Talking about social mobility, we usually hear examples of industrial workers who become wealthy businessmen, not the other way around. But just because you climbed up the ladder (or were born way higher than most), doesn't mean you will stay there. So we at Bored Panda thought it would be interesting to hear from those who fell down.
After searching the internet far and wide, we put together a list of confessions from formerly rich folks—even millionaires—where they explain how they or, in some cases, their loved ones, lost their money. From trusting the wrong people to gambling, continue scrolling to read the anonymous stories.
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Making payroll during a pandemic has put a dent in my net worth. Haven't laid off a single employee or cut benefits.
First husband. Was making a million a year. He was enjoying life- spending frivolously, but bringing in enough that it didn’t matter. We divorced, but amicably (no alimony, no ‘child support’, he just paid for whatever the kids needed. Then he got leukemia. He fought like hell for three years. The last two years were very expensive. It was worth it. Money won’t make you happy, but the lack of it can destroy you. The kids and I can take comfort in knowing that truly, there was nothing else possible. His millions bought his kids two more years of dad. And I’m glad for him that he enjoyed his life while he could.
Friend of mine is a direct decedent of a super rich Spanish noble from Madrid. Essentially, this guy made so much money, nobody in the family needed to work for over a century. But because nobody worked, there was no money added to the family fortune, and it slowly dwindled away. His dad got the last of it and used it to get a degree from a good university and is doing really well for himself.
My dad is an Ex-millionaire.
He's a f*****g wizard at starting successful businesses...
His problem is he can't *let them go*. He's the boss/owner who never hires a manager that's not family because he just doesn't trust anyone else to run it.
He drove 3, million dollar companies into the ground because he couldn't keep up with his own success, and refused to hire people to do it for him.
Not me, my mom.
My grandfather died and left everything to my mom.
My father died and left everything to my mom.
Mom always thought she was a smart gambler that would win - and as proof she won something like $25,000 in the lottery once and went out and bought a car. That just got her hooked... good.
When dad was alive, he didn't let her gamble - he kept it under control.
After dad died, mom found a boyfriend. A former bookie who was a professional gambler. They used to like going to the Indian casinos where they subsequently squandered every single penny and more as my sister told me that mom, after selling the big house for another half million bucks and buying a small little condo - has now taken out a home improvement loan against the condo for $50,000.00 - no improvements were ever made.
Casinos and lottery tickets. A cool million or two gone.
Gambling is an addiction and illness. That these people can’t stop, and don’t see that they can’t stop is so sad.
Compulsive disorder ... nothing more ... nothing less ... don't disrespect those that are actually suffering from a chemical imbalance or disease ...
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i quit the casino industry because it's too sad. I was a dealer and pit boss. People throwing their lives and futures away. spending their time locked in a smoky cavern away from their families...ugh god it was awful. And we, too, the workers, there's two kinds: the abstainers and the addicts. I was an abstainer. I met my husband in my casino; he was a player. Today marks 20 years we've been together. He hasn't played in 19 years, when i left the biz for good. We are far happier and wealthier for it.
I worked at a casino for one year. It was awful watching people win thousands, then turning around and losing it all. Going to the ATM to get more and more and more. I couldn't take it, I was a single mom, barely getting by and people were just throwing money away.
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There was a guy in CA, won $100k from the lottery. Put it in a college fund for the kid. But that win did something to him. He kept buying lottery tickets and doing other gambling. Dipped into the college fund without his wife’s knowledge. Went through it all and kept gambling. Lost the house, car and more, including the wife.
My mom won $100,000 on a scratch ticket (~$70,000 after taxes). She did pay off her credit cards right away. Then after she got another $15,000 back from taxes and had about $30,000 left. Instead of buying a car outright to replace her fairly old one, she leased a car. Then proceeded to chase a bigger win, maxing out her credit cards again after spending all the money on more scratch tickets, filed bankruptcy 6 months later, and the car got repossessed. Her big win wasn't life changing money by any means but could have given her a fresh start without debt (other than housing).
