Our dumbest money mistakes

Bryce: [00:00:27] Welcome to Get Started Investing a podcast where we attempt to answer the most common money and investing questions coming from our community. Now, if you are joining us for the very first time, a massive welcome, we do strongly recommend that you scroll up and start at episode one. If you want to get stuck in today, we're not going to stop you now while we are licensed. We're not aware of your financial circumstances. Any information on this show is for education and entertainment purposes only. Any advice is general. But with that said, my name is Bryce and as always, I'm joined by my equity buddy, Ren. How are you? 

Alec: [00:00:58] I'm good, Bryce. I'm very excited for this episode. We are talking dumb money decisions. Yeah, we've all made them. Even people who tell me on this podcast that they have a perfectly set up savings and investment plan and there's nothing they could do. Even even they have made dumb money decisions in the past. And it's all in celebration of a movie called Dumb Money.

Bryce: [00:01:23] Yes, this episode is thanks to Village Roadshow. In celebration of the launch of Dumb Money, a brand new comedy from the directors of I Tonya based on the insane true story of the GameStop short Squeeze. It features a huge cast, including Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, America Ferrera, Seth Rogan, and plenty more. And it is in cinemas from October 5th

Alec: [00:01:47] But the good news is, if you want to see an advanced screening of Dumb Money, we have 200 tickets to give away. Yes, 25 double passes across four cities on the 20th of September. Yes. To enter. Hit the link in our shownotes. All the information is there. And if you want to know more about the GameStop short squeeze, if you want to be that friend that knows the back story before you see the movie, head over to Equity Mates Investing podcast. We do an episode explaining the short squeeze and short squeezes in general. But on this episode, Price, we're talking all things dumb money mistakes. 

Bryce: [00:02:28] We are. So we should make it clear that that episode on Equity Mates is dropping this Friday the 15th. 

Alec: [00:02:34] Okay, Head over in a couple of days. Yes, maybe subscribe now so you don't miss and. 

Bryce: [00:02:38] Go in the running to win. Perth. Sydney. Melbourne. 

Alec: [00:02:41] Brisbane. I actually don't know if we've secured tickets yet. 

Bryce: [00:02:43] We hopefully will hopefully will be there, but we will not. 

Alec: [00:02:46] We will not be taking any double passes from the Sydney show. 

Bryce: [00:02:49] No, no, no, we actually won't. We get ten tickets as well. 

Alec: [00:02:52] So that's what we will. 

Bryce: [00:02:53] We'll be there at Sydney. But anyway, in today's episode we're going to share some of our dumb money mistakes. And then we've got a stellar Line-Up of equity mates, community members who have been brave enough to share their dumb money mistakes. Let's start with us. What do you got? [00:03:08][14.3]

Alec: [00:03:08] So my dumbest money mistake is Slater and Gordon. For people who are new to the podcast, Welcome. You're about to hear my most well told story. Yes, Well, not well told in terms of I deliver it well, well told and trodden. Yeah, I tell it a lot. I've really made hay from it, but my very first investment was in an Australian law firm called Slater and Gordon. I think I read one article in the Financial Review about it when I was at University Price and I was living in a share house and thought we were Australia's answer to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. You always. 

Bryce: [00:03:44] Stop for not.

Speaker 2: [00:03:45] Sure. 

Alec: [00:03:46] No. Anyway, so we want to start investing. I bought Slater and Gordon, put $1,000 into it, which was a lot at the time for a uni student. Still is a lot, but imagine how many part time shifts at the pub or that furniture warehouse that we worked at.

Bryce: [00:04:02] Was good money.

Alec: [00:04:03] That was. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was a lot. I lost all of it. I lost I went from $1000 to $12 and at that time CommSec, the broker I was with charge $19 for brokerage. So I lost so much money they literally couldn't sell it. Chase Yeah, So that was a real dumb money mistake.

Bryce: [00:04:24] Yeah, I mean, in hindsight, but like at the time it wasn't a dumb decision to try to invest. Just silver lining. 

Alec: [00:04:33] What have you got?

