You’ll never guess Australia’s biggest money mistakes We’ve all mademistakes.

From Michael Yardney

I made more than my share of investment and money mistakes when I was young and paid a huge learning fee along the way.

So I was interested to read the survey by finder.com.au to identify the biggest money mistakes made by Australians.

And I was a little surprised to find divorce and having children high up on the list.

Of course I was not surprised to find losing money on a property investment ranking high.

Here’s the most common money mistakes

Mistake Australians affected

Divorce/separation

1.36 million

Lost money on a property investment

1.27 million

Too much gambling

1.11 million

Having children

1.11 million

Letting partner control finances

1.01 million

Caught out by an online scam

789,704

Paying too much for a wedding

703,866

Dropping out of university

549,359

Investing in a pyramid scheme

515,024

47% of the 1,043 people surveyed said they had made a costly money mistake.[adrotate group=”7″]

Divorce was the most common, with an average cost of $144,774 per person.

Property investment was almost as risky, with an average loss of $106,104.

The figure for people claiming having children was their biggest mistake was even higher, at $162,456.)

Other common mistakes included excessive gambling, letting a partner control your finances and falling for an online scam.

Men and women had slightly different views.

For women, letting their partner control finances was the most common error, while men cited divorce or separation and were also more likely to nominate gambling as a problem.

Australians take a very different view to Americans when it comes to money mistakes.

A similar survey in the states identified not finishing higher education as the biggest financial mistake.

Source: Finder.com.au

Posted on June 11, 2016