Here's the story of the biggest financial mistake of my life and what I learned from it.

At 29, I had $22,000 in a Roth IRA and $8,000 in savings. I decided to use most of it for a down payment on a condo that I could 'barely afford' with a stretch mortgage.

Within two years: I was laid off. My emergency fund was too small to cover the mortgage plus expenses for long. I had to sell the condo, losing $15,000 to closing costs and selling below purchase price in a flat market. I cleaned out most of my Roth IRA to cover the shortfall — triggering taxes and penalties on the earnings portion.

The full cost: approximately $35,000 in wealth permanently destroyed. Plus 4 years of setback in my wealth-building trajectory.

What I learned: do not buy a house until (1) you have a full emergency fund after the down payment, (2) your housing costs are comfortably below 30% of gross income with margin, and (3) you have high confidence you'll stay for 5+ years. The condo met none of these criteria. I bought it anyway because the advice at the time was 'homeownership is always smart.'