Bryce: [00:04:35] Mine. Mine's most recent in super. For us. It's really frustrating. And so I had a we took a credit card on our trip overseas for Europe because I wanted to rack up a rack up the points. Always good to have a credit card as well. I think just for like major scale emergencies. 

Alec: [00:04:54] Yeah. And like car rental and hotels. Otherwise they like take that they've holding charge. 

Bryce: [00:05:00] Some of our cars, car rental as well. 1500 euro block. 

Alec: [00:05:03] Oh, really? But you had a credit card?

Bryce: [00:05:05] Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm just saying like. 

Alec: [00:05:07] Like the pre authorisation. Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:05:09] Yeah. It's like if you needed that cash, that's why it's good to have one anyway. So we'll spending on that. And we were just transferring from our savings account to top it up. And in the first two weeks I was transferring, transferring, couldn't see it coming through BPA onto the credit card. I'm like, Oh man, this is super slow. Then I realised what I'd been doing was in, in the process of transferring through my BPA in my mobile app I just saw at the top credit card didn't rate it properly and I was transferring it to a closed Westpac credit card that I did in 2015 And this is to the tune of about 900 bucks by this stage. And so then I'm like, okay, this is really frustrating because I'm overseas. I'm not going to be able to call and deal with the banks. Fortunately, I and Jay, who I was transferring from, have a toll free number that you can call while overseas for emergencies. So I called them and they're like, Oh, it should bounce back. Okay, cool. It went by, didn't bounce back. I'm like, Damn it, going to Westpac, they like the card is so old because the thing is, I didn't even know I had this card. It's that old. I'm like, Why is this even in my bank?

Alec: [00:06:25] Must be nice. He has so many cards and accounts that you can't even keep track of them.

Bryce: [00:06:30] And I'm just like, What is these cards? I'm going through my emails 2015. It's so old and has been closed for so long that it's in a legacy system in Westpac that only managers in branches can log into. So I'm calling the call centre and because I tried to do a trace there, like yet the money's with Westpac, Westpac responded and said it is, but we're not going to send it back because it's so old and stuff. He needs to call us. So I called and they said it's so old and in the system that we can't deal with on over the phone. I had to go into it branch. I've gone into a branch and she's like, I need more details from Ange. And now, I mean, just in this war between ING and Westpac. 

Alec: [00:07:16] You still haven't got it backer. Oh my God.

Bryce: [00:07:20] Yeah. And it's all on me by firstly having that bpay payment option still in my bank. But I haven't needed for seven years or whatever it is even longer. And also not actually looking at what I was pressing and I'm just sending to credit card, credit card and I should have just scrolled further down and it was the actual credit card that I needed. [00:07:37][17.3]

Alec: [00:07:38] Yeah. Okay. Well, that's a good reminder for me and for everyone listening. Clear out your bank contacts. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. [00:07:44][6.5]

Bryce: [00:07:45] I was like, What is this anyway? So I'm still down the money, still chasing it, but I need to go to a Westpac branch. The only time I can go is on the weekend because we just flat chat during the week. [00:07:55][10.1]

Alec: [00:07:55] Oh is this why you started working from homebased? [00:07:57][1.3]

Bryce: [00:07:59] Literally Monday's work from home. Go, go in the branch I go in on a Saturday, manages don't work on a Saturday, only the managers can do this and then I'm back. [00:08:07][9.0]

Alec: [00:08:08] Oh yes, we run this business. If you need to go to a Westpac branch, you can climb it. [00:08:12][4.0]

Bryce: [00:08:12] It's just one of those things where it's like the time that it's going to take to do that. I have other things I need to do more and more importantly. 

Alec: [00:08:19] Send Sascha. 

Sascha: [00:08:23] Live in a different state. 

Bryce: [00:08:24] But anyway, anyway, it's super annoying. And I'm also in a war with Trip.com since since February with.

Alec: [00:08:34] Trip.com is not a travel site I'm familiar with. 

Bryce: [00:08:37] It. Really. Oh, it's one of those like, yeah, it's one of those aggregators where you can.

Alec: [00:08:42] Like a Booking.com. 

