19 people shared the most financially irresponsible things they’ve seen someone do, and it’ll make you feel better for sticking to a budget
Living within your means doesn’t sound fun and exciting, but it beats being buried in debt due to splashing out on a stupid purchase.
If you’re still not convinced, check out the replies to a question set by Reddit user LJRGXPKCVWDGOGH12Y3. Over on r/AskReddit, they invited people to share the biggest monetary blunders they’ve witnessed by asking:
‘What is the most financially irresponsible thing you’ve seen someone do?’
These top replies will have you watching your pennies like a hawk…
1.
‘My aunt once bought an RV on a whim and then realized she didn’t have a way to tow it. So she went across the street to a car dealership and bought a new truck to tow her new camper 🫠’
-Perfect_Star1022
2.
‘A friend of mine was telling me about one of our old friend from high-school. He ran into some cash about 85 grand and started living like he was a millionaire, the last 15 grand he had he bought rolls of scratch off tickets and lotto tickets hoping to win the money he had blown’
-jblackstarr
3.
‘Won $10k at the casino while about $10k in credit card debt, in addition to car payments and student debt. Her mom convinced her to buy $8k worth of birds’ nest soup because it would be good for her skin.’
-unuser21
4.
‘After 50+ years at a company they retired with a full pension, but opted to get the full amount immediately instead of monthly payments. The money was gone within two years and they had to find another job.’
-imemine8
5.
‘My dad fed ~$1M into video lottery terminals at bars and now is destitute’
-sirduckbert
6.
‘Contractor. Had been building the business and had just bought a second home and brand new boat to go with. Signed on for a big job and saw big dollar signs in his eyes. Before the job began, 1.2mil house. Then the Ferrari. Then the job went sideways and it all had to be sold. Both houses, the car and the boat.’
-United_Reason_3774
7.
‘Go on constant vacations and use the travel agencies payment plans. There are no middle class families that can afford the number of out of state, out of country, resorts, theme parks, and cruise ship vacations that I see so many people taking. These folks are taking 3 or 4 huge trips a year yet lead similar lives as us. We have decent salaries and have NEVER been able to pull of one of those trips. Let alone multiple ones a year.’
-Open_Dinner1173
8.
‘I watched a friend of a friend take out an auto loan for 60 months at 18%.’
-ObjectReport
9.
‘Open up a credit card at every store in the mall. This was 2002. They were approved for over 100k worth of credit. They maxed it out in an afternoon. It was hilarious and tragic all at once.’
-Slight_Pop_Pop
10.
‘Our shipping specialist was a smart enough guy, but has no self control. He had a house loan, a boat loan and a UTV loan and was always whining for better pay, then the day after quarterly bonuses came, he showed up at work with a new crew cab pickup truck. It wasn’t two months and he was moaning about his pay again, but with increased intensity.’
-Glad-Result-3146
11.
‘Saw someone buy DDR5 ram in 2026.
‘It’s me. I’m the someone.’
-Captain__h00k__
12.
‘I worked with a guy who, when in high school, figured out that if he wrote a bad check , it took about two weeks before it was discovered. So he thought, ‘I can spend as much as I want for two weeks’.
‘17,000 dollars later, that two weeks earned him several years in prison.’
-ndwolf
13.
‘There was a forum post years ago where someone was asking for advice. She had just come into a small inheritance and was asking if she should pay off her $20k of credit card debt or buy a pair of diamond earrings she wanted. There were hundreds of comments and literally 99% of them said to pay off her debt.
‘She edited the post the next day to add, “Thank for all the advice, everyone! I’m getting the earrings!”‘
-AluminumFoilist
14.
‘Spend 1200 a week on an app game to be number 1’
-BendyAu
15.
‘Spending some millions on gambling (lotto winners of course)’
-CaseImmediate6632
16.
‘Me, bought a first class flight on a whim. Was amazing, but now anything less feels horrendous and I used a credit card to pay for it.’
-Funny_Assignment_105
17.
‘Put money on the horse bcos he likes the name
‘Then look inconsolable when it doesn’t win
‘It’s 25/1 for a reason…it wins once in 25 attempts’
-Prudent-Ad-6420
18.
‘A coworker looked at a year end summary and saw that he had spent 30k on DoorDash. My mind was blown’
-onetinyspeck
19.
‘Before he moved out and got his own place, when he had “expendable” income, my son randomly decided to buy a harpoon gun. 🤷🏻♂️’
-PiquePocketU
Source: r/AskReddit Image: Screenshot