Your best and worst purchases

[Voxvertis]

Best Purchase: My wife worked for a dentist who was starting up a HMO dentistry business
back in the mid 70's. He let us buy 25,000 shares of stock for $2500. Twenty years
later they sold the business to a large insurance for $7.65 a share.
Worst Purchase: I bought into a business with a friend. It was a disaster!

 

[fsufantoo]

Best - Bought Florida Pre-Paid for all 3 of my kids. I think I paid around $7,500 per kid for all 3 plans. Now the cost of college is thru the roof and $7,500 most likely would not cover a single year much less 4 years. Now all have graduated (last one from FSU this past weekend) and none of them are in debt from school loans.

Worst - Jeep Cherokee way back in 1985. What a piece of junk. Undersized motor. The manifold would crack nearly every 6 months.

Biggest regret of not buying - I had a business trip at Marco Island in the mid 80s and tooled around the island. Deep water canal lots were $15K. We had a new baby and wife would not agree to let me pull the trigger on one (or more).

 

[Bobcat07]

Best - Using some of the money I got from my Grandpa when he passed away to purchase 100 shares of Apple stock in 2007.

Worst - The condo I bought in 2009 that I'm fixing to sell. I'm going to break-even at best on it.

 

[alaskanseminole]

Big Purchases
Worst - Nissan Pathfinder
Best - Buick Enclave

Convenience/Novelty
Best (tie) - next gen RF extender & the awesome auger
Worst - too many to list. lol

 

[Nole Lou]

My best purchase was probably a Ginsu knife I bought at one of those sales presentations they do in a grocery store. My wife and I were newly married and had just moved to Charlotte, and I didn't have a job yet. We had virtually no money. I got suckered in by one of those presentations and bought a Ginsu style knife (actually 2 because I got one free!) for $20. My wife was NOT happy, considering that was a huge luxury spend for us at the time.

But damn, I've used that knife virtually every day for almost 20 years now. It has been perfect, and no matter how many knife sets we've bought since, nothing tops it no matter what I need to cut. It's like brand new, and everything they claimed about it was true. I've never used a $1000 chef's knife or whatever (maybe Tribe can fill me in on that), but I don't see ever giving it up. I still have the second one as well, so I literally hope that I will be using this knife until the day I die. I don't know what I would do without it, or if they even make the exact same knife anymore.

Worst purchase was probably an old Thunderbird I bought for $300 around 1995. My car had crapped out and I was desparate and needed something in a hurry and took a flier on something from the classifieds and just bought it. I think I had it a week before I had to junk it and find something else.

 

[KevNole]

We bought a beach front condo in 2003, thinking about selling it now for $120,000 more than I paid for it plus it bought in average $35,000 a year in rental fees.

Our house has less than $120,000 in it, land, pool and all. We built ourselves and saved a ton of money. Its worth 5 times that now

My Nissan Titan, 11 years old and it drives better now than when I 1st bought it.

I bought 6 lots 2 blocks from beach and my house sits in the middle of 2 of them. I bought 2 for $6,500 each, 2 for $8,500 each and 2 for $12,500 each. They are worth $80,000 each now.





Worst purchase was 2 lots in Panama City before the bottom fell out of the market, they still aren't worth what I paid for them.

Jamie, we may discuss this..

 

[KevNole]

Best at this point in life:
Our 30' RV travel trailer. We love camping, also take to home football games. We have 2, -65lb lab dogs. It is cheaper to RV it, vs kennel costs, or the few motels that even take two larger dogs.

Worst, it was a love - hate relationship. 2 Seadoo XP DI seadoos. Awesome fun, always broke and expensive. Finally sold, now we love our RV!

In the past would be the first house we had built.
Some bad choices in overspending on certain vehicles. I wasted a ton of money while I was in my teens, 20's and 30's! Regrets.

I love my motorcycles over the years and all my guns.

 

[Semiologist]

Best is my 2000 Taco. Thing is a beast.

Worst is my house. Friend of my wife's boss was a builder. Built us a house cheap. Turns out it was a cheap house. In the first ten years I had to replace the AC and the roof. At 18 years I replaced the doors. sinks and tubs. I wish it would burn down. When the kids are gone we're selling and buying a condo...

A taco from 2000 is definitely going to be a beast by now. Especially if it was/is a fish taco.

