People Share The Worst Financial Decisions They’ve Ever Seen Someone Make

For many of us, one of the more unpleasant aspects of life is dealing with financial responsibilities. Things like rent, bills, mortgages, groceries, car and insurance payments often have people wondering whether it’s truly possible to keep up with everything. But it can be, if one’s salary and earnings are managed properly.

However, plenty of people don’t have a clue about what it means to be smart with their money. They’ve done everything from losing money they did absolutely nothing to earn in the first place, to going down to rock bottom and still finding ways to waste their cash. Here are a few of the crazy, funny, and downright silly ways people have wasted their money…

The Divorce Did Him In

My dad saved like hell his entire life. He had about a million dollars saved by his mid-60s, when my parents divorced. My mom (a shopaholic) fought him in court and received $800k from him, which he just let her have because all he wanted to do was live in a tiny house he already owned outright, and spend the remainder of his years traveling in the cheapest countries.

He’s still self-sufficient to this day at age 75, and has been to around 45 countries in the last 10 or so years. My mom spent the $800k in less than five years. She bought nothing but garbage; collectible angels, a bedroom suite, a house she couldn’t afford. Just shopped and shopped. She yelled at me this week for refusing to pay her electric bill, as she’s about to be disconnected. Reddit user: franticshouting

On Some Ancestor Info

My sister-in-law and her husband (my brother) have three kids, and make $1.5k a month (he’s the only one who works and she refuses to). They always complain to everyone about having no money and have GoFundMe pages up, but she spends tons of it learning about her ancestors. She even hired a professional genealogist at a whopping $50 an hour.

Meanwhile her kids need dental work, wear clothes with stains and holes, and they live in a two-bedroom shack in a rough neighborhood. To make matters worse, their car is 20 years old and hardly runs, but hey at least she knows she’s related to someone who lived in Iceland about 100 years ago – it’s just so stupid. Reddit user: pcbzelephant

A Need For Water

A friend of mine who’s very bad with money and has a habit of making the worst decisions ever (along with his girlfriend) bought some sort of water filtration system from a door-to-door salesman. He has to pay something like $300 a 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 every month for it, because he’s on a two or three-year contract. By the way, we have great water quality in my area. Reddit user: ShawnisMaximux

Cars And Mistresses

A friend was told by his dad to always replace his used car every three years, even if it’s 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 an absolutely 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 isn’t trustworthy, and now that account has been emptied and given to his dad’s mistress. Reddit user: handbooksoncork

Because Of Friends

So I was a teller line manager in college. One day, this 19-year-old kid comes in with a check for like $350k. Obviously this is unusual, so I start to chat him up to make sure he wasn’t getting scammed or something (this was when the Nigerian prince scam was just starting out). It turns out his dad had died and this was the life insurance check he got.

So I’m like. “Well, it sucks that your dad died but at least he thought ahead to take care of you. Let me set you up with one of our advisers and if you play your cards right, you’ll be retired comfortably by 40.” Nope. He says, “I’m buying all my friends cars.” And he did. The worst part is he didn’t even buy them good cars, he was buying OK used cars (like a seven-year-old Civic).

He came in every couple of days for three months to get cashier’s checks for like $6,500 to buy each of his friends several cars. By the end of the three months, the money was gone. That was about 15 years ago, so using quick math (rule of 7’s) he’d have about $1.5 million at this point. I wonder if he’ll ever think back and realize that he messed up bad. Reddit user: Nurum

Burning Paychecks

I work with a guy who just seems to go out of his way to try and set his paychecks on fire, and waste as much cash as he can. At first I felt bad, but after learning a bit more about how he spends his money, I don’t. He apparently bought a motorcycle on credit, crashed it, and then got it fixed – on credit.

He recently bought a house – a house that’s quite a good distance from his job, and needs lots of repairs. Roof pieces are coming off during bad weather – he complains that the roof having any problems wasn’t noted in the inspection he got before he bought the place, but the roof is visibly in need of replacement from the pictures he showed me.