Bryce: [00:08:43] Yeah, exactly. Booking.com and I booked a car. I booked a car through the offer. 

Sascha: [00:08:48] Everything escalates to a war with you.

Bryce: [00:08:52] This is a serious war.

Alec: [00:08:54] The Westpac wall is a joke war. 

Bryce: [00:08:55] This is a serious war where I'm currently not getting encrypted letters from ANZ.

Alec: [00:09:01] Encrypted letters? 

Bryce: [00:09:02] Yeah, yeah. It's it's nuts. I'm owed 650 bucks from Trip.com. Still haven't got it.

Alec: [00:09:09] So I've got bad news for you. I'm trying to go to Trip.com and it's saying the website. Oh there we go. Just our internet though. 

Bryce: [00:09:15] Anyway there's also. 

Alec: [00:09:16] So what are they what are the letters say? 

Bryce: [00:09:18] They're letters proving that the money that was refunded is back with trip.com that Trip.com can't find it. And so there's this war going on between Trip.com and ANZ because essentially what happened was I don't need to go. 

Alec: [00:09:34] I wanna hear this. Everyone is invested in this story now. We got it here.

Bryce: [00:09:38] It's quite lengthy. 

Alec: [00:09:39] That's okay. 

Bryce: [00:09:40] I booked a car for our time in Greece. It was the first car I booked and it was a manual and I was like, You know what? I don't want to go over the wrong side of the road. Crazy driving. And it was actually Italy 150 k's an hour. All those ones. I don't want a manual. I want to order just to make it just so I can get into the rhythm of things. Go to Trip.com and. Say, Can I change this current booking to an automatic? There was going to be a price difference, which was expected, and they were like this junior guy on chat at the time was like, Oh, the best way to do this is cancel your current booking and rebook. And I said, That's fine. Just letting you know that the card I booked this on is now closed. 

Alec: [00:10:20] Dude stop closing all your cards. 

Bryce: [00:10:23] The points of that is it's bad to have a credit card while you're doing a mortgage application. And that's I was going through mortgage application so closed on my credit cards. And I said I need to provide you 

Alec: [00:10:34] All your Credit cards except the one you took, not. 

Bryce: [00:10:35] Reopened that to it to it before. And so I said, look, you need I need to provide you with new details because it's closed. Yeah. He said, no stress. I'll send you a link as soon as we get off this call for you to update your details. And I said, I'm not getting off this chart until you've sent me that email. And he said, No, no, trust me, I will. I'm like, Fine, whatever. Cancelled it rebooked. An email came through being like, Apologies, we can't do that. Yeah. And then they send the money and of course, credit cards closed money then. 

Alec: [00:11:11] So that bounced back to them. The irony of in this case, they sent money to a close credit card and it goes back to them. In your case, you sent money to a close credit card and it didn't go back to you. 

Bryce: [00:11:22] Yeah, I know it. Well, the thing is, the policy is you have to wait 30 days for the money to bounce back. I waited 30 days. This is in February. I'm waiting months and months and months. TRIP.COM keep saying we can't find it and are giving me all of these codes and stuff to put to NZ to be like This is what Trip.com say is the tracking for this money. And they're like, Those codes are just non-existent. We don't know what they are. Visa then steps in and goes. We can confirm that visa have sent the money back to Trip.com. I'm then blowing up at Trip.com to the point where I got to write like a legal a threateningly legal. And they hadn't, they hadn't called me at all the minute I send this, like lengthy, threatening email from chat. They call me from Hong Kong with Singapore or wherever they are just being like, We're so sorry, blah blah, need to sort this out. 

Alec: [00:12:11] Just pause there. That's a good lesson for people. If you're struggling with customer service, touch AAPT. You can write your legal letter and get someone on the phone. 

Bryce: [00:12:19] And the whole time I'm like, This is your fault. Like you had a guy on chat who said that you could change it. And they then went through the chat and they and I could prove that it was on them. So then they came back and said, It's wrong. We fired the guy. He gave. He gave. He gave a wrong advice. We fired the guy. But the money is still with ANZ. And so now there's this huge back and forth of no one taking accountability of where the money's at. And so I'm just at a point where like, what do you do? I will say. 

