@fossy paid way too much for it £5k and it costs at least a grand every time it needs an MOT. And the parts are like hens teeth. It currently needs an engine mount that is difficult to find. It sounds nice though and my son loves it - it is technically his car, I'm just responsible for the bills 🤔
Met an American woman.
Things went well, got married-ish. boring technical visa stuff didn't actually get married. Just had a very expensive party where she wore a white dress and I dressed up, we both made some vows, I kept mine and she did not.
Sold my house at a loss as it was dip in the housing market after the banking crash, quit my job, applied for a green card - expensive and got dumped for my troubles.
On the plus side everything has worked out brilliantly. It would have been nice to work out brilliantly cheaper
@oldtennisshoes I looked at possibly getting a late model Berera a few years back -£15k ish, but lots of issues generally. I spent £30k on a 3 year old people carrier van last year, but it's got great parts availability, carries people, bikes, tents and can sleep in it. It's also fast for a van. Sensible approach won.
Do I win?
Yes - you do.
But somehow I still feel like if i'm ever faced with a situation of choosing between a horse and an Alfa Romeo I'll choose the horse.
£12,000 on a horse for our daughter. Three months later, he got sepsis after a small and seemingly innocuous field injury, had three emergency surgeries and we nearly lost him each time. We hit the insurance claim limit plus another £9,000 on top.
The good news is that he pulled through. The bad news is that he is unrideable so has been retired. He is seven years old and horses can comfortably live into their twenties (some into their forties), so we are in for £225 a month for the rest of his life paying for the retirement field – conservatively that's another £20,000 plus inflation.
Do I win?
That's still properly cheap compared to some I know...
A friend (he's on here, doesn't come on very much any more, I won't name and shame even though he probably wouldn't mind if I did) is planning his retirement based around paying off the mortgage... For a house he hasn't lived in for years, and never will do again, because his (now ex) wife got it in the divorce... I don't know the ins and outs, and I'm sure there are regrets on both sides... But paying for something you will never even see or be able to appreciate ever again, beats anything where no matter how much the returns have diminished you still get to see/use the asset to some degree I'm afraid...
I think it's fair to say that if your experience doesn't involve the word "DIVORCE" then you're a rank amateur at best in terms of spending money unwisely...
Personally...? I've lost money on a number of cars over the years, but they've all been an education that I've learnt from...
Houses, I've been lucky... Took me a Loooooooong time to get on the property ladder, but since doing so I ended up with 45% equity in my first house after only 5yrs (combination of overpaying the mortgage during COVID and a healthy increase in value), and current house has gone up in value by £40k in just 18 months after I challenged the bank's valuation (AND WON!!!) when we remortgaged recently...
Being totally honest, I have very few regrets with money I've actually spent on things... I have regrets about not having earnt more at times, but that's by the by... If pushed, I'd say the worst money I've spent was on Crypto back in 2020 when I was stuck "WFH" but bored with nothing to do... I actually ended up coming out of it about £3k up over all (after having had £10k invested at one point, and being significantly down for some time), but the time, effort and heartache involved to get there probably knocked years off my life, watching the unregulated cluster**** that is crypto unfold in front of my eyes causing 90% of investors to lose all their money so that 10% can make huge gains... Absolutely wasn't worth it... The £3k I made out of crypto, at the time with my given bike trade skills, I could have serviced a load of bikes for people desperate to ride their bikes and made more money for a lot less time and heartache instead... Lesson learnt!
My second wife was called Louise.
Expensive on multiple levels.
£12,000 on a horse for our daughter. Three months later, he got sepsis after a small and seemingly innocuous field injury, had three emergency surgeries and we nearly lost him each time. We hit the insurance claim limit plus another £9,000 on top.
Ooh £350 for a rescue dog, 6 weeks later she got ill, 3 days of useless vet investigations before we got to the real vets. The illness and supporting drugs, plus eating 2 tennis balls, on separate occasions, requiring surgical intervention to remove them to prevent bowel blockages. £25k later things eventually settled down, then about another £2k on therapy resolving a lot of the marital problems resulting from it.
However, I love the furry idiot and I'd probably do the same again if I had to, she the best-worst dog ever.
Lottery tickets. Probably thousands of the bloody things over the 30 years it's been going. Most I've won is £140. I've won over £100 three times. Muppet tax.
Lottery tickets. Muppet tax.
On the rare occasions I buy a lucky dip I tell myself it's a charitable donation and will help others. With a lot of luck it might also help me.
