Category: money

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Is It Okay to Want a Job for Money and Not Passion? People Share Their Thoughts.

Do what you love in life! Find your passion!

How many times did you hear that when you were growing up and going to school?

I know I heard it a lot. And while I think that’s good advice for certain people, it definitely isn’t for others. We’re all so different and that kind of “one size fits all” life advice just isn’t practical for everyone.

AskReddit users talked about whether they think it’s okay to do a job just because the money is good. Here’s what they had to say.

1. For the money.

“I’m so sick of people telling me to not only want to go into IT for the money, and instead choose something I like to do. What I like to do is play video games, and make music, but that isn’t secure at all.

I feel like it shouldn’t be looked down upon, pursuing a career just for the money it brings, because some people just want financial freedom more than anything and thats ok to want.

Also, some successful people originally just went into it for the money.”

2. A noble ambition.

“I for one am a firm believer of the concept that working to support you hobby is a noble ambition.”

3. Show me the money.

“I’ve been applying for insurance type jobs and its always, “Why do you want to be a claims specialist (for example).”

Seriously who the f*ck actually wants to do this?

I WANT MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

4. Good point.

“I think the problem people see is that if you do it just for the money, and not because you like it, you won’t necessarily do a good job since you don’t have an actual interest in it.

It’s partially why so many Wall Street people get burned out real quick.

They make a stupid amount of money in a short time working 100+ hours but because a lot of them don’t necessarily like it they have to get out after like 2 or so years.”

5. Gotta pay the bills.

“I don’t think any kid thinks growing up they’ll want to be an MBA in Supply Chain Management or Finance but they grow up and they see how important money is.

Most want to do something that they enjoy (or think they will enjoy) or something that has a lot of glamour like films, TV, sports, politics but then the success rate in those isn’t that great and you need something to pay the bills.”

6. It helps to be good at it.

“Nobody has a passion for sh*t like this.

I mean, why would someone want to be a tax attorney or a proctologist?

However, what you do need to have is the right set of skills and personality traits that will make you GOOD at a job.

Being good at something gives you satisfaction.

Maybe if you are really meticulous and like reading, you’ll be a good tax attorney.

If you are good with math, you’ll be a good actuary, etc.”

7. To each their own.

“Some people want big families.

Some people want flexible hour jobs.

Some people want money.

To each their own.”

8. Words of wisdom.

“I quit a job once and my grandfather asked me why…Because I didn’t like it.

He shook his head and said “You think I like what I do? I do it because it pays good money.

It bought me a house, two cars, and a boat I can fish in on the weekends.

I work for money, because I like to fish.”

The man said maybe a few hundred words to me his whole life.

I remember most of them because when he spoke, it was meaningful.”

9. Working towards a goal.

“I’m working a job that I just tolerate as a decent paying job with low stress.

It affords me enough to develop my programming skills while I make a video game.

But my ultimate goal is to be able to work full-time on my own projects.

Everyone’s got goals and that’s mine. “

10. Problematic.

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make money, and your 9-5 doesn’t have to be your passion.

I think it’s problematic to convince people they have to love every second of their job, because frankly very few people actually do.”

11. It’s true…

“Go for the money.

If you’re ever truly broke, like homeless broke, for a chunk of time your perspective on work(or at least mine) changes dramatically. Make your money my dude. If you ever are trying to bath yourself with the $.99 gallon of water and a five gallon bucket the importance of money seems pretty clear.

Do what you have to do and then if you get some free time do what you want to do. Real life is hard no matter how rich you get, but at least you don’t have to worry about an empty stomach and a bed.”

12. Not the right thing to do.

“If only all jobs were actually useful.

Some of the least important things make the most money. I’d be happy for people going for money, if the most important stuff were also incentivized the most with money.

Until then, it’s literally not the right thing to do. I understand it, but don’t sugar-coat bullsh*t either.”

13. Think about the jet ski!

“I have 2 teenage children and it seems that every adult at their schools says something to the effect of “find a job you love to do, and you never will work a day in your life”.

I used to love to fish until I worked as a 1st mate on a fishing boat over a summer.

Haven’t enjoyed fishing since the 2000s.

I tell my kids to get a job that makes enough money to afford a jet ski, because have you ever seen a sad person on a jet ski?”

14. A sign of maturity.

“I honestly think it’s a sign of maturity and being realistic if you can simply find something you’re good at and qualified for and just be content.

The idea of a dream job just isn’t realistic for most people. I spent too long chasing a career I thought I wanted, and it just wasn’t anything I’d ever break into. I’m at a job now that isn’t the best job ever, but I’m getting by and I really like the company. I’m hoping to figure out a way to maybe move up or around within, whether I earn certifications for something or whatever.

I like it because I have a flexible schedule, we get more paid holidays than I’ve ever had anywhere, company culture is super chill, and I’m just not crazy stressed or unhappy like I was at my last job.

I don’t go home exhausted and mentally drained, and were it not for COVID I would certainly be enjoying more hobbies and socializing in my spare time.”

What do you think about this?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

We’d love to hear from you!

The post Is It Okay to Want a Job for Money and Not Passion? People Share Their Thoughts. appeared first on UberFacts.

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An Artist Took Special Revenge on a Cheapskate “Time Waster”

Ever since eBay and Craigslist revolutionized person-to-person online sales, the internet has been a rather valuable tool for those with something to sell in a hurry.

But there are downsides, too. Connecting with strangers on the internet can be perilous regardless of your activity, it can be a downright nightmare when you get money involved.

But Reddit user and artist Ryan_is_my_real_name (who, we presume, is a guy named Ryan) found a way to turn the tables on that nightmare and exact careful vengeance on someone who seemed bent on disrespecting the marketplace.

And by careful, we mean careful. Meticulous. Patient. Literally calculated.

It’s the kind of story that truly belongs in r/ProRevenge.

Chapter 1: The Auction

Don’t mess with artists, man.

Chapter 2: The Time Waster

Whatever you do, don’t be this guy.

Chapter 3: One Year Later

Whatever became of our beloved Time Waster?

