As a personal finance blogger, I feel that I should be somewhat switched on about finance… but I’m not.
This is more of my journey to becoming financially free, location independent (tick) and figuring out finance.
So it’s only fair I share my stupid mistakes along the way with you.
Want to know my $1,700 mistake? How I threw free money away?
Just over a year ago I went into a reputable bank in New Zealand to set up my business account. From the start I wanted a transaction account and I also wanted a secondary account – a savings account – to put my tax money into to get an OK return on while being able to access it at any point.
Everything sounds good, right? But my first mistake was that I NEVER checked the Interest rate.
I have had my business account for over a year and for a very long time I have had a substantial amount of money in the account.
I noticed that my emergency funds account earned a decent amount of interest last month, despite having LESS THAN HALF of the money in my tax account.
That is odd.
So I checked the interest rate of my business account’s saving account.
A PATHETIC 1%.
If I had the money in my other 4.4% interest account, I would have earned an extra $1,700 in PASSIVE income in the past year. All I had to do was open the account, put the money in, and get a decent return.
Needless to say, last night I opened up a new high interest saving account and will transfer my money as soon as I can.
DOH! I am really mad at myself. $1,700 would definitely go a long way, especially in Asia. It’s basically a month’s worth of living expenses.
What stupid money mistakes have you made recently? I can’t be the only one!