My wife has lost her primary diamond out of her wedding ring and a diamond earing.

What are they insuring, the Death Star?

Never made it big, but steady with some right moves has paid off.

Lost my ass on Lucent, Dell and HpQ

Left a lot on the table not knowing when to sell, don't catch a falling knife, when it looks to good to be true sell at least half.

Learned my lesson stay out of shit you don't know.

And that's why wealth redistribution doesn't work.  We will always have ghettos and always need guns.  Poor impulse control. And there's no solution for it.

You need to add a zero to those numbers and then you're getting into the ballpark.

Dealerships love dopes like that.  My truck has 9 payments left, and various dealers are all "we can reduce your payment by $200".....for another 60 months.

We already did married a stripper .....

My late uncle (RIP - I am named for him) was very much a ladies-man. He had a Harvard degree (some kind of scholarship I think), was truly brilliant, and probably could have made it as a professional golfer. In short, he had a silver spoon.

He sport-fucked his way through his 20's - 50's and worked a series of dead end jobs, as he waited for his parents (my grandparents) to die.

Later in life, we learned that he assumed that his dad was loaded. His dad was a fisherman in New England, and died in the early 80's. Why anyone assumed he was loaded was anyone's guess. A few years later, grandma died, and the will was clear that all 5 kids would split whatever was left @ 20% each.

All that was left was a home, an old Buick and whatever was in the home. The house turned out to be worth about 400K, so it was sold, and each kid (my dad included) got 80K.

Uncle Snead had been waiting for his windfall, and in his late 50's was crestfallen to learn that he only had $80k after all those years.

What happened next is amazing. He bought an expensive car (about $30K - expensive for him in 1985) and drove to Reno.

In Reno, he hit the casino (Silver Legacy, IIRC) and proceeded to lose it all over the course of a few days at a craps table.

He then hit the road with his car and proceeded to couch surf with all of his relatives.

About a year later, he met a woman from Lubbock, TX who he believed was a multi-millionaire oil heiress. They married in a big ceremony. It turns out that she thought that he was wealthy, since he had a decent car and seemed to have no job!

Fast forward a year or so - they are both working to stay above water. Neither had any money. They ended up in El Paso, working for more or less minumum wage until the end of their days.

Once I had a job, I felt bad for the guy, and I took him to see the Indy 500. He had always wanted to see it, and he was getting old. I paid for the whole thing. I later learned that he somehow lost $500 some kind of Indy 500 parlay bet.

Dude was a nice guy, but died totally destitute, despite every possible advantage as a kid.

I invested my 401k money in a Fixed fund rather than the stock market when I started working in the mid-80s.

I sold my Amgen stock when it temporarily plateaued.

If I had made better choices for either of those I would be retired now.

High school GF's father thought emu meat and eggs were going to be the next big thing so he flushed a good chunk of money down the drain. I used to piss him off by calling him Mr. SoandSo instead of Dr...he's a chiropractor. 

The saying is you get paid in sunshine.  Just don't try to make a withdrawal from your sunshine savings account.  

Are you sure they just aren't saving it?

Guy at work, mid 50s with 2 kids. Cashed out his 401k several years ago to pay off his house. Well apparently his wife is the one in control of the check book and hadn't paid taxes in years. Unknown to him, one day like two years ago he came home from work to find all their stuff out in the front yard. Lost the house, and his wife knew full well it was happening but was afraid to tell him.

Somehow she is still alive and they are still together.

How The Fuck.

I haven't acted too badly but I cannot say I was especially savvy with money.  I am a simple guy but I spend less than I earn.

I had great bad examples in family.  My mother never save a penny.  The only savings she ever got was an inheritance from my grandfather who managed to crack a million.  Unfortunately when he died, they valued his assets at that date.  Before the estate was settled the stock market crashed.  My aunt the executrix, cashed it All out, paid the Feds off and split the rest in cash.  It was a fn bloodbath of estate taxes based on big stock value that was finished probably by half.   So ma got a one fourth share of about a Quarter of the estates value at death.    

She squandered some of that supporting family Deadbeats and my sisters bullshit hemorrhaging storefront.  Add in time shares, camp ground memberships et cetera et cetera.   The stupid time share thing was repeated several times.

Hey that's my BIL.   Repeated about four times.  Filed bankruptcy.   Took out home equity loans on the house my dad sold them well below market.    They lost it but he had a fancy new truck he "needed".

Mother in law bought online boyfriend's sob story and loaned him money.... her entire 80k retirement.  Guess what happened next?
Taxes were fun this year for her

My best friend from high school is in a similar situation:
-40 yo
-hasn't had a full time job in 7 years, works part time at UPS
-quit college to be in a heavy metal band
-still lives at home with mom and dad
-his old Chevy Blazer Extreme is rotting in front of his parent's house
-goes to every metal concert
- girlfriend probably dumped him (he hasn't told me yet).

I told a guy ragging on my stripped down work truck that the biggest difference between my truck and his bro dozer was that mine came with $45,000.00 in the glove box.