Ill never understand why people gamble. I get there’s a thrill if you win but at some point if I loose more then 20$ I call it a sign to stop and leave. Your giving money away at that point because if you were gonna win you would of with the 20$. 🤷🏼♀️
That’s why it’s an illness. It takes over one’s mind.
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I have to keep myself in check cos I know I, not only get hooked on one game, if I don't win I get bitter and irritated. Used to play Kinsman Jackpot Bingo every Saturday. Just bought a book of 6 sheets and watched the numbers pulled out. Then the caller, midway, would start slowing down, calling out last week's winners, and I would just be like "STOP YOUR YAPPING AND GET TO THE NEXT BALL, DAMMIT." at the TV. I stopped when my daughter was getting concerned. I never put a financial strain over it, but the emotional toll it was having on that bit of time was enough.
Your father knew exactly what she would do without him keeping control on her and making sure she didn't gamble, but still left everything to her instead of you to make sure you'd be able to afford a home and good education?! That's honestly one of the stupidest things I've read
That's so sad. It sounds like your father knew this and could have taken steps to avoid it.
I am Mrs. Lauren Cruz from Los Angeles, I want to testify about Georg Bednorz Hacker blank atm cards which can withdraw money from any atm machine around the world. I was very poor before and have no job. I saw so many testimonies about how Georg Bednorz hackers send them the atm blank card and use it to collect money in any atm machine and become rich. I email them also and paid the charges and delivery cost, I was a bit scared that I won't get the card and my money won't be refunded back to me, to my greatest surprise, the ATM Card was sent to me, I have used it to get 25,000 dollars already, the maximum daily limit of the ATM Card is 5,000 dollars. Georg Bednorz Hacker is giving out the card just to help the poor. Hack and take money directly from any atm machine vault with the use of an atm programmed card which runs in automatic mode. Contact them via WhatsApp via +1 (262) 355-8285 Email: georgbednorzhackers@gmail.com
Read an article where they interviewed people several years after winning a large amount in a lottery. For most it did not improve their lives, several were worse off because of it. A common thread was that they were unprepared for so much money and had no idea how to manage it or themselves (or "long lost" cousins)
You don’t win at Indian Casino’s. They want the white mans money for all the dirty things done to them in the past and I don’t blame them.
i worked at a casino run by a Pueblo. the truth is far more nuanced than that. The locals, INCLUDING those in the Pueblo, are simultaneously harmed by the addiction that casinos bring, the net drain to wealth in the area, and paradoxically benefit from its employment. The addiction and wealth drain are the overarching stains, though. 😟
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My dad, not me. He made some really shrewd stock market investments after he retired. They were options on an oil refiner at a time when the USA had a real shortage of them. My dad had done a lot of research on this and studied the situation carefully. He got rich to the tune of maybe $2 million. He could have been set for life. My dad was already a really smart guy. He has a PhD in mathematics and was a highly respected big-brain professional all the way back into the 1960s. However, he thought this took him to the next level. He bought a lot of newer options in the same company. I suggested to him that he diversify, put a bunch of money into something closer to an annuity or another conservative investment that would give him plenty of income forever. I told him if he did that, he would always be rich. Well, he is pretty far from that now. I haven't said a thing about that to him since he lost everything. I did what I could, at the time, to save him from himself. But who was I? It pains me to see how it played out for him. He did a lot of things right in life. He deserved better, but there's no "deserve" in securities investing. Morals of this story:
1. You aren't an investment genius after your first blockbuster win. You need a track record.
2. Diversify.
I have a relative who is a self made millionaire many times over. He was the hardest working person I've ever known. As soon as he graduated from high school he got his real estate license and became a successful realtor. Within 30 years he opened a successful construction company, a store that sold kitchen cabinets, and owned over 20 rental properties. This wasn't enough form him and he started renting out his properties to people that would pay him more to grow pot in. His granite company was used to ship the pot across state lines and now he's sitting in jail facing a minimum of 10 years. The government is coming after all his rentals and money.
