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Netflix has an ESPN movie called 30 for 30: Broke. It could be better and go into more detail, but it's a decent look into how so many athletes earn millions of dollars, but end up in massive debt at the end of their careers. Content: My brother bought a failing bar with money he inherited. He couldn't hold a job as a waiter, so he thought this qualified him to manage a business. It was run like a clubhouse. All his friends, which was every single customer, got to drink for free. Employees stole left and right. It was all ok though, because it got my brother laid. He would have closed within a few months, but lasted a year because he had the money. At the end, somebody broke in (with keys, so an employee) and stole the mounted plasma televisions he had stupidly purchased. He then had to buy new ones for the landlord, since they were "installed fixtures." All said, he spent maybe $400k on a failed business.
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Jun 21, 2013 05:59
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canyoneer posted:I've got a couple good ones. Both are stories about two married idiots who have a bad relationship that isn't based in trust. This couple are both retarded with money, but have strict rules about who pays for what. E.g. she pays the electric bill, he pays the phone bill, etc. The wife is just incredible. We'll call her Nancy. My mother pays for my brother's, father's, and my own smartphone (and hers as well) through her business. My brother stopped answering her calls and emails, so my mother stopped paying for his phone, and he had to downgrade to a regular cell phone after his hand-me-down Blackberry broke (easily fixed, he couldn't be bothered). Then my mother wanted to pay for a smartphone again, so he could get emails. My brother had already spent his upgrade on his cheapo cell phone, I forget the brand but it was basically a waste of an upgrade. He decided the best thing to do was buy a Kindle Fire so he could answer emails! He couldn't be bothered to wait two weeks for Black Friday deals, and he bought it full retail price. Never mind that he can't afford a data plan. All he uses it for is to read digital comics, he still doesn't answer emails. He's completely broke, has a lovely cell phone, and no reliable way to answer emails unless he has wifi access.
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Jun 22, 2013 01:58
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Yep, put her husband on the hook for almost $1,700 over the next two years with an extra phone line they aren't even using so she can replace her 6 month old phone.
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Delta-Wye posted:As far as I can tell from the information I've been able to pry out of them, my aunt wanted to sell her daughter their used car but the daughter didn't have enough money. It's a pretty common problem with an unusual solution. While my folks would probably float me the remainder (hey, I'm good for it! Or rather, they're willing to absorb the relatively low risk I'm not) my aunt was understandably unwilling. They decided to have her sell it to a dealership so that the daughter could get a loan to buy it from the dealership instead of a face-to-face transaction. I suspect the dealership was one of those "anyone can get a loan guaranteed" type places - she is well on her way to a second bankruptcy What? That dealership is going to squeeze the hell out of the daughter. Can you find out the terms of the financing? I wonder how much of a break they gave the daughter since the sale was already worked out. Then again, if she had already declared bankruptcy once, probably not much of a deal.
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Jun 25, 2013 21:00
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johnny sack posted:To contribute a story to make up for no story above. I recently bought a new water softener. I was telling my mom about it and why I bought a Fleck instead of some cheapie from Sears. She told me a terrible story how she and her husband had been renting a water softener since he bought the house in 1987. Something like $15/month, and that didn't include salt. 15 x 12 x 25 (years) = $4500 if my quick math hasn't failed me. For reference, if they had bought the very water softener AND had Culligan install it, it would have been like $275 back in the late 80s. I own a rental property. Rent-A-Center called and wanted confirmation that one of my new tenants was actually living there, and I confirmed it. Of course the tenant immediately stops paying rent the minute she moves in. I stop by to talk to her, and see the apartment is loaded with new stuff. A couch, television, laptop, etc. This apartment is her 2nd residence, two hours closer to work than her other home. She explains that she's now having trouble paying for all this Rent-A-Center stuff and the rent. She literally had to have all new stuff for her apartment, in the most expensive way possible. Used televisions are $100 on Craigslist. Couches are even cheaper. I hope she has fun making those payments when I give her the boot for nonpayment.
