Short End Of The Stock

I've been in the stock market since I was about 18 or so. A friends dad was an investment broker and I had a small chunk of an inheritance from my fathers mothers estate. She willed a portion to each of her 4 grandkids but mine was tied up in a real estate note. So from 19 to about 22 I was getting monthly checks from a womans second mortgage.

I was young and too stupid to put it in savings where I could let it grow, or even looking up penny stock strategies. As such I was using it like a monthly income and quickly ended up spending my inheritance. The last payment from the note was a little over three thousand dollars and it was a wake up call. Three thousand was all I had left from a nest egg that could have helped me with much greater things if I had been wise.

So I dumped it in an IRA in hopes of securing what little capital I had left. Again without doing any due diligence or searching for something of use like a penny stock finder I dumped half of my money into a tech manufacture stock that ended up going bankrupt. The other half I put into a long term mutual fund that ended up losing money. I just recently looked at the account and after a dozen years of neglect I've turned $3,000 that could have grown into just over $600.00.

So, for all you out there let this serve as a warning. Examine your investments and keep tabs on them!