our worst investments

[eridanus]

US Air about a month before 9/11. I then doubled down later, thinking that surely it would recover.

Dot com options. I was finally able to sell them after a 35:1 reverse split.

[Robert the Red]

Worst financial decision: first wife.
Best financial decision: second wife.

[laurence]

DCA'd into my first 401k starting in 97, piled 10k into a portfolio that was 50% NASDAQ, watched it grow, grow, grow, to 20k+,then implode when the bubble burst, went as low as 6k.

Now in terms of money, it's nothing compared to the numbers you all threw out here, but emotionally I was devestated! I only made 22k a year back then, this was everything I had in the world! My car was worth less than a grand, and the checking account only had more than three figures on payday. This is why DW and I focused on debt reduction first when we got married, that was a garanteed return. Only in the past two years have we started to seriously get into investing again. Learned I was doing everything wrong. Glad I'm still kinda young and can make use of these lessons.

[Martha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert the Red Worst financial decision: first wife. Best financial decision: second wife.

Big Love?

[tryan]

Shorted the NASDAQ 100 in Feb 2000 ... lost 9k in about 3 weeks. Then sat on the side line as it tanked a month later. Ouch!

[treypar]

My worst was a Variable Life Policy sold to me by my friend* who was a financial advisor. The insurance company went into receivership and my funds were tied up for a long time.

[d]

Quote:

a Variable Life Policy sold to me by my friend*

some friend!

[2B]

There are two statements that automatically prove anyone is a crook or an idiot. They are "annuity" and "technical analysis."

BTW -- I used to be a psyco technical analyst. I traded all of the classical and "special" options available to technical analysts. Eventually, I realized it worked about half the time.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tryan Shorted the NASDAQ 100 in Feb 2000 ... lost 9k in about 3 weeks.* Then sat on the side line as it tanked a month later.* Ouch!

An ER'd uncle-in-law started shorting the NASDAQ in late '97 and kept it up until he ran out of margin-call money in late 1999. He shorted himself right back into the workplace.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmb That wouldn't be N**y Nutual Aid Association, would it? If so, you and I were probably classmates.

Welcome to the board, gmb, that would be them!

'82, 12th Co. I went public a few weeks ago. Which Class/Co are you? I have my Lucky Bag at hand...

I've been posting under this handle for over two years wondering if a shipmate would stumble across this board. You appear to be the first!

[wabmester]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tryan Shorted the NASDAQ 100 in Feb 2000 ...

I never got that bold, but I did blow several grand buying EBAY puts in 1999.* *That hurt, but at least my downside was limited.

One of my biggest losses was on BDH -- Broadband HLDRs.* *I knew there was a dot-com bubble going on, but somehow I completely missed the fact that bandwidth providers were just as bubbly.* * Those guys were the ones selling the picks and shovels, right?* *And I was diversified across several providers, right?* Ugh.* *90% loss.

[unclemick]

Ah yes - wild and free - er ah frivolous!

Mad money - local utility(ILA) on the edge of bankrupcy. My good till cancel orders for STON and EGLE are unfilled yet - price is walking away from me.

Male hormones never die!

Odds are - some of my current holdings will someday be added to my worst investment list.

Dat's the name of that tune.

heh heh heh heh heh

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclemick2 Male hormones never die!

But they can kill you!

[Gumby]

..
*

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmb ..

Thanks! I see now that my backsliding mistake was marrying a sailor.

Chris Sullivan was my Engineer during my JO tour on USS JAMES MONROE. It was an interesting time but apparently I didn't heed the warning signs.

BTW the rest of the board is depending on you to confirm my tall tales sea stories. I'm sure your PM Inbox is filling as I write this.

Hmmm... worst job... excessive oversight, ridiculously detailed regulations, extremely high tolerance for pain and long working hours... nuclear engineer... lawyer... nuclear engineer... lawyer... it's gonna take me a while to make a choice on this one. Which career field has more jokes?

[tiredofwork]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmb In my mind, a good place to be from but not always a good place to be at. In large measure, however, USNA is responsible for much of the success (admittedly small) that I enjoy today

USMA, '78. Agree w/your statement about good place to be from. One of my best investments was Wharton MBA. My worst investment was buying tech stocks when the market was on its way down during the Crash (catching the falling knife). The prices seemed good at the time but they got lot's better. Example: Corning fell to less than $2/share and has recently recovered to where I bought in.

[Gumby]

..

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmb ..

Another former sub-human explains it here:

http://early-retirement.org/forums/i...9668#msg129668

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo! Another former sub-human explains it here: http://early-retirement.org/forums/i...9668#msg129668

* ..

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmb ,,

I'll tell ya, defending the submarine culture around here has been a pretty lonely job...

... of course I prefer to execute that defense from the back lanai with a frosty beverage.

[HFWR]

Home field advantage...