Chapter 4: Sweet Revenge

The care that goes into this is what’s really impressive.

Chapter 5: The Car

This guy is going places.

Chapter 6: Annoying, Isn’t It?

What a hilarious nightmare this is.

What’s the moral of the story?

Just don’t bid on things you have no intention of buying. Literally nobody benefits from that. There are far better and less harmful ways to cure your boredom.

Have you ever taken “pro revenge” on someone?

Tell us the sordid tale in the comments.

The post An Artist Took Special Revenge on a Cheapskate “Time Waster” appeared first on UberFacts.

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Folks Who Grew up Poor Share the Items They Thought Were Luxuries

I didn’t grow up poor but I didn’t grow up rich either, so I remember believing that some things were definitely luxuries.

But if you truly grew up in poverty, your whole perspective is different about how you view the world.

And those kinds of things stay with you forever.

AskReddit users who grew up poor talk about what they considered to be luxuries.

1. Hot water.

“A hot shower.

Cold showers were always available, but when you scraped enough cash to get some diesel fuel and get the burner to kick on long enough to have a hot shower man, absolutely nothing better.”

2. Clothing.

“New clothes.

I grew up pretty poor (no TV, no toys, but had a Sears catalog). My dad got in a serious accident when I was in 4th grade and almost lost his life. He won a small settlement from the community college he was working at and I was able to buy new clothes for the first time in my life.

Before this all I ever had were hand me downs from my cousin and donation clothes from the church. Most were worn to the point of having patches on the knees.

The worst part about getting new clothes for the first time is I felt terrible the whole time picking out new clothes because I always felt like a financial burden to my parents. I remember going to Miller’s Outpost and picking out typical 80’s clothes (OP, TnC, etc.).

It’s funny how growing up poor affects my everyday choices, for better or worse. I’ll never outgrow some of the feelings I had as a poor kid and I feel for any kid who has to endure a childhood of poverty.

It will affect them and their choices for the rest of their life.”

3. The good stuff.

“Honestly, I didn’t know that Pasta Roni was $1 until I was a grown man. I thought that was some gourmet sh*t.”

4. Going hungry.

“Having breakfast.

It’s gotten to the point where I can’t eat in the morning because my body is so used to waiting.”

5. No movies.

“Going to the movie theater!

I saw a grand total of, like, three movies at the theater when I was in high school. My classmates would be discussing movies that had just come out and I never knew what to contribute to the conversation because I had not seen them yet.

Finally started seeing movies at the theater when I started earning my own money.

We weren’t really poor, it’s just that most of the money went towards our education, basic necessities, and luxuries like an internet connection. Pretty middle class, but I guess there’s a huge difference between first world middle class and third world middle class, ahaha!

It also wasn’t very common for high schoolers to hold part time jobs, although I’m not sure now?”

6. Instruments.

“I don’t know if anyone can relate, but in about 3rd maybe 4th grade, me and my twin brother had a music class where we were both required to buy a recorder, like a plastic flute thing.

Well my mom said we didn’t have the money so my twin brother and I tore the whole house up in search of $6 for two recorders. We brought a ziploc bag full of change pennies, nickels, dimes etc.

I think the teacher felt sorry for us, cause she paid for our recorders when the rest of the students left the room. Gave us the ziploc bag back.

Thank you Mrs. Albrecht.”

7. Brand name.

“Brand name cereal was for the upper class, man.

Every time I saw Reeses Puffs on top of the fridge, I knew tomorrow was gonna be a good day.”

8. Wow.

“Grew up pretty poor in Arkansas in a trailer.

I literally got a door to my bedroom for Christmas one year.

It probably still was the best gift I ever received.”

9. Scraping by.

“In middle school I was on reduced school meals so it would be .40 for lunch.

So my parents would always give me 2 quarters every morning for lunch, now the cafeteria would also sell cookies which wasn’t part of the lunch set for .50 each.

So saving .10 each day I could afford one cookie by Fridays lunch. Good times.”

10. Trying to stay warm.

“A new winter coat.

I don’t remember having a new winter coat until I was probably 14 or 15, they had always been hand-me-downs from my cousins.

They were usually at least ten years old by the time I got them and the stuffing would be all clumped up.”

11. Sad.

“School parties where everyone brought something to share for lunch.

“If you don’t bring something, you don’t get to participate…”

I brought two carrots after not being able to afford school lunch for two years. Even the teacher laughed at me.

My young self just decided that day that some people don’t deserve lunch.”

12. Hiding.

“Staying at someone’s house who wasn’t poor, like a relative or friend.

Their house was also so clean, beautiful, pictures on the wall, knick knacks on the counter, and carpet you could play on because it was clean.

I spent my entire teenage years hiding where I lived.”

How about you?

Did you grow up poor?

Whatever the case, we want to hear from you.

In the comments, tell us what you considered a luxury when you were growing up.

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People Who Grew up Poor, What Did You Consider a Luxury? Here’s What People Said.

It’s interesting how our childhoods affect us for the rest of our lives.

I remember a friend once told me that their grandmother used to save pretty much everything that could be reused or repurposed around her house. And I do mean EVERYTHING.

The reason was that she grew up during the Great Depression and those hard lessons stayed with her throughout her whole life.

Folks who grew up poor, what did you consider to be a luxury?

Here’s what people on AskReddit had to say.

1. No vacations.

“Going places during school vacation.

The kids would be all like “what!? you’ve never been to XYZ amusement park!?”

No, Trisha. My family doesn’t even have a car.”

Which is another luxury to me.”

2. None of that!

“Being allowed to turn on the heat during the winter.

And also being able to hire a professional to fix broken appliances, plumbing, etc.”

3. A big treat.

“My Mom had 7 children in 10 years, 1950-1960.

I remember having a whole bottle (those smallish glass ones that came out of the machine for 10cents) of soft drink to my self instead of sharing 1 bottle between all 7 of us.

I was perhaps 5 years old. I still remember this as the best thing ever.”

4. New clothes.

“I wore hand-me-downs or thrift shop clothes because we couldn’t afford all new ones. At the beginning of the school year, my mom would give my siblings and I $50 to spend on new clothes plus we’d get a new pair of gym shoes.