Alec: [00:12:50] Yeah, actually, yeah. 

Bryce: [00:12:52] Because I'm at a point now where it's like no side is taking accountability, but I want my 650 bucks back and like. 

Alec: [00:12:59] Yeah, I mean we should be clear like diatribe or say has a line for this like that. Consumer protection is one of their key things. 

Bryce: [00:13:07] Well, maybe that'll be my next port of call.

Alec: [00:13:09] Yeah, but like your call, they'll investigate. Like, it's not going to, it's going to be tough to get 650 bucks back anyway. 

Bryce: [00:13:15] That's my dumb money rent. Yeah. Two travel related incidents. One my fault. One the fault of another supplier. But beware, whenever transferring money that it's going to the right bank account. 

Alec: [00:13:27] Yeah. So I actually had a second story, but I feel like you need at the time they're like it feels like you've really had some of those things pent up for a while and you needed a platform to share them. 

Bryce: [00:13:37] Thank you. Should we move to the list? 

Alec: [00:13:39] Let's move to the listeners. So this wasn't just a Bryce episode because everyone's got dumb money stories and made dumb money mistakes. And so we have reached out to the equity mates community. We've got some voice notes that we're going to play. But before then we called Chloe, who said one dumb money mistake that she. Kicking it off. We spoke to Chloe. 

Chloe: [00:14:22] So I put to go to Europe with two other friends. So there was three of us and we booked a two room kind of accommodation on a cell yacht. And so we were going to third the cost for basically four people. We were booking fast. So I decided just to put down a 50% deposit for myself, my friends, and they were going to go and pay me back when they could. A couple of days after that, one of my friends actually pulled out and stopped replying to my messages. And to this day, six years later, I'm still out about $1,000 from her. So that was my dumb money story.

Bryce: [00:14:59] I mean, you did the right thing, in my opinion, in terms of being the one to foot the bill to start so that others can. Come on. Are you still friends?

Alec: [00:15:07] I don't think that's a dumb money story. I think that's just a dog story. From your friend. Yeah. Are you still mates?

Chloe: [00:15:15] No. No. I know. And actually, through that, I realised she didn't pay me back for something else, so it kind of worked. But, yeah, we're no longer friends.

Bryce: [00:15:26] It is one of those situations, kind of like when you go out for dinner with a big group of people and you get to pay and they're like, We don't split Bill And you're like, Damn, someone's got to fork for fork it out. And you just know there's someone in that group who's not not going to transfer you back.

Chloe: [00:15:41] Yeah. 

Alec: [00:15:42] Well, Chloe, we will get you to name and shame your former friend on the show. But if someone is listening and they still owe Chloe some money, transfer her and maybe we'll be able to host a reunion on the podcast. 

Chloe: [00:15:57] I love it. I'll be. 

Alec: [00:15:58] There. And I think when you transfer Chloe back, make sure you factor in the interest over the last six years. 

Chloe: [00:16:06] Definitely. 

Bryce: [00:16:07] Love it. Well, thank you so much, Chloe. It was a pleasure to hear from you. Hopefully at some point in some way, life gives you that thousand dollars back.

Chloe: [00:16:14] So thanks, guys. Thanks, guys. Fingers crossed. 

Bryce: [00:16:17] Fingers crossed. Thanks, Chloe. Great to chat. 

Chloe: [00:16:20] Thanks. 

Alec: [00:16:21] We spoke to a number of members of the Equity Mates community to hear some of that money decisions. 

Chloe: [00:16:28] You have one new message. 

Cress: [00:16:31] Hi, my name is Cress, and this is my dumb money story. When I was in my early twenties, I ended up following the advice or the mis advice, as it turns out of one of my colleagues. So this is a story of something that you should never, ever do, which is if your colleague tells you that he's got the best stock idea in the whole world, that he's brother in law, his father in law, his mother, his sister, everyone that he knows has invested in it. It's going to be big. You're going to make money. You're going to make 100 X. Don't believe it. Run for the hills. Run back to the best strategy, which is dividend stock investing. So don't repeat the mistake that I made in my twenties. It took me ten years to recover from it, and I'm back on the right path now. Thanks, guys. All the best. 

