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JRSutton 03-07-2013 11:18:36 75.130.109.233 Report to Moderator	I literally lost a fortune in the stock market. Then I lost my high paying job on top of it, requiring me to pull what was left out so I couldn't let it recover. It was a huge mental blow - literally everything I worked for for years just gone. I started into consulting, made some good money, started back on my feet, then the economy went south again. Then I took another big hit in the market. Got into financial trouble, couldn't keep up with the house payments. Came home one day and there were a bunch of people bidding on my house as my wife sat staring in disbelief from the front steps with my kids. You want to talk about hitting rock bottom... I finagled a few things and after a long, expensive legal battle, was able to borrow money from a brother and actually buy my house back from the bank - but repaying him and the lawyers took every last dime I had and then some. I'm a good guy, I like to work, I always do my best. But sometimes life just chews you up and sh(*)*(ts you out. Doesn't matter who you are, and it doesn't mean you did anything wrong. But at some point you've got to re-evaluate what you've got that REALLY means anything. To me that's the love between me and my wife and me and my kids. You can take every last possession away from me, and toss me in the sewer, but you can't take that love away. I realized I could die penniless, and still die a rich man because of my family. Up until then, those were just words - almost a cliché. But I finally realized how true it was. Sure it was all still real hard to take, but once you come to the conclusion that money really ISN'T everything, and it doesn't have ANY connection whatsoever to your self worth - the world gets a little brighter. Yeah, there's always going to be people who judge you by the size of your bank account. F em if you'll pardon my French. Happiness is found right around you. F the world and all it's fascination with material possessions. Yeah, money gives you freedom and it's fun to own interesting things. No doubt. But when you get to the point where you realize you truly don't need it, THEN you can start building again, and adding in a few little "extras" along the way, a little at a time. But I'll bet what you'll find is the things you'll start adding back are more along the lines of nice dinners with your wife, a day trip with one of your kids if you have any. etc. etc. I hope you're at least half as blessed as I am in the relationship department. I don't know what I'd have done if it weren't for my family. This post was edited by JRSutton at 11:34:04 03/07/13. [Reply]   [No Email]
Animal 03-07-2013 16:09:21 71.51.221.70 Report to Moderator	Re: End of a dream for me.....sort of in reply to JRSutton, 03-07-2013 11:18:36   Right on JR!   [Reply]  [No Email]
El Toro 03-07-2013 11:40:00 108.3.218.181 Report to Moderator	Re: End of a dream for me.....sort of in reply to JRSutton, 03-07-2013 11:18:36   The same thing happened to my neighbor and his son back in 2007 when they invested a lot of money in the stock market. They didn't lose their homes as they were paid for. He told me they had lost around 150K each. I never fully understood the stock market and never invested in it. I didn't buy any new cars from 1959 until 2001. We had a daughter in college and I bought used cars with low mileage. We seldom ever ate out except on some holidays. We paid this house off in 10 years and I worked a lot of overtime during the Viet Nam War. Hal   [Reply]  [No Email]