The other day he mentioned something about his car, which he bought used to save money, and which had 200,000 miles on it. Then he goes on to talk about maintenance costs, then pivots to how he’s trying to take off for a vacation. I don’t know what he wants me to say. I just don’t know how people like this can survive in today’s world. Reddit user: wercwercwerc

Debt x 3

I spent some time in Southern Afghanistan with DOD not long ago, and a guy I worked with (salt of the earth, would do anything for you) was paying for his wife’s debts for the THIRD time. First, he mortgaged the house again; second, he borrowed against his retirement; and third, he flew 9,000 miles to the desert to work in a war zone for the hazard-pay and overtime, while being awakened by sirens triggered by incoming rockets and mortars.

He dug himself out of the hole for the third time. In this case, it appears that his poorest financial decision was staying with the woman he loved, the mother of his children. If you haven’t been there (not Afghanistan – in love in a less than ideal situation), you can’t truly understand what he was going through. It still makes me sad to this day. Reddit user: Jesse_Boyer

A Tough Timeshare

My girlfriend bought a timeshare last year at the California State Fair from Bluegreen Resort Vacations. One of the requirements in the contract she signed was that she must make X amount of money, which she doesn’t. But the saleswoman said it was okay if she at least had good credit. The saleswoman also said by signing up for this, when we get to the destination, we’d get a gift card or something.

When she called in later to talk specifics about the time and place for the vacation, they said she has to make X amount of money (again). They argued that it was a requirement, and she argued that wasn’t what the saleswoman said – she tried vainly to explain. She also asked about the gift card; that apparently wasn’t real either.

So now Bluegreen Resort Vacations has my girlfriend’s money, a voided contract (that their representative created), and absolutely refuses to issue a refund. She TRIED to get a refund, but their answering machine said that there’d been a hurricane in Florida, where they’re apparently located, and that their office was “temporarily closed.” Reddit user: Paranitis

The Cost Of Living

My roommate (now former because of this) got laid off. At the time, he had 50k in the bank, and proceeded not to work (on purpose) for three years, eating through it all. By the time the money was low, he had to pay his rent with a credit card – which was when he finally got off his lazy 41-year-old butt to get a job.

He talked the whole time about doing something good with the time and money (a degree, an apprenticeship, maybe starting his own business, etc.). He did nothing. He sat on his butt all day every day, then on weekends he’d club, drink too much, come home, and start the week over again. It was three years that he just totally lost. Reddit user: gnapster

A Series Of Poor Choices

A friend of mine received $1.25 million from a bad divorce. She took $500k and bought a house four hours away from anyone she knew, because she wanted a “fresh start.” She quit her job, moved into her new home and started to travel, from October 2016 until April 2018. She spent $750k on cars, vacations, gifts, and crap she didn’t need (including helping her new boyfriend buy land to start an alpaca farm).

I helped her originally put away $500k into savings and investments, but she pulled all of the cash out of there to fund her interests. She came to me looking for help, and like an idiot, I helped her. I told her she needed to sell the silly house and buy a nice five-plex I found for her, where she could live and earn at least $5,000 every month. She loved it.

I waited for her to call me so we could get it all going, but didn’t hear from her until June. She sold the house at a $50k loss, bought more land to help the alpaca farm, bought a cabin to put on the land even though there’s no water or power there, and spent $10k on a trip because she needed a vacation after all the hardship of being poor for a month. Reddit user: Palidd

Karma At Its Finest

My dad left my mom, me and my sister for another woman 16 years younger than him. This woman turned out to be nuts, but we wouldn’t find this out until after they were married for about a year/together for three. In that time, she drove him basically broke. She had two boys already from her first marriage that were five and nine – I was 17 and my sister was 20.

They did it all: leased a big house, bought two cars, sent those boys to summer camps and after-school programs. She was constantly shopping and buying things. Then she decided to quit her job to go back to school, but they couldn’t afford for her not to work on top of the school payments. She didn’t care, and guilted my dad into letting her do it.

