I was told a story this past weekend about someone's neighbor who had to sell their house. He found out he was not getting a bonus this year due to economic conditions. Apparently, they overextended themselves on the house and figured they could afford it by using his bonus to make the property tax payments.  |
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I personally know one couple who has brand new high end cars and lives in an $800k house that lost it all. Paycheck to paycheck life is real. Myself, I have been making $6k weekly on the stock market while unemployed from C19. Thinking about going harder and not working anymore 
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My wife's siblings are like that: One has had 1 bankruptcy, lost their home and ended up having to move in to a rental property her dad has. They recovered after a few years and bought a modestly priced home. We thought they were doing ok since my BIL got a decent paying job at the State and my SIL had a work from home gig. That said there's still some red flags, like $10K on a water softener system for the home, a new Harley Sportster for him to putt around on, a new car for her and presumably still working on a truck payment to boot. Meanwhile she stresses about not getting enough hours with her job. Sibling #2 (BIL) and wife each had a bankruptcy under their belt before getting married. They also have one while married and appear to be working on number two as a couple. Huge mortgage on a newer home, wife drives a one or two year old vehicle, he just went out and bought a new Super Duty, already have a $20K side by side and they're presumably shopping for a toy hauler/5th wheel trailer. Just spent $15k getting the landscaping done at the house. He works as an HVAC contractor and she works for a local construction company in the office. At this point they'll probably both be working until they're in their 70's. Sibling #3 isn't married, has a modest townhome and is a registered nurse making good money, plus overtime. She is constantly asking for my wife to transfer money out their mom's trust to float her along. Meanwhile my wife is the complete opposite from her siblings. It's pretty crazy. We have zero vehicle debt, zero credit card debt, just a mortgage that we're current refinancing down to a 15 year with the goal of having it paid off in 10 or less. Until recently we easily made the least money out of all of the kids, but my wife has been a stay at home mom to our 3 kids for the past 2.5 years. Now it's looking like this year I'll make more money on my own than our best year when we were both working. |
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Quoted: Do I win the top prize? My stupid ass father. 1. Cessna Turbo 210 (bought new) 2. Pitts Acrobatic Airplace (bought new) 3. Grumman Tiger 4. Winnebago Motorhome 5. GMC Motorhome 6. 11 Harleys at the same time (paid over list for each one from Stubb's or Mancuso Harley) 7. $120,000 home entertainment system (Martin Logan, Mark Levinson, Krell) + $80,000 home entertainment system (previous system that he only used for 2 years before tossing it in the storage room McIntosh) 8. 15 Rolexes (President's, Daytona, Submariner, Miligauze, etc.) 9. Bought over 50 vehicles in his lifetime (practically gave them away when he got tired of them, bought all at list price from Timmers Chevrolet aka Monument Chevrolet). 10. LGB Trains (bought every fucking item made, cost more than some of your houses) 11. 8 ATVs (the good shit) 12. Wellcraft Scarab 33 footer Boat 13. Some sort of expensive bass boat. 14. Bought 3 of the most expensive front loader washing machines, 3 most expensive front dryers, 2 dishwashers (for someone that lives by himself) 15. Bought every single tool ever made from Snap On, Mac (high end tools that he never used ever). He blew away 5 million dollars worth of property (that my grandfather left him) in order to show that he was better than you. Funny is that I am supporting his worthless ass right now and he still had a spending problems. You win. At least the watches and tools still hold value over time. |
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Quoted: You win. At least the watches and tools still hold value over time. Forget to mention my idiot father bought a Corum Meteorite Watch cerca 1992-1994? time frame. Paid over $15,000 (I was not there, but a family friend was there at the jewelry dealer when he bought it). This is how much they are asking for that watch now. https://www.chrono24.com/corum/meteorite-18k-gold-limited-edition--id3551218.htm |
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Food manufacturer with about 150 employees. Father splits the company 50/50 between son and daughter and divides the customers equally. Son $900,000 operating capital (cash) Paid off building and land Trained employees. Proceeds to go on vacation every week. Never watching the company. Employees are getting tired of that crap and proceeds to steal from him blind while he is showing off on facebook all the toys he bought. Buys 5 brodozers, 2 Grady Whites, 1 Boston Whaler (the big fucker, not the small single outboard one), blah, blah, blah. Since he was spending more money than what he was taking in, he started to borrow from Frost Bank and kept his spending habits. Starting to bounce is payroll checks was he was still buying all the luxury items left and right. Bought a 5 million dollar house. Went broke. He