Global B2B buy sell website: http://www.bytrade.com

 Global B2B buy sell website: http://www.bytrade.com

 

by Tim Sprinkle

As with most things, financial hindsight is 20/20.

We all have those money secrets -- that big debt, that low credit score, that bankruptcy filing -- that we'd rather our friends and family not find out about, if for no other reason than to save face and prove that we've moved beyond our youthful indiscretions. But where's the fun in that?

So, in the spirit of learning from others' mistakes, we asked our Yahoo! contributors to come clean and share their own personal money secrets with the world. Their stories are below.

I Filed for Bankruptcy

"As a former financial adviser and someone who is often looked upon as one who makes good financial decisions, I am also only human and have been harboring a money secret from my past for some time now. Almost 15 years ago I had to file for bankruptcy.

"This was well before I was a financial adviser and it was also during my first marriage. Now, I'm not going to say it was all my ex-wife's fault or all my fault, but I will say that between the two of us we racked up over $45,000 in debt. At that point in my life I was only waiting tables and barely making enough to pay all the minimums.

"After I lost my job and couldn't find another one, I saw no other alternative. However, I have more than rebounded from that awful financial nightmare and have learned from it as well. Now I don't buy anything unless I have the cash for it and I now pride myself for practicing what I preach." -- Jimmy Collins

I Had a Weakness for Credit Cards

"My husband didn't realize he had married somebody who was addicted to shopping. Even though I knew that our policy of 'cash only' was a smart one, and I claimed to give up the use of credit cards, all I really managed to do was relinquish my most used ones. Unbeknownst to my husband, I squirreled away a card with a small balance and a decent-sized limit.

"Several months and $2,000 later, my husband found out about my compulsive spending. At first I tried to deny anything was amiss, but it was obvious I had used the card often. The worst part about it was that I couldn't really account for all $2,000. I knew I had bought clothes, but I can't remember what else was purchased.

"My husband's discovery of my addiction was important not only to our financial health but also to our relationship. Since then he has monitored our finances more closely. Additionally, we sat down and cut up each of our credit cards to make it impossible for me to abuse them again. Our new lifestyle is a challenge at times, and thanks to my regression we've added several thousand dollars to our journey to being debt-free, but we are back on the path again, and I've made sure our financial GPS doesn't take us anywhere near a mall." -- Bex Barker

I'm Still Making Minimum Wage

"I have been out or work for the better part of four years. I have been pursuing my writing career, but still I like to try and raise my contribution level whenever I am able. So when the opportunity came about for me to get some holiday work at a popular retail department store, I figured "why not?" … The woman who made me the offer slid it across the table. She could not even speak the words; she had to write it down for me to read: $8.25 an hour.

"I accepted, and then quickly rescinded my acceptance of the offer. As a 32-year-old man I should not be accepting the same rate I was offered at my first suburban retail store almost 20 years ago." -- Jesse Schmitt

I Was a Timeshare Junkie

"I was likely an easy mark when I attended the timeshare presentation and walked out the proud owner of a piece of paper for what was promised to be a very nice condo that I could use for a week every year. I say 'promised' because at the time I signed my name, there was a drawing and a hole in the sand, and nothing more.

"Two years later I returned, enjoyed my stay at my now newly built property, and again attended another sales presentation. Once again, I must have been an easy mark because I upgraded from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom condo in what was probably record time.

"It wasn't until after I'd signed my name on a $27,000 piece of property (the two-bedroom) that I started to research what that condo was actually worth. Hello, bytrade! My giddy investment was available to me at a fraction of the price I'd paid from other people that had fallen for the same bright shiny object sales pitch." -- Gerry Even

We Had to Shut Down Our Spending … Completely

"The key to keeping a financially strapped family's head above water? Stop spending. I am not just talking about cutting luxuries here. When I say I stopped spending, I mean I only got new things at Christmas and my birthday. My husband and I got our financial house in order by limiting all spending. Our children's needs came first, and the only time we purchased new clothes for ourselves was when our current wardrobe was falling into disrepair. Frivolous spending came to a complete halt. Our money went to bills, food and the needs of our children." -- A.C. Haury

I Was Upside Down on a Car Loan

"I was so proud of the brand-new Mazda RX7 that I bought in 1989. It had a rotary engine that was as smooth as silk. Forget about the fact that it blew through gas like you wouldn't believe. I didn't believe it until I moved to Florida and took my new set of wheels on a 45-minute commute every day. Needless to say, between the toll roads and the gas guzzler I was driving, I went broke pretty fast. So, instead of trading the thing in for a more practical vehicle, I went to the car dealer armed with ... well, nothing. Not a penny to my name.

"You see, I was upside down. I had taken out a loan and now owed more than the car was worth. No problem, according to the finance manager at the slick Mazda dealership. He could put me into a fire engine red Mazda Miata. The hottest thing going that year. The trick? I had to lease it.

"Come to find out, that was a really bad idea when it came time to trade it in. I was over on my miles and, you guessed it, once again I had to pay money to get out of the thing. Only this time I made the right move. I traded it in for a no-frills blue Toyota (I paid cash). I'll never forget that car either ... because I hated it so much. It was the most boring car imaginable. But I did learn my lesson. I never again leased a car or borrowed money for one either." -- Marie Dubuque

That Time My Car Got Repossessed

"It started with a bad financial move in 1994 when I literally gave away one of our two cars before making a rash decision to quit my job and move to California. We only made it as far as Tucson, deterred by the 1994 California earthquake. Without my well-paying job, we had trouble making the payment on our remaining car. We took our car in to be repaired and couldn't pay the repair bill. They repossessed the car while it was at the repair shop." -- Laura Cone