We Asked About Money Mistakes… Half the Responses Said “Marriage”! (Plus the Spending, Credit Card, and Political Answers That Reveal How We Really Think About Money)
THE QUESTION THAT GOT BRUTALLY HONEST
“The biggest financial mistake people make is _____”
We expected answers about credit cards, student loans, maybe not saving for retirement. Financial planning basics. Investment mistakes. Budget failures.
What we got was much more PERSONAL.
And one answer appeared over and over with stunning frequency:
“Getting married” (mentioned at least 5 times)
Not credit card debt. Not lack of savings. Not overspending.
MARRIAGE.
That’s either the most honest financial assessment ever posted online, or a comment section full of divorced men with bitter bank accounts. Probably both.
THE MARRIAGE MONEY PIT
The “Getting Married” Chorus
“Getting married” (mentioned 5+ times as standalone answer)
“Getting married and having kids”
“Having to Many girlfriends” (a variation on the relationship-costs theme)
Five different people said the biggest financial mistake is literally getting married. Not marrying the wrong person. Not having expensive weddings. Just… getting married at all.
Why Marriage Keeps Appearing
Let’s be real about what these people are saying:
They’re not necessarily anti-marriage as an institution. They’re talking about the FINANCIAL REALITY of what happens when marriages go wrong. And marriages go wrong a LOT.
The financial devastation of divorce includes:
Splitting assets down the middle, or worse. That house you both paid for? Now one of you is buying out the other or it’s being sold. That retirement account you built for 20 years? Half goes to your ex. The car, the savings, the investments—everything gets divided.
Alimony payments that can last years or decades. Depending on the state and marriage length, you could be paying your ex-spouse a portion of your income for the rest of their life. Or yours. Either way, it’s expensive.
Child support that continues until the kids turn 18, or longer if they’re in college. This isn’t optional. This is court-ordered money leaving your paycheck every month whether you can afford it or not.
Legal fees that can drain savings accounts faster than anything else. Divorce lawyers aren’t cheap. A contested divorce can easily cost $15,000-$50,000 PER PERSON. If it goes to court and drags on? Six figures isn’t unheard of.
Starting over financially in your 40s, 50s, or later. You spent decades building wealth as a couple. Now you’re starting from scratch—or worse, starting from debt—at an age when you should be approaching peak earning and saving years.
One person added a detail: “Getting married and having kids”
Because apparently kids make the financial devastation even worse. Which, if we’re being honest, they absolutely do. Kids are expensive during marriage. Kids are REALLY expensive during divorce when you’re supporting two households and possibly paying child support.
The Uncomfortable Financial Truth About Marriage
Marriage is a FINANCIAL PARTNERSHIP that comes with massive risk.
When it works, it’s one of the best financial decisions you can make. Two incomes, shared expenses, economies of scale, combined purchasing power, shared retirement planning, tax benefits, insurance savings.
When it fails, it’s financially catastrophic in ways that are hard to overstate.
Bankruptcy rates spike after divorce. Retirement savings get cut in half or worse. People lose houses they spent decades paying for. Standard of living plummets, especially for women and custodial parents. Financial security built over 20-30 years can be destroyed in a year of divorce proceedings.
And in the United States, roughly 40-50% of marriages end in divorce. Those aren’t great odds for what’s supposedly a lifetime commitment.
So when five different people independently say “getting married” is the biggest financial mistake, they’re not being cynical. They’re being REALISTIC based on lived experience or observation. They’ve either been through it themselves or watched it destroy someone financially.
The Real Message
What they’re really saying is: “The biggest financial mistake is getting married WITHOUT being absolutely certain it’s the right person, without protecting yourself legally, and without understanding the financial devastation that divorce can cause.”
But that doesn’t fit in a comment box. So they just wrote “getting married” and let the brutal honesty speak for itself.
THE OVERSPENDING EPIDEMIC
The Spending Problem
After marriage, the second-biggest theme was spending. But people described it in different ways that reveal different aspects of the same problem:
“Spending money” – The most basic version. Just… spending in general.
“Spending” – Even more minimalist. One word. Entire problem.
“Buying” – Same idea, different word.
“Spending more than they earn” – Now we’re getting specific about the REAL problem.
“Not living within their means” – The financial advisor version of the same thing.