owes me money. Daughter $900,000 operating capital (cash) Paid off building and land Bought her son 2 Boston Whalers (big fuckers since uncle has 1 Boston Whaler) Bought son 3 homes for his mistresses Bought son a massive house for his wife Went to Vegas every freaking weekend and bragged how much they spent on facebook (over $15,000 on weekend). Paid for daughter's entire little league baseball team to go to Italy after they won the championship. Too much crap to list Ran out of money, borrowed millions from Frost Bank to keep up lifestyle. Went broke. She owes me money too. Another idiot locally that I know who grandpa gave seed money to open a business. Moron bought a Lambo Moron bought a Ford Raptor Moron bought a Range Rover (the big one) Moron bought another Ford Raptor Moron bought another Lambo. Moron could not make payroll. Went to borrow money, but kept the lifestyle. Moron went out of business. Guy I would sit next to at a local Dem quarterly fundraising event. Always bragged every time showing me his newest Rolex purchase (last one was a $50,000 Daytona) Wore a 12 carat diamond ring. Showed off his latest Ferrari purchase. Bragged about spending $15,000 x2 for Super Bowel tickets, but chooses not to go, but go shopping instead. Buys 3 million dollar house. Blah Blah Blah. Recently was crying in the local foodie group about hoping people would go to his restaurant because times are tough, he needed the business to survive. Researched him out and found out he has over 6 9 million dollars in loans outstanding. No wonder he was crying online. Another guy I know who owns a restaurant who had a 5 million dollar house near the Galleria and drives a new G-Wagon every year. He always has to visit my business and brag how successful he is. All I have to show his light bill before the light company went after him. Attached File |
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Quoted: Food manufacturer with about 150 employees. Father splits the company 50/50 between son and daughter and divides the customers equally. Son $900,000 operating capital (cash) Paid off building and land Trained employees. Proceeds to go on vacation every week. Never watching the company. Employees are getting tired of that crap and proceeds to steal from him blind while he is showing off on facebook all the toys he bought. Buys 5 brodozers, 2 Grady Whites, 1 Boston Whaler (the big fucker, not the small single outboard one), blah, blah, blah. Since he was spending more money than what he was taking in, he started to borrow from Frost Bank and kept his spending habits. Starting to bounce is payroll checks was he was still buying all the luxury items left and right. Bought a 5 million dollar house. Went broke. He owes me money. Daughter $900,000 operating capital (cash) Paid off building and land Bought her son 2 Boston Whalers (big fuckers since uncle has 1 Boston Whaler) Bought son 3 homes for his mistresses Bought son a massive house for his wife Went to Vegas every freaking weekend and bragged how much they spent on facebook (over $15,000 on weekend). Paid for daughter's entire little league baseball team to go to Italy after they won the championship. Too much crap to list Ran out of money, borrowed millions from Frost Bank to keep up lifestyle. Went broke. She owes me money too. Another idiot locally that I know who grandpa gave seed money to open a business. Moron bought a Lambo Moron bought a Ford Raptor Moron bought a Range Rover (the big one) Moron bought another Ford Raptor Moron bought another Lambo. Moron could not make payroll. Went to borrow money, but kept the lifestyle. Moron went out of business. Guy I would sit next to at a local Dem quarterly fundraising event. Always bragged every time showing me his newest Rolex purchase (last one was a $50,000 Daytona) Wore a 12 carat diamond ring. Showed off his latest Ferrari purchase. Bragged about spending $15,000 x2 for Super Bowel tickets, but chooses not to go, but go shopping instead. Buys 3 million dollar house. Blah Blah Blah. Recently was crying in the local foodie group about hoping people would go to his restaurant because times are tough, he needed the business to survive. Researched him out and found out he has over 6 9 million dollars in loans outstanding. No wonder he was crying online. Another guy I know who owns a restaurant who had a 5 million dollar house near the Galleria and drives a new G-Wagon every year. He always has to visit my business and brag how successful he is. All I have to show his light bill before the light company went after him. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/13400/don_png-1434855.JPG A friend of mine owns a restaurant. A rare example of a gold mine in the restaurant business. Been around over 80 years, family owned and does beaucoup business in catering. Prior to his ownership it was owned by another branch of the family, two brothers who after inheriting it from their father proceeded to pilfer every last cent out of it to live Hollywood. Lambos, Hummers and BMWs all traded in upsidedown on equity every few months. They'd sit at the bar and drink top shelf hooch night and day. One of the bar tenders who was there at the time said it wasn't uncommon for them to go through $500-$1,000 worth of liquor a night between themselves and "buying" drinks for their friends. They took out lines of credit against the business to buy multiple homes, take expensive vacations, one spent over