Author Topic: I belong on the Wall of Shame for frivolously losing $4000 already this year.  (Read 13182 times)

Slow2FIRE

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« Last Edit: December 18, 2017, 08:48:06 PM by Slow2FIRE »

JrDoctor

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I share your stock selling pain, sold some individual shares for £7500 profit a few weeks ago, yesterday I would have sold out for £12500 profit.  Thats the equivalent of 2.5 months of 60-70hour weeks at work worth of pay I've left on the table.

Nederstash

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Yup, I deserve to be on the wall of shame for my reckless spending this year:

I was told through my wife that a church facebook group was having a group buy on cows and that the POST processed price would be $4.50/lb.  I usually don't buy beef too often because of cost but I love red meat.  Turns out the hanging weight (pre-processing) cost was $4.50/lb.  I paid about $6.75/lb for a quarter cow...basically I paid almost double market rates since more than half was roasts, hamburger, stew beef, soup bones, etc. - very little steak.  That was my first sucker bet that didn't pay off (as I see an ad just a couple weeks ago with new york strip for $5.41/lb mocking me).  The beef I would grade BELOW USDA choice, the type of meat that would probably be served at a cheap restaurant.

I tried adding a new puppy to our family.  Even though we have hectic work schedules, I figured it would make life easier with our other dog having a playmate.  Apparently, we were super lucky with our first dog as the second was terribly difficult and time consuming.  I decided to put the puppy in a 4 week intensive board & train session for $1300.  It was great until he came back - ended up taking him back to the shelter where I adopted him from as my work really suffered greatly having to take care of the puppy (after I had to get some surgery on him).  All in cost was about $2000 for training, adoption fee, equipment, vet bills.

Lastly, I had about $1700 in an individual stock that just went bankrupt.  At least I get to take the capital losses.  I'm now going to review all my individual positions and sell off any that are even slightly risky and put the proceeds into VTI.  At least I can write off $1700 of capital gains when I sell some of the individual stocks. (had free trades and thought I was going to play stock picker - at least we have less than 10% in individual stocks).

My year is sure starting off all wrong.  Each and every decision was a poor one on my part by either not being fully informed or jumping in without thinking it through.

Please just think things through! Each of these losses were preventable.

meep

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Sending a dog off to be trained is almost always a bad idea. Doesn`t help train you (the owner)、gets rid of the bonding time that training creates and of course the money you have to pay. Not to mention sometimes you get a messed up dog back because the training place used a little more force than they should`ve and broke the dog.

Rezdent

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I don't see the total price of the beef, but I wouldn't count it as a total loss as long as you are in possession of the meat.

I used to work in a butcher shop, and people were always surprised at how few steaks there are on a side.  Especially when compared to how much wasn't steak, like bones.  You aren't out the whole price, just the spread between yours and store sale prices.
There are a lot of people who are OK with that, they prefer knowing what cow they bought, that it was treated well, and that they aren't getting a mixture of 100 different animals in their hamburger.

Maybe it isn't the beef you were hoping for, but you can cycle through it over the next six months.  What a fun project - finding new ways to cook and enjoy every piece.

FIREby35

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Live and learn. It's tough to face punch someone who has already facepunched themselves ;)

TheAnonOne

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I was told through my wife that a church facebook group was having a group buy on cows and that the POST processed price would be $4.50/lb.  I usually don't buy beef too often because of cost but I love red meat.  Turns out the hanging weight (pre-processing) cost was $4.50/lb.  I paid about $6.75/lb for a quarter cow...basically I paid almost double market rates since more than half was roasts, hamburger, stew beef, soup bones, etc. - very little steak.  That was my first sucker bet that didn't pay off (as I see an ad just a couple weeks ago with new york strip for $5.41/lb mocking me).  The beef I would grade BELOW USDA choice, the type of meat that would probably be served at a cheap restaurant.

I generally find community events and sales 'bad bets' because the general population is A. bad at math, B. uninformed, and C. doesn't seem to care.

If someone offered me a 'group buy' on beef that was $2/lb I wouldn't take it(without seeing the product first). Frankly, I don't like to store 6months to a years worth of meat personally...

Maybe I am being snobby but... yuck (Referring to the bold)



Good luck, and as another poster said, think things through a bit longer...

Sibley

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All I can say is, no more animals. Period.

eyesonthehorizon

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I don't see the total price of the beef, but I wouldn't count it as a total loss as long as you are in possession of the meat.

I used to work in a butcher shop, and people were always surprised at how few steaks there are on a side.  Especially when compared to how much wasn't steak, like bones.  You aren't out the whole price, just the spread between yours and store sale prices.
There are a lot of people who are OK with that, they prefer knowing what cow they bought, that it was treated well, and that they aren't getting a mixture of 100 different animals in their hamburger.

Maybe it isn't the beef you were hoping for, but you can cycle through it over the next six months.  What a fun project - finding new ways to cook and enjoy every piece.
Nailed it - great educational project also, since butchering is a useful skill to cultivate even if you plan on buying from the grocery in the future. (Rezdent, I always do enjoy your posts...)

