The Biggest Financial Mistake I Ever Made

For an otherwise seemingly intelligent man, even with an MBA, I’ve made some financial mistakes. My wife wanted to buy a home. I was against it. I thought it was a poor investment. So, we bought a home in 1994.

The home was the typical rambler with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a two-car attached garage. We had four children and wanted more bedrooms. We converted the garage to two more bedrooms, a laundry room and a game/computer room.

We added a shed for storage. Of course, we landscaped. We added a couple of trees and a berm with flowers. We got rid of the dandelions and improved the grass.

Due to some business decisions I made, my income went down and we struggled to make ends meet. However, we managed to stay in the house.

In 2002, I took courses to become a real estate agent. I couldn’t believe how ignorant I was. I realized the truth – money is made in real estate by adding value to the property. I wrote a book explaining and systematizing the process, in 2004.

We painted the home, replaced the roof, painted the inside, and replaced the carpet. We sold the home in 2005. Even after paying all the expenses, we still netted nearly $100,000.

You see the biggest financial mistake I ever made was not buying a home sooner. I was ignorant. Fortunately, my children do understand and have added 100s of thousands of dollars to their net worth.