Bryce: [00:17:23] Thanks, Cress. 

Alec: [00:17:24] I just want to know what stock it. I think we all have a stock tip story. Yeah, you have a one that I think we've spoken about before. About one of our good mates giving you a stock tip. And then he sold out soon after. Just didn't tell.

Bryce: [00:17:39] You kept me in the lurch, and I just write it right all the way down. But that's a common one. Don't follow the spec stock tip. 

Alec: [00:17:47] But, Bryce, also, you have a reputation at Woolworths because early days of Afterpay, you shared it on the podcast, which was great for our credibility on the podcast. But you also told everyone you were working with Woollies. Yes. And they all got on it. So they took your stock tip. Yes. And then Afterpay went to the right. Yeah. And people really still talk about what's your next Afterpay. 

Bryce: [00:18:09] Literally, it's weird. Anyway, don't take stock tips from a colleague. That's all I'm Going to say. All right. Well, the next one here is from Emelia, and she's written that her dumb money mistake was YOLO ing into a stock called Delirium Corporation's two. 

Emelia: [00:18:26] DeLorean DeLorean Delirious. 

Bryce: [00:18:29] Two days after it IPO'd with no due diligence because she likes the name and the vibe, which was clean energy. The ticker was DEL and saw the stock absolutely mooning, but shortly after she bought in, the stock burned up on re-entry. She bought it at $0.42, cut losses at 25 and a half cents. And then now the stock is $0.02. 

Alec: [00:18:51] So it could have been a good call. 

Bryce: [00:18:53] Cutting their losses, it's often hard to do loss aversion, but the IPO is a tricky one. You can often get caught up in post IPO madness and the stock is shooting. And you got to understand, I think, what is going on at that period of time with the share registries and that only comes from experience. 

Alec: [00:19:11] Yeah. The classic example when I think about IPO hype is beyond made like it IPO and there was so much. Excitement around it and plant based made and everything, and it just shot up and it had some incredible opening days, but it has come way back to earth from there. So anyway, there's some big IPO's coming down the pike, Red stripe few that are about to go Instacart and stuff like that. So a good reminder that if you are interested in some of these companies to keep your head and I think there's a real argument when it comes to IPOs is you can dollar cost average into a position over time. You don't have to get everything on day.

Bryce: [00:19:48] One, so let's keep them coming. More dumb mistakes thanks to the launch of dumb money. Let's hear from Kieren. 

Kieren: [00:19:57] Hi, equity mates. This is my dumb money story. So the story of I bought all these VR games and I've never played in VR machine to use like a headset and I had to use and I bought all of these games, which all came up to about $400. And I didn't know at the time until I bought them and I opened the games and they were VR exclusive. So I'd spent $400 on the PlayStation store for basically nothing and you can't get a refund or anything because it's not physical copies of the games. That was really the just wasted $400 on games that I can't play. So it's a pretty dumb, dumb decision. Love the show, guys. Thank you so much for having me here. 

Bryce: [00:20:38] Kieren, that's got to hurt. 

Alec: [00:20:40] I'm surprised you can't get a refund for digital purchases. Is that a thing? 

Bryce: [00:20:44] I don't. 

Alec: [00:20:44] Know. Maybe another call to the I to say I actually don't know what the rules are, so they might tell you to stop calling, but. 

Bryce: [00:20:50] All right. Let's hear from Bede 

Bede: [00:20:53] Hi. Actually, this is my dumb money story. It was about 15 years ago when Kanye West announced the tour to Australia, and I thought that would be a big event and basically easy money. If I don't even consult any of my friends, then go ahead and take the steps of purchasing, I think was about six tickets and more than six or seven tickets in my head. I also saw it as a money making opportunity if my friends can't go with me and could easily double my money by selling them, I thought I would be very cheeky. And as time started counting down to the event, I couldn't get any friends to commit, nor could I find any sellers or buyers. Rather, on eBay I realised there was a massive music festival on the same day and in the end I couldn't find anyone. All the offers were undercutting me on eBay and I tried to find any available friends and I mean literally any to give my tickets away. And at the end of the day, that man picks up a friend. About thousand dollars worth of Kanye West tickets to go to a show that I paid $2,000 for is horrific. Anyway, that's my story. I graduated this day and my friends have something to say about it as well. Anyway, I love the show and I appreciate all the work you do. Thank you again. 