“Living over their means” – Variation on the theme.
“Spending money they do not have” – This is the credit-fueled version.
“Foolish spending without a budget or plan !!” – The comprehensive version with emphasis.
What This Really Means
Americans are spending themselves into oblivion. But the problem isn’t just that people spend money. Everyone spends money. You have to spend money to live.
The problem is the RELATIONSHIP with spending has become completely divorced from earning.
People spend what they WANT to spend, not what they CAN afford to spend. They see something they want, they buy it. They don’t ask “can I afford this?” They ask “can I make the payment?”
Credit cards have completely severed the connection between purchasing power and actual money. You can buy things you can’t afford, today, and worry about paying for them later. Except “later” keeps coming, and the debt keeps growing, and the interest keeps compounding.
The rise of “buy now, pay later” services has made it even worse. Now you don’t even need a credit card to spend money you don’t have. Split it into four easy payments! Except you’re splitting SIX purchases into payments, and now you have 24 obligations hitting your account at random times throughout the month.
One commenter got specific: “Paying the bills first and not paying off credit cards in full at the end of the month.”
This is BACKWARDS from what financial advisors recommend, but it’s what millions of Americans do. Pay the mortgage, the car payment, the utilities. Then see what’s left and make the minimum payment on credit cards. The debt grows. The interest compounds. The hole gets deeper.
The financially sound approach? Pay yourself first (savings), pay off credit cards IN FULL, then worry about everything else. But that requires discipline most people don’t have.
The Budget Failure
“Failed to budget their money”
“Budget!” (Just the word, like a desperate plea)
Most Americans don’t budget. They just… spend until the money runs out. Then they’re shocked when there’s too much month at the end of the money.
A budget isn’t restrictive. It’s LIBERATING. It tells you exactly what you can afford to spend guilt-free. But Americans view budgets as punishment rather than tools. So they don’t make them. And then they wonder where all the money went.
THE CREDIT CARD CATASTROPHE
The Plastic Trap
“Getting credit cards”
“Credit cards” (mentioned twice)
Credit cards aren’t inherently evil. They’re tools. Used responsibly, they build credit, provide rewards, offer purchase protection, and smooth out cash flow.
Used the way most Americans use them, they’re financial suicide.
The average American household with credit card debt carries about $7,000 in balances. At 20% APR (a common rate), that’s $1,400 in interest per year just to stay in the same place. That’s money spent on literally nothing except the privilege of having spent money you didn’t have last year.
Credit cards enable spending beyond your means. They make expensive purchases feel affordable through minimum payments. They disguise the true cost of things through interest that compounds over time.
One commenter specified: “Borrowing money with high interest on a low paying job”
This is the DEATH SPIRAL. You’re not making much money. You use credit to maintain a lifestyle you can’t afford. The interest is astronomical because your credit is bad. Now you’re paying 25-30% APR on balances you can barely make minimum payments on. The debt grows faster than you can pay it down. Eventually, you’re paying hundreds per month just in interest, never touching the principal.
This is how people with $30,000 salaries end up with $20,000 in credit card debt and no way out except bankruptcy.
Why Credit Cards Win
Credit card companies have perfected the art of making you FEEL like you can afford things you can’t.
“Only $50 a month!” sounds manageable. But that $50 a month for 60 months means you paid $3,000 for something that cost $1,500. You literally paid double because you couldn’t wait and save.
Minimum payments are designed to keep you in debt forever. Pay the minimum on a $5,000 balance at 18% APR, and you’ll be paying for 15+ years while paying thousands in interest.
Rewards programs trick you into spending more to “earn” points. People spend an extra $2,000 to earn $200 in rewards. Congratulations, you played yourself.
Credit cards aren’t the problem. Lack of self-control and financial literacy around credit cards is the problem.
THE SAVINGS SHORTAGE
Not Saving Enough
“Not saving”
“Not saving enough”
Americans don’t save. Period.
According to various surveys, roughly 40% of Americans couldn’t cover a $400 emergency without borrowing or selling something. The median retirement account balance for people near retirement is around $60,000—nowhere NEAR enough to retire on.
Why don’t people save?
They’re living paycheck to paycheck because expenses have risen faster than wages. Housing, healthcare, education, childcare—these essentials eat up increasingly large portions of income, leaving little for savings.