a million in fertility treatments so his wife could have a child. How did they fund it? By not paying their food and liquor distributors for months at a time. Not paying in employee witholdings for taxes or other garnishments like child support and not paying property taxes on the business in addition to underreporting their earnings. Their reign of terror lasted for two years before the IRS set up camp in their office. Both ended up in prison for multiple tax charges and their gold digging wives promptly left them. My buddy came in and bought the place for the back taxes and saved a nearly century old family business. As a final "fuck you" they passed out tens of thousands worth of bogus gift cards on their way out when they knew the gig was up. Last I heard one of them was working the drive thru at a Wendy's. It's not an uncommon tale in second or third generation family owned business. Spoiled brats are handed something they didn't build and bleed it dry in short time. One of the ex wives promptly married into another family of area restauranteurs. She has been given multiple restaurants to run in the years since and tanked everyone of them. All I can say is that she must suck a mean dick. |
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Quoted: Your 401k is untouchable to creditors. Except the IRS or divorce. It survives chapter 7. Also. In florida at least. So does your own home (homestead) yeah, until .gov says "ohhhhhhh we need more money, let's take all the 401k and IRA's and make them have "guaranteed retirement" and you'll fucking sit for it, they just proved it over the last 3 months. |
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Quoted: A friend of mine owns a restaurant. A rare example of a gold mine in the restaurant business. Been around over 80 years, family owned and does beaucoup business in catering. Prior to his ownership it was owned by another branch of the family, two brothers who after inheriting it from their father proceeded to pilfer every last cent out of it to live Hollywood. Lambos, Hummers and BMWs all traded in upsidedown on equity every few months. They'd sit at the bar and drink top shelf hooch night and day. One of the bar tenders who was there at the time said it wasn't uncommon for them to go through $500-$1,000 worth of liquor a night between themselves and "buying" drinks for their friends. They took out lines of credit against the business to buy multiple homes, take expensive vacations, one spent over a million in fertility treatments so his wife could have a child. How did they fund it? By not paying their food and liquor distributors for months at a time. Not paying in employee witholdings for taxes or other garnishments like child support and not paying property taxes on the business in addition to underreporting their earnings. Their reign of terror lasted for two years before the IRS set up camp in their office. Both ended up in prison for multiple tax charges and their gold digging wives promptly left them. My buddy came in and bought the place for the back taxes and saved a nearly century old family business. As a final "fuck you" they passed out tens of thousands worth of bogus gift cards on their way out when they knew the gig was up. Last I heard one of them was working the drive thru at a Wendy's. It's not an uncommon tale in second or third generation family owned business. Spoiled brats are handed something they didn't build and bleed it dry in short time. One of the ex wives promptly married into another family of area restauranteurs. She has been given multiple restaurants to run in the years since and tanked everyone of them. All I can say is that she must suck a mean dick. I haven't bothered to look, but I'm sure that happened with my grandfather's old business partner. I know when I was working there, his daughter's fiance was openly admitting on the job site (where he was working to get brownie points with Dad) that he was only marrying her for the money. His son was a druggie and bragging about how he was beating his dad's drug testing, all he cared about was drugs and surfing. |
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My college girlfriend's parents had brand new his and her Jaguars, an airplane, Three Mcmansions in two states, and at least one time share. They were constantly going on expensive vacations. The mom didn't work. They were in debt up to their eyeballs, and eventually he lost his middle management job to downsizing and the house of cards collapsed. They raided their kids college funds to drag out the inevitable. After losing almost everything, her dad decided to trade his Jag in on a brand new Audi. Some people never learn. Her spending habits were similar, and I'm glad I avoided the trainwreck her life eventually became. She was a demon in the sack though. |
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Quoted: My boss has a driver. Says it's a pain in the ass to park his f250. He actually looked to buy my Denali. I asked him why. Easier to park. He got a driver instead. Quoted: Quoted: That is luxury, totally worth it. It's the little things. My boss has a driver. Says it's a pain in the ass to park his f250. He actually looked to buy my Denali. I asked him why. Easier to park. He got a driver instead. I just like the idea of not breaking my workflow to steer a car. Back in middle school it was great chillin in the back of mom's suburban as she carted me around. 