I struggled to pick out new things because I knew she and my dad were giving up something for us to have new things. Often, I’d get a couple of things and ask her to save the rest for later, then I’d pick out the cheapest shoes I could.

Even now, buying clothes for myself is super stressful and I only buy when it’s on clearance or at Goodwill.”

5. A big moment.

“I almost never even had winter coats since all my older siblings were female. I would just wear a decent hoodie over a ton of layers of old clothes.

When I got my first new coat, I experienced warmth like I had never felt before and it was so amazing.”

6. You gotta see…

“I remember in 8th grade on my birthday at school one of my teachers asked me what gifts I had received. He asked in front of the whole class, I excitedly shared that I would be getting contact lenses.

My parents let me choose one thing that I wanted and I desperately wanted to stop wearing the broken glasses I had, which I usually didn’t wear. One of the boys in class made a comment like “contacts aren’t a present..?”

And my teacher had to explain to him- again in front of everyone- that for some families they were too expensive not to be a luxury. After that experience I worked two and three jobs in high school so I could buy myself and my brothers the things we needed.

The first thing I bought with my money from my first job as a hostess at a diner was a queen size bed because my twin mattress was about 20 years old and at 15 I was having back problems and issues with rusted springs poking me.”

7. Keepin’ cool.

“Air conditioning.

Sometimes we had a jacked up old window unit that would cool down my parents room on the hottest of summer nights and we would sleep in sleeping bags on their floor.

Sometimes it was broke.

Sometimes it just wasn’t hot enough to justify running it.

Never during the day though, that’s what the library was for.”

8. Bathing.

“Taking a bath.

We bathed every night, but it was by heating up water (that we would go to the park down the road to get in 5 gallon jugs) and filling up a mop bucket to wash off with.

Staying over at a friend or family members house and getting to take an actual shower was amazing though.”

9. Dinner is served.

“It’s a long time ago – but when I was young (about 6-8 years old) back in the early 1960’s we had meat once a week for the family dinner – on Sundays.”

10. On sale.

“Until the age of 12, I thought that you weren’t allowed to buy things that weren’t on sale.

My mom only bought things when they were on sale and/or she had a coupon, so I thought that the “non-sale” items weren’t being sold.”

11. Always working.

“Parents helping out with homework and school projects.

They can’t do that if they always work 3rd shift.

My projects were always notably worse than everyone else’s.”

12. Movie night.

“Renting a movie from blockbuster the first weekend of every month.

My brother and I got to pick any movie we wanted as long as it wasn’t rated R.

On really special nights, we even got a 2-liter bottle of Sprite for the family to share.”

13. Best night ever.

“KFC take out was the best night of the year growing up.

Only got it once a year but man was it the best night ever”

How about you?

What did you consider a luxury when you were growing up?

Talk to us in the comments. Thanks!

The post People Who Grew up Poor, What Did You Consider a Luxury? Here’s What People Said. appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Discuss the Worst Financial Decisions They’ve Seen Folks Make

I hate these kinds of stories.

I’m talking about the ones where people blow all their hard-earned money either through a scam, recklessness, or just plain bad luck. And, sadly, it happens all the time.

AskReddit users talked about the worst financial decisions they’ve ever seen.

1. Ouch!

“A private company announced a special dividend to all shareholders as of date of record one-month in the future. $1.30/share dividend.

There was an option holder with 300,000 options at a $0.10 strike price.

He did not exercise them. Had he exercised his options for $30,000, he would have been paid $390,000 the following month.”

2. Some people…

“I used to work for a company with an actuarial Department. There was a lovely young woman working in the call center with a masters degree in data science.

She was constantly talking about how frustrated she was with making $16/hour in a call center when she had a masters degree in data science, yet no matter how many times I told her to apply to the actuarial team she wouldn’t do so. The actuarial team was HUGE about promoting within.

I saw many people who wanted to learn more about what they do who had no experience whatsoever get excepted into the team because they wanted to learn. This girl was a shoo-in. And yet she never even tried despite the fact that there were always openings.

She also shared with me that she was $180k in debt for that master’s degree. Last time I checked in with her she had left the job completely and is now in school for art. (Insert facepalm emoji here.)

But my favorite was before I was even an accountant. I worked for a small CPA firm as a receptionist during tax time. I saw a full-grown woman sit down on the floor and start crying because she owed $900 in taxes that year when she had made about $150k that year.

I rolled my eyes so hard that I hurt myself. Later that day I had a guy who owed $750k to the IRS and said “woohoo! That’s way less than last year!””

3. Sad stories.

“The client who joined an MLM and racked up half a million dollars worth of losses before finally listening to us and quitting.

The client who spent $40k on Farmville over 3 months.

The clients who give their adult children allowances that exceed my salary, fancy cars, and houses without expecting them to ever hold down a job themselves.”

4. Bad idea, sir.

“Watched a client walk out of my office after I explained the risk in liquidating his 401K to start his own business.

He started it with no management experience or business model, real “fly by the seat of his pants” kinda guy. Wanted to start a career flipping houses in a college town, turn them into upscale rentals.

Did it in a bad neighborhood and lost EVERYTHING.”

5. Oops!

“My brother had a long standing client of around 10 years get married after only knowing a woman for 12 months. He was almost 55, she was in her early 30s.

55 y.o. man wanted to add her as a signatory on his retirement account. Basically giving her 100% power over the account. A quick soft credit check showed she was not good with money.

My brother offered up many different options as to how to give her access to the money but with limitations. He even straight up refused to do it, saying that he needed to think about it for a few days.

The guy came back in the next morning saying he would file a complaint against him if he didn’t set it up. My brother said that he would need to get the documents notarized, and sign a waiver that this is against the institutions advice.

The guy comes back in later that day and finalizes the deal.

You can guess what happened within about 6 months.

The account had around 600k in it to begin with, and she had managed to run off with about 65k before the account was frozen by my brother for review of withdrawls.

The man was f*ckin p*ssed and tried to lawyer up twice. Neither time did it even go to court.

