“The Worst Financial Advice I’ve Ever Received Is….”

Don’t you just hate getting bad advice? Following bad advice can teach you important lessons but it can also cause stress and cost you money. Since April is National Financial Literacy Month, we asked our network for the worst financial advice they’ve ever gotten. Here are 17 pieces of bad advice from the awesome women in our network.

Disclaimer: Always seek advice from financial professionals. The information in this blog post should not be taken as financial advice. The information in this blog post is just for informational purposes. 

1. Take a Risk With No Plan

“[I was told] take a risk and spend money to expand [and] it takes money to make money. [But] not without a plan!”- Tamula Luster, Greater SA Housecalls

2. Commingle Your Funds

• “Use your personal account until you are able to build your business account”- Kelamenter Smith, The Write 2Nspire LLC

• “Use personal credit for business”-Maria Moise, Jets Beauty Supply

3. Give Up

“The worst advice I have received was to throw in the towel because I didn’t have the resources to compete at an exhibition I wanted to attend. The person looked up to my competitors and thought I should give up. Luckily, this only compelled me to show up and show out with all I had to give, and for me, it was a successful event. For example, at the time I couldn’t afford a six-foot retractable sign, etc. But the beautiful poster board I had made did the job sitting on an easel behind my table. People who know nothing about your industry are quick to give advice, you can’t listen to them, and you can never, ever give up.”- Nicole Spencer, Jomazan

4. Use My Personal Money for Business 

“When people say take my personal finance to grow my business”- Stephania Verna, Pinkylinkyboutique

5. Trust Me

“Trusting a friend’s referral of a tax professional in 2019, which was my first year in Sole Proprietorship, without doing any research myself! This” Professional ” messed up my business taxes so bad.” –Kimberly Thomas, DaLuxey Sales, LLC

6. Buy it Anyway

“You might as well get it because you are going to owe somebody until the day you die.”-Shontia Clark, Dem Sisters

7. Give Discounts

“Give family and friends a discount.”- Shakyra McCutchen, Georgia Native

8. Get in More Debt

• “Some of the worst financial advice usually comes from telemarketers or spammers promising business funding/loans that don’t need to be paid back and that require little to no effort in obtaining. To me, that’s just a setup to putting the business operations and personal finances in more debt.”-Chantel Williams, Maxxtell Creations, LLC

• “If something sounds too good to be true, walk away and don’t look back.  I believe in someone and he left me with $3M in debt.  Don’t believe in beautiful words, people will say just about anything to you.  At the end of the day you are responsible for the debt.”-Maria Francis, The KANE Clinic, LLC

9. Don’t Invest

“Don’t start investing until you have 10k to do it.”- Shannon Cutwright Brabham, Access Title Service

10. Do This!

“It would definitely have to be: Go to school,  to college,  get a good job, Do the best you can at the said job, save your money and you’ll be okay. This advice never prepares you to invest or be ok in the event of a depression.” – Marcia Boyer, Delaware Mobile Signings

11. Focus on Getting Clients Last 

“If you get a great-looking website, logo, and cool marketing materials, your business will be great!!!!  NOT TRUE!!!  Get real clients first! PERIOD!!”-  Precious Williams, Perfect Pitches by Precious, LLC

12. Save Only

“I wouldn’t necessarily call it [the] worst financial advice, but more so, my childhood experiences with observing how adults in my family viewed and used money. Money was only used as a tool to buy things, never to generate more wealth. My grandmother preached saving money and always looked for deals, and my mother always seemed to borrow money. I learned from an early age to save. Saving was the only concept I was ever taught. I didn’t learn about investing until I began my teaching career.”- Alice Beverly, ARB Logistics LLC

13. Don’t Pay Off Your Credit Card

• “Keeping credit card balances helps credit score”-  Adriane Early, Spa On The Go, LLC

• “Pay the minimum balance on credit cards.”-Jody Dotson, Jody D Health Coach

14. Don’t Get Multiple Credit Cards

“The worst financial advice I’ve ever received was having multiple cards is bad for your credit. It’s not how many credit cards you have but how you manage them. Your payment history, utilization, and age of the account are the most important things to keep in mind.”-Dawn Smith, Dawn Smith Credit Solutions, LLC

15. It Takes Money to Make Money 

“To be told “it takes money to make money”. Had I listened, I would have never tried.”-Sameerah Muhammad, Sameerah’s Food and Flavor

16. Take Out a Personal Loan

“[The worst finance advice I’ve gotten is,] to take out a personal loan in order to finance the start of my businesses.”-Sara McGruder, McGruder Management Services, LLC

17. Invest

“Invest in yourself. It was the worst advice without directions or morals behind it. I “invested” in every MLM, sales, and marketing out there. I had no passion or purpose. It wore me out, buying this for wholesale and reselling to make a few dollars. When I calculated everything, I was in the negative. I still have items for sale, anyone looking for a steal.”-Tanay Colon, Confienza Fortune Inc.

Next Steps 

Want to improve your finances? Check out our other resources.

• Curious about the good advice the women in our network received? Check out “The Best Financial Advice I’ve Ever Gotten is…..”
• Check out our other article, “15 Money Tips for Women Entrepreneurs to Secure the Bag” for other tips. 
• Grab the Business Startup Budget Calculator to make sure you’re prepared for your startup expenses. 
• Check out the Winning Grant Application Cheat Sheet & Checklist so that you can learn how to get free money for your business.