 

[nolebum]

Worst: Nissan Altima

 

[FSUTribe76]

I guess I've been both lucky and unlucky because I can't think of a single purchase over $100 I've been unhappy with. Simultaneously I can't think of anything truly amazing unless you count super deals at estate sales where I've gotten a hand engraved teak vanity for $100, $20 for a civil war era pinfire pistol or $5 for a mammoth tooth or $10 for one of the worlds first commercial bottled water bottle. All of my cars, property and other big ticket items have been solid B+s.

 

[Semiologist]

Best: Lasik Surgery
Worst: Bank stock that was a SURE thing....only got a few pennies per share back on the dead cat bounce.

 

[Dr. Nole]

Best: The student loans I had to take to get through med school.

Worst: GMC Acadia.

 

[More Kirk Less Spock]

Surprised to hear a Nissan was a bad purchase / those things usually run great.

My worst purchase - a big, relatively expensive boat. What....a.....nightmare.

 

[Bav803]

Best thing:

It is usually people's worst, but for me, it was my waverunner. Bought it from my brother in law when it wasn't running. I learned how to work on engines, how to paint, how to tow a trailer, how to deal with adversity when it would break down on me, and sold it for a decent amount of money. I loved that thing, and still kind of regret selling it since I put my heart and soul into it.

I'd also submit any trip that I've snagged with an error fare (Went to Alaska first class for 30 bucks, Dubai for 150, Boston for 20), as the best thing purely on dollars.

Worst thing:

I'm going to say a trip I bought for my ex gf in 2010 where we went to Chicago for the weekend, and she got so drunk the Friday we got there, that she did not want leave the hotel on Saturday, and we barely went out on Sunday before coming home.

 

[DanC78]

Here is another.

Best-My 1984 CJ7
Worst-My 1984 CJ7

 

[BillWesJay]

Great thread.

Best thing- my Tundra

Worst thing: I got drunk and bought my neighbors Lincoln Towncar for $4800 and let it sit until I sold it for $3700.

 

[SeaPA]

Great thread.

Best thing- my Tundra

Worst thing: I got drunk and bought my neighbors Lincoln Towncar for $4800 and let it sit until I sold it for $3700.

Let's meet for happy hour tonight, drinks are on me. I have an old VW Passat I need to unload.

 

[tbdnole_70_08]

Best thing:

I'd also submit any trip that I've snagged with an error fare (Went to Alaska first class for 30 bucks, Dubai for 150, Boston for 20), as the best thing purely on dollars.

What is an error fare? Where do you go to purchase one?

 

[NDallasRuss]

To add to my list of best purchases - I just picked up one of these for the wife tonight:

It's a dinosaur headlamp that roars every time you turn it on - VERY practical!!

 

[KRB123]

I'm surprised a tattoo hasn't been on the worst purchase list.
i once bought a dinner and drinks for a chick who gave me a STD.....that pretty much sucked.

 

[Bav803]

What is an error fare? Where do you go to purchase one?

Airlines make mistakes all the time. An analyst can try to reduce a segment by 5 dollars and makes the route 5 dollars instead. Or, an error can happen where the fuel cost of an international flight gets dropped in a multi segment trip. it's just a matter of being a combination of lucky, having a network of people who would text you when they spot something, and looking at flights all the time.

 

[GE Nole]

Best -
1. The engagement ring for my wife.
2. Our 2 year old Goldendoodle, Teddy. That guy brings so much fun and happiness to our life it's unreal.
3. My 2005 Lexus RX330. Got it used in 2012 for 10k. Thing has 170,000 miles and zero signs of slowing down.
4. Our current house. Bought in 2013 when market was really low. Whole Foods moved in about a mile down the street 6 months later. Value has already gone up 25% of so.

Worst -
1. A few stocks that I bought at the height of things in 2007.
2. A pressure washer I barely use and when I do it breaks.
3. This $600 suit with pleated pants that I thought I could get over because I liked the fit of the vest and jacket, couldn't get it over it, and have worn it about 3 times only when all others are at the cleaners.

 

[berkshirenole]

Best purchase was spending $4200 for a sabbatical back in 2011. It was a very rough time for me then. I had two homes that were tremendously upside down, I was in the print business and was losing most my customers to digital products (income was cut in half), I was going through a very emotional divorce, and then the BP Oil Spill hit eliminating most all of my income (lived in PCB, my clients catered to the tourist economy) .

I really lost my stuff after that, started drinking heavily, messing around with drugs...I just didn't care about much anymore.

