Brokest/richest you've been?

ILoveYourVibes

Not being able to afford medical treatment i really needed when i was a child for months and being in pain.

Airyfairy12

Brokest - In college during the recession and couldnt get a job, my only income was the student grant that had been cut so I was living on 300 a month - 200 went on rent. Hadnt bought clothes in 5 years, shoes were wrapped in tape to keep the souls from falling off, I was using cheap shampoo to wash my hair and as shower gel, couldnt afford food while living in a cheap, damp, rat invested house, found an old coat in it that belonged to the previous owner which I kept as I didnt have a coat of my own.

Richest - When I got my first degree related job, I stocked up on shoes and good quality clothes and coats and jackets incase I ever end up in the previous situation again, I saved money in the credit union to fall back on which I will continue to do for the rest of my life. Treated myself to hair appointments, facials, expensive makeup and perfume, saved up for driving lessons, went on a mini holiday with friends.

ILoveYourVibes

Airyfairy12 wrote: »

Brokest - In college during the recession and couldnt get a job, my only income was the student grant that had been cut so I was living on 300 a month - 200 went on rent. Hadnt bought clothes in 5 years, shoes were wrapped in tape to keep the souls from falling off, I was using cheap shampoo to wash my hair and as shower gel, couldnt afford food while living in a cheap, damp, rat invested house, found an old coat in it that belonged to the previous owner which I kept as I didnt have a coat of my own.

Richest - When I got my first degree related job, I stocked up on shoes and good quality clothes and coats and jackets incase I ever end up in the previous situation again, I saved money in the credit union to fall back on which I will continue to do for the rest of my life. Treated myself to hair appointments, facials, expensive makeup and perfume, saved up for driving lessons, went on a mini holiday with friends.

Another happy ending :P

adam88

In terms of net worth prob right now I’m the best I’ve ever been, house, new car, 4/5 foreign trips a year but by god my cash flow is absolutely shocking. On a good number but I’ve never been so stretched from pay cheque to pay cheque.

In terms of being broke, I’ve never been so broke I had to weight up a choice between food or transport. I’ve always been a saver so if I was ever near making that situation I always had my savings to dig me out of trouble

Sgt Hartman

Poorest: Working in Portsmouth England, I was on emergency tax for 3 months during that period and I had used up my £400 overdraft. I had literally £1.50 in my pocket and no savings. I went to an off licence to get 1 can with the money. Luckily there was ale that was going out of date the next day that the guy behind the counter let me have for 20p a can.

Richest: Probably right now with the amount of money in my mortgage saver account. In practice however it was probably when I was 21, working a technician job full time and living at home. Soooooo much disposable income back then.

Button_y

Brokest - 2nd year of college at 18 when I realised that because I switched courses I wouldn't get a grant and my summer earnings wouldn't cover my rent or food. I had been supporting myself through college because parents couldn't afford to and beyond the few bits of food my mother sent with me on a Sunday night I wasn't going to be able to support myself.

Richest feeling - Last year I bought an almost new car for myself using my savings as a loan to myself. Our mortgage is manageable and I can afford some of the niceties. I still feel guilty spending money, I need to remind myself every time I get into my car or treat myself that I work hard and have done so since I was 14 and I deserve it. I think I will always be mindful of spending no matter what. I am very aware that circumstances can change very quickly, employers will toss you aside, changes in health / circumstances could impact finances very quickly!

Easy come, easy go. And for me it didn't come easy and I am more careful because of it. Maybe someday I'll book a first class flight to a five star resort without feeling guilty!

anewme

Worst.... thank you to Sunday World Charity for letting our family have some sort of a Christmas..(no food or Santa) in the 80's... to being a working class person on the up up up...working hard and ending up with 270k equity buying a 450k home by myself. Tough times, never forgotten.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Worked in Munich in 1989. Left a ****ty washing up job in a restaurant to take up employment in the BMW plant. I left with no notice and they told me i wouldn’t get my pay for 2 weeks. The restaurant job also came with accommodation so even though I had a good well paying job, I was broke after 3 days in the new job, had no place to stay so slept in the Haupbahnhoff (central train station) but didn’t eat for 3 days and was very weak and scared. I was also on my own and hadn’t even the money to ring my parents and try and get some money sent out. I went back to the restaurant and pleaded with the manager for some of the pay as I was owed as I was so hungry. He gave me around 500 marks which is about half what I was owed. I went straight to Burger King in the central train station (which was upstairs) and as I sat out on the balcony eating my Whopper and large fries I seen a charity soup kitchen down the side of the platform...100m from where I had been sleeping for the 3 or 4 previous night starving without even water to drink!