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Aug 1, 2013 16:38
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Chupe Raho Aurat posted:Don't be stupid. Did I suggest at any point it was causing unbearable hardships? I think the problem is that it will inevitably become a financial hardship. You say you had to give your mother money so she wouldn't be out on the street? She's old enough to retire, and her job may force her to. What then? You'll feel obligated to help your mother out. Will you find out what her spending problem is then? Or do some damage control now, and push the issue the next time she asks for money? edit: Did we talk about broke lottery winners? I find it absolutely fascinating. Lottery Changed My Life - Most Eligible Bachelor - Leroy Fick (skip to 8:00 if you're impatient and want to see the son's investment plan) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcg-BCbmYJ8 The followup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzD8RSoOC7E particle409 fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Aug 2, 2013 |
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Aug 2, 2013 19:12
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froglet posted:I have two friends that are doing this. They're buying comics partially to read and partially to sell for a profit at some undefined point in the future (with one of them calling it a 'retirement plan'). Fair enough if you enjoy comics and want to read and keep them, but nobody should have any illusions about it being a valuable investment unless you happen to own the first comic Superman appeared in or something. I have a comic collection from when I was a kid. I'd say I did better than most, in that my collection is worth maybe 5-10% of what I paid for the books retail. I knew as a young teenager in the 90's though that it'd be worthless when I saw comic shops selling bags of like 4 comics together for $1. Basic supply and demand. Now I just buy huge graphic novels/omnibus editions, so I still get to read the comics but at a fraction of the cost. With the exception of a few choice comics that make up the bulk of my collection's value, I bet I'd probably have to sell them by the pound to a collector/shop to get rid of them. Why most rappers are broke (part 1 of 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmXcpWkkin8
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Aug 7, 2013 00:06
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TLG James posted:Haha. The talk of comics I had to look it up the two I have saved in the back of my parent's house in my old (now storage) room. Savage Dragon #1 is an excellent example of the comic collectible market crashing in on itself. I know I have a copy in my collection, along with Spawn #1, Youngblood #1, etc. The idea was that the first Superman is extremely valuable (Action Comics #1), therefore the first issue of a comic series would always be valuable. Image Comics came onto the scene, with all new series, so a ton of first issues flooded the market. Everybody has Savage Dragon #1 in their collection.
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Aug 7, 2013 04:44
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I know somebody who had an elk farm (I think it was elk, maybe emu?). Apparently some disease was going around all the elk farms, so he got his animals vaccinated. Then, the government said he didn't have to destroy them, but nobody was allowed to sell elk. Then, the government reimbursed people who had to destroy their elk. That means this guy spent the money on vaccinations, still couldn't sell the animals, but wasn't reimbursed from the government because he never had to destroy the elk.
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Aug 11, 2013 08:55
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skipdogg posted:I see it all the time. Folks live their entire lives from paycheck to paycheck and then some money drops in their lap and they lose their loving minds. OK, maybe they don't lose their minds, but all common sense goes out the window. Give a 16 year old 1,000 bucks and watch what happens. Same thing basically. What's really horrifying to me is they didn't blow it on major stuff. He didn't go buy a Corvette or anything, they just pissed it away a little at a time. They bought 2 lightly used vehicles, nothing fancy, a small hybrid SUV and a base model Pontiac Solstice. They took some trips to Vegas, a Cruise or two, bought their kids a decent used car in the 5K range and helped them out with some bills. Just slowly pissed it all away. Nothing to show for it. Whenever I hear "trip to Vegas" it sets off a red flag for me. I've been to Vegas. Yeah, there's lots of cool stuff besides gambling, but it's all very expensive and there is almost always something cheaper closer to where people live. Most major American cities have entertainers coming through on a regular basis. If you're going to Vegas for the gambling, then you should probably be in fantastic financial shape.
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Aug 20, 2013 23:45
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Just met a guy who applied for an apartment. I checked his credit history and there is no way he can afford this place, as he makes less than $30k a year and has other obligations on his credit report. For example, I saw his multiple late car payments, probably for the shiny Lexus SUV he rolled up in. I make multiple times what this guy does, but I still drive a 2006 Accord with a scratched up front bumper. To be blunt, I come from a privileged background, and it never once occurred to me to do anything with my money other than invest it. I treat myself to nice things, but the people who spend money to let others know they have it, are always the ones with the worst credit reports.
