What was your greatest missed opportunity financially speaking?

In the late 90's there was 40 acres for sale next to property that is already in the family. $1,000 an acre. This was right before land values really took off in out area. My azz has been sore ever since as I've not quit kicking myself for that one. To make it worse that 40 is tucked in really with a much larger property which has since become the big buck hangout of the neighborhood.

86 acres for $38,000 with a 4 acre pond just outside of a decent size town in north Florida. Of course I was 22 at the time.

Not buying stock in a company who's stents were obviously VERY superior to anything on the market when we trialed them.

I made up for it a few times since though.

A retired Fire Warden's cabin through the State of Pennsylvania. They dismantled the fire tower and sold the cabin for 10K. Beautiful field stone and rough hewn log construction with a loft, and a fireplace that must have been 20 feet across the hearth. Still mad at my self on that one.

In the late 1970s I was in possession of a huge pile of junk silver. I sold it all when it was about $4.00 per ounce to fund a fancy paint job for my car, pin stripes and all. Couple of years later it went up to $50.00 per ounce.

When Pixar first went public, at my urging my mother called her broker and put in an order for "five thousand" of the IPO. She meant $5,000.00, but the broker thought she meant five thousand shares, which was a MUCH larger investment than she intended. When he called her back with the good news that he had been able to get her the five thousand shares she requested at twenty something dollars per share, and congratulated her on a wise investment, she was shocked and explained that she only meant to invest $5,000.00. In a panic, she wanted completely out of the deal. He told her not to worry. He would gladly take it for himself. He made a huge bundle on that investment, and my mom missed it.

Made a small mint (relative to my worth) on those stupid tech stocks in the mid 90's. Lost my shirt in a private investment in a family friends buis (new patent, great idea, growth area, etc etc) with the proceeds. Missed a chance to avoid that one!!!

Friend suggested apple when it was in the teens and they were down on their luck. I didnt, he did. We live an EXTREMELY different zip codes now.

3 pallets of .22LR ammo at 7.95 a brick woulda been pretty smart not too long ago. .. I missed that one too.

A 25 acre parcel in Stratton Vt. in the late 80's.
It was bordered on 3 sides by National Forest ground.

In 1972, when Miss Nude Universe was dancing at the Town Hall Bar - and on her break she came up to me, thanking me for watching her ...

Went straight from Highschool to starting 8 years of college. Should have taken a few years to myself, worked and did some exploring around the country. I've had a wandering bone my whole life, but thought I "had to" get straight to school and subsequently build a pile of debt and been under the gun ever since. That being said if any of that would have changed me meeting my wife and having my 3 children, then it was no missed oportunity. Still dream of it though.

God Bless,

MM

800 acres for $1000 acre at the edge of an expanding town.

Not getting serious about a certain young lady in the early 70's. Family was in bread, literally, and had the dough (money), lots and lots of it.

Wow! Think Websterparish47 just won the prize!

I was a locksmith and got a call to look over a new company that was having a bunch of loss. They were just starting out and were in the red. The product they were making was being disappearing out the back door as fast as they could make it. I told them how to fix the problem with less than five bucks from the hardware store without bringing down the wrath of the fire marshal. A month later I was asked to stop by on my way home. A man wearing faded jeans and a teeshirt that looked like a tux asked me if I would like a job as the head of security for their growing company. I thanked Mr. Phil Night and said no. Later they changed the name of that little company to Nike.

Not taking a Director level job with Starbucks offered to me back in the early 90's. I would have been able to retire a millionaire ten years ago at the ripe old age of 36. Doh!!

I think we are about even.

Had the opportunity to buy a mint Ferrari Daytona Spyder with 8k kilometers on it for 5k. Had a minor engine fire that would have required a new hood, engine wiring harness, 2 carbs and a distributor. Belonged to a customer of mine. Given that I was making less than a hundred bucks a week at the time, I passed. Hindsight, I guess. Car would have been worth about 1.5 million at the peak of Ferrari fever when the old man died.........

Not buying 1,000 PMags last October.

When they offered to send me to Ranger School at Benning if i took another tour of duty and i took the discharge instead . I have always regretted that decision .

Some good ones! I have missed opportunities on real estate but some smaller misses are more fun. In a dusty vacant lot in northern Pakistan an Afghan refugee tried to sell me a cut block of lapis lazuli the size of a volley ball, for $40. I'd barely heard of the stuff, didn't want to lug it half way around the world, etc. Back in Seattle, I described it to a jeweller who sold it and he told me he'd have given me at least $4,000 for it.

Not staying single.

A mint and beautiful 86 deluxe around '78 for $3000. A civil war gun that I never bothered to look at, that turned out to be a brand new Maynard Carbine for $350.