Santan

Brokest, 6 months going to tesco living off my gfs 1 wage, pricing tesco bread against mr. Brennans and deciding we can't afford mr brennans, after I closed my business after 2 years in 2009. Once maybe twice a month splashing out on steak, felt so guilty for that.

Not the brokest but was bad, got another business going after a few years and put all our money into it, and to my absolute shame, got conned out of almost 100k. To this day I can fully understand how he done it as we were best friends, but can't believe how stupid I was to somehow allow it happen over 4 years, but it did and after a while you learn to pick yourself back up.

Richest, is right now like a lot of people, worked 15 to 18 hour days along with my wife to get us going again over the last 2 years and now in a position to buy a house with no mortgage, or at least very little, end result for me was a girl that put up with me through all that and is still with me, wow

Cee-Jay-Cee

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Worked in Munich in 1989. Left a ****ty washing up job in a restaurant to take up employment in the BMW plant. I left with no notice and they told me i wouldn’t get my pay for 2 weeks. The restaurant job also came with accommodation so even though I had a good well paying job, I was broke after 3 days in the new job, had no place to stay so slept in the Haupbahnhoff (central train station) but didn’t eat for 3 days and was very weak and scared. I was also on my own and hadn’t even the money to ring my parents and try and get some money sent out. I went back to the restaurant and pleaded with the manager for some of the pay as I was owed as I was so hungry. He gave me around 500 marks which is about half what I was owed. I went straight to Burger King in the central train station (which was upstairs) and as I sat out on the balcony eating my Whopper and large fries I seen a charity soup kitchen down the side of the platform...100m from where I had been sleeping for the 3 or 4 previous night starving without even water to drink!

Now this is what "broke" means.

Can't believe there were lads in this thread talking about their brokest moment going into a 200 euro overdraft. The above is in a completely different category to most middle class complaints.

mr_fegelien

Too many happy endings here. Not that happy endings are bad but where are the posters who lost their job, went broke, lost their partner, became homeless and never recovered?

There's 10,000 homeless in this country, surprised not to see a few responding on boards.

eurozonelady

Young and totally alone in a foreign country buying a pack of spaghetti, being forced to argue in a language I was just learning over a 3 cents plastic shopping bag that I couldn´t afford! I was down to my last 15€ ...maybe 2 weeks before pay-day and the b**** wouldn´t refund me.

Randomly going on not so cheap last minute holidays, weekends away or international events without a second thought!

And then I grew up!!

Stovepipe

Brokest---bank ****ed up my wages and I had a fiver to get me from Friday to the following Wednesday. Apart from that, I had, literally, a few coins from down the back of the sofa and the meagre contents of the cupboard. I had a half full tank of fuel in my car, so I could at least get to work. The landlord agreed to wait another week for his rent. I had literally no-one that I could borrow from. I then had two strokes of luck; I was walking home and a Traveller woman ahead of me, with a big wedge of cash in her hand dropped a tenner. I had it scooped up and hidden away in a heart beat. The next day, I go to an ATM to see if my wages had come in (after repeated phone calls to the bank, who kept assuring me that they'd fix my problem) and there, to my sheer delight, is another tenner, probably accidentally left by a previous punter. I had 25 quid and felt like a king.
Richest: the brief moment when the solicitor showed me my first mortgage cheque for around Eu 175k. "This is yours". Then he moves it to the other pile of paper and says, "now, it's not."

For most broke, I've two. Once in university eating Weetabix for five days cause that's all he food I had so I bought milk. The other was being down to a few dollars before I got my first paycheck in a new country.
The first one was broke as hell but the second felt more like I simply had no way of dealing with it if anything went wrong getting that first pay.

