I think it happens to us all.
We buy a bad stock that goes bust.
We get involved into a multi-level marketing business.
We go into some business that seemed good but falls thru.
I’ll admit to all of the above. Luckily I never lost my home or went into debt or anything.
I think the most common is that we loan money to relatives or friends who promise to pay it back quickly–and we never see a dime.
Seven eight-track tapes for a penny? Damn straight.
I own a timeshare.
I bought a used Jaguar. Even in 1962, that was a bad idea.
If you loan money to friends of relatives, assume you’ll never get it back. It will save you a lot of troubles. Basically if you can’t afford to give it, then don’t loan it, either.
(regarding the OP, never have been involved in a bad financial deal. I’m not thrifty enough to have spare money to invest typically, and even if I do, I’m not adventurous enough to invest it in what could turn out to be a bad deal).
Never. This is remarkable because (a) I was a profoundly ignorant young person, (b) I was dirt poor and © I hate to disappoint people, even people I hate. Seeing as how I practically had “SUCKER” tattooed on my forehead, I was offered multiple MLM opportunities (Amway and some cologne/perfume pyramid scheme, Team National), but never took the bait. See, I was raised to believe that there ain’t no free rides, and the suckers of the world never fail to oversell the lack of work involved and the dump truck loads of money you’ll make, which set off BS my alarm bells. There’s also the problem of finding a customer base, and knowing how uncomfortable it made me to have friends and family pressuring me to give them money for garbage, I couldn’t imagine pressuring my friends and family to do the same.
As for investment opportunities and loaning people money, see the point (b) above.
My first new car was a Dodge 2.2 Turbo.
("No, they ALL make that boom-tish noise… ")
I’ve been skeptical of everything and anything ever since.
Maybe I’m too much a sucker to know I’ve been suckered.
I once bought some broken laptops to fix and resell. The first one I worked on, I put over $300 worth of parts in it. It sold on eBay for $65, and I had to pay sales fees. The rest, I dismantled and sold the parts from. That made all my money back and more.
I had one of those “no doc” loans for my mortgage (basically no real proof of income) with an adjustable rate and was interest-only. It was one of the main examples of how the economy failed in the 2000s - people like me getting loans like that.
But, I actually needed the type of loan I got. I needed to be able to make small payments and kick in extra towards the principle when I could. And my adjustment period was 10 years, so I had 10 years before my rate would change. As planned, I got my shit together and got myself re-financed into a real and fantastic loan within 5 years.
I somehow feel like I dodged a bullet, tho.
I got cold-call sold on some stocks once. Never again. :smack:
I bought Frontline at $27 a share.
The economy was supposed to be getting better. Companies will always need to ship stuff around, right?
Not “suckered” so much as overly confident in my prediction abilities. I invested a small amount of expendable cash in some speculative stocks when the market was starting to rise a few years ago (remember when one could by stock in the world’s largest banks for less than the cost of a Happy Meal?). When I say “speculative”, I mean outright gambles on large companies teetering on the edge of bankrupcy. I correctly rode the ups and downs for a bit and more than doubled my money, then decided to let it ride on one more gamble - which crashed and burned.
I suppose one could say I was “self suckered”, though that actually sounds like it should be fun.
1993, I had 50K to invest. I was wavering between parking spots in a well know. Downtown Chicago building (Marina City) or Apple.
My FIL convinced me to put it into 21st Century Insurance.
One year later was the Northridge earthquake.
The parking spots I could have gotten for 2 grand a spot deeded.
As a naive high-school kid from a used-car salesperson…“This car is already a rarity, destined to be a classic!”
As a naive adult from a financial consultant…“This is an exclusive real estate investment club, not house flipping!” It was bulk multi-level marketing house flipping. Luckily got out of that one without too much lost when a realtor friend started asking tough questions about the shadiness of the operation.
My mother did that. In 2008, when the economy seemed on the verge of collapse, she put $500 in each of several large banks and companies. She bought Ford Motor Co at $1.39 (it’s now at $15.95) and bought Citibank, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and a few others. I think she still has all of the stocks and none of them lost money.
This. I’ve made some not-so-great investments (and a few that worked out OK) because I thought I knew what I was doing. But I’m naturally skeptical of people trying to sell me something.
Some of us would never leave the house…
I paid $2,000 for a diamond ring for the first wife. Turned out to be a very, very bad investment! LOL.
Almost. Way back in the late 70s/very early 80s when the Pyramid Parties were the latest Ponzi scheme du jour, my boss (!!!) who was actually two levels above me tried to hook me and other entry-level employees into his “pyramid.” I didn’t have the money to spare, besides he really skeeved me out, so I was able to resist.
What a total sleazebag.