I'll just say that I traded 1 super iconic card for another super iconic card.
The only thing that makes it reasonably close is that the condition of the card I traded wasn't as good as the one that I got back (as part of a sealed complete set) ...
But there's virtually no chance that the Griffey Upper Deck rookie I got back will ever be as valuable as the card I traded/sold to get that set.
Along those lines, the worst trade I ever made was putting my initials on every fucking baseball card I had from the late 60's/early 70's.
That was dumb. Really dumb.
There’s something about the 1968 Topps set that has always had intrigue to me ... part of it is because I found a handful of cards back in the day including a Yaz and Clemente in really good condition ... I think a lot of it how meaningful that year whether in baseball with Gibson’s 1.12 ERA in the Year of the Pitcher to the unrest in the year from MLK to RFK to the Dem Convention.
On top of that, there’s a simplicity to the design that just is a winner to me.
I bought some GameStop a couple hours ago for $350...how am I doing?
Seriously though...2 trades. 1). About I think 6 years ago bought $15k of EMIS for $0.20/share because someone I know said their tech was legit. Held it for a couple years, nothing happened and finally sold it. Company hit $15/share at one point before being bought out at ~$10/share. 2). Now I’ve got ~$30k tied up in a completely illiquid stock that got screwed over by a large pharma company and is down ~70% from my average buy-in but would go to probably close to zero if I tried to sell what I own. There is a lawsuit in the background I’ve heard has a better chance than I give it but I’m writing it all off in my head.
As some of you know I used to sell tickets concerts, sporting events etc ... Dave Matthews out at the Gorge for Labor Day Weekend was always a big deal. Well we loaded up for Saturday night. We probably bought 100 GA tickets at 60s and knew we could get 150s-200s the day of. This along a couple dozen Reserved seats each of all three nights ... we probably had 11k into the weekend.
I get out there Friday 4-5 hours before the show and the head of security finds me and say wellbye.gif ... if he sees me onsite selling tickets I'm getting trespassed and its off to spend the night with the local ruffians. Well this is no good. First, I'm just not the jail type; second at the tim I couldn't afford to lose $11k; 3rd I had almost no access to the internet and/or craigslist to post my inventory. FML.
I got back to where I was staying and caught a small, but very fortunate break. I traded 4 reserved seats for the Sunday night show for the right to post up at their place, use their internet and have people meet me there ... So between wholesaling to the scalpers that were allowed on the premises, and posting non-stop on Craigslist, I was able to get most move my money back. the $2k loss split 3-ways felt like a HUGE win.
FTFMFE
Needless to say, that was the beginning of the end. I said no more about 3 mos later and wondering why I ever thought it was a good idea to get the F out of real estate.
One of the best trades is when I sold water instead of tickets out at the Gorge for DMB. Anybody who has been out there knows there is a long-ass walk from the campgrounds to the entrance with a bitch of a climb in 100 degree heat. I had about 15 cases of water at $3 each. Bought ice and a bucket and sold waters for $3ea or two for $5. Apparently I really fucked with the sales at their general store (which I was strategically located to cut-off). The next year, water at the store was no-longer $5ea, they were $3.
Back around 2006 I bought some GE and Siemens for my kids' trust accounts because both companies were leaders in LNG transport equipment, which I thought was a growing industry. It was, but GE stock was dragged down by their financial division to the poont where it went from $32 to $6. Would have loved to buy some at $6, since their physical plant at the time was valued around $9/share, but due to some banking fuckery on WF's part we ended up pretty cash poor at the time. GE hasn't recovered, still around $11. Fortunately it wasn't that much to begin with, and the SIEGY and DIS that we bought have done very well for the kids.
Also bought TRF right before the Russian market tanked in 1997/8, but recouped those losses after several years of dividend reinvestment
Currently in the process of completing a refi because money is cheap right now, even going with a 20-year it's going to be a lower monthly payment, and the extra we plan to pay on principal will shorten the loan by another 3 years or so
I paid too much for my Chelan property years ago and it still hasn't recovered to the original purchase price. Although I get unsolicited letters and inquiries from people wanting to buy it all the time now. Today, more than 10 years later, I might be at par.
My wife's from East Wenatchee. We play around on that lake all the time. This last summer, we rented a house for a week right on the lake. Whereabouts is your place, and do you rent it out?
My worst trade that was an actual trade was a motorcycle swap with some guy in Lynnwood. At the time, I was looking to get out of street riding, and I had a limited edition Honda CBR. The problem was that I had to completely rebuild this bike after torpedoing it into a tire wall at Pacific Raceways. I've always screwed myself by being an honest seller, so all of my "for sale" posts started with a picture of the bike with the whole front end ripped off from the crash followed by something like, "I just want to be up front about this bike being crashed and repaired, but it's in perfect cosmetic and working condition now." People would rather be lied to by the, "Washington bike, never laid down, never ridden in the rain" assholes, I guess, so it just never sold.