Most cash on hand was a few years ago after working and saving extremely hard for a motorbike trip around South America that I ended up changing my mind about. I used that to comfortably take a year of work and finish a website.

mr_fegelien

Reading some stories here, you'd think some people were living in third world countries...

fash

mr_fegelien wrote: »

Too many happy endings here. Not that happy endings are bad but where are the posters who lost their job, went broke, lost their partner, became homeless and never recovered?

There's 10,000 homeless in this country, surprised not to see a few responding on boards.

They probably have to wait for the restaurants to open to get WiFi on their phones.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

mr_fegelien wrote: »

Too many happy endings here. Not that happy endings are bad but where are the posters who lost their job, went broke, lost their partner, became homeless and never recovered?

There's 10,000 homeless in this country, surprised not to see a few responding on boards.

Perhaps they've more important things, like surviving, to do than post on Boards. Or, being 0.23% of the population, they are proportionally represented.

badboyblast

khaldrogo wrote: »

You write this like it's a common thing!!!!

The child benefit my mother received for me and my siblings was spent on clothes and food for us not put away in an account. Basically your family didn't need the benefit at all. They should have given the money to charity imo.

Its called savings and it is something everyone should teach their kids , good sound start in life

Muahahaha

Brokest was probably after landing in Australia with $600 cash and a credit card both of which were stolen within 24 hours of arrival. Was staying in a hostel in Kings Cross, had my own room but stupidly went to use the shower down the hall without locking it and someone came in and nicked my wallet, still convinced to this day it was one of the staff. Had $3 in coins and a $50 Amex Travellers cheque which I cashed.

Found another hostel and the next day pounded the streets looking for work and a paycheque quick smart. Got a job labouring on a building site and spent the week just eating the included breakfast in the hostel and packets of cheap biscuits in the evening. Five days later had $600 in my hand and got back on my feet. The replacement credit card got posted out a couple of weeks later but someone nicked it out of the post and spent over $1000 on it right before Christmas. Cue about 3 months of arguments with AIB as to who was to blame. I eventually won out but it was a war of attrition conducted through reverse charge calls from phone boxes back to Ireland. Either way having been robbed twice within two weeks of landing in Australia I was definitely thinking the locals were a bunch of convicts

Richest is right now but the single biggest feeling of it was when I won €10,000 on a scratch card, theres a great joy in getting completely unexpected free money.

Peatys

Muahahaha wrote: »

I won €10,000 on a scratch card, theres a great joy in getting completely unexpected free money.

So you are the one? Well done

digzy

khaldrogo wrote: »

. They should have given the money to charity imo.

Do a search on how much is paid to the CEOs of our most prominent ‘charities’

I think you’d revisit your suggestion. I doubt those lads handed back their children allowance either.

Tell me how

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Now this is what "broke" means.

Can't believe there were lads in this thread talking about their brokest moment going into a 200 euro overdraft. The above is in a completely different category to most middle class complaints.

To be fair, people are saying what being broke was for them.

That was the question in the OP, there was no caveat of 'you must have been this broke to post'.

It does indicate just how well off we are as a society/nation. Even our homeless, for the most part, are in provided accommodation which is much better than what the majority of people in the world live in every day.

(Some of the 10k homeless probably are on boards but don't disclose their circumstance, because, let's face it, who would want the torrent of abuse that would come their way from people saying we're a joke of a country for providing welfare payments and services to people)

Airyfairy12

Stovepipe wrote: »

Brokest---bank ****ed up my wages and I had a fiver to get me from Friday to the following Wednesday. Apart from that, I had, literally, a few coins from down the back of the sofa and the meagre contents of the cupboard. I had a half full tank of fuel in my car, so I could at least get to work. The landlord agreed to wait another week for his rent. I had literally no-one that I could borrow from. I then had two strokes of luck; I was walking home and a Traveller woman ahead of me, with a big wedge of cash in her hand dropped a tenner. I had it scooped up and hidden away in a heart beat. The next day, I go to an ATM to see if my wages had come in (after repeated phone calls to the bank, who kept assuring me that they'd fix my problem) and there, to my sheer delight, is another tenner, probably accidentally left by a previous punter. I had 25 quid and felt like a king.
Richest: the brief moment when the solicitor showed me my first mortgage cheque for around Eu 175k. "This is yours". Then he moves it to the other pile of paper and says, "now, it's not."