His advice is that if you are married and have investment accounts, just keep them separate unless you REALLY have a reason to give them access.

You can totally notify the agency about your marriage, and sometimes in certain situations the spouse can get limited info confirmed for medical bills and such.”

6. Terrible decisions.

“Making over $250k (sometimes WELL over), no withholding, not paying estimated taxes throughout the year, can’t afford the tax bill with the return EVERY YEAR, then b*tching because they can’t afford the installment payments on the taxes they owe from two years ago.

Sell your gaudy McMansion, take your teenage daughter’s credit card away, let your drunk driving son stay in jail and get a public defender, and tell your b*tch wife to stop spending all day at the tennis courts sipping mimosas.

Get your sh*t together and pay taxes throughout the year like the rest of us. You aren’t being persecuted by the IRS, you’re just an idiot.”

7. Wow.

“I work for a bank. One of our branches had a customer who was basically homeless. Then, he wins the lottery!

Over the next few months, the staff watched him come in to withdraw thousands of dollars every day to spend on extravagances. Everyone tried to convince him to sit with a financial advisor to help him make the most of his money.

Less than a year later, he’s in slightly better shape than when he started; he’s at least able to live in the car he bought.”

8. Come on!

“I’ve had a client where I noticed this guy’s credit debt always remained hovering $13k to $15k… I asked him why he only makes minimum payments on his credit card instead of paying it off, because I see he has roughly $11k sitting in a bank account.

Interest per month on that credit card bill is roughly $250, and according to his repayment patterns it will take him roughly 19 years to pay it all off.

His answer to me is the bank charges him $7.99 per month for his bank account if his balance dips below $10k… So to save the $7.99 per month this guy is paying $250 in interest on his credit card.”

9. Gotta do your research.

“What I’ve seen, countless times, is someone who started a business with ZERO research, no understanding of what running a business involves. (Here’s a hint: practically every business involves paperwork and deadlines.).

The business models come in waves… for a while it was Barbecue shacks, then it was cupcakes, then house flippers, then food trucks. I think they see it being done on TV shows that make it look fun. It isn’t fun when they come to me with debt, tax levies and lawsuits. IRS and state labor department and health department on their backs, and suppliers taking them to court for unpaid bills.

Some of them cashed out their retirement account to buy a business; others put their house up as collateral for an SBA loan. it’s a nightmare. If they had come to an accountant first, we might be able to help them (or even better, dissuade then).

I usually see them after 18-24 months of screwups and by then it’s usually too late to rescue them.”

10. Those fees add up.

“I’m a banker. Banks charge fees for using other bank’s ATMs.

I had a customer that would check his balance and then do withdrawals daily at a foreign ATM. Guy did not have a lot of money to begin with and because he did this, would overdraw his account and get slapped with an overdraft fee which put him in the hole further.

We ended up taking away his ability to overdraw his account. Dude was p*ssed but it helped right the ship a little.”

11. All gone.

“Bank advisor here, a customer got an inheritance, about 200.000€, and just spent in like 2 years, not investing it or putting into a savings account.

Didn’t even buy something big like a car our part of a house, just spent too much every month for two years and it was gone”

12. The car game.

“Claims Adjuster here, and I see it happen all too often – trading in vehicles with negative equity.

Why? Why can’t you be financially responsible and pay off your vehicle instead of rolling the leftover loan onto that new shiny machine you just can’t resist, and rinse/repeat a couple of years later. Your loan is just getting bigger and bigger.

I had one client (recent, otherwise I had more than that) – who totaled his vehicle. He blew past a stop sign and collided with another vehicle. Guess what friend, out of that $70,000 you still owe to the bank because you’ve traded in 4,5 vehicles over the years – we are only covering you for what your current vehicle is worth today, around $25,000 or whatever it was .

Depreciation applies unless you have the proper endorsement in place. That means you will be paying the bank for the leftover loans of some vehicles, none of which you own.

Own one vehicle, one loan – if you ever totaled your vehicle, insurance will provide you enough to cover the loan. If it doesn’t quite cover it because of high interest, it sure as hell isn’t a $45k loan left.”

13. Listen to your accountant.

“Best friend is a CPA, and when he had his own practice, he had some pretty big-name clients (Senators, musicians, pro athletes, etc.).

One of the biggest mistakes people made were thinking they were smarter than an accountant. His biggest challenge were the people who heard about the “sovereign citizen” nonsense. To no one’s surprise, a random guy on YouTube doesn’t know more than an actual CPA with 40+ years experience.

At least a few of these new-found “sovereign citizens” ended up doing time for tax evasion.”

Have you ever seen someone make a really terrible financial decision?

If so, please tell us about it in the comments.

We’d love to hear from you!

The post People Discuss the Worst Financial Decisions They’ve Seen Folks Make appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Discuss the Really Bad Financial Decisions They Seen Folks Make

It’s really hard to see people go through very difficult times because of bad financial decisions that they’ve made in their lives.

And, as you probably know, it happens to quite a few people.

So what’s the worst financial decision you’ve seen someone make?

Let’s check out some interesting stories from folks on AskReddit.

1. Irresponsible.

“People who make over $250k (sometimes WELL over), no withholding, not paying estimated taxes throughout the year, can’t afford the tax bill with the return EVERY YEAR, then b*tching because they can’t afford the installment payments on the taxes they owe from two years ago.

Motherfu*ker, sell your gaudy McMansion, take your teenage daughter’s credit card away, let your drunk driving son stay in jail and get a public defender, and tell your wife to stop spending all day at the tennis courts sipping mimosas.

Get your sh*t together and pay taxes throughout the year like the rest of us. You aren’t being persecuted by the IRS, you’re just an idiot.”

2. Sad.

“I work for a bank.

One of our branches had a customer who was basically homeless. Then, he wins the lottery! Over the next few months, the staff watched him come in to withdraw thousands of dollars every day to spend on extravagances.

Everyone tried to convince him to sit with a financial advisor to help him make the most of his money. Less than a year later, he’s in slightly better shape than when he started; he’s at least able to live in the car he bought.”

