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I’m not making this up. I once overheard a conversation in a bar by a couple guys who were planning something nefarious. They were discussing what was essentially the same kind of risk/reward conversation we think about when making allocation decisions; the major difference was that they were weighing time in prison should they be caught.
I don’t know how things worked out for the pair, but at least they were considering the can-of-worms they were about to open.
Another fella, Dennis, also a customer at one of the bars I used to service, was clean cut and friendly. At some point, I didn’t see him around for quite a while, and I assumed he moved away. A few years went by, and I finally ran into him having lunch at the neighborhood diner. I asked where he’d been, and he explained that he was arrested after he robbed the bank just down the street.
Dennis explained that he was at his wits end and desperate; not an unusual predicament for folks in that neighborhood. Dennis did not give much thought, or did not care about his can-of-worms. His record had been clean, no weapon was used in the great bank holdup, and he was remorseful. He got off pretty darned easy.
Our shelves are lined with cans of worms to be opened when we don’t consider the consequences.
I bet you can add a can or two of worms to my list.
Dan, I’ve tried to suppress those painful memories, and many of the bad decisions I do remember highlight bad behavior I’d rather not air in public. But here’s one:
During my years in the employment wilderness, when I was still trying to find my way to a steady career, I contracted with a startup package delivery service who was trying to compete with UPS (Ha!). I borrowed money to buy a van and ran a long route for nine months, leaving home at 5:00 a.m. and returning after 9:00 p.m. No one made money in that venture, but I carried away a few lessons that helped me in subsequent years.
Edmund, isn’t there a country song about a young guy asking an old guy how he learned to make good decisions. The old fella’s answer was “by making bad ones first”. There’s always a lesson to take away.
OK, we bought a sports car in 2018, but we still have it, it has low mileage, and we’ll be driving it until we’re too old and feeble to climb in and out of it. The amount of enjoyment we’ve already received from it is worth a lot to us. A convertible in California is a beautiful thing.
Other than that, I don’t think I’ve opened any other of your cans of worms! ✅
The big issue in any luxury purchase is simple: can you afford it? There are wealthy retirees who can afford all the stuff that the retirement videos tell you not to buy. Yes, if you have $20 million, you can buy a new Corvette….if you wish to do so.