Your biggest financial loss.

Yeah well........

 

Put $13k into the stock market, pulled $5k out.
Not much these days, but as a uni student, this was painful.

 

$427,000

 

I had basically the same experience. As a Uni student, only working part time/casual, put money in a managed fund, put in about 14k, out came 7k, about 50% loss. At least I was able to keep that loss on my tax return until I made a substantial capital gain (IP property sale) many years later, thereby decreasing some CGT.

 

Nice.
Was that a big chunk of the bankroll?
Care to share any lessons from that one, although you really got to feel it first hand to get full benefit.

 

Wow. Wonder if it was the garbos...
Some huge loss stories here in this thread. Still, many of you have come out stronger for it.

 

A good reason for having a PO Box.

Get annoyed when mail ends up in my PPOR mailbox. Usually it's banks and brokers that ignore my preferred mailing address. Too many departments.

 

My home mailbox is always locked and if you want to get something out without a key you have to go to an effort to do that

 

Also young punter trying to do the right thing. 21 year old in 2007. Built 80k equity over preceding 3 years by leveraging it 1:1 (50%).

Had $160k invested in blue chips - think I ended up as low as $25k equity by mid 2009.

Also think it was the best $80k (cap loss carried forward) I ever spent. Better to learn that lesson at 21 instead of 41 or 61.

 

Spot on Marty.....great lesson on leverage, and particularly how it relates to callable debt. Even with "safe" debt one should remember Icarus.

 

I lost about $8k in one day trading options during the GFC - it's not a lot now but was back then. Again, a very good learning experience and pretty much shaped the next 5 years of my life (in a good way). I also lost about $100k shortly after on a non-investment (if there is such a thing) property transaction - all up probably about 50% of net worth at the time. Many lessons there too, mostly don't mix business and family....

 

I don't know where to start, or the full dollar cost of much of it.

We had a skating rink that was losing $1k per week, tied to an unbreakable lease on a building. Keep paying up or declare bankruptcy! Bankruptcy without a fight wasn't an option! An Agent embezzled around $25k of our funds which we could never get back. A regional PM telling porkies about the market to prioritise the IP's of local landlords and keeping something vacant, when it could easily be rented. Change of PM fixed that one, but a large cost. Hubby gets a new job on contract, then they refuse to pay him. Went around 6 months with only a few weeks wages until he was back to security once again and on a decent enough income.

 

We bought into a north qld freehold hotel 50/50 with another person,that was the first mistake,the second was buying from a Gold Coast Based Japanese Business Man who was missing a few fingers,
the 3rd was when he flew us up to have a look ,and this is only my opinion he hired all the local football team and a few blowins to be there when we had a look at the Hotel,the front bar was packed
the booked were stacked everything,but we still bought the hotel and from day one it went down hill very fast ,some days we would only take less then 500 bucks,lasted 4 months released the place
came back to Brisbane and started working 90 hours per week again,iv'e made bigger mistakes but that one was the old lead you up the garden path,blind then slam the gate and run..29 years ago..

 

Omg.... these stories folks. Willair, I guess you could have done the same selling technique to the next buyer of the pub...

Skater, thanks. I'll keep your experience in mind when I pick an interstate PM...

 

I suggest he has more integrity than that.

 

Cockie,i don't think anyone was that stupid as me,and if you can't leave something in the deal for the next in line don't pass on the can,plus it was my mistake ,I used to trust everyone back then ,it also bring out the best in people my Wife just kept saying it will work out and if not we will go back to Brisbane and start again,which we did,and every priceless mistake I have made I still remember,that's why I say to everyone trust only the person you wake up next too each morning who ever they may be..

 

Thanks everyone for sharing your honest, valuable and insightful responses. Precisely why I posted

My two biggest:

1. Not a direct loss, but a big financial hit nonetheless. I fixed the interest rate on my PPOR loan for 15 years at 8.09%. Broke it 3 years later (almost $20k break fee) and having paid ~$25k extra interest above and beyond the standard variable rate at the time. Almost $45k sucked away which was about 1/3 of my net worth at the time. Learned SO much as a result though (especially about finance and the markets), and negotiated a good lifetime loan discount with my lender after the break fee which will more than make up for the $45k over time.
   
   
2. Over $40k–nearly 8% of my net worth at the time–(allocated to “high risk/high return” assets) was wiped out after a cryptocurrency mining operation was hacked. I was quite comfortable with this hit though, and the entire capital loss will offset a future capital gain. I would expect more of these over time, as it comes with the territory of allocating some capital to high risk/high reward assets. Never more than a small sliver of my capital is in this category, and will decrease over time.