Edit: I should add he shipped the pot to 9 different states (7 of which weed is still illegal) using usps.
You can read more about the case here https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/eleven-indicted-illegal-marijuana-trafficking-investigation
Marijuana shouldn't be illegal. Alcohol is a far more dangerous drug, with a much higher cost to society. The war on drugs never worked, doesn't work now, and will never work.
My grandfather was a thrifty man. Always was a DIY guy, hated hiring contract workers (except for my father, whom he introduced to my mother), and worked for nearly 40 years at our local GM plant.
His savings, myriad cash deposits, and investments over the years netted him a net worth of about 2 or 3 million. After *walking off the job* at GM after a scuffle with the plant management, he went into business for himself and became a landscaper and evergreen farmer at 64 years old, earning government contracts with county and local agencies, which netted him another sizable chunk of money.
His sister's husband did the same thing essentially, and this is where my aunt comes in, we will call her Karen. Karen worms her way into my great aunt's life and as my great aunt approached her 80's started becoming more frail, and Karen "took care of her" which means she had my great aunt sign over power of attorney and immediately signs everything over to herself. Brand new house, all three cars, RV, everything. Consigns my great aunt to a convalescent home where she died, the will having been officially amended to award everything not already taken by Karen to Karen.
My other great aunt died suddenly and left my mother as her executor of her modest will, which was basically the stuff in her house, as she was in the process of selling the house. I was very young, but I remember Mom loading me and my two brothers into the car and flying down the highway to beat Karen to the house before "anything turned up missing." We were successful and Mom got to inventory and disperse everything properly. We ended up with, of all things, her turn-of-the-century pasta crank and her big box of recipes.
Grandpa by this point had developed cancer, and slowed down his business. Now 75 years old, he had a nice, modest house on a nice chunk of *extremely* valuable land thanks to the explosive development there. Mom takes time off work to help Grandma care for him, until he too passes away, leaving everything to Grandma. At this point, we move into Grandma's house to help her around the house and to help her close and liquidate the business assets. After about a year, Karen worms her way in like a tick and things start disappearing, like...farm equipment, and other things. Her daughter's husband also had gone into the storage barn and "trashed out" a lot of family heirlooms (which also was where we kept a lot of our furniture from *our* home) which all ended up in a fire pit behind the barn. It wasn't long after this that Karen convinced Grandma to let her "handle" her finances and Karen evicts us. Within two years, they sold the family home and land, liquidated all of Grandpa's stocks and bonds, and fled to Florida. Karen had once again gained power of attorney and legally stole all of Grandma's remaining assets. Grandma died ignomiously when she was given an insulin shot 20 times her supposed dose, and she went into DKA and died slowly and horribly in brain death.
Out of an estimated 4 million dollar inheritance, Mom and her two sisters were given an "equal" inheritance of twelve thousand dollars. Karen kept the house, the cars, and ended up burning through everything. Obviously this ended up shattering the family, and now none of us speak to the other.
Edit: 9 years and just got my first award! Thank you! You're too kind!
Sounds like she stole property and took advantage of an elderly person. Why not just sue her, I don’t think what she did was legal.
Not me, but my parents.
Both smart people, went to the best universities, graduated with BAs and Masters in Architecture. Went on to design very high end apartments and homes all over Queensland (Australia) - saved up enough to open a Michelin style restaurant on the water. It was a hit, they became incredibly wealthy and this is where money started to take a toll on them. They went all out.
Bought two penthouses in the same building and combined them into one.
Owned and managed multiple high end apartments all over the city
Bought multiple sports cars and even a yacht
Took my sister and I travelling all around the world.
My life growing up was literally a model's instagram page. But then one day a flood came, the restaurant went completely underwater and destroyed close to a million dollars worth of wine and not to mention the write off on the kitchen. They were ruined. They had to sell everything just to cover the cost of the restaurant.
