That Time I Took Investing Advice From a Comedian
We've all made money mistakes.
I know I'm guilty of several that still make me cringe:
A designer clothing habit I couldn't afford.
The year after the stock market crash I stopped investing completely.
Forking over cash for my home warranty.
Anytime I've lent money to friends.
The list goes on.
But one, I've never talked about publicly. And it's definitely my most embarrassing — that time I took investing advice from a professional comedian.
Yup, it's a thing that actually happened.
I was in my early 20s, unwinding in the lobby of a Holiday Inn & Suites somewhere in the Midwest. Illinois or Indiana? I'm not exactly sure.
What's important to know is that it was after midnight. I was finishing some post-show paperwork in the corner of the bar when I overheard a conversation between a couple of comics.
“Look, I'm no financial advisor, but MannKind is going to be huge! How could it not be? Afrezza's really close to FDA approval. The only reason approval's been delayed is because they haven't finished an inspection in their European manufacturing facility.”
My curiosity had officially been piqued.
“My brother's bet his entire Roth IRA on this stock. I'd be funneling every penny I get into that company if I were you.”
So, I joined them at the bar and continued feeding on their MannKind praise as I downed a couple glasses of whiskey.
When I returned to my room, I started poking around in my brokerage account. And sure enough, the stock was priced just as they had said. I was so excited I could barely sleep. And I placed a $500 buy as early as I could the next morning.
Proud of my newfound financial prowess, I immediately called my father to brag about my purchase.
“You took what advice? From whom?” He nearly spit out his oatmeal.
“Whatever. You're just being overly conservative and paranoid,” I insisted.
I'd bet you can predict what happened next.
A few weeks later, it was uncovered MannKind had artificially inflated their stock prices by lying about the status of Afrezza's FDA approval. And the stock plummeted 37%. Plus, they were facing a class-action lawsuit.
Licking my wounds, I sold my MannKind shares at a significant loss. And spooked by the entire situation, I didn't attempt to buy stocks again for at least a couple of years.
My point in sharing this story isn't to bash the collective financial literacy of entertainers. I've worked with artists who've made more than my entire salary in one night! And many artists are incredibly good with money. Or, at least, they are smart enough to hire business managers who are good with money.
What I'm saying is don't get suckered into your co-worker's hot stock tip. Or some up-and-coming pick your rich friend won't stop raving about. They don't know what they're talking about.
Because the truth is, no one can predict exactly what's going to happen in the stock market. Not even the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett.
Readers: Have you ever taken bad investment advice?
Discussions — 18 Responses
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At least you only put up $500 to learn that lesson. A small price to pay to learn an invaluable lesson. I do have to admit that me and my friends did something similar when we were in college. Got a hot stock tip on some diamond miner that was just about to release information regarding a big find or something along those lines. Well, I’m still working so that clearly didn’t work out as we were led to believe. At least that lesson only cost me $200 or so.
That’s classic, JC! And you’re totally right. A few hundred dollars to learn a valuable lesson is probably money well spent!
Well it does make for a good story anyway. 🙂 Personally, the way I see it, you were ballsy, and since you were younger at the time you can take bigger risks. Now yes it didn’t turn out great, but most people would be like
“uh, stocks? You mean socks?” OK, that would probably be me. 🙂
Definitely a good story! My old co-worker still jokingly brings up MannKind from time to time 🙂
It does provide a good story to tell people I guess. I definitely have taken my shares of bad financial advice from other people, especially when it comes to investing stocks.
Totally, Tawcan. Now, I try to put on blinders when I hear random people talking about stock picks. I’ve learned to tune out those kinds of conversations!
True to the good story. And yes, it’s good to learn early on that even professionals have a hard time beating out index funds. I think I could get really addicted to trading individual stocks. It would suck up all of my time and energy and my stress levels would be high. And in the end, I probably wouldn’t end up ahead! Not worth it. It’s a good thing you didn’t throw more at it!
Totally agree, Maggie! I can definitely see how addicting investing can be. And I’m a big fan of index funds, as well.
That was a great $500 lesson. Trust me, I’ve made costlier mistakes. 🙂
Steve’s latest post: http://www.weretiredearly.com/Blog/2015/10/09/the-american-dream-is-alive-and-well/
Thanks for commenting, Steve! I guess we’ve all made costly money mistakes.
That’s quite a story. I think we’ve all been there taking investment and stock picking advice from random sources — but I have to admit that I’ve never heard anyone take one from a comedian?
Thanks for sharing…I know it takes a lot to share stories like these. Chalk that one up as a lesson
R2R
Yup, I’ve never heard of anyone taking stock tips from entertainers either! 🙂
Ouch… I learned early (though my own bad investments!) on that investing is about what happens over the course of 20 years and not 20 days. 🙂
But it only cost you a little bit and it’s a lesson you can’t internalize just by reading.
And MannKind sounds more like a human resources company than a biotech co.
You’re right, Jim! A lot of investing lessons can’t be internalized just by reading. Mistakes are costly. But they do still have value!
This story is almost too crazy to believe 😀 But I do get why you did it. There’s that excitement of getting a hot lead that you wish to jump on before others in the market can, and as you rightly pointed out, it’s all a 50-50 guess at best.
This comedian may not have been the best financial advisor, but Warren Buffet gave away an amusing piece of financial advice that works, ‘be greedy when others are scared, and be scared when others are greedy.’
So basically, sell when others are still buying, and buy when others are selling.
Pretty crazy, right? I figured if someone was willing to dump 100% of their retirement investments in MannKind, I could experiment with $500. Haha.
Oh man. Comedians rank pretty high on a list of people I’d never go to for financial advice, somewhere right after magicians. ;o) I was definitely burned by the stock market the first time I ever bought something too and it took me like 6 more years to buy another stock.
[…] Don't take investing advice from a comedian. “I've taken investing advice from a comedian. Luckily, I only lost $500 from this ‘hot stock’ tip.” – Kate Dore […]