A few years ago decided I want to be part time photographer. Bought bunch of gear mostly to look the part, then I realized I didn’t enjoy taking photos for clients or especially at events. Sold everything a year later, lost about $1,000. Though don’t regret it as I got some decent photos and some interesting experiences from it.
I made some "fun" investments during college: CHS Electronics[1], and Met@box[2]. In CHS Electronics I was actually up 100% at some point and entered a sell order, but changed my mind and cancelled it. Hours later the stock tanked and ultimately became worthless.
With Met@box, I was actually 99% sure that it was a scam, but I thought I could "ride the wave" and sell before it would collapse. Valuable lessons were learned.
OK, I bit on the best investment thread. Now time to throw myself under the bus. I challenge you to top this:
The summer between high school and college (or somewhere around that time), I put most of my savings from my part time job into WCOM @ $25. I'm probably a little older than the median HN demo, so I'll just leave this here for you.[1]
The good news is, I never did have to pay a commission to sell that stock. Obviously, I didn't have a lot of money, but it was probably about $1000 that I invested and promptly lost.
About $6000 into a "MVP" for starting my own cafe.
I later found out that most people who start restaurants lose money. You'd make something like $100k sales and $101k costs a month. The game is in trying to change sales or costs by 5% or so.
A lot of restaurants don't shut down for this reason. They're all really close to being rich and they all invest so much into it that it's worth trying out another year.
That's why they're not killed by the free market. There's a lot more out there than there should be.
My first MVP. Blew through about 1.5 to 2k on it and had zero sales. Most of the yhings I bought were unecessary at the time, such as a 5 year hosting plan. Year by year would've been fine and I would have had extra money.
I have a used car. if I put $1,000 into repairs for it and get 12 months out of it. I win.
Can I lease or buy an equivalent car for $1000/yr, $83 a month? Usually not.
If I could, how much would the value deprecate in a year? More than $1,000? Most likely
$1,000 into a used car can be the wisest thing. I pretty much drive my cars till I hit 250,000 miles. It takes another $4k to usually go from 200k-250k usually because timing belt, valve cover and expensive routine maintenance comes up. But $4k to drive 50k miles? Totally worth it.
Depends on your timing. In late 2008 or early 2009, I saw GE below $7/share, and I knew it was an insanely low number, but I didn't have any spare cash, and I didn't have the guts to borrow money to buy it.
In retrospect, I should have put some of my IRA money into it - not a lot, maybe a few percent.
[+] [-] amerkhalid|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] edmanet|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] koolba|8 years ago|reply
[1]: https://www.shape.com/blogs/sex-and-love/study-shows-engagem...
[+] [-] smartician|8 years ago|reply
With Met@box, I was actually 99% sure that it was a scam, but I thought I could "ride the wave" and sell before it would collapse. Valuable lessons were learned.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHS_Electronics
[2]: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabox
[+] [-] SmellTheGlove|8 years ago|reply
The summer between high school and college (or somewhere around that time), I put most of my savings from my part time job into WCOM @ $25. I'm probably a little older than the median HN demo, so I'll just leave this here for you.[1]
The good news is, I never did have to pay a commission to sell that stock. Obviously, I didn't have a lot of money, but it was probably about $1000 that I invested and promptly lost.
[1]: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/dailypix/2002/Jun/30/world...
[+] [-] muzani|8 years ago|reply
I later found out that most people who start restaurants lose money. You'd make something like $100k sales and $101k costs a month. The game is in trying to change sales or costs by 5% or so.
A lot of restaurants don't shut down for this reason. They're all really close to being rich and they all invest so much into it that it's worth trying out another year.
That's why they're not killed by the free market. There's a lot more out there than there should be.
[+] [-] codegeek|8 years ago|reply
Lesson: don't invest in things you don't know.
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] jetti|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gvajravelu|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] efrafa|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tboyd47|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] segmondy|8 years ago|reply
I have a used car. if I put $1,000 into repairs for it and get 12 months out of it. I win.
Can I lease or buy an equivalent car for $1000/yr, $83 a month? Usually not.
If I could, how much would the value deprecate in a year? More than $1,000? Most likely
$1,000 into a used car can be the wisest thing. I pretty much drive my cars till I hit 250,000 miles. It takes another $4k to usually go from 200k-250k usually because timing belt, valve cover and expensive routine maintenance comes up. But $4k to drive 50k miles? Totally worth it.
[+] [-] snow_mac|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] g0thams-|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SirLJ|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Something1234|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hvd|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AnimalMuppet|8 years ago|reply
In retrospect, I should have put some of my IRA money into it - not a lot, maybe a few percent.