They now live in a small apartment and are both still working over 70 to pay off all the loans they still owe.
Word of warning, if you come into possession of a large sum of money, don't be stupid.
I work in finance and my team and I work with all very affluent clients. I’ve seen so many millionaires lose it all not from investing in the markets, but from: Taxes, Lifestyle and poor business decisions.
Once had a client who was making 50k a month, but was spending 60k a month and perpetually dipping into his investments. There were months where payments bounced because he was living a lifestyle and always wanted more.
My favorite investment advice: Same car, same house, same spouse
I guess I’ve spent too much of my life struggling and continually knocked back financially to imagine spending an average person’s yearly salary (still more than I make now) every single month. I’d be constantly stressed, and convinced that my having that kind of money was a fluke, a mistake, and that I’d wake up from the dream to find it being taken away from me and the bill for the entire lot being put in my hands. So, I’d be squirreling away as much of it as I could. Hiding hundred dollar bills in books and couch cushions, stuffing the mattress with cash, converting as much as possible to gold and hiding it somewhere. Finding a reputable broker and turning it into more money, thinking any money I earned with it would be mine and couldn’t be taken away. Because, unfortunately, any windfall I’ve received has had a catch to it, or been in error and was taken away, or ended up going entirely toward bills or other necessary expenses, with nothing left behind for fun.
My dad had over 20 million dollars in a business with 12 locations and 3 more opening on the way. An employee who was caught selling drugs fabricated an elaborate story that he got the drugs from my dad's company, and that the whole company was a front for the mexican cartels. My dad spent a lot of time in Mexico back in the day and had a criminal record, so that was enough for the DEA to raid him on this story. They stole all the computers, terrorized the employees, and raided every one of the locations on the same day with over 300 swat, including a raid on his own home (he wasn't there, just his young children--they're traumatized by it).
They found nothing. Absolutely nothing. All papers in order. No indictments came, no case. Regardless, most of the employees and management quit due to the investigation. He had to close most locations and sell after less than a year at a huge loss just to pay for the lawyers to defend his case.
The worst part is that they won't admit they've found nothing. The DA spent millions on this raid. So--they've left the case open indefinitely, making it impossible for him to work in his field. His lawyers said the prosecution has privately asked him (seriously), to find something wrong that he can plea to so they can save face. He won't lie, so they won't close the case.
The government took my dad's life's work, his savings, and ruined hundreds of other's lives--and we have zero recourse.
I don't know if this fits, but my ex had a friend who inherited a million dollars in cash and near-cash assets when his only parent died and he was 20 years old. Now, you aren't just going to retire at 20 on a million bucks but it's a great way to pay for college, maybe buy a car and a down payment on a house, and save/invest the rest. Basically, it's a really good way to start your adult life and nearly ensure you'll be quite wealthy in your later years.
Did he do any of that? Nope. Bought himself a ridiculous luxury car, bought cars for his friends, bought wardrobes of designer clothes, threw huge parties repeatedly, etc. Ended up broke in two or three years and went back to waiting tables to make rent. Sad to see.
Not me (technically), but my grandma.
So a little backstory. My great grandparents owned a luxury fur coat business and made an absolute shitload of money. When my grandma and her brother, my great uncle, had moved out from their parents' house, they were given a sizeable amount of money (not millions, but far more than the average person might get in such a situation) to fund their adulthood.
Great uncle ended up opening two businesses using this money - a gas station and a used car lot. He made pretty good money running these two businesses. We'll get back to him a little bit later in the story.
Grandma however took this money that was given to her and blew a lot of it on fancy clothes, vacations, etc. She then got married to my grandpa and had three kids, and then he ended up cheating on her and took a bunch of her remaining money in the divorce.
Meanwhile, great uncle was furthering his business ventures, opening a payphone business, helicopter tours, and all kinds of other s**t. He was rolling in money at this point.