In the end she got pregnant with my half-brother and then, when the kid was just one year old, she cheated on my dad and left him. That woman was the worst financial thing to ever happen to him. Five years later I still don’t think he’s dug himself out of that hole he allowed her to dig for him. Reddit user: Stayinschool-tty

$1,500 To Drive 80 Miles

My father’s always been terrible with money, and has some mental health issues also. He’s flat broke, living on $600 a month Social Security, and living in the basement of an old factory. He calls me one day to see if I’ll help him get this truck from a town about 80 miles away; it’s a 1940’s Dodge flatbed or some such thing, that he’s going to turn into his mobile art studio.

He’s somehow convinced his dad to loan him $1,500 for the truck and wants a ride to get it. I say no, because I was fed up with his shenanigans. He convinces some fool to take him, but since he’s broke, he doesn’t bring any more money. This truck gets like six mpg, and of course runs out of gas halfway back.

He somehow gets it back home, but there’s nowhere to park it. So he just parks it across the street in a private parking lot. Of course it gets towed within a day, and now he needs to borrow money to get it out, which no one will give him at this point. So long story short, my dad spent $1,500 of his dad’s money to drive a truck 80 miles. Reddit user: Kylebeast

Don’t Do It…He Did It

At age 70 and living off only Social Security (and after going bankrupt two years prior) my dad decides he wants a $30k pickup truck. My mom calls me in desperation. He’s in the process of signing paperwork. I, however, live in another state. I try calling him and he ignores my call. I tell my Mom to bring her phone to him and put it on speaker so I can try to get him to stop.

I ask the sales rep how they’re approving the sale of a truck to a guy who can’t work, and is living off Social Security? They give me this really silly answer. So I call the sheriff and they were great. They went over and took my dad out of the place, told him to go home, and take a cool-off day to think about it. I’m relieved.

Two days later, my dad posts a picture of himself and his brand new truck. Fast forward to six months later, and the bank repossesses the truck for lack of payment, which sends my dad back into Chapter 13. I’m going to guess that he’ll never learn. Reddit user: drumpfFOREVER

Giving It All Up

My friend was pretty poor after her husband died and left her with three small kids. Luckily, he had a good life insurance policy through his work. So she got a small settlement and each kid gets a small monthly check until the age of 18. She also got a small monthly check as long as she never remarried. Each check was in the $100-300 range; I think it’s enough to just barely live on.

She immediately started dating another man, and got engaged. She wanted a dream wedding and was spending her entire settlement on it. The guy cheated a month before the wedding. I begged her to call it off, or at least wait. She went through with it, but he got the other woman pregnant, so it didn’t work out. She threw away the settlement and her monthly check, and is barely making ends meet now. Reddit: Luna_Sea

Cut The Purse Strings

My wife has an uncle who married a whopper of a woman. She comes from a rich family and demands the best of everything, without putting in any work or effort. She’ll buy a whole new outfit before washing her own dirty clothes. She’s homeschooled most of her children, but refuses to actually teach them anything. She even got her husband involved in a huge MLM scheme and lost all of their money.

The only reason that they aren’t dirt poor is because her family keeps giving her money from the family trust that she isn’t supposed to be getting. After all of this, you’d expect me to say that she’s making the poorest financial decisions, but you’d be wrong. It’s the rest of her family. They should cut the purse strings, and let them get their own lives in order. Reddit user: the_planes_walker

Always Broke

A good friend graduated from forestry college on 100% student loans. The second he got a firm job lined up, he maxed out his credit cards to get his financed Toyota Tundra a monster lift kit, fancy rims, and fancy wide tires. The job turned out to be mostly “cruising timber,” which means you appraise the value of pine forests. His depth perception was so poor that he lost this job quickly.

Then he went through various 70-hour jobs, like delivering Pepsi and bread. This didn’t stop him from buying a giant four-wheeler to go hunting with though – all while making the absolute minimum payments on those student loans for the forestry degree he’ll never use. Sad because he’s a super nice guy – he was just raised in a family that was always broke. Reddit user: contrarian1970

Terrible With Money

My roommate after college was a friend of a friend, who was a few years older than me (maybe 25/26). He had a good job, but he was terrible with money. He got like $30k in a lump sum from his company stock vesting or something. He was really behind on some bills like our rent and his car payment, and he blew the $30k in a week on TVs, a few laptops and a PS2 (this was in like 2000).

