
14. Nearly Six Million Lost
Wishnana told the story of close friends and a recognizable company. “Not me, but a close friend’s parents worked at a well-renowned American company in Houston in the early 2000s. They were high up in the management chain and enjoyed a lot of the perks that came with their position, after sticking through thick and thin, especially during the dot-com bubble. Said friend’s parents were also very good at managing their money, living very frugally, and investing for their future nest egg. Unfortunately, therein lied the rub… All that investment (401Ks, extra cash, etc.) was on a single pot.
“I believed, with all their allocation (back in the 2000s or so), they have had invested close to $5-6M and were due to pull it out so they could finally retire. But a company scandal brought all that to a collapse. The company? Enron. All their money evaporated.” Losing that much had to be devastating. It makes you realize there’s always a chance that something could happen. It’s important to save money when you have a big amount just in case. Even though they were good at money management, they couldn’t change what happened.