Anyway, kid in Lynwood had a Ducati 749S he was selling and contacted me about a trade. I checked the blue book, and his bike was worth a grand more than mine, so why not? Upon close inspection, this bike had clearly been attacked by feral cats or something. Light scratches covering the whole body. But I figured I could paint it reasonably cheaply and then sell it for good money, mostly because I had no idea what the bike's history was, so I could in good conscience sell it at full price. In the meantime, I'd never owned a Ducati, so figured it would be fun to try it out while I was fixing it up for sale. I estimated I'd pocket about $1500 in the trade, all while getting to try out something new.
Bike ended up being a basket case. Stalled at one out of three stoplights or stop signs, and it had a death wobble at anything over 140 mph, meaning the chassis was bent somewhere (maybe toasted steering stem bearings). After wasting $500 on paint and decals to fix it up, ended up unloading it for $1000 less than I was originally trying to get for my CBR.
I really can't top my dad despite my brother and I getting hoodwinked on a land deal
The Ballroom had a piece of land at Marvin Road and Martin Way for a bill board. He sold it before the 5 came through and Chevron built a gas station there
Another client gave him a piece of land on the west side because he couldn't pay the fee and my dad sold that before it became part of the Capital Mall
Not a stock trade or anything, but I bought my house in May of 2008. 'Nuff said about my financial acumen.
Same. When you look at the housing price graph, if you look at the date on the day prices topped out before they started dropping, that's the day we signed on our house.
We're in a pretty good position on it now, but that took a while. If I had a clue I'd sell it right now - I can't believe what the house next door just sold for. Olympia prices are ridiculous and the offers come piling in.
I really can't top my dad despite my brother and I getting hoodwinked on a land deal
The Ballroom had a piece of land at Marvin Road and Martin Way for a bill board. He sold it before the 5 came through and Chevron built a gas station there
Another client gave him a piece of land on the west side because he couldn't pay the fee and my dad sold that before it became part of the Capital Mall
Runs in the family
That made me lol because I know what those properties are today.
You should have been some rich prick whose dad bought him a Corvette.
I think I can run with you guys. I let a retail stooge at Morgan Stanley talk me into putting in $20k in the Alliance Tech Fund, B shares (so I couldn't get out without a hit) in, get ready for it ...
March of 2000.
For you youngin's, go do your homework and you'll undertand.
Not me, but a buddy of mine got a summer job painting houses think of the of those student painting jobs. The girl he was working for decided to pay with sexual favors instead of cash. Anyways being desperate he stuck around a month. Lolz.
I think I can run with you guys. I let a retail stooge at Morgan Stanley talk me into putting in $20k in the Alliance Tech Fund, B shares (so I couldn't get out without a hit) in, get ready for it ...
March of 2000.
For you youngin's, go do your homework and you'll undertand.
I’m very familiar with that timeframe.
I bought 500 shares of some tech company at $7.00. A few months later and it was climbing fast and was at $63.00 so I put in a sell order at $70.00. That week was when the bubble burst. It was at $3.00 the next morning and never recovered. A few years later it was gently erased from my portfolio.
I think I can run with you guys. I let a retail stooge at Morgan Stanley talk me into putting in $20k in the Alliance Tech Fund, B shares (so I couldn't get out without a hit) in, get ready for it ...
March of 2000.
For you youngin's, go do your homework and you'll undertand.
I think I can run with you guys. I let a retail stooge at Morgan Stanley talk me into putting in $20k in the Alliance Tech Fund, B shares (so I couldn't get out without a hit) in, get ready for it ...
March of 2000.
For you youngin's, go do your homework and you'll undertand.
Bought CHS Electronics cheap in the mid 90's, followed it up nearing 10 bagger status .... and then down into pink sheet territory as the company went bust after it was revealed that the books had been cooked. I learned Cramer's lesson, bulls make money, bears make money, hogs get slaughtered. The CEO, Claudio Osario also ultimately learned a lesson after more malarkey with Innovida. He's chilling in a federal detention center.
Comments
On top of that, there’s a simplicity to the design that just is a winner to me.
Seriously though...2 trades. 1). About I think 6 years ago bought $15k of EMIS for $0.20/share because someone I know said their tech was legit. Held it for a couple years, nothing happened and finally sold it. Company hit $15/share at one point before being bought out at ~$10/share. 2). Now I’ve got ~$30k tied up in a completely illiquid stock that got screwed over by a large pharma company and is down ~70% from my average buy-in but would go to probably close to zero if I tried to sell what I own. There is a lawsuit in the background I’ve heard has a better chance than I give it but I’m writing it all off in my head.
