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I know someone who inherited what would be equivalent to almost $1,000,000 in today's money when he was a 20 or 21 year old college student. He spent the entire amount (yes, almost a million dollars) in less than two years. It was really sad. He ended up losing his gigantic house to foreclosure, his expensive cars were repossessed, he dropped out of college and he ended up having to move in with a relative when the money was gone. The worse thing was that all of his many "friends" who "loved him" when he was taking them on expensive vacations, paying their bills, buying them expensive gifts, supplying them with drugs, etc. completely disappeared when his money was gone.
I am sure that his late father never intended that to happen but his young son had no idea how to handle that much money. I think that part of the problem was that he grew up wealthy and never had to earn his own way, so when he had that amount of money he did not realize that it was finite. It is really sad that his inheritance wasn't put into some type of trust or annuity so he did not receive it all the money at once.
Last edited by germaine2626; 07-30-2019 at 06:40 PM..
I know someone who inherited what would be equivalent to almost $1,000,000 in today's money when he was a 20 or 21 year old college student. He spent the entire amount (yes, almost a million dollars) in less than two years. It was really sad. He ended up losing his gigantic house to foreclosure, his expensive cars were repossessed, he dropped out of college and he ended up having to move in with a relative when the money was gone. The worse thing was that all of his many "friends" who "loved him" when he was taking them on expensive vacations, paying their bills, buying them expensive gifts, supplying them with drugs, etc. completely disappeared when his money was gone.
I am sure that his late father never intended that to happen but his young son had no idea how to handle that much money. I think that part of the problem was that he grew up wealthy and never had to earn his own way, so when he had that amount of money he did not realize that it was finite. It is really sad that his inheritance wasn't put into some type of trust or annuity so he did not receive it all the money at once.
Not trying to sound harsh, but that is foolish and quite pitiful. Doesn't sound like they're much of friends. A million bucks is a lot but really not that much in 2019. The only way I'd be taking friends on vacations, etc. is if I won the lottery and had many, many, many, many millions of dollars.
I know someone who inherited what would be equivalent to almost $1,000,000 in today's money when he was a 20 or 21 year old college student. He spent the entire amount (yes, almost a million dollars) in less than two years. It was really sad. He ended up losing his gigantic house to foreclosure, his expensive cars were repossessed, he dropped out of college and he ended up having to move in with a relative when the money was gone. The worse thing was that all of his many "friends" who "loved him" when he was taking them on expensive vacations, paying their bills, buying them expensive gifts, supplying them with drugs, etc. completely disappeared when his money was gone.
I am sure that his late father never intended that to happen but his young son had no idea how to handle that much money. I think that part of the problem was that he grew up wealthy and never had to earn his own way, so when he had that amount of money he did not realize that it was finite. It is really sad that his inheritance wasn't put into some type of trust or annuity so he did not receive it all the money at once.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mister 7
Not trying to sound harsh, but that is foolish and quite pitiful. Doesn't sound like they're much of friends. A million bucks is a lot but really not that much in 2019. The only way I'd be taking friends on vacations, etc. is if I won the lottery and had many, many, many, many millions of dollars.
That is why I called them "friends". The people who moved in with him and expected him to pay their bills, take them on vacations, always pick up the tabs at restaurants, etc. were all "new friends". People who had known him before kept trying to tell him that those people were using him but he never believed us (I think that he enjoyed the attention as he was sort of a shy, quiet nerd). I don't think that his original friends ever allowed him to pay for vacations or pay their bills or things like that. It was just those new hangers-on who were taking advantage of him. In fact, I'm pretty sure that none of us (old friends) ever realized how much money he was really spending until it was too late.
After his money was gone he just moved away to live with relatives and never really contacted anyone again. It was pretty sad as he was a nice guy.
That is why I called them "friends". The people who moved in with him and expected him to pay their bills, take them on vacations, always pick up the tabs at restaurants, etc. were all "new friends". People who had known him before kept trying to tell him that those people were using him but he never believed us (I think that he enjoyed the attention as he was sort of a shy, quiet nerd). I don't think that his original friends ever allowed him to pay for vacations or pay their bills or things like that. It was just those new hangers-on who were taking advantage of him. In fact, I'm pretty sure that none of us (old friends) ever realized how much money he was really spending.
After his money was gone he just moved away to live with relatives and never really contacted anyone again. It was pretty sad.
That's pretty sad that he couldn't see that he was being used.
Which is curious for me to read, since I have been a saver since I was at least 11 years old.
Don’t believe all the hype. For every spectacular flameout story there’s another that’s good with his money. I think most fall somewhere in the middle. I’ve seen big names with big notoriety that live in modest townhomes near the practice facility. A few less known that have a nice SUV and live in condos. I think the biggest problem is the leeches and vultures that try and sell them crummy investments, or whack job family that come looking for handouts.
Which is curious for me to read, since I have been a saver since I was at least 11 years old.
I agree. I opened my first bank account at age 7 or so, I sold golf balls on the course and put the money into savings. I had a chunk of money at 18, I didn’t blow it, I left it all in stocks and didn’t touch a dime of it. I lived in a lousy little $250/month apartment my first month of college with 3 other dudes. I never have liked tapping into savings or investments.
I worked in the software biz in Seattle in the 90's. There were several companies that went public in that era and their employees who started early with the company woke up rich from employee stock options. I had several friends who raked in several 10's of millions of dollars. A couple of them thought that made them geniuses and they invested in various screwy things and they ended up losing it all, most right around the 2001 crash. One guy rolled with the punches and got over it, the other took it hard and was unemployed for many years, in fact may still be.
I really don’t get that. If you had say $10 million, no more than $1 million should be invested into anything actually risky. The stock market (index funds) isn’t risky, it’s just a matter of not being an idiot and selling at a bottom of the market. If someone like that had $1 million in cash equivalents, maybe a million or two in real estate (or more), and most of the rest in diversified stock portfolios they’ll be set for life. What’s the purpose behind throwing it all into crazy wacky investments?
No. Once a person is wealthy and lives within his means, it's pert near impossible to lose it such as to be destitute. That's because having money makes it easy to make money. Stick some money in a CD and an investment account, and it wlll churn out money, even if you're unemployed.
A person can become destitute, though, if they are absolutely stupid with a problem spending more than they have (like those movie stars that go broke by buying castles and islands - of course, what they call broke is STILL wealthy by a normal person's standards), or with an addiction that eats money (gambling, heroin). But for most people, once you have the bucks, it snowballs and ensures you will always have money.
My great-grandfather was a very successful farmer and continued to acquire other farms, becoming the largest farmer in the county. First to have both running water and electricity indoors, he did very well. Eventually he acquired the local town bank. While I'm still trying to get the hand written ledgers from my idiot cousin who hasn't a clue about them, the story is that there was a gentleman's agreement when he acquired the bank that the selling banker would only move cash out in pieces over a number of years. Instead the seller took all and went to California. While he survived that, it left him in a weakened state financially. While the 20's were roaring for manufacturing, they weren't the best of times for agriculture. Loans kept being extended. By the 30's things took a dive and he closed the bank, apparently writing off many loans and selling almost all of his farms at depressed prices in order to honor his depositors. In those days, there was no FDIC. What was left to the kids was split between the 13 of them.
When people look at income inequality charts....sometimes it's easy to forget that the top tier is rarely the same people throughout a lifetime. It ebbs and flows. I'm sure my Dad made more money than Bill Gates when Bill was a teen.
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