I can probably add 300 DVDs back when they were $15-$20 apiece, along with a bunch of jewelry for his 18-year-old girlfriend who dumped him shortly afterwards, to that list as well. The only good to come out of it is that he bought most of that from my brother, who gave him a good deal and got a HUGE commission. Reddit user: anon_e_mous9669

Mad About Cars

A guy I used to work with is mad about cars. He buys a new, high-powered car every year or two. He’s gotten a loan for – or financed – most of them. At last count, he was at about nine cars. He’s also a maniac rev-head driver, and has damaged about half of them (crashes and engine wear from driving the cars to hard).

He’s resorted to renting out some dude’s shed for $300 a week to store them all in. These aren’t rare cars that’ll likely appreciate in value though. This kid’s also only about 25, and he brags to anyone that listens that he’s pulling about 40 hours of overtime each week. He doesn’t realize that anyone else at work could also do that if they were stupid enough. Reddit: BorisOfMyr

Sorry, I Need That Money For Rent

A young guy came into a store that primarily sold Magic the Gathering cards. He spent an hour or so organizing what he wanted, drops a couple grand on it, and leaves. Thirty minutes later he comes back distressed, telling the store owner that he forgot he needed some of that money for rent, and asks if he could return some of the cards at full value.

The store owner declined, saying he’d only buy them back at the normal price they buy cards at, which for these kinds of shops is like less than 50% of what they sell cards for. After the guy left again without having sold any cards back, the owner just scoffs and says the kid needs to learn the hard way. Reddit user: Epistechne

T-Shirts From China

A friend of mine spent $500 buying t-shirts from China at about $4.00 a pop. He figured he could sell them at $8.00 or so and double the money he invested. The shirts arrived and were absolutely terrible – they looked almost nothing like what he’d seen online. He was told there would be a variety of colors, but they were all the same washed out sky blue.

And they were all the same size too – medium. And the quality was laughable: one of us had one of the shirts on, got caught in the rain, and one of the sleeves literally separated itself from the rest of the shirt. For years afterward he gave us, and everyone close to him, those crappy shirts as gifts. He never sold a single one. Reddit user:PhillipLlerenas

Refusing To Pay

My ex-roommates were the worst! They were a couple, both of them worked, and the girl made good money at a new job. We let them not pay rent for the first four weeks so they could get their finances in order. When we began to ask them for utilities and rent money, they’d give us a “how dare you” look, and avoid answering any questions about money.

We were barely making it since utilities went up $200 after they moved in. Their bedroom window was left open all the time. They’d go out to eat every day. I remember making Alfredo one night and they told me they were going out to an Italian place instead. She’d buy new clothes every week. They’d go to expensive shows or concerts every month, yet couldn’t afford to give us rent.

If she broke something, instead of fixing it, she’d just buy a new thing! Light bulb broke in a lamp? Buy a new lamp! She had over six loans taken out from those quick cash places too. They’ve run out of friends to use. They’ll end up homeless soon, and I don’t care because they refused help. They moved out because we were too controlling of their money. Reddit user: violetxgein

The 4^th Of July

I used to work in a call center for a financial institution. People would call in and change investments, or they could withdraw money, close their 401k, take loans, so on and so forth. One day this guy calls in and he wants to close out his 401(k); he had about $8,000 in it, so after taxes and such he walked away with about $6,500.

It was part of our job to ask why they were closing the account. He straight up told me that he needed the funds because 4th of July was coming up and he was using the money to have a massive 4th of July party including very, very expensive fireworks. So the dude was literally taking out his savings so he could set them on fire. Reddit user: LoneFalcon44

Lottery Tickets

My grandfather spends three-quarters of his monthly retirement funds on lottery tickets. He plays three times a day, and has never really won big. My grandmother bought a townhome in the late 80s and was a few payments off from completely closing out the mortgage when she died. When he took over the home, he even refinanced the townhome so he could have money to play lotto, and pay for an immigration lawyer for my aunt.