Some time later, my great grandparents died, within months of each other. They then split their inheritance two ways - 1/3 of it going to my great uncle, and 2/3 going to my grandma. The argument was that he was a wealthy bachelor with no kids, and she was struggling to get by with a secretary job while raising three kids by herself.
This ticked off my great uncle quite a bit, since he knew what she had done with her previous huge handout. He was mad about the inheritance not being 50/50, but not something that he'd quit talking to my grandma over. Not yet, anyway...
So, what do you think my grandma did with her huge windfall of money? Did she open a business? No. Did she invest it in some way? Nah. Did she do absolutely anything productive whatsoever? Of f*****g course not.
The first thing she did was buy a great big house in a nice neighborhood. Actually, no wait, that was the *second* thing she did. The *first* thing she did was *quit her job*.
Then, she bought a luxury car. Then came luxury clothes for my mom, aunt and uncle. Then she hired a full-time live-in maid. Then came the vacations to all the hottest vacation spots of the day. Gourmet meals every day. All the toys and gadgets that they could possibly want. You name it, she bought it.
So it should come as no surprise that she burned through the *entire inheritance* in less than a year.
Two-thirds of the money that her parents had worked their whole lives for, more money than anyone should reasonably ever be able to spend, she blew through in under 12 months. But she kept spending, driving herself into debt. They lost the house, lost the luxury car, and even had to sell all their fancy clothes and toys, just to pay the enormous debt she had gained.
And then she came to my great uncle's office and asked him for money.
She was promptly thrown out by security, and was told that he would never speak with her again. And he never did.
Imagine my surprise when I grew up in what was basically the borderline of total poverty, and my family tells me that they used to be filthy stinkin' rich.
Because of what my grandma did, my great uncle more-or-less cut off contact with her side of the family for YEARS. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I ever met the man. I think later on in his life, he felt bad about punishing the rest of the family when all of the fault lied on my grandma, and he started to talk with us every so often... but we knew to never ask him for anything, even though we were all struggling.
When my grandma was on her death bed, she begged for us to have my great uncle come to the hospital so she could apologize to him. When told about this, his response was basically "I don't give a f**k."
And then, in an almost ironic twist, he married an obvious gold digger, 30ish years his junior, who had already survived two other dead old rich guys. And then when he died, she got everything, disconnected their phone line, and disappeared like a f*****g bandit. His actual family got nothing.
**tl;dr: Great grandparents were rich. Great uncle becomes a successful businessman. Grandma blows every last penny of their inheritance in record time. Great uncle cuts off contact with her after she begs him for money. She dies alone. He dies and has his entire inheritance taken by his goldigging wife. I'm still poor.**
Hypothetical millionaire.
I bought $100 worth of bitcoin when they were about $1 each. I sold them when they were about $2.50 each and was so happy I made money from "internet coins".
As of the moment I am typing this those coins would be worth $1,855,000.
in march 2020 one couple i my country sold their apartment for about 70 grands and bought bitcoins. Then botcoin price fell down dramaticly. And they panicked and sold bitcoins. at the lowest point probably. At that period of time even taxi drivers was talking about bitcoins. And there is a life hack: if a taxi driver start talking about investments - time to get out of the market ASAP :)
The Somali Civil war. My grandfather had a manufacturing company, but the war ruined it. My family used our last half-million to get our relatives out of the country.
I have never been rich but my family was well above average when i was a kid. My father was a mechanic and in 1981 he bought a car repair shop that made us money pretty well.
Then in 1992 the Bosnian war started and our hometown of Sarajevo was put under a siege that lasted until 1996.
In 1994 we were able to escape the city and move into a refugee camp. When the war ended we returned to Sarajevo and my fathers car repair shop as well as our home were in total ruins after all the artillery and mortar fire.
We were able to get a new home fairly quickly with the help of some of our relatives but we never got the car repair shop fixed. It was in so bad condition we just demolished it after we had sold all found scrap metal and usable tools.