Bryce: [00:22:15] That is a classic. That's got to hurt. I say dog Team-mates for not even chipping in some of it. But secondly, the temptation to try and play the the ticket game is, is one that I know a few people in our friendship group try and do. Yeah, but. Pretty fraught now. I've never done it. I've never done it intentionally. I've been on, I've been Oh yeah.

Alec: [00:22:36] Bought tickets, bought tickets.

Bryce: [00:22:37] Can't go there. You know, even recently with the World Cup a couple of our mates went and they said that before obviously the Matilda Matildas craziness to the pre to the semi-final I think it was you could buy tickets way back when and they were launched for like 35 bucks. Our mates paid three to say. So kudos to us that sold that. Well, thank you to all of the community members who have sent in their dumb money mistakes. It was great sifting through them. Please continue the conversation. Come and join our Equity mates discussion group on Facebook. You know, sharing our mistakes is one of the only ways that we can all get better.

Alec: [00:23:20] Yeah. Now, Bryce, before we go, do you have any other kinds of credit cards that you want to tell us? How you got any other mistakes like. I feel like you've needed this episode. 

Bryce: [00:23:31] Well, the saga continues, Ren, both of the situations haven't been closed close out, so I'm still still very much in the depths of it. But let 

Alec: [00:23:39] This is like the ultimate hundred dollar challenge. 

Bryce: [00:23:41] I'm essentially sixth about 600 bucks short at the moment from this saga with credit cards. So anyway, I'll let you guys know in the hundred dollar challenge when those sagas are finally resolved. But anyway, this episode was in celebration of the launch of Dumb Money, and thanks to Village Roadshow for supporting this episode. The movie is a brand new comedy from the directors of I Tonya based on the insane true story of the GameStop short squeeze. Now it is in cinemas from 5th of October, but as we said at the top, there is a link in the show notes for you too to grab tickets to an advanced screening in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth on Wednesday the 20th. Youth will be at the Sydney one. Hopefully plenty of other equity mates, community members will be at those other venues.

Alec: [00:24:25] If you're a lawyer or you work for Visa or MasterCard and you want to help Bryce out with his money dilemmas. 

Bryce: [00:24:31] Or if you work. For any of those institutions, give me some inside of that. Anyway. 

Alec: [00:24:38] Say it. 

Bryce: [00:24:39] So the other thing I find really frustrating is you always get a different person when you call the line. And so even though all the notes are there and they all have different levels of training as well. So one week they say we can't do that. The next week the person's like, Yeah, we can do that. [00:24:53][13.6]

Alec: [00:24:53] So I was like, I don't Want to I don't want make this like a credit card gripe episode. But I've had a similar issue. When I worked at Coles, I had a Coles credit card, and long story short, I won this study to it to go over to the US and do a course at Harvard. But I had to pay for the Harvard course myself and then get reimbursed. But then COVID happened in the study too. It got cancelled, so then I needed to get a refund from Harvard and then trying to get that money off the credit card. That was about a year of exactly what you're talking about. They're just like going over the notes, explaining the situation.

Bryce: [00:25:25] And I've worked in a bank. I know it's not hard. That type of thing. 

Alec: [00:25:31] I've worked at a Call centre and like it is like there's nothing. It's not their fault. It's not your fault. 

Bryce: [00:25:37] But I mean, the execution of what we're asking for is not Hard. Like it's super possible. Just do it. Anyway, we'll leave it there. Link in the show notes. Awesome movie. It was a David versus Goliath scenario, and we can't wait to say it in the movies. Pick it up next week.

Alec: [00:25:57] Sounds good.