Fast forward three years and he hasn’t made any home insurance payments, because he’s always buying lotto tickets. He then owed $300k on the townhome, and it was foreclosed on. He moved in with my mom, and drained her resources and patience. Once my aunt got citizenship, she basically completely stopped contacting – or having anything to do with – him.

He now lives in a studio apartment in a low-income housing unit. He chose this building because it’s close to the store where he buys his lottery tickets, so he “can play his numbers.” I estimate that over four decades he may have spent over $280k on lotto tickets, and I think that I’m being extremely conservative in my estimate. Reddit user: [redacted]

My Wife

To summarize a long story, my ex-wife had an affair with my buddy from high school. When they got together, he was a reasonably successful software developer, single, living in a modest one-bedroom apartment. The day she moved in with him, he crashed the U-Haul he was helping her move with into a utility van. Then they immediately bought a house – in the fall of 2007, right before the real estate crash.

Two months later, when they found out she was pregnant, she convinced him to buy a mini-van. Then she convinced him to lease himself a brand new car. Within six months, this dude went from being a bachelor to being on the hook for a mortgage, two car payments, and a pregnant girlfriend whose only goal in life was to settle down and be a stay-at-home mom. So my wife was his bad financial decision. Reddit user: Fluxxed0

An Obvious Scam

My sister emptied out her entire bank account (roughly six or seven thousand dollars at the time) because she fell for a tax scam. The people calling told her they were the RCMP and that she’d go to jail immediately if she didn’t go to a “specific ATM at a specific location” and give them everything she had. To this day I still can’t believe she went through with it.

She followed their instructions (despite how obviously fake they were) and ended up at a Bitcoin machine in the middle of nowhere, IGNORED the signs all over the machine that said, “WARNING: DO NOT USE THIS TO TRANSFER ANY MONEY TO THE CRA. THE CRA WILL NEVER ASK YOU TO USE BITCOIN AS A FORM OF PAYMENT,” and proceeded to give them everything.

Just before this happened, she gave her job two week’s notice because she was going to spend the next month or so traveling. My family and her boyfriend had to give her money for her travels, and her next semester’s tuition. You always have to avoid scams – particularly the incredibly obvious ones. Reddit user: sadboiggg

Unwise Gaming Decisions

My dad has a friend who’s practically homeless, with no job. This friend went to town to go shopping because he (who has no job, may I remind you) wanted to buy his own PS4. The story of how he ended up that way is as long as it is confusing, but suffice to say he’s perfectly capable of finding a good job to support himself.

My dad went with him. When they got there – and as my dad’s friend was buying this PlayStation – a guy in front of him in the queue had his card declined when paying for two £60 games. Instead of allowing the guy to move on with his life, my dad’s friend buys this guy £120 worth of video games with the last bit of money he has. Reddit user: Zylexs

It’ll End In Disaster

I am currently watching this happen from the sidelines. My mom’s good friend is going into flipping houses with his girlfriend. And as someone who’s half his age, I’m not in a position to say what an awful idea this is. But I know it’s going to end in disaster. This guy’s a hardworking but misguided gent. He’s divorced from a truly psycho woman, with three kids and a ridiculous alimony payment.

He has a ton of debt, and he just lost one of his jobs. This chick he’s with is nice and all that, but she has totally different beliefs than him, and he’s just in such denial about it. I’ve known this person literally since I was a baby, and I WANT to see him do well, but I just know this is going to end in disaster. Reddit user: [redacted]

It’s Not Your Money

Back when I was 17, a friend of mine had $2,000 accidentally deposited into his bank account. Someone wrote one number wrong in the checking account, and he was the lucky guy that got the money. He knew it was a mistake and wasn’t his money, but he decided to withdraw all the money and go on a shopping spree, buying a MacBook and a bunch of other random stuff.