My wifes Aunt used to be rich. Was married to a brain surgeon who was also on the board of directors for all the local hospitals so pulling down two checks. She was a platinum member of a local casino and would send us and other family members coupons for all inclusive weekend visits to the casino. You literally did not need to bring any money for anything. All food, drink, gratuity, ect was all taken care of. Anyway her husband had his medical license revoked for writing too many scripts for pain killers to her and other people and they both now live in Mexico somewhere.
Not me alone but my family: Both parents got serious illnesses. About $2 million gone in 5 years. I went from really never thinking much about money to everything being gone, wondering how to run up all of my parents debts as far as possible to keep a roof over their head before having them declare bankruptcy.
The American myth: From dishwasher to millionaire. The American reality: From millionaire to homless due to cancer.
I watched a guy at a casino somehow get a loan against his house, about 200k and lose it. He looked suicidal. Apparently he was already in almost 50k and thought he could win it back. I got hired there, and I would leave on Friday and Return monday, and see the same people in the same clothes, who pissed and s**t themselves and were still sitting at the blackjack table gambling.
Not me but my great grandfather started a candy company that serviced most of the Wyoming Valley in PA. My grandfather (his son) sold the company for upwards of 100 million. My mother and I are unsure of the full amount. He used the money to buy some land down in Florida, franchised a few radio shacks, and bought a lot of cars. During this time he divorced my grandmother and married another woman with Children. Towards the end of his life, he reconnected with my mother and met me, but then developed brain cancer. He decided to cut his wife out of his will and give all of his money (still around 10 million) to my mother and her brother. Because he was bed ridden he had to have his lawyer email and print out the new will which he would sign and mail out to the lawyer. But he asked his wife (that he was screwing over) to mail the new will, but for some reason it got “lost”. He died a few days later with my mother unaware the will change hadn’t gone through. She paid for the funeral only to learn afterwards from her lawyer that the will was never changed. She went to confront her stepmother only to find out that she and her sons had already flown to Florida, taken the money and moved. She tried for a few years to sue, but due to state laws and lack of written evidence couldn’t get the suit off the ground. And that’s how my mother lost a multi-million dollar inheritance and got stuck with a $50,000 funeral bill
Covid. Built a business that was given a valuation of a few million back in January, but the industry is now down 80% and I'm doing all I can to avoid bankruptcy.
Not a millionaire, but at 19 I had accumulated about $170,000 USD through hard work and determination, as well as a big ol' stroke of luck regarding the kindest employer I've ever worked for.
After seeing all that money, I made a series of frivolous financial decisions, and one good one which has been my saving grace through covid. I bought a car, in cash, paid for 6 months of a townhouse rental in cash, and proceeded to smoke weed and get caught doing it, multiple times, in a state where it isn't legal to do so.
Most of my money went to treatment classes, drug testing, court fees and fines, and two lawyers. I'd say smoking pot in a conservative state has cost me roughly $50,000 (That's counting the cost of the pot) and the rest went towards a Roth IRA, two cars, three motorcycles, and three hospital visits. I'd been fortunate enough to recoup some of what was lost through a great employment opportunity, which, unfortunately, didn't last due to covid. I was laid off and didn't work there long enough to qualify for unemployment or severance and so I was stuck dipping into my savings to feed my family. While I was working for my last employer I decided to take a loan out for my dream car, and two weeks later I was laid off, so a good bulk of my IRA has been going to that and I'm now being forced to sell it or give it up for repossession. Luckily I've paid enough on it, with help from my family, to be able to sell it for more than what my loan is, so I'm not exactly screwed, but next month is likely going to be filled with lots of fasting and ketchup sandwiches. Anymore of what I take from my IRA would be heavily penalized since I've used up the initial capital investment so that's no longer an option.