It got out of hand and I knew I needed to take a break to clear my head so that I could start over. Got with my family, told them I needed some help, we all got together with my church to see what some options were. I found a man in Mississippii who took people in like myself, all men. Me and a handful of other guys in similar situations from Lousianna to Atlanta all spent 3 months together doing volenteer work and reading our bible. It was the best 3 months of my life and changed my life forever.

Since then I moved to Austin, got a job with the company I'm working for today, and have been promoted and able to move back to Tampa. I'm now remarried and have my first child and life couldn't be better. 2011 seems like decades ago now.

Worst purchase....wouldn't know where to start.

Good for you, man. Glad things turned out the way they did. Hope you occasionally have a chance to encourage others who have almost lost hope.

 

[jy2581]

Best - My chocolate lab, Shelby. Close second is my 42" Panasonic plasma I bought maybe 7 years ago. She's in the bedroom now, still rockin', great picture.

Worst - My "starter home" I bought right before the bubble burst, fresh out of college. Still there today. Prob couldn't sell it for another 10 years at this rate.

 

[Bill From Tampa]

Best one was my five string Shen upright bass. The thing is fantastic. People rave about its sound and I don't have to deal with those horrible looking C extension gadgets.

Worst one was probably this Rainbow vacuum cleaner. Way overpriced and I fell for the sales pitch.

 

[noleology]

I

bought this and this

both excellent purchases for a 50 year old

 

[Superfan97]

Best: Lasik Surgery

Me too. Surprised nobody else has mentioned this. I paid 2000 for mine 15 years ago; would have paid 10 times that. Unbelievable how cheap something so life-changing could be.

 

[Bartdog]

Me too. Surprised nobody else has mentioned this. I paid 2000 for mine 15 years ago; would have paid 10 times that. Unbelievable how cheap something so life-changing could be.

I don't think everyone has that good a long lasting result. My friend who had it done now has to wear glasses again. Others say driving at night is treacherous. That's why I've held out. My sister had it done a couple of years ago and I'm watching to see how it goes with her.

 

[TexSkills]

I don't think everyone has that good a long lasting result. My friend who had it done now has to wear glasses again. Others say driving at night is treacherous. That's why I've held out. My sister had it done a couple of years ago and I'm watching to see how it goes with her.

I've held out because I've had eye doctors tell me that it thins out your cornea and also because of this fear of being that one screw up a doc has and I have no vision for the rest of my life, LOL.

 

[BelemNole]

Yeah, as awesome as it could be the small chance they eff it up vastly outweigh the minor inconvenience of glasses.

 

[wbnolefan]

just have them (Dr. Evil voice) "laser" one eye - if they mess up you're still good

 

[S3M1N0L3]

Some of my best.. All fishing related since that's pretty much all I do on my off time.

Old Town Predator 13 Kayak. Got it a year ago for fishing on the ocean and it is really nice. Good exercise and freedom to fish the reefs offshore is amazing.

All my Shimano Stella spinning reels. Best money can buy IMO. I use them all the time for large tuna, GT, Mahi and even some trolling.

Daiwa Seaborg Mega Twin power assist (electric) reel. It's got 45 lbs of drag with a max around 110lbs. Holds 800 meters of 100+lb line. I use it for large tunas, automatic jigging, deep dropping in 300+ meters of water for queen snapper, etc. When you're tired of manual jigging, nothing beats hitting the auto jig function and just setting the speed. Once the fish hits, you just put it in power mode and either fight the fish by pulling in the line by hand and letting the reel take up the slack or just letting it haul the smaller fish up for ya. When the fish are 170+ meters down, jigging all day can take a lot of you.

As far as knives are concerned, I can get Masahiro knives here in Japan for about 25$. They sell for 100 bucks in the US if you buy online. Amazing steel that is amazingly hard and sharp as a razor. Slices through large tunas like butter.

Another great purchase was a few Yeti coolers (125 and a 160) that I bought for less than 400 bucks, for both. Got them straight from the factory through a buddy. Damn things will keep a slurry for about 5 days and ice for 7. After a fishing trip, I haul them in my car full of fresh fish and hand out goodie bags of fish to all my local friends. I wouldn't pay retail for them but they are worth it when paying a fraction of the MSRP.

 

[fsusurfer]

Best: Our House we bought in 2010 for 240 and just closed on it today for 348.

Worst: Im not sure. I've made small bad purchases here and there but nothing i really kick myself for comes to mind.

 

[EveryoneBleedsGarnet]

Best... Boat. Worst... Boat.

 

[SunDevilNole]

Best: Ex-girlfriend(s)'s abortions
Worst: My Russian wife