He even took me and a few other friends out to dinner that night at Buffalo Wild Wings. The next day, the bank realized the mistake and withdrew the money back out of his account, leaving him with negative $2,000. He returned what he could, but in the end had to borrow a few hundred from his parents to avoid getting hit with bank fees. Reddit user: [redacted]

From Day One

A sort of friend of mine, who knew nothing about dogs, decided to get a puppy. She purchased it from a pet store instead of from a shelter or reputable breeder, and the dog was super messed up from day one. It had kennel cough, all sorts of skin issues and breathing problems, and was basically constantly sick and never healthy. It was so sad.

The ‘friend’ was vegan, and decided the dog should be vegan too; the poor dog just kept getting sick from one thing or another, and at one point was diagnosed with meningitis and malnourishment. Apparently, the friend’s parents ended up spending like $15K to treat the dog and keep it alive, only for her to end up giving the dog away when she chose to move into a place that didn’t allow dogs. Reddit user: redditisatimeburglar

Rich People Problems

My girlfriend spent eighty-seven thousand dollars on new flooring; it’s some bamboo stuff that apparently is better than wood. And it’s not even the last or worst thing she’s done. She literally bought a house near Atlantic City, and completely forgot that it existed until we were called about some sort of gas dispute with our bills, as she cancelled the bank account that was used for that house.

The worst part is that she thought this was being super conservative with her money – absolutely crazy right? She doesn’t even run out of money with spending habits like that. Rich people blow my mind sometimes, but then again, I guess if we’re comparing it to stuff us normal people do, it’s like splurging $1k on something we don’t need. Reddit user: Sorrowsprite

Cars And Motorcycles

A girl I know talked about wanting to move out of her boyfriend’s house, and was even trying to pick up hours at her work to make enough to afford moving out, and getting a place with her friend. One day, she decides to take out a $3,000 loan. But did she use that to move out and get her own place? No, of course not.

She bought a car. Mind you, she already had a car – and a relatively new one at that – which her parents had bought her previously. She wanted a second car. She’s since changed jobs and moved back in with her parents, which isn’t the worst decision, except she also bought herself a motorcycle. In addition to her two cars. Reddit user: MedPiglatin

Cooking Skills

My sister took a $35,000.00 loan out to go to Le Cordon Bleu. She was among the last people to graduate before the school got shut down. The program she chose was only about making deserts, so rather than learning general culinary skills that are literally needed everywhere at all times, she now only has specialized dessert-making skills, and she hasn’t found a job in over a year.

She was offered one really good job (with a pretty great salary, I might add), but she refused because the resort was too far from where she wanted to live, which was right by my mom. I don’t understand any of why she did this. It was a gigantic waste of borrowed money that she still hasn’t managed to pay one cent of back. Reddit user: Rounder8

Dodging A Bullet

I worked as a ski instructor a few years back in Lake Tahoe, right on the border of California and Nevada. The first night I got into town, I met this really cute girl that lived in the apartment across from me. I hung out with her and two of her roommates, and they wanted to go to the casinos. After a long day of driving and unpacking, I said I’d take a rain check.

Two days later I went across the hall to see what she and her roommates were up to. She wasn’t there, and one of her roommates told me that she went to the casinos, got hammered, withdrew all of her savings (over $7,000), and lost it all gambling. She had to go home and answer to her parents. I dodged a bullet there. Reddit user: Gjlynch22

A Dirty Feeling

I picked up a job selling cars for the summer while the academic year was slow, and because I was offered a bunch of money to do it. Today, I watched a 20-year-old man and his 18-year-old girlfriend sign for a couple of one-year-old $20k+ cars with an 8-year loan, crazy high interest rate, all while the girlfriend is heavily pregnant (I watched my coworker confirm they were unmarried while filling out paperwork).

She currently works near minimum wage, but is planning on driving the kid around all the time when she quits her job to be a full-time mom. I cannot fathom how the company expects they’ll make any money when this couple can’t make payments on the cars in a few months. I felt dirty watching them drive away. Reddit user: LieutenantCuppycake

Who Does That?

My sister-in-law and her husband were around $35,000+ in credit card debt, car loans and other random stuff because they can’t understand what it is to live within their means. They got a loan for $40,000 to pay off all the debt and just start making one payment a month; it’s actually a pretty decent idea if you stick to it.