It's amazing how quickly a dumb kid can go from saving so well and not really understanding what I was doing, to blowing it all realizing I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted with the money I'd earned. It took some years to get there, and it's taken some years to get back to a rational mind, as well as some dumb financial decisions, but I'm finally able to say that every dime of what I earn is going to be saved, and I no longer do illegal drugs so there's no chance of me getting slapped with fines and court fees anymore. However, I am aware that the job I had in gaining my initial accumulation of funds is a one-in-a-million chance which I blew, and it's really hard to settle for anything less than what I've earned before. It's really quite soul-sucking to see people offering $10/hr or $15/hr like it's some blessing bestowed upon the poor people in this country, knowing just how easily they could offer more. That's something I'd like to see change, everybody deserves the opportunity to earn more than the bare minimum to survive and from my perspective, not everybody gets that chance. I'd say not even half the population of this country gets that chance.
Well, I see a lot of stories here, but here's one that's a bit different. We moved from the USA to Lebanon after college in order to be with my husband's family, they were close. Surprise, his parents died before we could get there, his dad a few months before we left and his mom unfortunately passed away during our flight and was buried a few hours before we arrived. This was not a good omen. However, we had moved every last possession with us and were determined to stay nevertheless.
After 30 years and close to retirement, we had several houses, apartments, good jobs with benefits and ample pensions. It had been a tough road and we had really starved at first. Now, we were looking forward to living where we wanted, whether in the USA or Lebanon, and living off of a modest retirement income.
All that was wiped away due to the current economic disaster in the country, worsened by covid but mainly due to financial mismanagement of the country and corruption on a grand scale pretty much unparalleled in modern history.
Everyone in Lebanon wants to emigrate now. There are no renters with money to inhabit our apartments. The lira is worthless, and our pensions are worth almost nothing. We could have spent those years in the US building up 401ks and buying a home.
Not me but my grandma. She started a shoe company, it became one of the biggest retails in the south part of the country. Then as her retiring days got here she passed it on to her kids who ran it to the ground. She came out of retirement and within a year she she got out of debt and made it profitable again then went back to retirement. They ran it back to the ground and even put a morgage on her house. She let it fall and the company no longer exist. She saved her house with her saving and she lived a comfortable retirement from money on properties she onwed.
My parents had built up a multi million dollar company over a couple decades before and during my early childhood. Around 2006 they separated and ran each other dry in court. Then the crash came and bankrupted both of them and lost everything they put years into. Unknowingly recently after my mother’s parents passed away she was able to take a portion of an investment account that built millions from her fathers stock from working in the railroad industry. My father rebuilt his business from scratch repaired his credit and has grown it bigger than it ever was before. By the age of 21 I’ve witnessed my life go from rich to broke to wealthy. I am in a great position in life now for my age but work,plan,live and learn like everything could be again gone in the blink of an eye.
My cousin was a big rapper in the 90s, when I say his name you probably know him or heard his music. It is still used today in the USA.
Anyway he became a millionaire really fast at 20 something years old after being a dishwasher.
His manager made him sign bad contracts and almost all of the money after a year or two went to his manager and accountant.
He is still doing okay producing some music in Los Angeles but not a millionaire anymore.
All actors, musicians, entertainers need to have some financial literacy! Don't let managers live a parasitic high life (I'm looking at you, Jamie Spears).
Having children.
I feel like there should be more to this story, like was an inheritance squandered? Did the children steal the money? I need more info before I can pass judgment
it wasn’t me, it was an ex-girlfriend and her family. her dad was a war artifact/art collector and salesman. the kind of job where one sale = $5,000-$100,000. that kind of quick money made him believe he could live rich. so he lived in a big house, had another big house in a different state, a timeshare on an island, he would swap out for the newest Cadillac Escalade every two years. he managed to run life like this, getting into a habit of really bad spending choices, for 20 or so years until it was revealed to everyone he was subsidizing all of it with credit and wasn’t making nearly as much money as he used to or claimed. that was when the IRS and the banks came knocking. he had held onto some artifacts and art and was able to sell those piece by piece to slow down and lessen the blow, but it was an undeniable downward spiral and he ended up declaring bankruptcy. private artifact collectors and art collections just aren’t as hot as they used to be so he’d have to settle on low prices for all the sales. now he frequently moves around in a different state to keep the IRS and banks off his tail, and my ex is just about the only person who has stuck by him through this but there’s only so much she can do.
