our worst investments

[Grizz]

Does Amway count as an investment? I've lost more money in certain stocks, but as far as my own stupidity goes, Amway wins hands down.

A good friend got very into it, and asked me to join. I gave him a hundred or 2, I can't really remember. I had no intention of actually selling all of the stuff, just supporting a friend. I figured that would be the end of it. It wasn't....

Suddenly I was getting phone calls pretty regularly from those higher up wondering why I hadn't sold anything, inviting me to go to some convention, inviting me to listen to them signing people up, or offering to come over and help me get started. In hindsight I should have been straight up with them all, but I never like to tell anyone that I think what they are involved in (especially when it is almost a religion) is kinda cheesy, and very pyramid-like. Eventually they got the idea that I was either not interested, or too dumb to participate in this most wonderful way to make all of my financial dreams come true.

 

[dmpi]

All my mistakes were in the 80s:
Bought points on a mortage that I paid off two years later.
Bought stocks right before 1987 crash...Sold stocks right after the 1987 crash.
Started my 401K with way too much fixed income.

 

[ZMAN]

Worst investment: White Oak, a tech mutual fund. Took it to the top in my 401K and bailed at the bottom, post bubble. Lost 250K in paper profits. DW did not panic in her better diversiified 401k, went to the bottom and then back up. Never sold and recovered her $$. Now we have it all linked in a unified (free) plan at Vanguard, visible as a whole on the web site. I do not allow myself any discretion outside the plan. I know that I get caught in the frenzy with the wrong instincts.

 

[bssc]

Latest is New Century Financial. Got in at 41, got out at 5, 100 shares but Uncle Sam will pick up a portion of my losses since it is in my taxable account.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Does Amway count as an investment? I've lost more money in certain stocks, but as far as my own stupidity goes, Amway wins hands down.

A good friend got very into it, and asked me to join. I gave him a hundred or 2, I can't really remember. I had no intention of actually selling all of the stuff, just supporting a friend. I figured that would be the end of it. It wasn't....

Suddenly I was getting phone calls pretty regularly from those higher up wondering why I hadn't sold anything, inviting me to go to some convention, inviting me to listen to them signing people up, or offering to come over and help me get started. In hindsight I should have been straight up with them all, but I never like to tell anyone that I think what they are involved in (especially when it is almost a religion) is kinda cheesy, and very pyramid-like. Eventually they got the idea that I was either not interested, or too dumb to participate in this most wonderful way to make all of my financial dreams come true.

I had friends many years ago who were into Amway. They were proud members of MENSA and had a neat response to my "but that sounds like a pyramid." Amazing.

 

[FinanceDude]

Primerica, in 1990. That's all I'll say...........

 

[brewer12345]

Primerica, in 1990. That's all I'll say...........

Not sure whether that is better or worse than the Le Car (aka "Le Heap").

 

[jeeper]

Limited Partnership in motel, back in mid-80's. The senior partner was in a leadership position where I worked. Myself and co-worker were deducting a large amount of original investment for two years from taxes. The partnership dissolved, and we were out our original investments (me $5k, him $10k). A couple years later I was showing my tax man what I was doing back then, and he said "we won't go into that."

 

[Getting short]

Life insurance through my employer, the Federal govt. Lousy rates that keep going up the older you get. It wasn't until my DH died 10 years ago and I sat down to take a long hard look at our investments, insurance, etc., that I realized how terrible it was. I immediately dropped it and picked up a private term life policy for twice the coverage and a much lower fixed premium.

 

[clifp]

Convinced that we were in an Internet bubble, I shorted AOL and Amazon stock in the end of 98 and through most of 1999. I watched while they soared upwards, finally after retiring and moving to Hawaii. In Jan of 2000, I sold my other tech stocks (smart) and reversed my short position in Amazon and AOL (dumb). I lost about $150K which of course would have turned into a gain if I had just waited another year.

Still the dumb thing was to a take a short position in a high flyer with unlimited lost position. I need to remind myself you already won the financial game, now just remember Buffett's rule #1. "Don't lose money".

 

[W2R]

I guess my worse investment would be the $8000 lump sum payment to the principal on my house, that I sent in on August 25, 2005. As a result, I cleaned out my saving account four days before Katrina made landfall. Duh? I could have used a little more liquidity during the following months, it turned out. Thank goodness Frank was there to step in when I needed him, a hero in my view.

I haven't done enough actual investing in the market to have made a big mistake doing that yet. Well, OK, I could have opened my Roth earlier than age 58.

Come to think of it, I have made my share of mistakes. But you know what? If you are bumbling along in the right direction and make a few mistakes, you may still be doing a whole lot better than if you weren't trying at all or didn't have your goal in mind.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i'm down about $360k on paper since inheritance. does that count as a bad investment or did i just get stuck in a bubble that i never entered, just got stuck? oh well, that's life.

 

[W2R]

i'm down about $360k on paper since inheritance. does that count as a bad investment or did i just get stuck in a bubble that i never entered, just got stuck? oh well, that's life.

Is that mostly because of the real estate crash in Florida? As I recall you inherited a mansion, and the timing of this crash had to be pretty bad.

 

[kcowan]

Bought some drilling flow-through shares. Great write-off for taxes. Almost a complete write-off as well: 20% return of capital.

 

[My Dream]

Nortel, that's all I'll say!

