Your biggest financial loss.

What's the largest loss (as a percentage of your net worth at the time) have you realised in your lifetime?

Feel free to share details, or simply vote.

Please chose the most appropriate answer.

p.s. Losing $1 when you're 5 years old doesn't count.

 

Right now.

In 2008 we hit the $1m in equity across our portfolio.

In 2009 I borrowed $420k of that equity to buy my workshop because I was sick of being asset rich and cash poor.

Currently the business is operating at roughly 50% decrease in turnover from the first year's takings.

Our nett position now is approx $485k

IP - approx $210k value
Cash from PPoR sale - $275K
Business - $0 (it may actually be worth something; but not a lot, I'd wager)

Gone backwards by half a mill.

 

Refinance from my PPOR in 2008/2009 after some renos etc.

Took 163k out of it.

Invested most of it mining speccies in an act of world class clownery.

I invested in stories rather than facts.

No stop losses. Waiting for announcements that never came. Death spirals.

Walked away with about 50% of it in 12 months after enormous stress and self bashing.

 

I voted 90%. I don't want to go into details and it was so long ago like 15yrs or so. But my money was stolen from me.

 

Ive had a couple of doozies.
Entered into a property JV (a couple actually) with my best mate. We flipped and turned a couple for some small profits. The deal was basically a 50/50 partnership, and my mate did the reno works paid for by the hour.
Then the "deal of a lifetime" came around. 100% profit margins on input capital. The sticky was that my mate had another 2renos which were nearly complete. Throw in an IP which was trashed by the tenant and we couldn't get traction on the works. I helped with the reno - which was mostly the demolition works. Given we had gutted the place it was unlivable (so couldn't be rented). Then throw in GFC and finance for such project dried up.
In the end we managed to get it into a state suitable for sale and the front portion of the block subdivided. But then couldn't sell it.
End cost was about $100k each down. Which at the time was basically 100% of my net worth.

More than that it cost my friendship. One which I would pay may multiples of to have back. I touched base a while back and things were at least civil. However, he was going through a divorce (the GFC sent him to the wall and it spiraled from there). So he had other priorities. Im sure we will be back in touch and maybe we can get back to where we were... but maybe not.

Blacky

 

Sorry to hear that.

I had another one similar to you possibly; lent/sold $30k worth of stock to a colleague/friend who was starting up his own ProSop business.

Had no credit/no capital, so we did a deal on a payment plan for the stock. He did a runner after several months, still owing me about $25k, and then declared bankruptcy. Never saw a cent of that adventure.

 

OK Bayview what the hell. Back in the day my ex wife through papers containing passwords into the recycle bin and some smart crimes wiped out most of the account that was $19,000.
Judge throws it out of court and we couldn't claim compensation without conviction.
Next in the same year actually before the 19000 was stolen we lent $12,000 to the inlaws and never got that back. So we lost $31,000. Marriage was never the same after that.

 

Ok I'll front too. Marriage breakup 20 years ago, lost everything bar a couple of grand. Wife got the lot, freehold house, furniture cars etc. Came to Oz and started again bought house met new lady and 10 years in relationship ended, settlement took 75% of everything I had and gave to her. Met another lady ( you would think I would have learnt!) and started again 6 years ago bought another home and we are embarking on buying IP's.
I am not bitter at all, sometimes that is just the way life plays, I am sure that there will be many of you having a laugh at my expense but I really do trust that everything happens for a reason. Hey I could be super wealthy now but I have learned some major life lessons on the way and I wouldn't be the person I am now if it had been straight forward. I have met some amazing people on the journey and I feel blessed to have found PC as I have and am learning so much.

 

Wow - that would hurt! and not once but twice!
Ouch!

 

How can she take so much if there's no kids involved? Or were there?

 

Nope she was older and they said I had greater earning capacity.

 

I must add now I'm the luckiest guy in the world with my new wife

 

Yeah me too altho we are not married.

 

Is that the way it works. Christ. So that's when being unemployable could be a good thing.

 

Haha

 

I'll put my hand up, $80k as a 25 year old back in 2003...young punter trying to do the right thing, stooged by a "planner" into Timbercorp (Agri tax driven scheme). Timbercorp collapses under a mountain of debt they couldn't refinance in the GFC. I really didn't have a clue back then....

Now I look back at it as the best $80k (loss carried forward) I ever spent! hurt at the time though, but really spurred my interest in the world of investing.

 

You were not the only one stung by Timbercorp at least you were trying. The best lessons in life are the ones that hurt the most...let the learning begin!

 

When I read threads like this I think of Storm Financial and ACR (Australian Capital Reserve) which both went belly-up. There are probably many more examples. Rogues and thieves comes to mind, preying on naive investors.

 

Not all the investors were naive.

 

I see you're no stranger to pain.