3. Yowza.

“I’ve had a client where I noticed this guy’s credit debt always remained hovering $13k to $15k.

I asked him why he only makes minimum payments on his credit card instead of paying it off, because I see he has roughly $11k sitting in a bank account. Interest per month on that credit card bill is roughly $250, and according to his repayment patterns it will take him roughly 19 years to pay it all off.

His answer to me is the bank charges him $7.99 per month for his bank account if his balance dips below $10k… So to save the $7.99 per month this guy is paying $250 in interest on his credit card.”

4. Do your research.

“What I’ve seen, countless times, is someone who started a business with ZERO research, no understanding of what running a business involves. (Here’s a hint: practically every business involves paperwork and deadlines.).

The business models come in waves… for awhile it was Barbecue shacks, then it was cupcakes, then house flippers, then food trucks. I think they see it being done on TV shows that make it look fun. It isn’t fun when they come to me with debt, tax levies and lawsuits.

IRS and state labor department and health department on their backs, and suppliers taking them to court for unpaid bills. Some of them cashed out their retirement account to buy a business; others put their house up as collateral for an SBA loan. it’s a nightmare.

If they had come to an accountant first, we might be able to help them (or even better, dissuade then). I usually see them after 18-24 months of screwups and by then it’s usually too late to rescue them.”

5. Uh oh.

“An older gentleman came in worrying about a ton of overdraft fees on his 18 year old sons account. The fees added up to a hefty amount and he was worried that the charges were fraudulent.

Upon looking at the account history, every recent purchase was to OnlyFans. The fees were happily waived and no detail was given as to what OnlyFans is, as the kids old man clearly didn’t know.

I think about that kid often. I wonder how he’s doing.”

6. Car problems.

“Claims Adjuster here, and I see it happen all too often – trading in vehicles with negative equity.

Why? Why can’t you be financially responsible and pay off your vehicle instead of rolling the leftover loan onto that new shiny machine you just can’t resist, and rinse/repeat a couple of years later. Your loan is just getting bigger and bigger.

I had one client (recent, otherwise I had more than that) – who totaled his vehicle. He blew pass a stop sign and collided with another vehicle. Guess what friend, out of that $70,000 you still owe to the bank because you’ve traded in 4,5 vehicles over the years – we are only covering you for what your current vehicle is worth today, around $25,000 or whatever it was – depreciation applies unless you have the proper endorsement in place. That means you will be paying the bank for the leftover loans of some vehicles, none of which you own.

Own one vehicle, one loan – if you ever totaled your vehicle, insurance will provide you enough to cover the loan. If it doesn’t quite cover it because of high interest, it sure as hell isn’t a $45k loan left.”

7. Bummer.

“I had my former boss decide it was a great idea to buy land in Texas, our company was based in PA, in the middle of nowhere because he talked to another business owner who told him it was going to take off.

Myself and my co-worker advised against it but things were slow and he didn’t listen. At first it was going to be a place of operations but then he decided we would just rent out rooms to the people who worked down there in the oil industry. Dumped loads of money, time, and blood, sweat, and tears into it for it to just go bust not even a year later.”

8. Play nice.

“Worked in a family law firm.

Way too common of an occurrence is a client ignoring the lawyers advice for a balanced separation agreement and instead ambushing their spouse with an agreement that says they are getting everything.

Now instead of a relatively amicable breakup and maybe some mediation to sort out some sticking points it’s tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation costs.

If you are going through a divorce play nice. The only ones that win in a bad divorce are the lawyers.”

9. Hmmmm…

“I audit larger companies so I don’t work with individuals. However, my friend’s dad mentioned that he pays 3.5% annually in advisor fees to his financial advisor, and that’s not even including the fees that the mutual funds he’s invested in are charging him.

So annually, he’s paying out in the ballpark of 4.5% of his portfolio. That’s right, every freaking year. I tried to explain to him that these fees are potentially costing him millions more than a reasonably priced advisor who recommends low-cost mutual funds would charge him throughout a life time. He just kind of shrugged and told me that he felt comfortable with the guy.”

10. Time to mitigate the damage.

“A 94 year old woman withdrew a $540,000 annuity that she THOUGHT was a TAX FREE life insurance policy. She owed the IRS over $90,000 and the State of Michigan $14,000.

When I explained it was an annuity and not a life insurance policy she panicked. What was done was done and we just had to mitigate the damage.”

11. That’s not good.

“The parents of a young woman bought her a condo. They paid cash so she wouldn’t have a mortgage. She sold it so she’d have party money.

Not only did she no longer have a place to live, she owed taxes on the gain. But she’d already spent the proceeds so didn’t have money to pay the taxes.

Oh, and she didn’t have a job because it would interfere with her partying schedule.”

12. Family drama.

“Grandma pulls 50k to help grandson pay off college debt. He blows all the money, steals another 10k from her.

She won’t file police report because “they are family”, daughter steps in, grandma is furious with daughter for telling police what happened. Grandma takes daughter off as beneficiary, replaces her with grandson.”

13. “Still haunts me…”

“I’ve seen plenty that made me cringe, but the worst one wasn’t because there was a lot of money involved.

So I’m working at this bank branch years ago, I was tired of being stuck in the drive thru so I made a lateral move to be a floating teller among other things. But occasionally I’d have to fill in at the old branch, which sucked because the manager there hated me.

Anyway, during my time there I became acquainted with an older gentleman, he was a world War II vet and was always wearing his navy vet cap. I talked to him every time I saw him and he was always really nice, had a great sense of humor, and even in old age he was still mentally sharp.

So this one day I’m filling in at the branch covering for the new accounts person. This guy walks in and I immediately knew something was off. I greeted him and asked how I could help him, and what he said broke my heart. He told me that he wanted his daughter off of his account, that she had been taking advantage of him and his money was being wasted.

I did my due diligence and brought up some history and asked him about specific charges, I remember there were a bunch for a couple of salons, so clearly those weren’t his transactions. The last few times I had seen him, there was a younger woman with him that I hadn’t seen before, and he was pulling out cash and giving it to her.

