Mom made the most expensive joke ever in my life, and it involved 600 Bitcoins. So to all Moms & Dads of Reddit: Will you please do all of your kids a favor and not tell them financial jokes that they could possibly bank off of?
She told me in 2014 she invested in 600 bitcoins in 2011.
Years later, I asked her to cash out a few bitcoins to help me and my siblings with our student loans.
She didn't know what I was talking about.
I reminded her of what she told me in 2014, and that all 600 bitcoins are worth millions altogether now.
She said she "was only joking."
Her joke is worth around $60,000,000 today.
I would never joke to my future children about my finances, lest they bank on those jokes believing they're true. I banked on the end of the world according to the Mayan Calendar happening in 2012 wiping away my 6 figures of student loans. When that passed without incident, I kept taking classes in JuCos each semester just to defer all student loans. (AKA, according to an academic advisor, "taking classes just to take classes.") Then when all financial aid ran out, I continued with my own personal funds. Only 6 credit hours were needed to defer student loans, but that was still an expensive undertaking with my then-meager finances.
Then when my personal funds ran out and I was no longer willing to go deeper in debt with my CCs just to keep taking classes, I begged Mom to bail me out with her Bitcoins.
Then when she said she was only joking, I asked prayer hotlines for financial miracles twice daily, so that divine intervention would bail me out.
I discovered the TPD application and filled that out. Over $90k of my loans (mostly federal) disappeared because the application was successful. My private loans were modified to be 0-interest with all previously accrued interest removed and previous payments towards the interest retroactively reapplied towards the principal. That also meant I was not eligible for new student loans, but I am not willing to take out anymore anyway. If I continue schooling later, I'll rely on grants, scholarships and my own personal funds.
I only have $15k left to pay on 2 private loans combined. Doordash and SSDI together, these days, makes me over $3k/month.
I'm glad about and ever thankful for getting a financial miracle, but please never joke about bitcoin to your family, because they could bank on it believing it's real.
Have you already told financial jokes to your kids? What were they, and how did they react to them?
TL;DR: Mom said in 2014 she invested 600 bitcoin in 2011, later told me she joked when I asked her to cash some to pay our student loans. Her joke is now worth $60M. I got a student loan bailout a different way and now thrive with 2 incomes. And most importantly, Moms & Dads: Don't tell your kids financial jokes because they could bank on them believing they're true.
No comments:
Post a Comment