Even the experts can make mistakes. What’s the silliest financial blunder you’ve made?

It’s natural to feel like an idiot when you make a mistake. But if soon afterwards you feel smarter, it’s because you’ve learned something.

Yeah, I’ve stuffed up on occasion. Some of my errors have cost me thousands. Youthful exuberance.

But the most annoying are not always the most costly.

The cab driver in Santiago, Chile, who ripped me blind, within minutes of setting foot in the country. Lesson: Always do a quick currency conversion.

Signing up for a gym membership. Went for three months. Paid for 3.5 years. Lesson: Go for a run.

Having tin lids? More expensive than a serious drug addiction. But more fun than a carnival full of fart jokes. Actually, my mistake was not having another. I might have got “economies of scale”. I had to get a pair of something on my third crack.

Punting. Aged about eight, with a few bucks to spend at the school fete, I gambled the lot on a coin-throwing game, trying to turn my $2 for soft drink and ice-cream into $20 or $50.

I went home to my parents in tears. I knew I’d stuffed up big time. I felt like an idiot. My parents happily reinforced that feeling, in front of a house full of uncles and aunties. Learned a lifetime lesson about gambling that day.

And, like most investors, I lost a wad in the crash of 2007-09. It was horrendously expensive.

The investment plan took a big dent in that time. But, most importantly, I didn’t get scared off investing.

Now that would have been a disaster.

Bruce Brammall is the principal adviser with Bruce Brammall Financial (www.brucebrammall.com.au) and author of Mortgages Made Easy.