Bad financial decisions

Google
Jogar

Go to company page Google

Jogar
May 14, 2021 37 Comments

I am financially illiterate and I made a series of bad financial decisions that made me effectively lose more than half a million dollars (40% of my current net worth) over the past few years, as follows:

1. Was employed with Microsoft and sold almost half of my Microsoft stock at $80/share, put them in the bank.
2. Joined Google and sold half of my stocks at ~$1600/share
3. Put the money in bad investments (post IPO companies that have spiraled down) where it lost much.
4. Was scared of a market crash that I kept half of my 401k in bonds.
5. Missed out on buying a house because I thought that the housing market was overpriced ($300k estimated loss).

Now I feel the urge to gamble with my money to compensate by making risky bets on options just to regain that loss. This is taking a toll on my emotional well being.

I am not the kind of a person who easily accepts a loss and I am naturally very stubborn but thinking of it rationally I may make things much worse by losing more money.

I wish I was just a passive investor, just held my stocks and never invested in any other stocks and bought a decent house. Have I done that I would be $550k ahead.

Anyone in the same situation? Any advice?

Net worth: $1.2M
Estimated loss: $550k
TC: $530k.

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TOP 37 Comments
  • Yelp
    Patel’s

    Go to company page Yelp

    Patel’s
    yeah you’re definitely financially illiterate if you think that 1. and 2. add to your “loss”
    May 14, 2021 1
  • Wtf? Those are not real losses. On the same token, what if you had invested both Msft and Googl payouts in Tesla or better Bitcoin? You can play “What if” game all day and all night long. Instead of doing that educate yourself about investing. Spend some time learning from good folks at bogleheads.org.
    Don’t invest anything until you have properly understood what investing is.
    Start at https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started

    Don’t try to hit home runs, investing is tortoise vs hare. Be a tortoise.
    May 14, 2021 5
    • Google
      Jogar

      Go to company page Google

      Jogar
      OP
      A jackpot is an exceptional event. It looks like the general case is that people who held their stocks have won, and I am among the few who sold and kept the cash in the bank
      May 14, 2021
    • Selling the company stock was the right call but then not having a plan for it was your problem.
      May 14, 2021
  • Just put money in Berk.B, VOO, QQQ, and arkk. Let the s&p 500, buffet, nasdaq and wood invest in your behalf. Small % in crypto and maybe a cash flow rental property. Buy things with the intention of never ever in a million years selling no matter the price, with money you would theoretically never ever touch in a million years. Forget that the stocks can be converted to cash, stop caring about the cash value, and find love in your day to day, and feel confident in the investments you made. Not every person needs to make their own decisions in the market. If the market dips, and you have extra cash, convert it to stocks. And just forget about it. :)
    May 14, 2021 0
  • I didn’t buy the winning lottery ticket last week.

    That’s a loss by your definition.
    May 14, 2021 0
  • Splunk
    tNg6l0

    Go to company page Splunk

    tNg6l0
    Chill out, slow down. Money that you didn't make isn't a loss. Life is eternally filled with decisions that could have been better if you had perfect knowledge of the future. But you won't ever have that knowledge.

    You've made some not so great decisions, but you can recognize they're not great, so you're doing a lot better than most of humanity already.

    Don't try to time the market. Don't invest in companies unless you're perfectly fine with losing the money. The best investors are the ones that use other people's money on the risky investments.

    Stick it in an major index fund and call it a day. You'd be extremely hard pressed to make a better financial decision at this point.
    May 14, 2021 0