They have no emergency fund because they never started one, and now any emergency goes on credit cards, creating debt instead of depleting savings they don’t have.
They don’t see the point because retirement feels impossibly far away when you’re 25, and financial discipline is hard when immediate gratification is one click away.
They have no financial education because schools don’t teach it, parents often don’t know it themselves, and society doesn’t prioritize it until you’re already in trouble.
One commenter got specific about a particular savings mistake: “Borrowing from their 401 k future is going to be bare!!!”
Raiding retirement accounts early is DEVASTATING. You lose the money you withdraw. You lose all the compound growth that money would have generated over decades. You often pay penalties and taxes on top of that. A $10,000 loan from your 401(k) today could cost you $100,000+ in lost retirement growth. That’s not exaggeration—that’s compound interest over 30 years.
THE POLITICAL BLAME GAME (OF COURSE)
Politics and Money
“VOTING DEMOCRAT” (in all caps, naturally)
“Voting for democrats”
Of course someone blamed Democrats for financial problems. Because everything is political now, including personal finance failures.
The logic, presumably, is that Democratic policies lead to higher taxes, more regulation, bigger government, wasteful spending, and economic conditions that make it harder to accumulate wealth.
Is there truth to this? That depends entirely on your economic philosophy, income level, and political beliefs.
What’s definitely true: Your individual financial mistakes have nothing to do with which party controls Congress. If you’re spending more than you earn, racking up credit card debt, not saving for retirement, and making poor financial decisions, that’s on YOU regardless of who’s in the White House.
Blaming your financial problems on politics is the ultimate deflection of personal responsibility.
THE UNEXPECTED AND SPECIFIC ANSWERS
The Wildcards
“Wanting one of EVERYTHING!”
This is consumerism in a nutshell. Americans have been programmed to believe more is better. More stuff, more experiences, more of everything. The result? Garages full of unused exercise equipment, closets full of unworn clothes, and credit cards full of debt from buying things we don’t need to impress people we don’t like.
“trusting other people”
This person has clearly been burned by a bad financial advisor, a dishonest business partner, or a family member who “borrowed” money and never paid it back. Trust is expensive when it’s misplaced.
“BUYING CRACK”
Well. Yes. That would indeed be a poor financial decision. And probably indicative of bigger problems than budgeting. This is either dark humor or someone who’s seen addiction destroy finances firsthand. Either way, they’re not wrong—addiction is absolutely financially devastating.
“Not tithing”
This is the religious financial perspective—that not giving to God/church is a financial mistake because blessings follow obedience. Whether you believe this is a matter of faith, not finance. But plenty of religious people believe their prosperity is directly tied to tithing, so to them, NOT tithing is the biggest financial mistake possible.
WHAT THE ANSWERS ACTUALLY REVEAL
Americans Are Financially Illiterate
The variety and breadth of answers shows that people don’t really understand personal finance fundamentals. Some blame marriage. Others blame spending. Some blame credit cards. A few blame politics.
The real answer? All of these can be financial mistakes depending on how you approach them. Marriage isn’t a mistake if you choose wisely and protect yourself. Spending isn’t a mistake if you spend within your means. Credit cards aren’t mistakes if you pay them off monthly. Even having kids doesn’t have to be financially devastating if you plan appropriately.
The mistake isn’t the thing itself. It’s doing the thing WITHOUT understanding the financial implications.
Americans Lack Self-Control
Whether it’s spending, credit cards, or wanting everything, the underlying issue is impulse control. Americans want what they want RIGHT NOW. Delayed gratification is dead. Save up for six months to buy something? Nah, buy it now and make payments for two years while paying double in interest.
This isn’t completely people’s fault—our entire economy is designed to encourage immediate consumption. Marketing, advertising, easy credit, “buy now pay later,” social media showing you everyone else’s (curated) life—it’s all designed to make you feel like you need things you don’t and can afford things you can’t.
But at some point, adults have to take responsibility for their own financial choices.
Americans Don’t Plan for the Future
“Not saving enough,” “borrowing from 401k,” failing to budget—these all point to a present-focused mindset that ignores future consequences.
Future-you will need money to retire. Future-you will have emergencies. Future-you will need medical care. Future-you might lose your job or face unexpected expenses.