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Is that mostly because of the real estate crash in Florida? As I recall you inherited a mansion, and the timing of this crash had to be pretty bad.

it is so difficult to time well a good death. i wanted to sell when mom was still alive but accountant uncle warned of the cap gains loss we'd take. brother agreed with uncle. mom was on death bed and i didn't have the strength to argue nor the mind to even make decisions. decision making was complicated because we had just come out of that string of hurricanes and so we didn't even really know the market had fallen out from under us.

by the time we cleaned up from the hurricanes and buried mom: look mom, no bubble.

not a mansion, just deepwater property surrounded by minimansions which is now consuming approx an additional 50% on top of what i budgeted for retirement. i am soooo screwed. oh well, nothing 5 to 8 years in thailand won't fix.

as i've mentioned. it is not so bad when your finances force an adventurous life.

 

[W2R]

it is so difficult to time well a good death.

That's true. My mom died two weeks ago. At first I thought it was bad timing, but then I realized there is no such thing as a good time to die even though she would have been 98 on her birthday, today. We would miss her whenever it happened. She was in assisted living, so we don't have to deal with real estate (thank goodness).

i wanted to sell when mom was still alive but accountant uncle warned of the cap gains loss we'd take. brother agreed with uncle. mom was on death bed and i didn't have the strength to argue nor the mind to even make decisions. decision making was complicated because we had just come out of that string of hurricanes and so we didn't even really know the market had fallen out from under us.

by the time we cleaned up from the hurricanes and buried mom: look mom, no bubble.

not a mansion, just deepwater property surrounded by minimansions which is now consuming approx an additional 50% on top of what i budgeted for retirement. i am soooo screwed. oh well, nothing 5 to 8 years in thailand won't fix.

as i've mentioned. it is not so bad when your finances force an adventurous life.

If you can keep it from deteriorating while you are gone, prices should be through the roof down there in a few years. Good luck with that.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

That's true. My mom died two weeks ago. At first I thought it was bad timing, but then I realized there is no such thing as a good time to die even though she would have been 98 on her birthday, today. We would miss her whenever it happened. She was in assisted living, so we don't have to deal with real estate (thank goodness).

If you can keep it from deteriorating while you are gone, prices should be through the roof down there in a few years. Good luck with that.

my condolence, but wow, 98. i hope you've budgeted such longevity into your fire plan.

my brother wants to hold on but i can't afford it. i figure even if we sell very low now, between opportunity costs (invested extremely conservatively), taxes, insurance, maintenence and even with renters (rents now are low) my best case scenerio is to lose $25k/year (my half) and i simply did not budget that into my fire plan. heck, i couldn't have afforded that even if i was still working.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Lindner Fund: I cashed out because it was underperforming; the stupid part was that I was aware it wasn't going anywhere and it took me several years to dump it. Don't remember how much I lost from my cost but it was in a tax-deferred account so it didn't do too much damage. I moved the proceeds into another fund that did very well.

A $30.00 cat toy which "Fluffy" didn't play with. Then I replaced a worn-out toy she inherited from two cats back and she adores it--that was one of my best $23.00 investments.

 

[W2R]

my condolence, but wow, 98. i hope you've budgeted such longevity into your fire plan.

Thanks. Actually for my financial planning I had estimated living to 102, but now I don't know. My mother was always healthier, more athletic, and led a much less stressful life than I have had. So now, I am thinking that maybe reducing my estimate for financial planning purposes to 97. Realistically, I would expect a shorter lifespan but this is just for Firecalc and such.

my brother wants to hold on but i can't afford it. i figure even if we sell very low now, between opportunity costs (invested extremely conservatively), taxes, insurance, maintenence and even with renters (rents now are low) my best case scenerio is to lose $25k/year (my half) and i simply did not budget that into my fire plan. heck, i couldn't have afforded that even if i was still working.

That's quite a rough situation. I suppose you could get a mortgage to pay the taxes, but then you would lose money on the interest. I hope you can figure out a way to work this out so that you still have a reasonable fire income after property taxes. My mother's estate isn't settled yet, but I think (and definitely hope) that is will be pretty simple.

 

[calmloki]

A $30.00 cat toy which "Fluffy" didn't play with. Then I replaced a worn-out toy she inherited from two cats back and she adores it--that was one of my best $23.00 investments.

Now there's a man who can recognise a good investment! In that vein, one of my worst investments was a rope-wrapped scratching board that the cats view with great disdain, prefering to shred the corners of the house and garage, doorframes and gates - you know, upon further reflection, the house is an awfully expensive scratching post....maybe that's a bad investment?

 

[Moemg]

That's true. My mom died two weeks ago. At first I thought it was bad timing, but then I realized there is no such thing as a good time to die even though she would have been 98 on her birthday, today. We would miss her whenever it happened. She was in assisted living, so we don't have to deal with real estate (thank goodness).



.

Sorry about your Mom ! I think funerals are soooo hard especially when they are older and have outlived everyone.

 

[W2R]

Sorry about your Mom ! I think funerals are soooo hard especially when they are older and have outlived everyone.

Thank you. I didn't go to the funeral, since it was in Hawaii where I grew up and I really can't afford the time or money for a spontaneous trip out there right now. Work has been avalanching me lately. Also, I believe the best time to be with someone is before they die, and not after. My retired brothers feel the same, and have homes out there so they are there taking care of things. They only arranged a 1/2 hour memorial service in her assisted living facility, and no formal funeral since we are not religious. I took a couple of days off to absorb the idea of a universe without her, and then back to 12 hour/day meetings and other such workplace events. I am still trying to catch up!

 

[Gumby]

Now there's a man who can recognise a good investment! In that vein, one of my worst investments was a rope-wrapped scratching board that the cats view with great disdain, prefering to shred the corners of the house and garage, doorframes and gates - you know, upon further reflection, the house is an awfully expensive scratching post....maybe that's a bad investment?

..

 

[daystar]

My grandma gave me MCI in 1984 and I never sold it. Well, it became Worldcom somewhere in the 90's and then it went bankrupt. I could have sold it for $30,000 in 1999.