Fools and their money.....

[Speedbag]

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/111434/familys-fall-from-affluence-is-swift-and-hard

WTF is wrong with some people?

If I was handed $10M, I would never work again. I'd simply pay off my existing home (which is bigger than I need) and have a great time living off the interest.....

[Drjones]

Basic budgeting.  It stays the same no matter how big the $$$$ get.  They forgot.

[IZ]

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/111434/familys-fall-from-affluence-is-swift-and-hard

WTF is wrong with some people?

If I was handed $10M, I would never work again. I'd simply pay off my existing home (which is bigger than I need) and have a great time living off the interest.....

Poor Mr. Martin.    

He chose his route when he was spending $10 mil on ridiculous items.

[Bick]

Forget the exact %, something like 99.9%...

The highest demographic for bankruptcies is lottery winners and others that receive ridiculously large settlements.

[Vindingo]

Does he get $$$ for the article?  Why the hell would you want everyone up in your business like that?  to let the world know that you are a fool...

[Popeye the Sailor]

Probably just wanted to whine that those in the family business besides him got more, even though he admits to not doing much in the way of running it. Lame.

[Charlief]

What a loser!

[Bun-bun]

This story raises mixed feelings for me. There is a certain amount of scorn, a "how could he blow through that much money" feeling, but there is also a certain amount of pity.
Mr. Martin got some bad advice, and made some bad investments, and suffered from the housing and stock market crashes. That's no different than millions of other people around the country who saw the value of their portfolios, retirement accounts, and home values drop like a hot rock, this just sounds worse because the amount was greater.

[muskrat]

sadly he should have taken a more keen interest in his investments.  Being in the Investment world you should always educate your client to the fullest.  If I knew nothing and had millions I'd be studying my arse off....after all, he has all the time in the world.

[swampduc]

It also sounds worse because this guy lived a lot of peoples' dream: found money (that he did nothing to earn) was thrust on him, and he was basically set for life.

[Speedbag]

My take â€" they had to know or at least recognize they had a finite amount of money available, rather than it being a steady income that would forever support the lifestyle.

What would have happened if they had bought one nice (not overly extravagant, as the case probably was) house, maybe a car or two, and called it quits? They'd probably be fine. Definitely a case of not being able to budget.

It's almost unbelievable (hence the thread title)....

[sbrguy]

we can all be armchair quarterbacks on someone elses life.

but i can understand in a way letting it get out of hand.  afteall suddenly you go from working 8-8 everyday to get by and then in an instant get literally millions of dollars, now you can in an instant buy and do all those things you always wanted, those new ducatis'/ferraris/lavish hotels and dinners you can now do easily and you can get them tomorrow not save up for years but you can have 10 ducatis and a bunch of ferraris in your driveway that you always wanted tomorrow with a few phone calls and spend live it up like a rock start tomorrow.  

that has to be enticing to finally live the dream of "yes i can have this an that that i always wanted" and get the nice house, etc.

you invest the rest in stuff that is supposed to be stable, ie, real eastate a few years ago and stocks, both of which everyone was saying will never go down, rmember these sayings "your house is an inveesetmetn it has went up double in the last 10 years it will do the same forever, the stock marktet is above 10k and will continue to go up, etc".

then the bottom fell out, everyone was hit hard and some people lost their 401k.  yes you can say you should have known better but come on, not everyone is suzy orman or buffett, etc.. if everyone was then everyone would be a millionaire easy and timed the market perfectly but that is not reality.


the guy screwed up, its sad but i don't see what he did as crazy, i would say what he did was somewhat normal.  then again give me 10million and i'll give it a go and try not to blow all the money.  

[Popeye the Sailor]

the guy screwed up, its sad but i don't see what he did as crazy, i would say what he did was somewhat normal.

Totally normal, and that's the problem-most people are absolute make the beast with two backstards with money.

[sisca77]

Some people are just not good with money. They just spend, spend and spend, forgetting that eventually the money will run out if you're not wise and careful with it.

[Heath]

Reminds me of a family I know.  They both had a good income going on.  He got a bonus for retiring early and spent spent spent.  Next thing you know they are losing the house and have a load of debt.  They get a financial adviser, start getting their credit back on track.  He hates living on a "budget" but they are doing it.  A little inherited money comes in and they start spending again, blow through that. Definitely starting to get back in their old ways and dipping into his 401k like crazy.

Soon they are supposed to get a settlement, big one.  He already had plans on buying a ton of stuff (house, new big truck, trailer, cruises, ect ect.)  Pretty much to "keep up with the Jones." He doesn't even know how much they are getting.  Tried to tell him watch it, don't go down that path again.  Don't get your dream house then lose it but he says that won't happen.  Hopefully it won't.