He didn't get it...

I remember when emus were the next multi million dollar idea.
My aunt and uncle talked my grandma into "investing" in a couple breeding pairs at 25k per pair.
My grandma put up the money and they were supposed to raise,feed and market them as their half of the deal.
They ended up with quite the little herd and never sold a single bird.
And then started charging my grandma for feed because they couldnt afford to feed the flock and noone was buying them by then.
She finally ended up telling them to do whatever they wanted with her half of the birds when she was tired of spending money on them.
They couldnt even give the birds away.

I knew a couple who lied on their taxes so that they could qualify for a mortgage.

That's right, they paid extra income taxes so they could get a loan they couldn't repay and were in foreclosure in less than a year.

-Ran up credit card debt
-had a truck repossessed
-lent $1000 to woman I was dating (who was married buy the way)
-spent money on drugs
-spend money period
Now I'm married (5years) , and we just bought our 1st home. I learned the hard way I'll tell you.

Put the 'house payment' into a 401k.  Win on both sides!

Haha this guy may be my long lost brother. I could absolutely chop off my arm to spite the other.

Same 

Sister bought a condo with an interest only loan about 11 years ago. 

She now teaches and has lived in free housing on campus for about 6 years so she rents out the condo. 

Found out a few weeks back she had only paid down about $20k in capital since the purchase.

My aunt gambled her house away.

Tried to squeeze her way into my grandparents will to get their 750k house and kick me out of the will.

They saw through her bullshit,I got the house, completely free and paid off.

She got back shit.



Dumbest thing I've done was bought my new f150 I'm currently still paying for.  I probably shouldn't have gotten it but I was bored and was haggling the salesman on the price. I got a hell of a deal but I'm still paying for something that will be worth $2500 by the time it's 10 years old lol.

Loans and leases for vehicles that were probably more than I could afford, raiding the 401k plan for basses that were in the mid four figures, lots and lots of guns and ammo purchased during the past 8 years, houses that were more house than i could afford and that I am now more or less stuck  in and are a money pit...the list goes on.

A lot of that was me making up for lost time, as I was finally in a position where I could afford (or rather had access to) money that allowed me to get the things I'd wanted earlier in life but couldn't afford.  

I've tempered those spending habits though, and am now on a mission to save more and chip away at my debt.   Hopefully by this time next year I'll largely be debt free and will also have increased my savings.

Story 1:
20 years ago I worked for a guy who had a million dollar a year business. Had unreported cash income as well. Was doing really well for himself. Developed a slight makers mark addiction along with a slight cocaine problem brought on by a crazy blond bar whore he hung out with. This guy dumped thousands of dollars into this stupid whore on top of what she was stealing and selling. After she tried to kill him with a hot dose of nose candy and liquid plumber she fled the state . This fuck tard goes and finds another blond whore to take her place. By this time he was selling the wallpaper off the walls he was so broke. Filed for Chapter what ever the fuck you file when your falling down alcoholic, coke addict who loves crazy bar whores instead of paying your bills. He was such a narcissistic son of a bitch always looking and talking down on his employees. I do not feel sorry for people who repeat the same mistakes over and over.

Story 2:
About 3 years ago My ex in laws invested some $200,000 in my former brother in laws heroin addiction. Rewind 10 years ago they invested some $25,000 in his heroin addiction. Paying for his various attorneys over the years for theft, burglary, drugs I would say total investment at my last count was $450,000 . There credit is ruined, giant chunk of his retirement savings is gone. You cant fix stupid... brother in law is on his 2nd 10 year sentence in federal pound me in the ass prison

worst thing i ever done was spend my inheritance to go to devry university. If thats not dumb enough then i even failed to graduate cause i hated life so much at the time

She bought herself a $100 cake for her birthday a couple months ago, it was about 9 inches around.

Nice story.  Your sacrifice and discipline paid off.

Knew a guy who inherited several million dollars when his parents died. He blew all the money within a year.
Catch to the story. He had an additional account that his parents put a requirement on to get. He had to get married. He married a girl and went to Vegas on the honeymoon. They blew through a Million dollars in a week. Came home broke.

Guy I work with financed a ranger bass boat. $60k for 12 years at 11%. He says it's a great deal.

Nexus Diamond

My wife wants one when we "upgrade" her wedding ring. We've decided mined diamonds are silly. Nothing else loses its value the second it's purchased like a diamond.

Purchased both RRA and Springfield Armory Products.

Not a lot but enough.... one of the dumbest things i have ever done in my life, wish i could take it back.
Worked hard for the money, saved up and well i feel emotionally and financially violated.

Two different guys that I worked with inherited around a quarter million, one bought a huge McMansion and the other a horse property. This was a the height of the boom when prices were crazy.
Both lost everything when the market fell and they couldn't get out from under the debt.

Managed a gold and silver slinging firm.