It dawned on me that each time I had seen him, he was there with someone else that did all his stuff for him, and that this time he had come in alone, which never happened.

So while looking at his account I noticed that his daughter is an owner on the account, meaning he can’t just remove her, she has to consent to it. When I asked him if he thought she would agree to that, he said no and started crying.

Normally we weren’t supposed to keep pushing a situation like this, but I really wanted to help him. I told him I couldn’t get her off the account, but I could open him a new one where he would be the only one on it, and then we could transfer the money over.

I could tell he was relieved when I said that to him, so after a few minutes I took care of everything for him. I specifically remember that after I finished, I gave him my business card, and told him that if he had any issues he could call me. A few minutes later he left happy, and I briefed the manager on what had happened.

A day or two later I’m working at another location when I get a call on my cell from my boss, she asked me if I had helped an older gentleman with his account when I was at my old branch. It turns out that after I had helped him, his “daughter” had tried to use the account to pay for more of the sh*t she was wasting his money on, and the card was declined.

She had gone into the branch and raised hell, screaming at the employees there and demanding they bring her the person responsible. The business card that I had given the man didn’t have my direct number on it, the number went to my boss. She had screamed at my boss and demanded that I be fired for what I had done.

My boss as well as the branch manager that hated my guts had both defended me and neither of them would give in to her demands. But I found out later on the next time I saw my boss, she had forced the old man to either move all the money back to the old account or to make her an owner on the new one. When anyone asked her about the situation, she just claimed that he had dementia and didn’t know what he was doing.

I honestly hope she was telling the truth, but I never saw that man again, and had moved into another role and then to a different company not long after. I went to anyone that would listen about what happened, but no one could do anything because elder abuse is so difficult to prove.

The whole thing still haunts me, I saw an old man asking me for help and did the best I could for him. In the end he either made the decision to keep her around or was forced to, and I worry I just made things worse for him.”

14. Wow.

“My brother had a long standing client of around 10 years get married after only knowing a woman for 12 months. He was almost 55, she was in her early 30s.

55 y.o. man wanted to add her as a signatory on his retirement account. Basically giving her 100% power over the account. A quick soft credit check showed she was not good with money. My brother offered up many different options as to how to give her access to the money but with limitations. He even straight up refused to do it, saying that he needed to think about it for a few days.

The guy came back in the next morning saying he would file a complaint against him if he didn’t set it up. My brother said that he would need to get the documents notarized, and sign a waiver that this is against the institutions advice.

The guy comes back in later that day and finalizes the deal.

You can guess what happened within about 6 months.

The account had around 600k in it to begin with, and she had managed to run off with about 65k before the account was frozen by my brother for review of withdrawls.

The man was p*ssed and tried to lawyer up twice. Neither time did it even go to court.

His advice is that if you are married and have investment accounts, just keep them separate unless you REALLY have a reason to give them access. You can totally notify the agency about your marriage, and sometimes in certain situations the spouse can get limited info confirmed for medical bills and such.”

How about you?

What’s the worst financial decision you’ve ever seen someone make?

Tell us your stories in the comments! Please and thank you!

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People Discuss the Worst Financial Decisions They’ve Ever Seen

Have you ever made a terrible financial decision that affected your life in an extremely negative way?

Unfortunately, this happens to a lot of good folks out there who made a bad money decision for one reason or another…and the aftermath can be pretty ugly.

Here are some stories about really bad financial decisions from people on AskReddit.

1. You gotta pay your taxes.

“Had a client who was extremely wealthy about eight years ago tell us he was no longer going to use our services. Last year we get an extremely angry phone call from his wife asking us why we haven’t been filing their taxes.

We showed her the paperwork where her husband said he was no longer going to use our services. And then sh*t hit the fan. This dude apparently just decided he wasn’t going to pay taxes anymore and didn’t file a return for eight years and had been lying to his wife.

They were rich and owed almost 1.4 million dollars in taxes not including interest and penalties. And oh yeah they got absolutely fried by the IRS. If you are in a relationship with someone you need to be involved in financial decisions.

Never let one party handle all of the money and make all of the decisions. That is how bad things happen in both business and in relationships.”

2. Start-up.

“Saw a guy invest about 600k in a start-up. He confirmed in the 1.5 pages agreement that he was fully informed about everything going on.

Please if you invest in that size, ask a lawyer to at least review the agreement.”

3. Didn’t take your advice.

“I had one client that had the money to pay for his kids college without taking out any loans. Instead, he decided to take out a loan on his house to pay for college in order to claim a deduction on his tax return.

When I explained to him that the benefits he’ll get from claiming the interest deduction on his return would not outweigh the amount he spends on interest he was certain I was wrong, even after I showed him the total amount of interest he’d pay and compared that to the expected tax benefit he’d receive for it.”

4. Big winner.

“I had 1 client that won the lottery. It was a $10,000/month annuity FOR LIFE, give or take. Pretty sweet deal, right?

Well, he never went and claimed the prize because he didn’t want to pay the taxes. I told him f*ck the taxes, he can retire and never work another day in his life while still earning $120k/year. Nope, he’d have to pay the taxes so he didn’t go claim the prize. I think he even threw the ticket out.

Dude makes like $60k/year and he turned down the lotto winnings. Like, if you’re not going to claim the winnings because you’re THAT against paying any sort of taxes why bother playing the lottery at all?”

5. A bad move.

“I had a client in her 70s put her whole savings in Tilray stock.

At the time it was trading above 150 per share. I told her it was a terrible idea to put all of her savings in one investment but she told me I was wrong. She argued with me for a good 15 minutes until I relented and said okay, it’s your money. So she put 300k in.

Couple weeks later it starts dropping, I call her and get no answer. It’s sitting at 6 dollars a share now, her account is down to about 12k. Last time I spoke with her I took no pleasure in telling her she’s no longer my client.”

6. He was warned…

“A client who tried to time the market with the coronavirus drop back in March.

He was 55 and had a 7 figure amount in his 401(k) and was 90:10 equity:bonds. His plan was to time the market by shifting his entire allocation to a money market/ bonds, wait for the market to drop more, and then shift back into equity.