Jaysus
Even at my brokest I never stole from anyone, if I saw someone drop money I picked it up, called after them and handed it back.
You were only stuck for week was it necessary to sneakily rob money?

I have felt loaded with cash a few different times in my life. Distant memories now

My first pay in my first proper job was very exciting for me. I remember going shopping and that feeling of being able to buy whatever I wanted without fear of leaving myself short. The money increased over time as well. So did my outgoings but I definitely felt 'rich'.

These days things are rather different. The nature of my work today means that there can be a big difference from month to month so I have to be careful. I am very lucky though in that I have an inheritance down the line. So I don't need to worry about being homeless or paying a mortgage. That for me far far outweighs not having a big disposable income.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Now this is what "broke" means.

Can't believe there were lads in this thread talking about their brokest moment going into a 200 euro overdraft. The above is in a completely different category to most middle class complaints.

So what conditions are you putting on the 'richest' element of the question?


OP asked a question and people answered. That somebody's poorest isn't poor enough for you is neither here nor there.

LimeFruitGum

Luckily, I have never been stone broke. I get super nervous if my balance is below 10k, never mind 10 quid. I have always had savings, run a tight ship at home, and the odd splurge in Boots as about as mad it gets in terms of retail therapy. I would rather spend 1000 euro on travel or on my home, than on some stupid unwearable pair of Louboutins.
Even when I was unemployed for a bit earlier this year, I could still just about manage with the dole, and I had the option of renting out a room if necessary. I still have most of my severance money, which I will probably move into my pension, or put some of it against my mortgage.
My partner and I can always manage ok if one of us is unemployed, but we earn very good money when we are working. (The joys of contracting)

I always knew I would have to earn my money. No inheritance for me, other than some sentimental items and maybe a small token sum of money. My parents are rural working class so they just don’t have that kind of money. After my degree, I was 100% on my own financially. No dig outs and I never asked them for money, no matter what. I always managed.
I am starting a part time postgrad next month which I hope will lead to further lucrative opportunities. My current role is the highest salary I have had, and the benefits & work-life balance are excellent.

dotsman

mr_fegelien wrote: »

There's 10,000 homeless in this country, surprised not to see a few responding on boards.

Just because they have been designated "homeless" doesn't mean they are anything close to broke. Most have a decent (welfare) income and free housing. Thus, are in a far better position than most of the poster's situations described here.

A few of the homeless will be broke, a temporary situation where they are between sleeping in friend's and sleeping in hotels etc. But these people are only believed to be a small percentage of the 10,000.

A small percentage of that number is also the traditional "homeless" who typically will have mental health, drink or drug problems and will always live on the streets - you're not likely to find them on boards.

BrokenArrows

Brokest was when I was in Australia. 4 days left until my flight home to Ireland.
Bank accounts empty, 6k in debt in Ireland. Australian account was even -100, credit card maxed out. $15 in my pocket and I needed $10 to get to the airport.
I bought a bunch of the cheapest noodles I could find and snuck into a backpacker hostel every night and slept in the TV room.
I was never so happy to eat airplane food in my life.

Richest, probably now, but also technically probably the brokest because I have a mortgage.

Chloe Nutty Kettle

Chloe Nutty Kettle wrote: »

So what conditions are you putting on the 'richest' element of the question?


OP asked a question and people answered. That somebody's poorest isn't poor enough for you is neither here nor there.

I didn't say people aren't poor enough -- what kind of sociopath wants people to be poor? I just mentioned I was surprised. I also thought it would be obvious from my tone that I was saying we should be grateful for all that we have.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I didn't say people aren't poor enough -- what kind of sociopath wants people to be poor? I just mentioned I was surprised. I also thought it would be obvious from my tone that I was saying we should be grateful for all that we have.

My apologies, if that is the case. It just didn't read that way.