“‘My other piece of advice, Copperfield,' said Mr. Micawber, 'you know. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of day goes down upon the dreary scene, and - and in short you are for ever floored. As I am!'” —- Mr Micawber, Chapter 12, “David Copperfield”, by Charles Dickens
Divorce.
I was a millionaire, got divorced which nearly sent me to insolvency, buckled down and worked my butt off and am re-millionaired.
Guys, don't underestimate the pernicious impact on net worth a bad divorce can have.
Well, depending on whether this was the trophy wife or not, don’t discount or underestimate the amount and worth of the support of the spouse you are divorcing, and the positive influence it had on your being able to amass that fortune. It is amazing just how much work you can get done when someone else is taking care of absolutely everything else for you, so you don’t get bogged down in all the details of home and children—-as well as all the paperwork, scheduling, billing, taxes, etc for your business, which is often handled by a spouse—-and can concentrate on building your business or rising in the ranks of your company. All that is well worth half of your fortune, because without it you would still be struggling to do every damn thing yourself.
Not a millionaire, but I was super close, hope that counts. Was in my early 20s and had a s**t ton of cash saved up from investing + hard work. Had a rough childhood, so I was kinda empathetic towards others. I regularly volunteered at an orphanage in my city for reference.
Used all of my money to buy houses, vehicles, and anything else lifechanging for strangers these past few years.
I don't really regret it. I do think back to times where I used to have a really luxurious lifestyle (6 star hotels, concierge, fine dining, sports cars), but when I think about all those times people came to me crying and begging to help them escape their situation I could only shrug and think to myself, "why the hell hasn't anyone else helped them out? what kind of cruel world do we live in to the point where I had to be the 10,000th person they had to ask to help them out? what the f**k is wrong with people?
So, I did what I could. I'd like to hope someday, if there is a god or higher-being out there, that they show me at least a gram of mercy when it's my time to be judged after death.
I call complete utter b******t on this humble brag. When he tried to claim a 6 star restaurant, it completed the b******t meter - They only go up to 5 stars in the States & there's literally only a small handful of 6 Star facilities in the world, excluding the States. They're out of control expensive. You got carried away and showed your hand of b******t.
Note: this post originally had 74 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I read all this ones...and really really make me sad, there was a common reason in many of them... and is: Lost all their money for medical Bills... I do know why... we live in the most powerful country in the world, and families are loosing their houses, cars and everything because the health system is a scam!! It's impossible you had to have a 10,000 bill for a simple broken arm, or 3,000 in ER just to find out everything is ok with your baby and was just Gas! Simple every day procedures like kidney stones, gall bladder stones, hernias, root canal, and other common procedures can cost you 20 or 30 K...WITH INSURANCE!!! Government need to do something really dramatic with this robbery we have every day!!!!
Land of the free - free to die, free to become impoverished, free to become homeless, free to get sick and waste away. No-one will stand in the way of your freedom and right to these things.
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I read all this ones...and really really make me sad, there was a common reason in many of them... and is: Lost all their money for medical Bills... I do know why... we live in the most powerful country in the world, and families are loosing their houses, cars and everything because the health system is a scam!! It's impossible you had to have a 10,000 bill for a simple broken arm, or 3,000 in ER just to find out everything is ok with your baby and was just Gas! Simple every day procedures like kidney stones, gall bladder stones, hernias, root canal, and other common procedures can cost you 20 or 30 K...WITH INSURANCE!!! Government need to do something really dramatic with this robbery we have every day!!!!
Land of the free - free to die, free to become impoverished, free to become homeless, free to get sick and waste away. No-one will stand in the way of your freedom and right to these things.
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