You really, really gotta be careful when it comes to taking advice about money from people out there…because you never know what you’re gonna get.

And, unfortunately, a lot of folks out there ACTUALLY LISTEN to awful advice and that never leads to anything good.

AskReddit users share the worst financial advice they ever received.

1. Not too bright.

“My cousin bought a camper, went camping once, and then decided camping wasn’t for them.

Rather than selling it they decided to just stop making the payments and “let the bank come and get it.”

Which eventually, they did.”

2. Don’t listen to them.

“So when I was 24, I was financially struggling. I had a job that worked me a LOT of hours, but only paid me $10 an hour.

My parents talked me into buying a BRAND NEW 2004 4-Door Honda Civic, the pre-interest price tag on it was about $25,000. A few weeks after getting it, my hours got regulated and it took one entire paycheck to make the monthly note on it – I could NOT afford the insurance on it.

I very quickly realized my parents were bad at money.”

3. Now it makes sense.

“My aunt took me to a car dealership when I was looking to buy my own first car.

I was looking at the clunkers I could afford, but she said I should be looking at the new cars. She said, “the total price doesn’t matter because you make monthly payments.”

I suddenly understood too well why she had always been so financially unstable.”

4. Don’t listen to him.

“My FIL when I mention our retirement plan , says “I never contribute to my retirement account. Money now is always better than money later” I

needed to have a conversation with my husband how we would NOT be supporting his mom and dad and their insane spending when they have no retirement plan and make huge financial mistakes on a weekly basis (good news is they both make good money).”

5. Really?

““Spend it quickly or it’ll get stolen.”

Coming from someone with a history of losing and blowing their money.”

6. Really bad advice.

“My father would tell me to max out my credit card on a new car and if they asked for payments just say, “forget ’em, what can they do about it?”

My father is in several levels of debt hell that he’s trying to get out of now…”

7. Don’t do it!

“A relative tried to recruit me into Amway.

He wound up stuck with a garage full of their products.”

8. Not a joke.

“That an emergency fund wasn’t necessary when you can always get a payday loan or use your credit card.

He wasn’t joking.”

9. Not a great role model.

“One of my uncles once told me that I never really had to pay my phone bill.

He suggested that I simply jump to another carrier and let the first company cut you off.

His life has turned out exactly as you’d imagine.”

10. Doesn’t work that way.

“”Once you cut up the credit card,you don’t have to pay it.”

My cousin is not doing so hot. I’m pretty sure there are warrants out for his arrest in several states.”

11. Keeps getting approved!

“”Just get another credit card”.

From my friend who hasn’t worked in 3 years and is currently just vibing with his new credit cards he somehow got approved for.”

12. If I could turn back time…

“1976 San Franciso .

Keep renting, no one will ever pay $35,000 for a 2 bedroom house and garage with a sweeping view of the East Bay.

I went back to vist the old neighborhood a few years ago, those $35,000 stucco homes up many flights of steps perched on the top of Potrero Hill were now all gentrified, remodeled, gated, and asking $1M+ and that was 5 years ago.”

13. Really dumb.

“Don’t take a raise if it puts you into the next tax bracket.

And pay the minimum on your credit card to establish good credit.

As others have pointed out, sometimes getting into another bracket or other threshold may affect other benefits such as food stamps and other government / non governmental assistance. Mileage may vary.

I was specifically talking about taxes.”

14. You did the right thing.

“”Don’t major in computer science. Computer scientists are a dime a dozen.”

I did not take that advice.”

What’s the worst financial advice someone ever gave YOU?

Talk to us in the comments.

We’d love to hear from you!