Mistakes Were Made

Mistakes Were Made

From ChooseFI | Financial Independence Podcast by ChooseFI

April 27, 2026 · 1h 8m · Episode 596

About this episode

The episode discusses significant financial mistakes made by the hosts and guests, emphasizing the lessons learned on the path to financial independence.

Even financially independent people have lost fortunes to bad investments, high-fee funds, and speculation. Brad Barrett, Alan Donegan, and Katie Donegan lay bare their most expensive mistakes—from Alan's 90% dot-com crash loss to Katie's near-£1 million fee trap to Brad's decade-long real estate nightmare—proving that catastrophic errors don't prevent you from reaching FI if you learn the right lessons. Key Topics Discussed [00:00:00] Introduction: Why Share Mistakes? Brad introduces the episode concept, explaining why sharing financial and life mistakes can help others avoid similar pitfalls on their FI journey. [00:03:30] Alan's Dot-Com Bubble Disaster Alan shares how he lost 90% of his £7,000 life savings investing in high-tech managed growth stocks right before the dot-com crash, and how this scared him away from stock market investing for 13 years. [00:08:45] Brad's Early Investment Mistakes Brad discusses investing in WorldCom and other 'top picks' that went bankrupt, plus getting sold a mutual fund with horrible loads, highlighting that there's no secret investment knowledge reserved for the wealthy. [00:13:20] Katie's High-Fee Fund Trap Katie reveals how a financial…

People in this episode

Host: Brad Barrett

Guests: Alan Donegan, Katie Donegan

Topics covered

  • financial mistakes
  • investing pitfalls
  • financial independence
  • high-fee funds
  • real estate speculation
  • dot-com crash

Keywords

  • financial independence
  • investment mistakes
  • high-fee funds
  • dot-com crash
  • real estate
  • index investing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: WorldCom, dot-com, index investing

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