Tell me about a time you lost a significant sum of money on something dumb

[Northwestie]

I married the wrong person.

Me too. Got it right the second time, though!

Word

[Mississippi Mudstache]

Bought a house in January 2008. Lost $30,000. Bought another house in 2011. Finally sold that one last week. Lost $36,000.

[h82goslw]

I'm a visual person so I like to use pictures to tell stories.....

Bought my dream car (using HELOC) 2 days before Christmas and the same day I found out my wife was pregnant with 3rd child (in same year I bought 2 brand new cars (with loans) and a new house). After getting into racing at Watkins Glen I decided I needed to spend thousands to make it faster and louder. 





I decided first corvette was not fast and loud enough so I sold ( at a loss) and then bought this....






Had that car for about a year and decided I wanted a fully race prepped car for Limerock Park and auto crossing.  And bought this.....



Blew the motor in that car, after spending thousands in suspension and harness upgrades and decided I needed a bullet proof high horsepower motor.   Spent another $1.5K on the motor. 

Then I realized.....what the hell am I doing??? Sold that last car (almost broke even) and bought a set of golf clubs.  Life is much more quiet now but I do miss the thrill of racing. 

[alleykat]

In my early 20's, bought a new car that was a complete lemon.  Didn't get rid of it.  The money I put into it, even after the warranty, I could of had a Mercedes.

[Yaeger]

I bought $30k worth of Silver and Gold in 2013/2014 and have an unrealized loss of ~$9k on it right now.

Haha, I bought $10k worth of gold and silver in 2014, then another $20k in 2015. I've just now broken even.

I'm going to keep them though, I didn't purchase as an investment.

Neither did I, more of an insurance policy than anything else.

I feel like less of an idiot now. Silver is up 42.6% and Gold is up 26.5% since Jan 1st. It's a nice bump for an insurance policy and I'm not sure at what point I'd break my plan and consider selling.

[Kaspian]

I feel like less of an idiot now. Silver is up 42.6% and Gold is up 26.5% since Jan 1st. It's a nice bump for an insurance policy and I'm not sure at what point I'd break my plan and consider selling.

Awww.... Geeze.  You really have to decide that stuff far in advance--"How much of a loss am I willing to take?  How much of a gain am I willing to take?," write it down, and stick with it.  Otherwise, you're reluctant to sell when it's going down (don't want a loss) and reluctant to sell when it's going up (it could go up further).  Yes, basically a stop or limit order.

[StartingEarly]

Broke a prop on the 4th. Now I am buying him two so we have a spare, so 200 bucks.

[Sailor Sam]

Broke a prop on the 4th. Now I am buying him two so we have a spare, so 200 bucks.

What did you run into? How big of a prop? Did it shatter, banana peal, or just dent. Details, man. We need details! Pictures, if necessary.

[Uturn]

Being a pilot, my mind when somewhere else when he said that he bent a prop.  $200 would be damn cheap. 

[AlanStache]

Being a pilot, my mind when somewhere else when he said that he bent a prop.  $200 would be damn cheap.

yep, aviation grade bobbleheads run 200$.

[StartingEarly]

75hp optimax out on Lake Winnebago too close to shore and hit the gas, boat tilted up, prop when down into the water more than I expected and struck a rocky bottom, broke about half the blades off all three blades and wouldn't go on plane anymore, took us 3.5 hours to get back to the boat landing at around 6mph

[Kyrie]

I don't even want to talk about how much money I've lost gambling in the past. I'm only 23 and I've lost well over $10,000.

[dandypandys]

Great thread!
Just let 49k airmiles from virgin expire oooops.

[o2bfree]

I dropped $20k on stock in 3D printer companies when it was hot. Now it's not. Haven't sold yet though, so the loss is still on paper. ROI is currently around -68%.

Small but stunningly stupid: I forgot to take the tax deduction for a T-IRA contribution. When I realized what I'd done, I filed for a correction, but was past the three-year limit. So annoying, because the IRS can come after us for seven years past a false claim, but they're liable only for three. Set me back only about $600, but geez, easy money lost.

[LLCoolDave]

7 years ago I bought a 98 Porsche Boxster for $13k, it had 62k miles. I thought it was a good deal. It is a fun car to drive.  In 7 years I've driven it 13k miles. It has probably depreciated $6k and I've spent $3k on insurance. If I had driven the wheels off this car it would have been worth it. Anyway, if someone is looking to buy a Boxster, let me know. ;)

[lizzzi]

Bought daughter a house around the corner for $137,000 cash on the barrelhead. Thought we would be the new Waltons or something. Trying to establish a set up like the Kennedy compound or something like that--extended family, help each other, our "tribe", one for all and all for one.  Very good intentions. Daughter has decided she doesn't like her local job, is transferring out of town, selling this mortgage-free house and taking out a mortgage on something fancier in a "nicer" area with "better schools." (Nothing wrong with this area or schools.) Dumb, dumb, dumb. Yes, I could afford it I guess, but it has certainly impacted my own financial flexibility. Now I am alone with a lot less money. Old too soon, smart too late.

[mohawkbrah]

lost £1k from when i first started investing and thought i could pick winner stocks. still holding the stocks as there's no point selling now as they're worth about £400 (i bought at £1400) I bought small cap oil stocks when Oil crashed, but it's still crashing

[rocketpj]

Grad school.  Before finding out that I utterly despise working in offices.

[BTDretire]

 This was loss of a "significant sum of money on something dumb" more in my wife's
mind then mine, but it would be nice to have had that money invested over the last 25 years!
   It was almost 25 years ago I was working for little pay at a company making very little money.
I really enjoyed the job, I was paid for 25 hrs a week but always worked 40+ hrs
We manufactured an electronic item along with some chemistry and some physics fun.
There were only two of us in the company, the other fellow was an extremely intelligent person.
We had some side projects for or own edification (radio, antennas,etc.) and I was enjoying learning from him.
 At some point about 4 years in for me, he had put enough of putting his own money into the company and
ask if I wanted to put in some in to keep us going.
  I put in $36,000, which basically kept us going for 3 more years.
I feel I got an education on a hobby that I will enjoy during my retirement years,
at the cost of $36,000. I look back on it as great times.
My wife,    not so much. :-)