For those of you that are financially conscious, or just like to get a good bargain, you’ve probably been carefully planning your holiday spending for a few weeks now. Scanning the weekend papers for good coupons, keeping an eye out for holiday-related sales and carefully budgeting how much you can spend on each gift to make sure you make the most of your money and avoid getting yourself into debt. I know some things that have worked well for me in the past include deciding what I want to get each person on my list before heading to the store (so I don’t make impulsive decisions while at the crowded malls) and start my shopping early (so I don’t feel rushed on Dec. 24 and end up spending more than I had planned).

But what about the flip side? Most of us have probably thought at length about how the holiday gifts we give impact our own finances (whether it’s in the budgeting stage, or after the fact when we get our credit card bill). However a recent article on Yahoo Finance made me stop to think about how the gifts I give this season may impact the recipients’ finances.

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As 2007 draws to a close, lets take a moment to reflect on what we have learned by highlighting our mistakes. We all make them, there are no exceptions to that rule. The only variable here is how big of a mistake was it.

I'll start. My biggest financial mistake of 2007 was going against my good friend David Gordon's advice and jumping into the options market without adequate knowledge or experience. Instead of sticking with my bread and butter of stock trading (short and long term), I wanted to test my luck in the options market. To my shock, I have never seen so much money lost so quickly from my portfolio. While I did have a couple triple digit percentage winners, I also had a couple options expire to the worthless state.

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If you’re a fan of Wall Street Warriors or stay on top of the financial publishing scene, you’ve probably seen and heard Timothy Sykes’ name pretty frequently these days. Timothy’s recently released book, An American Hedge Fund: How I Made $2 Million as a Stock Operator and Created a Hedge Fund, details the true story of how he turned the $12,415 he received for his Bar Mitzvah into $1.65 million in just three years and all before he turned 26. Timothy sent 22Dollars.com a copy of his book (check out the fourth page to see our review!) and recently provided us with a behind-the-scenes look at the man, the myth and the market. Make sure to check out Timothy’s responses below and grab a copy of his book if you haven’t already!

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