by OldGuy » 16 Nov 2022, 20:24
Many long years ago, I spotted an old car parked next to a barn and asked if they wanted to sell it. They said sure - $50 and you get it out of here. I figured on rebuilding the old car and have a bit of fun with it. Well, I got it home and in my driveway. Before I even began doing anything with it, a guy driving by was really interested in it and bought it from me for $100. I spotted him a couple of weeks later and asked him how it was going. He told me the oil pump went out and he blew the engine. Ended up taking it to the junk yard. I just lucked out.
I bought another used car, drove it for about 5 years and then sold my entire estate to get rid of stuff in plans for a move into retirement. I bought the car for $2200 and it sold at the auction of all places for $3500.
Back when I was maintaining my own private park, I purchased a large concrete water fountain through a mail order service along with a giant concrete chess piece set for an outside game. It was somewhere around a $4500 purchase. When it all arrived on the back of a tractor trailer, we had to open the box in the truck and lift everything out piece by piece. Due to a packing error, several of the chess pieces were chipped.
When I called the company about it, they asked which pieces were chipped and they said they would immediately replace them. When the replacement pieces arrived, the box was much larger than expected. We again had to open the box in the truck and lift them all out piece by piece.
Well, they goofed again. They sent an entire extra water fountain along with those replacement chess pieces. I called them about sending a truck to pick up the extra fountain and they did not want to pay the shipping back. Told me to just keep it. $2500 value and I was able to sell just that for pure unexpected profit.
I received a random cold call from a NY Stock broker with a hot tip. Well, I always sort of want to play the stock market and I had some spare change to play the game, so I said sure and started with a $5000 purchase. He called me a couple of months later and told me there was some problem with that company. Advised me to sell those shares and put my funds in a house account to find something better. No losses, just protecting my money.
He called me a month after that and told me that first company had new directors and was hot to trade. I should go ahead and buy that stock. Well, I was just playing the game so I agreed to whatever he told me. He called me yet again about a month later. I had a great ride and should sell now. We would put the gain back in the house account and reinvest someplace later.
Well, I think I shocked him. It just so happened I was in the middle of buying a new home and that added profit would make a nice down payment. I told him to send me a check and just close my account. I found out later that this was a practiced scam from ny stock brokers. They would hook you in with a big profit and then a later recommendation would leave you broke while he earned all the commissions on a useless stock. I again lucked out. The initial investment was $5000. (USD) My final payout just 5 months later was $63,000! Oh, I was able to pay off the mortgage in just 3 years and that house sold at a nice profit too.
There have been other unusual purchases over the years that turned out well. I guess you could say I've done alright with profitable purchases.
Many long years ago, I spotted an old car parked next to a barn and asked if they wanted to sell it. They said sure - $50 and you get it out of here. I figured on rebuilding the old car and have a bit of fun with it. Well, I got it home and in my driveway. Before I even began doing anything with it, a guy driving by was really interested in it and bought it from me for $100. I spotted him a couple of weeks later and asked him how it was going. He told me the oil pump went out and he blew the engine. Ended up taking it to the junk yard. I just lucked out.
I bought another used car, drove it for about 5 years and then sold my entire estate to get rid of stuff in plans for a move into retirement. I bought the car for $2200 and it sold at the auction of all places for $3500.
Back when I was maintaining my own private park, I purchased a large concrete water fountain through a mail order service along with a giant concrete chess piece set for an outside game. It was somewhere around a $4500 purchase. When it all arrived on the back of a tractor trailer, we had to open the box in the truck and lift everything out piece by piece. Due to a packing error, several of the chess pieces were chipped.
When I called the company about it, they asked which pieces were chipped and they said they would immediately replace them. When the replacement pieces arrived, the box was much larger than expected. We again had to open the box in the truck and lift them all out piece by piece.
Well, they goofed again. They sent an entire extra water fountain along with those replacement chess pieces. I called them about sending a truck to pick up the extra fountain and they did not want to pay the shipping back. Told me to just keep it. $2500 value and I was able to sell just that for pure unexpected profit.
I received a random cold call from a NY Stock broker with a hot tip. Well, I always sort of want to play the stock market and I had some spare change to play the game, so I said sure and started with a $5000 purchase. He called me a couple of months later and told me there was some problem with that company. Advised me to sell those shares and put my funds in a house account to find something better. No losses, just protecting my money.
He called me a month after that and told me that first company had new directors and was hot to trade. I should go ahead and buy that stock. Well, I was just playing the game so I agreed to whatever he told me. He called me yet again about a month later. I had a great ride and should sell now. We would put the gain back in the house account and reinvest someplace later.
Well, I think I shocked him. It just so happened I was in the middle of buying a new home and that added profit would make a nice down payment. I told him to send me a check and just close my account. I found out later that this was a practiced scam from ny stock brokers. They would hook you in with a big profit and then a later recommendation would leave you broke while he earned all the commissions on a useless stock. I again lucked out. The initial investment was $5000. (USD) My final payout just 5 months later was $63,000! Oh, I was able to pay off the mortgage in just 3 years and that house sold at a nice profit too.
There have been other unusual purchases over the years that turned out well. I guess you could say I've done alright with profitable purchases.
Have you ever Purchased anything at a profit?