But present-you wants new shoes. So present-you spends the money and lets future-you deal with the consequences. Except future-you eventually becomes present-you, and suddenly the consequences are real and immediate and devastating.
The Marriage Answer Reveals Deep Cynicism
The fact that “getting married” was the most common answer—more common than credit cards, more common than overspending, more common than anything—reveals something darker about American society.
People are either:
- So financially devastated by divorce that it’s their go-to example of financial catastrophe
- So cynical about marriage success rates that they view it as a bad bet from the start
- So focused on individual wealth accumulation that partnership feels like a liability
This is bleak. Marriage is supposed to be about love, partnership, building a life together. That it’s viewed primarily through a lens of financial risk says something sad about where we are as a society.
THE ACTUAL BIGGEST FINANCIAL MISTAKES (According to Experts)
Let’s cut through the anecdotal answers and look at what financial experts consistently identify as the biggest mistakes:
Not Starting Early Enough
Time is your most valuable financial asset. Someone who starts saving $200/month at age 25 will have more at retirement than someone who starts saving $500/month at age 40. That’s the power of compound interest.
Yet most people don’t start saving seriously until their 40s or later, after they’ve wasted the most powerful years of compound growth. You can’t get those years back. Time is the one resource you can’t buy more of.
Lifestyle Inflation
This is what happens when your spending rises with your income instead of your savings. You get a raise, so you upgrade your car. You get promoted, so you buy a bigger house. You get a bonus, so you take an expensive vacation.
The result? You make more money but you’re not any wealthier. You’re just spending more to maintain a more expensive lifestyle. Meanwhile, someone making half your salary but actually saving might end up wealthier than you.
The key is to maintain your lifestyle as income rises and bank the difference. Get a 10% raise? Great, increase your 401(k) contribution by 10%. Your lifestyle doesn’t change, but your wealth grows dramatically.
Paying Interest Instead of Earning It
Poor people pay interest. Rich people earn interest.
If you carry credit card balances, you’re paying 15-25% interest to credit card companies. If you have high-interest car loans or personal loans, you’re enriching lenders. That’s money flowing OUT of your pocket.
Meanwhile, if you have investments, retirement accounts, high-yield savings, you’re earning interest. Money is flowing INTO your pocket.
The goal of personal finance is simple: Stop paying interest and start earning it. Every dollar you pay in credit card interest is a dollar you could have invested to earn compound returns forever.
Not Having an Emergency Fund
Life happens. Cars break down. People get sick. Jobs get lost. Roofs leak. Appliances die. These aren’t “if” scenarios—they’re “when” scenarios.
Without an emergency fund (3-6 months of expenses saved), any emergency becomes a financial crisis. The car breaks down, and it goes on a credit card at 20% interest. You lose your job, and suddenly you’re depleting retirement accounts and taking penalties.
With an emergency fund, emergencies are just expenses. Annoying, yes. Financially devastating? No. You pay cash, your life continues, you rebuild the fund.
Most Americans don’t have even $1,000 saved for emergencies. So every unexpected expense—and life is FULL of unexpected expenses—becomes a debt-creating crisis.
Ignoring Retirement Until It’s Too Late
Retirement doesn’t care about your excuses. It’s coming whether you’re ready or not. And Social Security (as we’ve established) isn’t going to be enough.
The biggest financial mistake people make regarding retirement is thinking “I’ll start saving when I make more money” or “I’ll catch up later.” You won’t. Life gets more expensive, not less. You’ll never feel like you have “extra” money.
Someone who saves $5,000 per year from age 25-35 (just 10 years, $50,000 total) and then stops will have more at retirement than someone who starts at 35 and saves $5,000 per year until 65 (30 years, $150,000 total). That’s compound interest. That’s starting early.
Wait until you’re 45 to start saving for retirement? You’ll need to save massive amounts monthly to catch up—amounts that will be painful if not impossible at that stage of life.
THE SOLUTIONS NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR
It All Comes Down to This
Spend less than you earn. That’s it. That’s the secret to financial success. Not making millions. Not winning the lottery. Not getting lucky in crypto. Just spend less than you earn and invest the difference.