As some of you know I used to sell tickets concerts, sporting events etc ... Dave Matthews out at the Gorge for Labor Day Weekend was always a big deal. Well we loaded up for Saturday night. We probably bought 100 GA tickets at 60s and knew we could get 150s-200s the day of. This along a couple dozen Reserved seats each of all three nights ... we probably had 11k into the weekend.
I get out there Friday 4-5 hours before the show and the head of security finds me and say wellbye.gif ... if he sees me onsite selling tickets I'm getting trespassed and its off to spend the night with the local ruffians. Well this is no good. First, I'm just not the jail type; second at the tim I couldn't afford to lose $11k; 3rd I had almost no access to the internet and/or craigslist to post my inventory. FML.
I got back to where I was staying and caught a small, but very fortunate break. I traded 4 reserved seats for the Sunday night show for the right to post up at their place, use their internet and have people meet me there ... So between wholesaling to the scalpers that were allowed on the premises, and posting non-stop on Craigslist, I was able to get most move my money back. the $2k loss split 3-ways felt like a HUGE win.
FTFMFE
Needless to say, that was the beginning of the end. I said no more about 3 mos later and wondering why I ever thought it was a good idea to get the F out of real estate.
One of the best trades is when I sold water instead of tickets out at the Gorge for DMB. Anybody who has been out there knows there is a long-ass walk from the campgrounds to the entrance with a bitch of a climb in 100 degree heat. I had about 15 cases of water at $3 each. Bought ice and a bucket and sold waters for $3ea or two for $5. Apparently I really fucked with the sales at their general store (which I was strategically located to cut-off). The next year, water at the store was no-longer $5ea, they were $3.
Fuck you LiveNation, Fuck you.
Learned the lesson to not just buy b/c you have the gun powder available and urge to "do something"
Also bought TRF right before the Russian market tanked in 1997/8, but recouped those losses after several years of dividend reinvestment
Currently in the process of completing a refi because money is cheap right now, even going with a 20-year it's going to be a lower monthly payment, and the extra we plan to pay on principal will shorten the loan by another 3 years or so
My worst trade that was an actual trade was a motorcycle swap with some guy in Lynnwood. At the time, I was looking to get out of street riding, and I had a limited edition Honda CBR. The problem was that I had to completely rebuild this bike after torpedoing it into a tire wall at Pacific Raceways. I've always screwed myself by being an honest seller, so all of my "for sale" posts started with a picture of the bike with the whole front end ripped off from the crash followed by something like, "I just want to be up front about this bike being crashed and repaired, but it's in perfect cosmetic and working condition now." People would rather be lied to by the, "Washington bike, never laid down, never ridden in the rain" assholes, I guess, so it just never sold.
Anyway, kid in Lynwood had a Ducati 749S he was selling and contacted me about a trade. I checked the blue book, and his bike was worth a grand more than mine, so why not? Upon close inspection, this bike had clearly been attacked by feral cats or something. Light scratches covering the whole body. But I figured I could paint it reasonably cheaply and then sell it for good money, mostly because I had no idea what the bike's history was, so I could in good conscience sell it at full price. In the meantime, I'd never owned a Ducati, so figured it would be fun to try it out while I was fixing it up for sale. I estimated I'd pocket about $1500 in the trade, all while getting to try out something new.
Bike ended up being a basket case. Stalled at one out of three stoplights or stop signs, and it had a death wobble at anything over 140 mph, meaning the chassis was bent somewhere (maybe toasted steering stem bearings). After wasting $500 on paint and decals to fix it up, ended up unloading it for $1000 less than I was originally trying to get for my CBR.
/csb
The Ballroom had a piece of land at Marvin Road and Martin Way for a bill board. He sold it before the 5 came through and Chevron built a gas station there
Another client gave him a piece of land on the west side because he couldn't pay the fee and my dad sold that before it became part of the Capital Mall
Runs in the family
We're in a pretty good position on it now, but that took a while. If I had a clue I'd sell it right now - I can't believe what the house next door just sold for. Olympia prices are ridiculous and the offers come piling in.
You should have been some rich prick whose dad bought him a Corvette.
March of 2000.
For you youngin's, go do your homework and you'll undertand.
I bought 500 shares of some tech company at $7.00. A few months later and it was climbing fast and was at $63.00 so I put in a sell order at $70.00. That week was when the bubble burst. It was at $3.00 the next morning and never recovered. A few years later it was gently erased from my portfolio.
Kinda just like Robinhood!
Bought CHS Electronics cheap in the mid 90's, followed it up nearing 10 bagger status .... and then down into pink sheet territory as the company went bust after it was revealed that the books had been cooked. I learned Cramer's lesson, bulls make money, bears make money, hogs get slaughtered. The CEO, Claudio Osario also ultimately learned a lesson after more malarkey with Innovida. He's chilling in a federal detention center.