This was at the end of March. I tried to warn him. He didn’t answer my subsequent calls.”

7. Credit card hell.

“I’ve had SO MANY people with credit card debt who talk about investing/ saving for a big purchase, but they have 5 figures of 20%+ credit card debt. “I’d rather focus on investments for this call” well you’re gonna get 10% in the market if its a decent year and you’re paying 26% in interest so you’re losing money.

You have a 50% debt to income ratio, you can’t get a mortgage. Yes, I know the kids really wanted a pool this year, but you have $50,000 of CC debt to pay down before it makes sense for you to start saving for their college. 90% of the time they seem irritated and ghost me because I don’t have some magic solution to make their credit card debt disappear.”

8. No understanding.

“I had a client who wanted to know how to give away her 401k because her and her husband’s pensions were already enough for their lifestyle and she didn’t want to be in a higher tax bracket.

She was in her 60s, worth millions, and did not understand how marginal tax brackets work. Or even basic math. She wasn’t looking to get a deduction through gifting stock.

She (clearly) was nowhere near that level of understanding taxes. She just spent her entire life working hard and being extremely frugal, which led to her being a millionaire who lacked a basic understanding of money. Not really a bad decision but I found it really interesting.”

9. A scam.

“Former manager at a credit union.

One seemingly smart lady in her 70s got one of those lottery scam letters saying she won, but needed to send them money to process her winnings. They kept getting her to send more and more money. We were telling her it was a scam from day 1, but we couldn’t stop her.

She burned through her IRA which had about 200k. Took out a loan against her paid off house for another 200k. Sold her jewelry. Probably paid out 500k total before finally realizing.

We truly did everything we could. Got her family involved. Several of us would confront her every time she came in and would plead with her to stop.

It was sad but at some point you have to cut your losses and realize it’s a scam.”

10. Listen to your accountants, people.

“Best friend is a CPA, and when he had his own practice, he had some pretty big-name clients (Senators, musicians, pro athletes, etc.)

One of the biggest mistakes people made were thinking they were smarter than an accountant. His biggest challenge were the people who heard about the “sovereign citizen” nonsense. To no one’s surprise, a random guy on YouTube doesn’t know more than an actual CPA with 40+ years experience.

At least a few of these new-found “sovereign citizens” ended up doing time for tax evasion.”

11. Lost everything.

“Watched a client walk out of my office after I explained the risk in liquidating his 401K to start his own business.

He started it with no management experience or business model, real “fly by the seat of his pants” kinda guy. Wanted to start a career flipping houses in a college town, turn them into upscale rentals. Did it in a bad neighborhood and lost EVERYTHING.”

12. Gold coins.

“I had a client Buy numismatic gold coins with an entire retirement account. She bought 266k worth of coins at almost double the price of bullion.

I got the gold salesman on the phone and asked him to justify the reasoning and I he said it was because the dollar was paper money and worth nothing and that gold was going to go to 10000 a coin. I asked him what he exchanged this gold for and he said “well she paid me dollars”.

Then I said “why would you accept a worthless currency for your rapidly appreciating gold currency?” He cursed at me and hung up and said I didn’t know what I was talking about.

I still haven’t met a gold salesman that can answer this. Their whole pitch is that the dollar isn’t worth anything but they happily take them in exchange for gold coins. The whole thing is sh*t. Poor lady. She can’t sell them now even with gold bullion as high as it is for anything close to what she bought them for.”

13. A shame.

“Former bank teller here.

Had an older gentleman who would typically only come in once a month and pull out a few hundred dollars for living expenses, nice old guy btw. One month he comes in twice in two weeks and pulls out $5k which was bizarre for him. When he came in the third week in a row I planned on asking him if he was remodeling his home or something but I didn’t have to.

He came in to get another $5k out and told me he had won the lottery but had to pay the taxes on his winnings, some of you already know what’s going on. He had received a letter that he won around $3mil from the Kentucky state lotto, we were in Florida, but before he could claim it he had to pay the taxes on it. His account was setup that you could only withdraw $5k a week hence him coming every week.

I tried to explain to him that he was being scammed and to stop sending them money. He was no longer a nice old man when I said that. He accused me of being jealous of his winnings and that “he’d show me” when he deposited his millions in a different bank, then he left. I talked to my manager who then talked to the cops and they said there wasn’t much they could do since it was out of state.

His family even contacted us and begged us not to give him anymore of his money when they found out what was going on, which we cannot legally do. The only thing we could do was close his account because we didn’t want to have any responsibility in his downfall. He came in the following week, manager explained what was going to happen, and he left with a cashier’s check after quite a few more expletives.

Found out a few months after that the scammers got another $50k out of him before his family was able to get power of attorney and control over his finances. Not sure what happened to him after that but it’s a d*mn shame.”

Now we’d like to hear your stories.

What’s the worst financial decision that you’ve seen someone make?

Talk to us in the comments!

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People Share Examples of Wealthy People Being Out of Touch

The world puts wealthy people up on a pedestal because people assume that if you have a lot of money, your life is perfect and you have no problems.

Of course, most of us know that isn’t really true. I personally think one of the weirdest parts about dealing with really wealthy folks is that they seem to be out of touch about a whole lot of things that us normal people deal with every day.

Like how much stuff costs…

What’s the most out of touch thing you’ve witnessed from a wealthy person?

Here’s what folks on AskReddit had to say about this.

1. Well, that was nice.

“I work at a veterinary hospital in a fairly wealthy area.

Once had a client hand me a $50 for a $9 nail trim on her dog.

I told her the price and she just shrugged, told me to keep the change and said that would be my lunch money for the week.”

2. Easy money.

“I once got asked to watch my buddy’s mom’s dog. Cute Pomeranian, super well behaved.

I was stoked to watch the little dude. She messaged me and told me where the garage key was and that she left a couple hundred dollars on the table for me. A couple hundred!? I showed up at noon and took the money and the dog and went into town.

Took him to the dog park, then the beach, and then we kicked it and napped for a couple hours. Dropped him off around 6pm. It was the easiest $200 I’ve ever made.”

