What is the poorest financial decision you have ever seen somebody make?

1. My 25 year old buddy inherited $350,000. Instead of investing it, he took 3 years off of work, rented a 3000 square foot house, bought a BMW, and blew the rest. He had nothing in 3 years
   — medi3val5


2. A friend of mine who is very bad with money and his girlfriend bought some sort of water filtration system from a door to door salesman. He has to pay something like $300/month for this filtration system. He was all stoked because it came with a free set of pots and pans. Fast forward a year and his girlfriend has broken up with him, moved out of the house, and he's had to sell his home because he can't afford to live there. The water filtration system is now sitting in a storage unit where he still pays $300/month for it because he's on a 2 or 3 year contract (sorry the details are fuzzy). We have great water quality in my area.
   — ShawnisMaximus


3. My in-laws currently own 16 timeshares. However, as that is the result of several poor decisions, I'll just point out the worst one: Hawaii, $25,000 initial cost, $1800 annual dues, they get one week every other year. Currently this means they're paying $940 per night. A hotel across the street - also a beachfront property - will give you a suite for $293. And they fucking wonder why they struggle to keep the electricity on at their house.
   — MotherFuckin-Oedipus






4. Had an unemployed friend inherit a boatload of money when her dad died. Instead of investing it and getting a job, she took it easy for 10 years. She was homeless living in a van when the money ran out.
   — abaeternonomo


5. Know a dude who recently found out his girlfriend is pregnant. He is in school and for one reason or another she can't work, so they are living off of school money. He decides to make ends meet, he is going to start selling weed. Pot dealers as a profession in our state have been dead for almost 5 years. And the dude is trying to sell it at pre-legalization prices.
   — FrankLloydWrongDroid


6. I used my inheritance to buy a $14,000 camper trailer. Took it out on its maiden voyage a week later and flipped it in a pop up snowstorm. My husband said he added it to the insurance the day after we bought it. He did not.
   — CrawfishHotTubParty






7. Spend all of 401K on a glass bottom boat business, with a criminal business partner, and a 25-year-old boat. I hope it makes a great movie someday.
   — DanielBoone1734


8. I knew a guy who took out a $5000 loan and bought clothes and other useless merch. He then proceeded to take out ANOTHER loan for similar reasons. When asked why, he said he thought it was free money. Edit: To clarify, we were in the Navy with steady pay and good job security. Navy Federal probably didn't question much.
   — Humanfylth


9. I had a friend cash out all of his stocks and savings so he could spend $100k on his own online marketing business. He had no prior experience and no clients lined up. He had about 4 clients over the course of 2 years, one of whom never paid him.
   — dougiebgood






10. I watched a sorority sister sink thousands of dollars into an MLM. When that one flopped and left her with like 5000 unsold leggings, she took out a loan to invest in yet ANOTHER MLM to "recoup" her costs from the first one. So I guess that counts as 2 extremely poor decisions...
    — joeyjojojnrshabadu


11. My friend bought his ex girlfriend a 30k Tiffany engagement ring, they broke up before they got married.
    — Gracefulomission1212


12. I know of at least one guy who lost it all at the casino. Was standing there with my gf and this dude had MONSTER stacks of chips at the roulette wheel $100k to $500k worth, easy. Five minutes after I took a piss, when I came out of the can, the guy was holding no chips, I shit you not. My GF said he lost everything in one spin and we watched him cry his eyes out. It was sad.
    — AtheistComic






13. My sister in law and her husband have 3 kids and make 1.5k a month(he’s the only one who works and she refuses too) anyways they always bitch about having no money and have gofund me pages up but she spends shit tons on learning about her ancestors. She even hired a professinal genealogist at whooping $50 a hour(she’s spent $1.5k so far in 6 months. They got that tax refund money gotta blow it on something...). Meanwhile her kids need dental work, wear clothes with stains and holes and they live in a 2 bedroom shack in the ghetto and their car is 20 years old and hardly runs but hey at least she knows she’s related to someone from Iceland 100 years ago.... so stupid.
    — pcbzelephant


14. Friend was told by his dad to always replace his used car every 3 years, even if it is still working just fine (WHY???). Now, because of constant trade-ins that are less than the value of the original loans and new used cars, new loans stacking up, and poor credit, my friend currently owes $35,000 and drives a 2009 Toyota that needs a lot of repairs. His first car was a perfectly fine Honda in perfect condition that, I believe, he could have paid off easily and would still be driving today. This friend also put his dad's name on his saving account with the full awareness that his dad is not trustworthy, and now that account has been emptied and given to his dad's mistress.
    — handbooksoncork