and a dozen old prawns. Bulk discounts are an illusion if you don’t need to buy in bulk.”
PAM WALKLEY
Pam was founding editor of Money and is now a senior staff writer. Pam says: “Taking advantage of so-called ‘discount’ wine offers rarely worked. Much was virtually undrinkable – it’s a smart way for wine merchants to get rid of rubbish stock sweetened with the odd good bottle. Life is too short to drink bad wine!”
ANNETTE SAMPSON
Annette has written extensively on personal finance and she has written several books. Annette says: “Definitely trying to do anything ‘on the cheap’. I’ve always found you end up paying to have it done properly anyway – after you’ve wasted your money on the cheap solution.”
RYAN FELSMAN
Ryan, a senior economist at CommSec, says: “Buying a diesel SUV. Higher average diesel fuel prices, the extra initial upfront cost and higher servicing costs have outweighed the supposed greater fuel efficiencies. And now the depreciation is far worse because of the Volkswagen ‘dieselgate’ emissions scandal. Time for an EV!”