What's your biggest failure?

[Kyle]

choosing a relationship over school...and then having said relationship end a couple years out of school.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I got fired from a great paying job with lots of opportunity for growth. I made due with lesser jobs and am doing ok now, but I would be so far ahead financially and professionally if I were still at the place I was termed at.

I also bowled a seven in the first frame of a league game followed by 11 strikes. I got a 277 and have the plaque for it, but damn I was close to that 300 ring.

 

[amdforever2]

Telling myself that the stock price would come back....it must come back up....

I have a "tax" reminder for the next 16 years (out of 20 total) of that blunder...

Damn, that's so fucking depressing.

You can deduct capital losses for 20 years? I thought was 3.

 

[Engineer]

You can deduct capital losses for 20 years? I thought was 3.

I'll read up on it (again) but from what I can tell, you can carry them over from year to year to year until you use them up. TaxAct online seems to agree as it carries it over for me automatically.

From here...

Third, any capital loss that is not used in the current year can be carried over indefinitely to offset future capital gains.

There have been "chances" that I could have made most (if not more) back but I promised my wife "no more stock" after that one. I can do mutual funds or ETF's but no individual stocks. Because of that promise, I missed out on buying Ford at $1.03 per share and watching it go to the mid 18's before pulling back to the 14's lately. I want to make it up (to her too) but I just cannot break that promise....something that I'm reminded of and will have to just live with. I owe her that.

 

[bfdd]

what you call a failure, i call an adventure. so i've had many.

 

[bobdole369]

I did not board a single ship during my short stay in the US Navy.

 

[rasczak]

I got fired from a great paying job with lots of opportunity for growth. I made due with lesser jobs and am doing ok now, but I would be so far ahead financially and professionally if I were still at the place I was termed at.

I also bowled a seven in the first frame of a league game followed by 11 strikes. I got a 277 and have the plaque for it, but damn I was close to that 300 ring.

My daughter also did this, needless to say, she has the high score for our wii bowling.

 

[alfa147x]

Not being able to join the Marine Corps.

 

[CRXican]

crappy college major

not applying for a police department as soon as I hit the eligible age

 

[Imp]

Wasting a year out of college doing shit jobs and taking a break. I'd have a lot more money now or be almost done grad school. Then again, I probably wouldn't have applied until my "epiphany" a year ago.

 

[dquan97]

I'll read up on it (again) but from what I can tell, you can carry them over from year to year to year until you use them up. TaxAct online seems to agree as it carries it over for me automatically.

From here...



There have been "chances" that I could have made most (if not more) back but I promised my wife "no more stock" after that one. I can do mutual funds or ETF's but no individual stocks. Because of that promise, I missed out on buying Ford at $1.03 per share and watching it go to the mid 18's before pulling back to the 14's lately. I want to make it up (to her too) but I just cannot break that promise....something that I'm reminded of and will have to just live with. I owe her that.

I know how you feel...I got caught on a margin call for a couple internet stocks back in the day...weird to see your account go from $20K down to -$80K

 

[RocksteadyDotNet]

Not buying a house in 2004 for $100k.

Same kinda house now is $450k.

 

[SlowSpyder]

My daughter also did this, needless to say, she has the high score for our wii bowling.

Mine was real bowling, but I understand her disappointment none the less.

 

[Texashiker]

Marrying my first wife - she slowly turned crazy as the years went by.

Not joining the military.

Not following the career that I "really" wanted to do in life

 

[Engineer]

I know how you feel...I got caught on a margin call for a couple internet stocks back in the day...weird to see your account go from $20K down to -$80K

Margin calls were part of the (stupid on my part) equation.

 

[polarmystery]

Getting too much student loan debt...

 

[edro]

Buying a 130 year old farm house out in the middle of nowhere.
We are in the middle of renovations, so I hate the place now.
I traded a shorter commute to work for a longer commute to everything else I do.

Almost every day I imagine what it would be like if we had bought one of the other houses we looked at.

It's not really a failure though... just a current regret.

 

[slightlyhuman]

throwing away the best girl i ever had because i'm a huge dick head. thought i might be getting another chance to redeem myself.

spending more time with grandparents.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Aside from teaching me how to write eloquent essays, university was the biggest waste of four years. I have all this education, but at 25, I've got nothing to show for it. People I went to high school with have already bought their own homes.

Ehh, I was studying a usefull field, Have a job related to what my major was if I had stuck around for the degree... Just felt I would learn a faster, easier, and more thoroughly on my own, vs in a classroom. Also, I didn't like paying money to sit in a classroom, I would rather work full time and then fvck around with sql, ksh, c, php, and mess with linux after work or on the weekends.... (this was around y2k)

Anyhow, I bought a townhouse at 24, sold it a few years later for a loss when I bought a small house instead (townhouse was in ghetto area of suburbs, and it was far from work since I had transferred offices)

I'm the ancient old age of 30 now, lots of gray in my beard.. lol

 

[EagleKeeper]

Got offered an appointment to West Point while in basic. Didn't take it. Only real regret I've ever had.

Not holding on for my 20 even though it meant commuting back/forth between coasts

 

[ichy]

I wish I'd worked harder in college. Thankfully no one cares about your GPA after a few years, but better grades would've opened more doors for me early on.

About a year ago I met a girl who seemed like she had real potential to be a keeper. After about six months where we were essentially pen pals I finally had a real shot with her and threw it away. We never knew each other that well so who knows if it would've gone anywhere, but because of my shitty behavior I'll never know.

Treating some of my friends very badly towards the end of college. Thankfully I was given the opportunity to make it up to them, and I've been able to patch up/undo the damage that I did.

 

[chusteczka]

Ouch! Here is my list.

1. Turned down an appointment at the Coast Guard Academy to enlist in the Navy as a mechanic in the Nuclear program. (I was afraid of college at the time.)
2. Failed out of Naval Nuclear Power School, halfway through, and was stuck with the rest of a six year enlistment.
3. Got married while in school after my enlistment was over. The stress of school made her both ambitious and crazy to the point she took her stress out on me and seriously hurt my education.
4. Marriage failed (My biggest failure), and I am still working to clean my life from this.
5. A positive aspect to all of this is that I have a mechanical based business with my ex-wife's father in which we have four patents, three patent applications, and expect our first product to start selling this year.

For this last reason, I try to tell myself it is all good.