OP, I think your dog mistake was analogous to thinking babysitting is something you get a baby to do. Your older mellower dog is not going to be a good trial run for puppyhood, and I don't usually suggest infant critters of any stripe to people without much personal time. It's also always highly recommended that you sit on any pet decisions for at least six weeks before moving forward, or as many weeks as years that decision will encompass - an animal's not a video, "returning" it after the small cuteness phase has ended is statistically likely to make your $2000 investment into meaningless papers for an ashpile at the crematorium rather than a gift to the "next family". Stick with your one dog, and you and the existing pup will both be happier and better off if you find a time solution rather than a consumption solution to keeping it company.

FINate

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I don't see the total price of the beef, but I wouldn't count it as a total loss as long as you are in possession of the meat.

I used to work in a butcher shop, and people were always surprised at how few steaks there are on a side.  Especially when compared to how much wasn't steak, like bones.  You aren't out the whole price, just the spread between yours and store sale prices.
There are a lot of people who are OK with that, they prefer knowing what cow they bought, that it was treated well, and that they aren't getting a mixture of 100 different animals in their hamburger.

Maybe it isn't the beef you were hoping for, but you can cycle through it over the next six months.  What a fun project - finding new ways to cook and enjoy every piece.
Nailed it - great educational project also, since butchering is a useful skill to cultivate even if you plan on buying from the grocery in the future. (Rezdent, I always do enjoy your posts...)

I agree. Although I love a good steak, in recent years I've started enjoying the tougher cuts more. The beef grade is a bit less important for these. Nothing like slow smoking a chuck roast to break down the collagen/connective tissues. Or braised beef shanks or short ribs...mmmm

SugarMountain

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I think you're being hard on yourself.
1) as pointed out, you didn't lose your entire investment in the beef, just the delta in cost between what you got vs what you could have bought else where. (And add in stuff you might never have bought, if you got say the tongue.)
2) you really can't even count the investment that failed.  The reason that stocks generally return more than risk free investments is...risk.  You are taking on risk with any stock investment, including our beloved low cost ETFs.  So, three things minimize your loss here. First, it was a learning experience.  Almost none of us should be trading individual stocks.  Dabbling as a hobby is one thing, but unless you have significant time to invest you're rarely going to beat the indicies.  Second, you do get the capital loss, so that saves you 20% or so.  Third, it really was just some risk coming to fruition. 
3) Dog.  Oh, I can so relate.  Our rescued mutt has had literally thousands in training, including two 2 week stints at a "board and train."  We haven't returned ours yet, so it's more of a "sunk cost" than a "loss" for us, but every time I look at our spending and see the "Pet" category I shake my head.  It's ridiculous.

ooeei

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For future reference, sending a puppy away for training might help with some specific issue, but in general it's not a great idea.  The training book I read before getting our puppy recently was by a long term trainer who said something along the lines of "dogs are easy to train, owners are the hard part." 

Also, puppies are a TON of work.  I haven't slept all the way through the night in 4 weeks.  We're seeing some good results so far with our training, but he's still got a long ways to go.


MgoSam

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For future reference, sending a puppy away for training might help with some specific issue, but in general it's not a great idea.  The training book I read before getting our puppy recently was by a long term trainer who said something along the lines of "dogs are easy to train, owners are the hard part." 

I don't know enough, but I know quite a few people that send their puppy away for training for hunting. One of my customers has a beautiful retriever that he got for bird hunting and he recently sent him to get trained. You're right though, I don't know if might sense for general training. The trainer I know says that her job isn't to teach dogs, but teach owners how to handle their dogs.

zephyr911

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If you're too busy to train the dog yourself, you're too busy to own it. I've never done much with mine beyond walking them 2-3x a day and occasionally teaching/reinforcing the basics (sit, stay, don't hump my leg) for a few minutes with treats, and they're great.

SLOW is right! xD
« Last Edit: May 02, 2016, 12:19:38 PM by zephyr911 »

ooeei

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For future reference, sending a puppy away for training might help with some specific issue, but in general it's not a great idea.  The training book I read before getting our puppy recently was by a long term trainer who said something along the lines of "dogs are easy to train, owners are the hard part." 

I don't know enough, but I know quite a few people that send their puppy away for training for hunting. One of my customers has a beautiful retriever that he got for bird hunting and he recently sent him to get trained. You're right though, I don't know if might sense for general training. The trainer I know says that her job isn't to teach dogs, but teach owners how to handle their dogs.

Yeah, hunting is one of the things that can be good, especially since it relies on a specific environment not everyone has access to all the time.  Basic obedience can also work, but can be undone very quickly by an owner who doesn't know what they're doing and reinforces the wrong behaviors (which is very easy to do). 

StockBeard

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Bad choices happen... as long as these are not recurring fees.
Wait, you're not subscribed to receive a cow leg every month from that church for the next 2 years now, right? :P

MoneyCat

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I just want you to know that it's okay to mess up once in a while. We live in a very unforgiving perfectionist society. Don't let yourself fall into the trap of believing you need to be perfect. Mistakes are learning experiences that inform our lives.

mak1277

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I'm just posting to comment on the glorious thought of NY Strips for $5.41/lb.  If I could get pricing like that, I'm not sure I'd ever eat anything else.  80% ground beef is $4/lb at my grocery store.... :(

GuitarStv

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If you're too busy to train the dog yourself, you're too busy to own it.

I really have to agree with this.  Training a dog is part of the fundamental interaction and relationship building that helps you and the dog bond together.  They're living, thinking animals.  You shouldn't try to just pick one up from the store and then send it away to be "upgraded" for the sake of convenience.