Everyone makes money mistakes – I’m no exception. With a net worth of over $500K before age 30, it’s hard to imagine I’ve made many money mistakes. Although my net worth may be impressive, I’m far from perfect. Before I began my journey towards financial independence, I made plenty of money mistakes. Those money mistakes were important because they helped shaped who I am today. As the saying goes, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Here are my five biggest money mistakes.

 1. Not Working Until I was 19

I strongly believe that getting a part-time job in high school is beneficial. Not only does it teach you transferable skills like communication and time management, it teaches you about budgeting. For the first-time you’ll be earning a pay cheque. You’re never too young to start saving – this is a great opportunity to begin a lifelong habit of paying yourself first.

I didn’t get my first part-time job until I was 19 years old. Instead of using my free time to study or participate in extra-curricular activities, I wasted my time by watching TV, playing video games and surfing the Internet. On my 19^th birthday was I given the best birthday present I could have asked for – my first part-time job. Although working at a supermarket wasn’t glamorous, it taught me about life skills I use to this very day and helped me graduate debt-free from university.

2. Not Taking High School Seriously

My second biggest money mistake was not taking high school seriously. In junior high school I was at the top of my class and made the honour roll, but when I entered high school that all changed. I stopped caring and let my grades slips. Instead of being a straight A’s student, I fell to the bottom of my class. While my classmates were busy attending university fairs, I didn’t even bother to show up. I have no excuses, as I wasn’t working part-time. If I had only taken high school more seriously, I could have been accepted into a top-level university straight out of high school. Instead I had to go to community college first to upgrade my marks.

 3. Not Working Full-Time Until I Was 24 Years Old

Like a lot of high school students I decided to take a year off after graduation. I didn’t attend my high school graduation because I was ashamed I didn’t get into a prestigious university. Instead of taking advantage of the extra year to go back to school and upgrade my marks, I sat at home and did nothing. I didn’t even have the decency to help my mother with chores around the house. Although I eventually started working part-time and enrolled in community college, it really hurt my earning potential. I didn’t graduate university until 2009, smack-dab in the middle of the financial crisis. The job prospects weren’t great, so I ended up working full-time at a supermarket for a year before I finally found a full-time job in my field. If I had only tried harder in high school, I could have been working full-time when I was 22 years old. These two years of slacking off cost me at least $100,000 in lost earnings.

 4. Not Buying a House Sooner

Although I started looking for a house at the beginning of 2010, it took me nearly three years to purchase a house. It wasn’t that I was overly picky, it’s because I didn’t find the right real estate agent. My first real estate agent was a family friend. As a first-time homebuyer I needed a lot of handholding – she just didn’t give me the support I needed. It took me three agents before I finally found the perfect match. If I could have done it over again, I would have switched agents a lot sooner. Because of this mistake house prices continued to rise and I was almost priced out of the market.

 5. Risky Investments

When I a young and an inexperienced investor, I invested $6,000 of my personal savings in an online high-yield investment program called 12 Daily Pro. The website promised to return 12 per cent of your investment for 12 days to provide a total return of 144 per cent. The first couple times I got my money back, but the third time the website got shut down by the SEC. A court-appointed receiver was supposed to distribute to the remaining money, but I never got a dime back. This taught me a valuable lesson about investing – there’s no such thing as easy money. If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. You shouldn’t invest money you cannot afford to lose.

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What are your biggest money mistakes?

Sean Cooper is the bestselling author of the book, Burn Your Mortgage: The Simple, Powerful Path to Financial Freedom for Canadians, available now on Amazon and at Chapters, Indigo and major bookstores, and as an Audiobook on Amazon, Audible and iTunes.