Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Worst financial decisions?

All the bazillions of rounds of ammo I bought during the obama unpleasantness , expecting that hildabitch would get elected.

I hope this place don't catch fire.


Mike

What Greg said. I've had boats for close to 40 years and the cost to keep and maintain have been minimal. We bought a new no thrills pontoon back in 1988 that served my family well for 31 years. I went into the shop only once during that time and only cost me about $230.I did all the rest of the upkeep and maintenance my self. We finally traded it in on a new pontoon just because we wanted what we felt was a well deserved upgrade. Also have an 18ft run about to take the kids tubing and such. Upkeep and repairs on it have also been minimal. Of course I do all I can to take good care of the boats to keep them in good shape. I paid $5100 for the new1988 and 31 years later, received $2900 on trade in. Not too bad for that many years of enjoyment.

I bought a 2013 key west 203 dual console with a Honda 150 a couple of years ago. I've really enjoyed it and it hasn't been expensive, it does what I want and is good on fuel. I think the key is to not get too googly eyed at new boats with all the gee whiz stuff on them that costs a fortune, buy something that's basic with a reliable motor that you can maintain yourself. If you're the type that can't change the oil or impeller without taking it to the shop then it's going to cost a lot more.

We all have to meet our basic needs first but once that's met then there's nothing wrong with a little luxury as long as you can afford it. The point of life is to live some isn't it? I've got an aunt and uncle in their mid 80's now that are probably worth $10 million and they've still got the first nickel they ever earned. By talking to them you'd think they were living hand to mouth wondering where their next meal is coming from but they're sitting on a pile of money like Scrooge McDuck. What's the point of that?

We bought a pull behind camper. I didn't want it, my wife did. Fuggin money hole. We had it 2 years and was just about to cause a divorce so she wanted one she could drive. Another $65,000 down the fuggin drain. I won't drive it and I rarely stay in it. It is nicer than the pull behind but even the best of them are a total POS. We live in Iowa, it's butt a$$ed cold for 6 months of the year so it sets 6 months of the year. I should of done the divorce and saved myself a lot of money.

kwg

Seems like I don;t have a problem with making bad buys. Had a few bad sells though. The '65 Mustang loaded Pony edition that I let go for $700 when there were used Mustangs everywhere comes to mind. Then there were the stock options I sold, thinking they were close to topped out, but went on to double in value. Sold a house just before the market here took off, and it was sold again a year later for twice the price.

The biggest though, was a failure to buy. Shoulda bought land here when it was going to $600 and acre. I thinks - "that ain't ever gonna be worth having for that". (Dad didn't raise no real estate tycoons). Now, that ten acres would go for half a million.

Buying crap I didn't need with credit cards. Quitting college twice. Getting married and divorced twice.

Pardon me, but I can't feel your pain. (But I do sincerely hope your place doesn't catch fire.) However, I do admire you for being one of the few to admit it.

By far, the worst financial disasters I've had were by letting my little head do the thinking.

my 2nd marriage.........

Not buying up charter halibut permits 5 years ago. Not going all-in on no brainer investments in 2009.

We all buy stupid things that ultimately cost us money. The missed opportunities are what really hurt.

Well the electric dog buffer/polisher was a total waste. But the fur lined underwear do have some benefits. 😁

It's OK , I got a nice tent to live in. It's in the woods back here behind the county landfill.


Mike

Getting rid of the '61 Corvair, the '57 Chevy, and the '68 SS Chevelle................

I didn't have $3K in ALL of them.........................

Bought a load of silver at $30 an ounce awhile back. Made 6% in just a couple weeks and then it went to $15 and hasn't gained much since.

,...stuck my dick in crazy.

We were married a couple years, living in a trailer, I had been
saving for quite a while for a home.

Both driving truck for a guy, he talked up into investing in
the a brokering business with him.

Lost $25k in less than a year.


That hurt.

i have made quite a bit of money selling covered calls though the years.
in summer of 19 87 a fellow broker put down on about 20 oex puts. after a week or so nothing happening so he wrote a ticket to cancil the position, wrong, he doubled the position. The market fell apart. he was so busy talking to clients he didn't check his own account for a few days, couldn't figure what the half million was doing sitting there. He closed it for sure then. i know another guy that sold a bunch of nakkid calls on a stock at it's 52week high. he didn't think it could go any higher till the takeover was announced a day or two later.
he had a lot of trouble rounding up the stock to deliver, about a two day 120k learning lesson.

Bought a second hand low mileage Chevy Z71 back around 1996. POS it was. The good news was that my soon to be Ex took it when she left. Win-win.

I cant say I very made a real bad financial mistake. In 2009 I installed an EKO 25 gassification wood boiler and it cost me 9400 dollars. It took 7 yrs of cutting and stacking wood to save the $9400 dollars in heat bills though. I didn't loose anything but putting that money in a simple S&P 500 fund would have payed for my heat bills all that time and never would have had to go find wood , cut , split and stack it. I do it on my spare time but it sure was a lot of work to get my money back. The heat is far superior with the hydronic floor heat however. I have 34K in Occidnetal Petroleum stocks and am down about $ 8,000 but I believe it hit bottom now and should recover with very cheap reinvested dividends. I bought a 1975 Volksawgon Rabbit for $2,000 and it only lasted about 2 yrs at best. That was a lot of money then. As for my boat, a new Alumacraft V16 bought for cash in 1990 for $1,260 , and $800 25 hrs Merc and a $300 trailer sett me back about $2,500 dollars. Still have the boat and on my second 25 hrs Merc and think I have $ 5,000 into it including everything . Likely worth $1,500 today. I use it about 20 times a yr . I have done very good but only cause I was interested in land in the late 80's , 90's and early 2000's. I also am down several grand on my biotech investments but hey , you will never always win. As for cars, I buy used and run them to the ground.

Mine Was Asking A Real Estate Friend About Looking At And Splitting Some Property.. We Walked It. And Then Told Me It Wasn't Worth The $250,000 Asking Price... He Bought It Two Weeks Later. In One Of His LLC's And Sold It For $850.000 In Less Than Six Months.. Took Me About Year To Find Out...