But Americans HATE this advice because it requires:
Saying no to things you want Delaying gratification Making sacrifices in the present for benefits in the future Going against cultural norms of consumption and status-seeking Accepting that you might not be able to afford the lifestyle you want right now
So instead, people:
- Spend more than they earn and use credit to bridge the gap
- Buy things they can’t afford to impress people they don’t like
- Lease cars they should buy, finance purchases they should save for
- Maintain lifestyles that require two incomes with zero margin for error
The Hard Truth About Financial Success
It’s boring. It’s not sexy. It’s not Instagram-worthy.
Live below your means. Drive a reliable used car instead of a new luxury vehicle. Stay in a modest house instead of stretching for the McMansion. Skip expensive vacations and invest the money instead. Brown-bag lunch instead of eating out daily. Make coffee at home instead of Starbucks.
Do this for decades. Watch your wealth grow slowly and steadily. No drama. No excitement. Just discipline compounded over time.
This is how people become millionaires. Not through get-rich-quick schemes or lucky breaks (though those help). Through boring, consistent, disciplined saving and investing over 30-40 years.
But that’s not what people want to hear. They want the secret trick. The hack. The shortcut. There isn’t one. There’s just math and discipline and time.
THE FINAL TRUTH ABOUT FINANCIAL MISTAKES
The Biggest Mistake Is…
All of the above. And more.
Getting married without protecting yourself financially? Mistake. Overspending? Mistake. Credit card debt? Mistake. Not saving? Mistake. Raiding retirement? Mistake. No emergency fund? Mistake. No budget? Mistake.
But the BIGGEST mistake—the one that underlies all the others—is this:
Living without financial awareness and making decisions based on emotion instead of math.
People marry the wrong person because they’re in love and don’t think about financial compatibility. People spend more than they earn because buying things feels good. People use credit cards because they want things now. People don’t save because future-them seems like a different person who’ll figure it out.
Financial mistakes happen when emotion overrides reason. When wants are treated as needs. When present desires outweigh future security. When social pressure matters more than personal finance.
What You Should Actually Do
Regardless of which specific mistake resonates with you:
Track your spending for 30 days. You can’t fix what you don’t measure. See where money actually goes.
Create a budget. Not to restrict yourself, but to give yourself permission to spend guilt-free within limits you can afford.
Pay off high-interest debt. Credit cards charging 20%+ interest are destroying your wealth. Attack them aggressively.
Build an emergency fund. Start with $1,000, then build to 3-6 months of expenses. Do this before investing.
Save for retirement. At minimum, get your employer match in your 401(k)—that’s free money. Ideally, save 15-20% of income.
Avoid lifestyle inflation. When income rises, save the difference instead of spending it.
Think long-term. Every purchase decision is a choice between having this thing now or being wealthier later. Sometimes the thing is worth it. Usually it’s not.
None of this is complicated. But simple doesn’t mean easy. It requires discipline, delayed gratification, and going against cultural norms of consumption.
Most people won’t do it. Which is why most people struggle financially despite living in the wealthiest country in human history.
What do YOU think is the biggest financial mistake people make? Is it marriage like multiple people said? Overspending? Credit cards? Not saving? Something else entirely?
Americans who answered this question revealed brutal honesty about financial reality—from the multiple people who said “getting married” (probably after expensive divorces) to those who pointed to overspending, credit cards, and lack of savings. The diversity of answers shows that financial mistakes come in many forms. But underlying all of them is a common thread: decisions made emotionally instead of rationally, present gratification prioritized over future security, and lack of financial education leading to predictable disasters. The biggest financial mistake isn’t any one specific thing. It’s living financially unaware, making decisions based on what feels good rather than what makes sense, and assuming future-you will somehow fix the problems present-you is creating. Financial success isn’t complicated—spend less than you earn, save the difference, avoid debt, invest for the long term. But simple doesn’t mean easy, and most people won’t do it. Which is why the same mistakes keep getting made generation after generation.
Alex Smith is a dedicated writer focused on empowering men to reach their full potential. With expertise in mindset, self-improvement, and confidence building, Alex provides practical guidance tailored specifically for men. Through his insightful and relatable articles, he inspires readers to cultivate a positive mindset, overcome challenges, and embrace continuous personal growth. With a warm and authentic approach, Alex creates a supportive community where men can connect, share experiences, and inspire one another on their journey to success. Join Alex on this transformative path and unlock your true potential.