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Quoted: I get that, but it is not the same when you have people to take care of everything. In many situations, money can buy your time back. If you have to do it yourself, sure, one would be wise to get rid of excess that causes more work. Again, if the math works out, one need not worry about the pool, yard, whatever. it simply gets taken care of. Quoted: Quoted: So much this. Took care of a 3800 sqft house alone for 3 years and it felt like being alone on a spaceship by the end, basically had 1 of three floors completely sealed off. Stuff was constantly breaking, mold started in the basement (who has a basement, in the south, on a house built on a hillside?), drainage problems, not to mention all the yard work. No thanks, a small house on some land with a large shed/garage will do just fine  I get that, but it is not the same when you have people to take care of everything. In many situations, money can buy your time back. If you have to do it yourself, sure, one would be wise to get rid of excess that causes more work. Again, if the math works out, one need not worry about the pool, yard, whatever. it simply gets taken care of. I have my audiobooks for drudgery type work. Even road cycling can be in this category. Just this afternoon, 10% of my brain was doing zero value work while the rest was enjoying "The Rational Optimist" and then "Economic Facts and Fallacies" by Sowell. What was just as entertaining as the content was marking all the stuff that was already referenced on this site. Pretty much the whole book. |
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Quoted: I have my audiobooks for drudgery type work. Even road cycling can be in this category. Just this afternoon, 10% of my brain was doing zero value work while the rest was enjoying "The Rational Optimist" and then "Economic Facts and Fallacies" by Sowell. What was just as entertaining as the content was marking all the stuff that was already referenced on this site. Pretty much the whole book. I would rather thow money at things I dont want to do than figure out how to get through doing it myself. |
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Exwife before we were married. Managed to buy a 20k USED carolla that had 2 accidents on it for 20k. Entry level Model so msrp NEW was only 14k. But she did get snow tires for an extra 1k thrown in. At...24% interest. That is 5k a year in just interest, then the credit cards ok yeah 28k on them that she neglected to mention when I point blank asked “I wanna get married and start a family do you have any outstanding Debits to mention”” just the car and a tiny credit card” I didn’t think she was dumb enough to finance a car for 6 years but she did. About 6 months after we were married I asked why her car wasn’t paid and I got the loan statement. Had a melt down, got mad and I picked an argument, got the previously hidden credit card bills too at that point. 40k debt at 24% interest. 20k student loans at only 7%. I was making 12.50 an hour, she was making 15. I ended up picking up over 20 hours of OT a week for a year. Paid most of it off by taking all household bills on, and paying on those debts too. She started cheating and divorce happened. Apparently she bought a new car. |
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No big story, but the gaudy, ugly-ass brutalist wanna be home that is abusing the lot I wished I had a house on is under foreclosure. Bank has it listed for 1.6 mil about 800k is probably lame value. But, nobody is going to want to buy that monstrosity. The guy who built it must have run out of money and quick. |