Not buying $32 gold or 500 AR's about 6 months ago.

I'd rather sell the gold than AR's. I can see a shop trying to buy an AR for around 500. It's hard to negotiate much on gold a 1 oz. coin price is posted daily.

I had the opportunity to lay my ex- wifes sister before the divorce and didn't do it.....

The one opportunity I WOULD be kicking my self in the azz for missing ... Uh, it's one I actually went for.

In 1986, I found a little IPO in something called Operating Systems for PCs ... I could see that coming. The company was going public and was run by two guys named Bill and Paul Something.

I bought 100sh of MSFT on the Initial Public Offering. It's split nine times since and I've never sold a single share.

Same story with HOG in 1987. I bought 100sh. It's split a little . Never sold a share.

Opportunities like this are still with us today. You simply have to do the research and take the risk.

It is laughable to read the gloom-n-doomers with their bunker mentality. The world is not coming to an end and Chicken Little was not right.

God Bless,

Steve

I like msft, I bought some when I read they were putting like a billion in the bank per month.

Oh yeah and Ebay offered us all a hundred shares when they went public. Should of done that.

2 Instances hit roughly about the same time....

My aunt was the original owner of a 1978 Pontiac Firebird. It had the 400(6.6L) in it with around 48,000 miles. She would have sold it to me for $4000.

60 acres of land that was owned by a friend of my girlfriends father. He was having tax problems and needed $13,000.

I was fresh out of school at the time, my debt was 200% of my yearly GDP...couldn't swing for either.

I missed 40 acres at $100 per, the ground is essentially useless for anything except raising wild turkeys and giving deer a place to nap.And it is on a blacktop road.............

But, at the time I just couldn't/wouldn't swing the deal, and I'm still kicking myself in the pants over it.

I also had to pass on another 40 acres, at $1000 per, but it had a house, garage and other outbuildings, still occupied (not run down), but didn't do it. It gets locked up when the creek floods, a not uncommon situation, and it just wasn't going to work. Luckily, my nephew bought it and it's still in the family.

In 1991, on my honeymoon, we were in southern Montana, looking at cheap investment property.
We looked a 5 acres on the banks of the Madison river, just north of Yellowstone.
50 grand.
We didn�t want the payments, so we talked it over and decided to invest in the stock market instead.
My 20 grand turned into 30, then went down to 10, and now it�s back up to 30.
The property went from 50 grand to upwards of 2 million, and is probably still worth a million today.
In 1991, I had never herd the term �Orvis Blue Ribbon trout stream�.

In 1946 or 47, just after the war, my father was offered a chance to buy into a small, start up company that sliced potatoes real thin, fried them and sold them as a snack.
What a crazy idea, nobody will ever buy that, he turned it down.

Frito Lay.

A couple of hundred bucks back then would be worth tens of millions today.

I was racing professional motocross and supercross in the late 80's. And I pissed away a chance to play baseball. At the time they loved switch hitting little guys that were dumb enough to crowd the plate. Oh well... Live and learn.

In 1972 I was in the Army and just getting out of basic training I was offered a direct transfer to Helicopter pilot school- I guess it turns out I had the highest PT scores in the unit. Vietnam was still going on and I was looking forward to my next duty station (Fort Lewis) so I said no, like a 19 year old dummy. I would have loved to fly choppers then and now....

1 1/2 years later, I received orders for Ranger school and my transfer to Germany the same day. I asked to go to Germany then transfer to Ranger school and everyone said "fine". Went to Germany and found out if it wasn't in writing, it wasn't going to happen. I turn 60 this year and I still kick myself for that stupid decision.

Last but not least- while at Fort Lewis I met up with a guy downtown Tacoma one day. He was driving an AC Cobra and we chatted for awhile about the car. He offered to sell it to me for $6500 on the spot. See above, 20 years old, on PFC's wages and couldn't figure out how to swing a loan at the time. That car would be worth at least $400K now.

Bob

Had a chance to do R+D field work for an AF civilian contractor when I separated and always have wondered how it would have changed my life had I accepted the position.

We bought our land here in 62. 100 acres at 75 an acre. Decent enough deal at the time.

But in 1985 just out of high school and not married yet but neither of us with much money.... there was 100 acres out in Rocksprings, end of a county road... 100 bucks an acre... what a dumbass.

And then not so many years ago I found out to late a friend was selling almost 400 acres in south Texas around 400 an acre... that I'd have pounced on if the buyers had renegged....

I could have bought a 3 story 40 room frat house located just off the UCB campus for $100,000 or so in 1977. A non-profit was moving out after leasing and they had option to buy it at $85,000.