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Aug 28, 2013 17:35
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canyoneer posted:I had a family member accuse me of being vain and stupid for renting and apartment in "a complex for people who want to pretend to be rich." I rented the tiniest 1 bedroom apartment in a nice complex in a very safe part of town. For what I was spending, I could have gotten another 400 square feet in a crappy part of town. I had a friend that did just that, and had his car windows smashed in three times in a year and had terrible neighbors. I see this poo poo all the time as well in real estate. Landlords want to pinch pennies all over the place. It's like changing the oil in your car. You can save $30 every three months by not doing it! That's like $120 a year! I had a building inspected for a buyer which had a leak in the basement. The owner knew about it but didn't want to pay $600 to have it fixed. It leaked all over the basement joists (they are the wood beams that hold up floors), which started to sag. This was right under the stairwell, so the stairs are all lopsided going four floors up. Nobody is buying the property because it's way overpriced, considering all the work that needs to be done to fix the structural damage. I'm thinking maybe $25k to get the stairs done if you can just jack them up from the basement and add lolly columns. If not, maybe $150k. edit: Also, your tenants won't be able to get to their apartments if the stairs need to be completely redone. Reminded me, I just went to a building today where the owner is too cheap to put in a temperature controller on his radiator system. The Jamaican man living on the top floor (and the other tenants) told me it's boiling hot in the winter, too hot to sleep he told me. The owner of this building is saving a one-time cost of less than $1k, and probably spending an extra $2-3k annually on heating oil. particle409 fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Aug 28, 2013 |
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Aug 28, 2013 23:50
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Saw my cousin yesterday, he's in his 40's. He's living with my grandmother at the moment. He got evicted from his rent-stabilized NYC apartment for non-payment of rent. He basically forgot to renew his lease, which you're allowed to by rent stabilization law, and the landlord has to accept it. They can only jack up your rent around 4% (changes every year by committee) if you renew your lease. If you move out though, the landlord can charge the new tenant fair market rent. After forgetting to renew his lease, the landlord just stopped accepting his rent and started eviction proceedings. My cousin didn't even wonder why his rent wasn't being taken out of his account like normal. He went out of town, came back to an eviction notice, and the landlord was able to change the rent from $1400 a month to $3000 a month. Can't say I blame the landlord.
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Aug 31, 2013 02:06
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FYI, on the other side of the coin, Netflix just added "Extreme Cheapskates" to streaming. It's one of those TLC reality shows like hoarder, so I can't wait to dive in and see what hot messes they have.
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Nov 5, 2013 23:26
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I had tenants move out for non-payment of rent. The garage was full of rent-to-own furniture they couldn't fit into the 3 bedroom unit. Shoes! They had a ton of shoes they just left, so I assume they took quite a few as well. I started piling the shoe boxes onto a dresser, then got bored with it. Some of these are empty, but some are not. Brand name expensive sneakers ($100+), a couple of high end dress shoe brands, Steve Madden, etc. This is a common theme I find. I deal with a lot of low-income housing, and invariably, the people who can't pay rent always spend $1000+ a year on sneakers. 
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Oct 19, 2014 01:14
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fruition posted:Hey man, maybe their frivolous spending isn't the problem, it's the absurdly high rent you charge them. You joke, but he was getting a good bargain. $1400 a month for 3 bedrooms and a garage, which is an excellent rate in my area. I know where he moved, and he told me how much he's paying. $1500 for a 3 bedroom in a worse neighborhood, no garage parking. There was a shitload of auto care stuff in the garage, and he drove a nice Jeep, one of the new fancy ones. I hope he enjoys parking it on the street in a lovely neighborhood...
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Oct 20, 2014 05:27
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GanjamonII posted:You can join a group where you pay a fixed monthly fee, and get a certain amount of use out of the boat. The price depends, where I'm at its from ~300 to get a share in a small powerboat up to several hundred or probably even thousands for a larger boat. I haven't really looked into it too much but they definitely exist. There's also instances on craigslist of people selling a share of a boat they already own which may be another way to do it too. Awesome, I was looking for the financial burden of a timeshare and a boat rolled into one. Maybe I can pay for it with a student loan.
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Oct 24, 2014 07:18
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