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My dad lost over 500k in the stock market, learn from his mistakes
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đź—Ł Stock Market Today: Listeria recall grows to 12 million pounds of meat and poultry, some of it sent to US schools
A nationwide recall of nearly 12 million pounds of meat and poultry products has expanded to include ready-to-eat meals distributed to schools, restaurants, and major retailers such as Costco, Trader Joe's, Target, Walmart, and Kroger. The recall involves products like prepared salads and burritos that were made using meat processed at BrucePac's Durant, Oklahoma plant. The recall was triggered by routine testing that revealed the presence of listeria bacteria in BrucePac chicken. While no illnesses have been confirmed, the U.S. Agriculture Department has provided a list of potentially affected foods produced between May 31 and Oct. 8, identifiable by establishment numbers “51205 or P-51205.”
Listeria infections can be severe, especially for vulnerable groups like older adults, those with weakened immune systems, and pregnant individuals. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, and fatigue, with more serious complications like stiff neck, confusion, and convulsions. The infection may occur soon after exposure or up to 10 weeks later. Consumers are advised to discard or return the affected products for a refund. This recall follows a listeria outbreak tied to Boar's Head deli meat that has resulted in 10 deaths since May.
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Today, we will dive into “My dad lost over 500k in the stock market, learn from his mistakes" 👇
I mentioned in comments about how my dad had lost over 500k in the market, and went from a massive house on the lake, 3 euro sports cars and Rolex watches to a mobile home, $2500 09 Ford Taurus and only being able to afford toast and cereal for 2–3 months. I mentioned that watching my fathers mistakes, learning from them, has been one of the key points to my success as both a person and a trader. Many were interested in the story and what I learned, so I thought I’d post a vague summary of events and maybe you all can gain from this in some way.
Essentially anyone who says emotions and your relationship to money play no role in trading will not succeed in this industry. My dad is the perfect example, he was certified as a genius at 16 and accepted in MENSA. His IQ is astounding, his ability to run numbers is inhuman, like a breathing computer. But the trade off is that he’s Aspergers, he is the type to be on the spectrum of not having emotional regulation or social skills. Additionally he has a sick attachment to money, it’s his god.
On paper he has everything to succeed, and he has. Self made millionaire by his mid 20s, owned 104 apartments, made big money setting up land trusts and contracts for the oil industry in TX, made huge stock market profits etc. He had it all, but he let his emotional attachment to money ruin everything. Rather than remaining calculated, he fell into the common mistake of convincing yourself there is more money to be made. He saw the writing on the wall for 08 recession but chose to ignore it because of his greed. Then he lost all of it. Rather than return to logic he spiraled out of control since he had lost his “god”.
My mother was a stay at home mom, she has no formal education or career of any sort, but she has a killer intuition. She tried to warn my father time and time again about his decisions, but since she doesn’t make the money, he doesn’t respect her opinion at all, always saying “well why don’t you go make some money then we’ll talk”. He said the same to be since I was young. But every single time my mother was right, yet no matter how many times she was, he never once stopped to listen. My mom may not understand a single thing about the stock market or any complex financial holdings but she is in tune with life, not allowing her human desires to dictate decisions, thus she is objective. But unfortunately due to her being an immigrant with no finances or family, both me and her were slaves to my father’s decisions, all we could do was hold on for the ride.
After his massive loss in the market following 08, he began a near 2 decade long tyranny into financial and mental insanity. Selling all his apartments for a fraction of what they were worth (sold for 1 mil, worth estimated 40mil+ now), moving countries constantly because he thought the world was ending (moved 17 times in 4 countries in less than a decade), opened one business after another, failing each one but losing more and more money each time, by the time I was 16 just about all assets/savings were gone. Through this time he continued to jump into the stock market, losing everything he put in every time (around $20–30k), but never stopping because he never took the time to reset his mental state, basically allowing his deluded thought process to grow further and run everything, no matter what my mother or others said.
Any loss in money, even as small as a $100 would send my dad into a panic, deluding him further. His sick attachment to his god grew and grew, he lost all objectivity, turning every loss into an even greater loss. His hyper fixations and blindness to the world around him allowed so many things to slip by him unseen, from business expenses to poor business management. When he’d go back and see our bank accounts down to basically nothing, he’d immediately blame me and my mom, refusing to see that all his decisions were what was draining accounts. Like an addiction to financial gambling, he could never stop, only seeing the potential gain, never seeing loss, always cutting corners, paying a heavy price in the end. But in his mind it was “to make money you have to lose money”. So any and all expenses made for the sake of business were acceptable, but my mom and I going out for dinner once in awhile was not. Enjoying life was basically illegal to my dad, “we can relax when we’re rich”, the journey of life meant nothing to him, as a result it has to mean nothing to us. We lived a miserable life of dehumanization. I fell into sickness in my teens, heading towards terminal, my father would often remind me how I was a parasite to finances, that my treatment was costing him. Yet he spent $300k+ on a business that burned down 1 year later, he didn’t get insurance on it because he didn’t want to pay for it. Over $400k in assets in flames. He’d always fixate on the small things, never seeing the bigger picture, thus never seeing his hypocrisy.
It took us losing absolutely everything, and me wanting to attempt suicide for the 4th time at 21yrs, to finally stop and get help. He has since improved greatly but is also coming to peace with his mistakes, losses. He understands his attachment to money is evil, so all the bank accounts, assets etc are in my control now. Because I have become a profitable trader, proving his opinions wrong just about every time, he has gained a trust in me and thus has begun to relax. He has begun a journey to gain forgiveness from my mother and I but also forgive himself. I have since forgiven him, he is a broken man. I am sympathetic to his suffering, his mind is a curse that I don’t believe he will ever escape in this life. I have chosen to see the lessons bestowed upon me through this life of absolute hell. If I could go back in time, I would do it all again exactly the same. Because who I am now is who I need to be, and I am who I need to be because of what I went through. I don’t believe I would’ve developed the skills I have now should I have not experienced what I feel like was 60 years in the span of 20. For that I am grateful, I am at peace.
Unfortunately his latest business which has been very successful for the past 3 years, is about to end due to inflation making it unsustainable. The burden of keeping our family afloat, getting us back on top, has fallen to me.
In my entire life, living through my fathers insanity, having experienced peak wealth and lowest poverty. What I have deducted to be the single greatest piece of knowledge is…
“You are your greatest asset”.
P.S. wanting to clarify something; my dad was a successful trader for a long time, but following his loss in 08, caused him to spiral. So he was not a YOLO trader, he made that $500k in trading by his own merit. He didn’t just dump $500k in and lose it all.