3. That cedar smell.

“I grew up in a very well-to-do suburb and there was a family that would buy cedar clothes hangers for their closets.

But then once the cedar smell “wore off” after a month or so, they’d buy new ones and take the old ones to Goodwill. Apparently just lightly sanding them to refresh the scent was too much trouble.”

4. How much is that?

“I was flying a private jet and the caterers forgot the owner’s sandwich.

He graciously said “no big deal” and I replied that I’d call when we landed because they charged us $100 for it.

He said “Is that a lot? How much does a sandwich normally cost?”

5. What’s this thing?

“Had a client who dealt with one of America’s richest men back in the late 1990s.

He took him out for a night on the town and had to stop at an ATM.

The rich guy had never seen one, his staff just got him cash when he needed it. It’s a different life.”

6. Ummmm. No.

“I got a new job slightly above minimum wage and my girlfriend’s dad got excited for me and told me I could afford a new Tesla now.

Spoiler: I cannot.”

7. Time to up sell.

“There was an obscenely rich kid that I went to high school with.

At lunch one day, he thought his friend’s peanut butter and jelly sandwich looked good so he offered him $20 for it.

For the rest of the school year, the friend brought two sandwiches to lunch every day and gave the rich kid one for $20.”

8. Never even been to one.

“I worked for 1 family as the general family personal assistant for a long time. These people are wealthy. Like drop $1M in cash on an oceanfront condo wealthy.

The husband gave me $150 cash to go to the grocery store to buy a 12 pack of water and 6 $1 yogurts.

I don’t think he’s even stepped foot in a grocery store before.”

9. An expensive burrito.

“When I was a cashier at Chipotle, I had a woman misunderstand the price of a burrito.

She heard me say “that’ll be seven-twenty-eight” and without any hesitation, counted out eight $100 bills from a wad of cash that must have been several thousand dollars. We had a good laugh when she realized her mistake.

She was carrying a suitcase and had a thick accent so I think it may have been her first cash transaction in the US and she was just so rich that it didn’t occur to her that $800 was a sh*tload of money to spend on a burrito.”

10. A cheap one.

“I repair bathtubs and showers. I’ve been in poor homes, middle class homes, wealthy homes and super mansions.

So we were at this mansion, the kind where there’s a tennis court and pool in the back yard. The kind where the foyer and first room of the house had 16×16 black granite tile with subfloor heating. Just this magnificent house with it’s 3 car garage, but in the garage there were three lifts to literally stack their vehicles. These f*ckers were loaded.

They are “updating” the house to sell so they can move back to North Jersey. They replaced the soaking unit in the master. The granite in that bathroom was absolutely breathtaking. It was blue, and under a certain light sparkled like there were lights built into it.

The deck was cracked at the caulk line. So we’re in there fixing it, being as anal and meticulous as possible bc we know we’re in probably the most expensive house ever. The wife comes in to chat with us and basically states that they just got the same kind of soaker as before bc it’s the only thing that fit in the spot. Eventually she says something like

“It’s okay though, it was only $8,000.”

If I was drinking something, I’d have choked on it. She said it like the tub was a piece of sh*t that she settled for bc it was cheap. $8,000 was a drop in the bucket.”

11. Exchange student.

“My sister and I, both Latin American, befriended a Chinese girl in college. We always helped her in studying and with her English.

Turns out her dad was some billionaire in China who owned a Chemical producing company. She drove an expensive Audi and for the longest, up until 2 years ago, I was freeloading off the Chegg account she opened up for me. That account was paid for about 3 years.

Whenever she’d invite us to go eat, the bills were super expensive, like $300+ for just 3 people, but she played it off like they were nothing. I had never once eaten a single meal over $40 per plate until we ate with her.

She’d always take us Starbucks, food and on a couple occasions bought us books for school. At one point we went shopping with her. She wanted a laptop, she was gonna buy me one too but I felt too guilty to accept it. Laptop was $3,000 (some Apple laptop), I felt like it was too much.

She was really cool and treated my sister like her sister. She was living alone and didn’t know many people. We were always friendly with classmates and that’s how she got to know us. My sister and I are from low income families. The money that was spent around her was ridiculous!

Like $300-$400+ per lunch almost every day, that was around my weekly pay back then. Really miss her though, she was funny to be around with and always wanted to learn more about the US, always insisted we go out with her to movies, shopping or dining and teach her about our culture.

Have not heard from her in 3 years. She went back to China and we never saw her on campus again.”

12. Thank you!

“I sold hash to a business partner of my dad’s when I was in college. I had a variety and it was the only drug he enjoyed. He obliquely asked me to bring it over to him – no discussion of what or how much.

I biked over to his (very nice) place and he had a coffee and a chat, and I simply handed it to him and was getting ready to leave, thinking maybe he’d have my dad pay me?? Nope, as I left there was an envelope on next to the rear entrance.

It contained $500. For like $80 of hash. He would repeat this several times. He just needed a source he could trust and not raise eyebrows.

When my dad passed he helped manage the estate and we had an implicit mutual trust that made things go much easier.”

13. Hmmmm.

“My partner has a cousin whose family is very well off and has always provided everything for him.

When he was 18 and first dealing with managing his own bank account, he once didn’t understand that he had overdrawn his account because he though the negative sign in front of the balance was “a decorative dash.””

14. Kinda clueless.

“Had a roommate in college who was pretty well off. I was pretty much putting myself through school, and was almost always broke.

One day we went by the ATM that dispensed in $5 increments (yeah, I made d*mn sure I knew where those were!) Anyway, turns out I had less than $5 in the bank, so looked at my buddy and said, “well, looks like no beer for me tonight.”

He literally looked at me and said “well, just take it out of your other account.” I just stared at him and asked what he meant. Turns out he legit thought that everybody had a second account their parents kept filled with “emergency” money!

He did buy beer that night though, so he was a good guy. Just kinda clueless.”

How about you?

Who are the most out of touch rich person you’ve ever encountered in your life?

Tell us your stories in the comments!

The post People Share Examples of Wealthy People Being Out of Touch appeared first on UberFacts.