Instead of canceling the credit cards and accounts at stores that got them into that position in the first place, after paying off the loans, they went and maxed the same credit cards (the ones they’d just paid off) and store accounts. So now instead of $35,000 in debt, they’re over $75,000 in debt and climbing. I can’t understand people. Reddit user: [redacted]

The Inheritance

While I was in high school, one of my buddies got something like $300k after his dad died. Well when his dad actually died, my friend wasn’t 18 yet, so he couldn’t collect the money. He had this whole plan to buy his dad’s old house to keep living there, buy a reliable everyday car, and pay for four years of college. The day he got the money, I didn’t see him for a month. He came to school about once or twice a week, just to graduate.

He ended up going on week-long benders, getting his whole body covered in tattoos, and spending the rest of the money God knows where. The last thing I heard was that he bought a $3,000 guitar amp, which he never even picked up, or got a refund for. The last time I saw him he was broke, and moving to Colorado. I’ve talked to him since and he seems to be doing okay, considering his past. Reddit user: MexicanJeebus

A Kid And A Mustang

I used to work for an insurance company, and we had a guy call to add his seventeen-year-old son onto the brand new Mustang GT that he bought for the kid. Of course, it was going to cost an arm and a leg to insure the car when the kid was the driver, and he proceeded to call me names, including a thief, and refused to complete the transaction.

I told the guy that I highly recommend that he not allow his son to drive the car until he got it insured properly, and he straight up told me to go to hell. Guess who caused an accident within a month of getting his new Mustang that daddy bought him, involving a woman being in this hospital near death and at least 100K worth of property damage?

Last I heard, instead of suing the insurance company like they would’ve if the dad hadn’t been an idiot, they sued dad directly. They lost pretty much everything they owned, and will probably be paying for that accident for the rest of their lives. Penny wise and pound foolish, as they say. Reddit user: [redacted]

Don’t Co-Sign

There was a soldier in my platoon who was three months from getting out of the army. He’d convinced his close friend to co-sign with him to buy this brand new truck. For three months they were riding around everywhere together in it. After the three months, the guy that co-signed never heard from him again, and he had to continue making payments.

I don’t know what the situation is today, as I’m out of the army now and really don’t care to find out at this point, as it was two or three years ago. The funniest thing about this story, as unfortunate as it was for one person, was the guy that co-signed the loan had a 1980’s Ford pickup that barely ran.

Instead of getting himself a decent ride, he co-signed to buy a brand new truck for someone else, only to never hear from him again. He got out of the army before I did too, and the last I heard from him was he was moving back to Texas. At the time, he still didn’t display any hope of stopping payments, etc. Reddit user: [redacted]

Should’ve Bought The House

This was regrettable, not a poor decision. My dad gave me $5K after college. The house across the street was for sale for $120K, and that money would’ve made a nice down payment. It’s now worth $400K. Instead, I bought a van with the intent of starting a delivery service. I bought it used instead of new, and it worked fine for about two months. It then proceeded to break down every week.

The last straw was the AC breaking down in July in Texas. I got an office cube job and I’ve been doing fairly well since, but I drive by that house every once in a while, and my ears start to burn. I could’ve bought the house, built up some equity, and bought the van or vans. Or, I could’ve wrapped up the van in the house loan. Reddit user: Ferfuxache

Little Miss Thai Flower

My dad retired to Thailand several years ago. They let foreigners over a certain age get a retirement visa. The caveat is you can’t work or own property. So, what do rich white men from America do? Well what they planned to do all along: find a young Thai girl to take care of them. Really, it means buying her stuff and also buying a car and house in her name, since only she can own property.

Well, little miss Thai flower took a loan against the house and lost it, totaled the car, and then skipped town. My dad lost his entire life savings. He still gets Social Security and a pension – about $1,500 a month until he dies. And he seems happy now with his new Thai girlfriend. Luckily, he has nothing to lose this time. Reddit user: OtherSideofSky