The two big ones that come to mind for me are:

1-  Took a house that was free and clear and took out a HELOC to buy some coin-op equipment and a boat.  Wound up using the HELOC like a maxed-out credit card.  Pay a dollar off, spend a dollar.  Took out a mortgage to pay off the HELOC, and bought jet skis.  Wound up walking with $40k on a house I should have walked away with $140k on.  That one hurt.  

2-  From #1, bought coin-op equipment as a hobby/side business.  Machines generated a pretty decent cash income after location splits and software updates.  Instead of being the big saver, I had to play the big shot, spending money at the bars nearly every night.  We had a lot of fun, but I'd sure love to have that money back.  Probably burned through $100k over the course of a few years.  Fortunately, I still had my main income.  Had I invested wisely, I could be living debt-free right now.  


#3 is in the making.  I've got my wiener all hard for a boat again.  This time a 35-ish foot cruiser.  I can somewhat justify it because my son loves boats and I want to spend more time with him where there is no electronic device interference.  Justification aside, I know I don't need one and I'm not in a position to buy one.  I'm sure I'll learn the hard way again.

You lucked out big time

that's actually very inspirational.

I remember that scam getting a few morons down here.

Someone had their car "stolen" from our work parking lot (didn't work at my company, but worked in the same building as mine).  Well, it turns out someone had their Eddie Bauer edition explorer repossessed for not making payments.  

This was after they sent out an email about the "theft" and even hired security to patrol the lot and building..

You're clearly not the financial wizard based on those numbers...

He who dies with the most toys wins, right?

My BIL has been driving his work truck (an 18 wheeler) home for the past 2 years because his '05 Colorado has some engine problems and just sits in the driveway. He has made no attempt to get it fixed.

He told me a couple of years ago that he wanted to get a new truck, and he wanted it be 4 door, 4wd, and have a V8 (none of which his Colorado has).

Last week he told me he's getting a 2003 single cab, 2wd, 6 cylinder Silverado with 120k mikes from a used car dealer for $8k.

And he's financing, of course.

Hillary will win they said...buy all the pmags they said...

Do tell

But what the crying Widow never owns up to is that she wanted him to quote cash out so that they could could go take a vacation or do some other kind of dumb s***. Guy I worked with said his brother did the exact same thing.

The only thing I can think of right now that happened to me, was choosing to go to a LGS to buy an AR after Pulse. I paid 800 for a Ruger 556. Now its a great rifle and all, but I just saw they were doing a sale on several websites for 400

My father in law missed a great opportunity though, because he is Mormon and felt awkward about it. His friend bought heavily into Pfizer, and told him to invest because of Viagra coming out. He was awkward out by it, and declined. His friend is a multimillionaire now and he said that is one of his greatest regrets.

He also got in on the ground floor of drone photography and was one of the first people in my state to get a business license to take aerial photos. I worked for him for a while when he started his company, and I just kept pitching idea after idea but he just didn't want to commit to it fully. Now just about every idea I had, is being used by other company's. (Stuff like roof inspection, power line inspection, wedding photography and so on). He spent thousands on building drones, and then got it in his head that he could make a profit selling spare parts. That didn't go so well and my mother in law gave him an ultimatum that he had to turn a profit or go back to flying recreational only. He is now a hobby drone pilot again and has 15,000 bucks worth of drones in storage.

My dad is also probably the worst at getting a chunk of money and going crazy spending, and then a month later is behind on ALL his bills. A year ago he got a PSA lower, but decided he didn't want an AR and sold it to me a few months later. So recently he out of nowhere decided that he wanted a fucking Thompson. Not an NFA one, but the Semi ones that are just not worth the money. I tried to tell him that he didn't want one, and there were a lot better guns for less and if he wanted a pistol caliber that a 9mm AR rifle would be cheaper, lighter and more sensible. He persists, and just has this idea that a Thompson with a 100 round drum was EXACTLY what he had to have. He starts looking on gun broker and realizes that what he wants is going to cost him over a grand, and will weigh about 15 lbs. So I mention that my brother and I were thinking about getting him a blem lower for fathers day, and my brother would give him his old carrier and CH and that he could get an upper for 250 or less on PSA.

So what does he do? He goes to the beach in SC and without asking my brother or I's opinion about it, gets an Eagle Arms AR that has no front sight post, and no rear sights and pays 550 for it. He thinks he got a steal, and even talked the fudd dealer into kicking him a free 30 rounder. Minutes away from the PSA retail shop, he goes and buys a bone stock carbine AR from a Fudd. I am happy that he finally got an AR though. I guess I just wish he would for once in his life not just jump head first into something he knows very little about.

Eh, if you're looking at a sub 4% loan, and 25% of the interest can be written off, the rate is under 3%. The inflation rate is probably around 3%, so you'd be looking at a 0% real rate, and you could have invested the money in the market providing a 5%+ real rate of return.

The feeling of having the loan paid off may be worth more than the 5% return to you, but just saying financially, it doesn't necessarily make sense to dump your cash to pay it off.