What was your biggest financial windfall?

[TexasHusker]

This one is pretty easy for me. In 1996-97, a friend of mine and me started a company that was dependent on us gaining contracts with large employers. We hired two people to run it. Business sucked. We met downtown every two weeks to make payroll, pay rent, etc. It was so draining!

About a year in, we decided to shut the co. down. We fired the staff and bought out our lease. My partner went up to the office about a week later to gather everything up when he approached the fax machine. On the fax machine was a signed agreement from a Fortune 500 company.

Long story short, that contract paid us about $80K net profit per year for 18 years. Instead of meeting every two weeks to commiserate, we'd meet for expensive lunches and laugh about our good fortune and speculate about how long it might last. Fun times. But one day I needed some cash to start another business so in 2014 I sold out my half to my partner for another $80K.

That allowed me to launch my other business which does very well. However I sold it to him too soon - that company now has revenues in the $ millions each year. My friend is stupid rich with his own jet. Did he take advantage of me when I needed some cash? Maybe, but hey he's a smart business man too.

But I can't complain. We are still great friends and often meet for lunch and talk about old times. The blessing benefited us both and set us both in motion.

[97guns]

This one is pretty easy for me. In 1996-97....

Right in the middle of the dot com run where janitors were bringing home bank. I worked for Home Depot for 4 years during the run up and walked out with 84k in stock, went through 3 splits in 4 years

[disneysteve]

The first thing that comes to mind is from my first practice after finishing med school. I was there for about 6-1/2 years before quitting for various reasons.

Nearly a year later, I get a thick envelope in the mail from the doctor I worked for. Inside is paperwork saying that he was closing out the practice's profit-sharing plan (he was retiring) and there were forms I had to fill out to claim my share. I had no idea I was entitled to anything at that point.

I ended up getting about $21,000 as I recall which I rolled into an IRA.

The other windfall came from when I was a medical resident. The hospital I worked for had some sort of retirement plan but you had to work there for 5 years to be vested. My internship and residency were only 3 years so I knew I didn't qualify. However, the hospital got sold and apparently part of the sale terms were that all existing employees got vested in the plan no matter how long they had been there. I don't recall how much I got from that but I'm thinking it was in the upper 4 figures which was a lot of money, especially back then as a poor medical student.

[kork13]

The only real windfall that comes to mind for me is getting picked up to attend the Air Force Academy. It was somewhat a long shot, but when I got in, it essentially meant a full-ride scholarship to a highly respected engineering school, with just about everything you can imagine included, plus a monthly stipend, plus a guaranteed job after graduation. Sure, it's the military, but it enabled me to get a great education with zero student loans, and it launched me into a career. That meant that financially, I started head and shoulders above my peers, and allowed me to focus on investing early on instead of worrying about paying off student loans.

[Singuy]

Heard a rumor that an optometry lease that profits 400k/year opened up on my side of town. Had the wife inquire about it but unfortunately it was taken instantly from within the company. .The inquiry however landed her another spot on the opposite side of where we live that profits about 170k/year at the time. I did my research on the growth of the neighborhood and thought it's probably going to hit 400k/year in 5 years time. This projection landed the biggest eyeroll from my wife..lol.

Got her to take the position which also led us purchasing a foreclosure on that side of town at half the price of its worth.

3 Years into the lease and her profit jumped from 170k to 280k and climbing at a rate of 20% per year. The house we purchased is worth 1.7x of our purchase price.

All this accelerated our net worth and student loan/mortgage payment exponentially...all from one simple inquiry.

[disneysteve]

Heard a rumor that an optometry lease that profits 400k/year

What does this mean? What is an optometry lease? Do you mean you bought the office building that is leased out by an optometrist?

How much was the purchase price?

[AJ444]

Can't think of any major ones, one time I was up $300 after a trip to the gamblin boat and that surprised me.

[Singuy]

What does this mean? What is an optometry lease? Do you mean you bought the office building that is leased out by an optometrist?

How much was the purchase price?

In the optometry world, a "lease" means a spot within some of big box store, like a sears/lenscrafter/target/walmart..etc.

The purchase price is 0. The rent is like 400/month..more for legal purposes as a place holder. You are an independent optometry that supposedly have no business ties with the optical sales. You are however still being controlled by the parent company(luxottica in this case). They dictates your scheduling even though you are an independent business. They can by holding the lease renewal as hostage yearly because as you can see...any optometrist would jump on an opportunity to make 300-400k/year without paying for the business itself or any equipment in a heartbeat.

All the pt's records belong to the optometrist and there's a non-compete of only 1 mile from the store. So it's not like you lose everything if they terminate your lease.

[disneysteve]

In the optometry world, a "lease" means a spot within some of big box store, like a sears/lenscrafter/target/walmart..etc.

The purchase price is 0. The rent is like 400/month

So your wife is an optometrist and rented this store for her practice?

[Singuy]

Yes in theory.

The actual dealing is, she went through an interview process and beat out on a bunch of other optometrists who were also interested. She got lucky because the guy she talked to remembered her from years before and pretty much convinced her to take the store(he was extremely biased towards her).


So it's like a job/business hybrid. Legally it's a s-corp..but she has a district manager that checks up on her and also can terminate the lease at any moment if performance is not up to par.

[disneysteve]

Yes in theory.

I still have no idea what you are trying to say. Is she working there or not? If she isn't working there, who is? Somebody has to be working to generate the 280K profit you're talking about.

[Singuy]

LoL, I think we are not on the same page.

Yes it's her practice and she is there full time.

She has the option to hire someone full time and not work..which drops the profit down to 140k/year if she chooses.

[disneysteve]

Yes it's her practice and she is there full time.

Okay. That makes sense. So the windfall was her going into practice and being very successful. Good for her.

[scfr]

A 4-year full-tuition scholarship meant that I graduated college without any student loan debt. I "only" paid for room & board, books & incidentals, and overseas study. Graduating college with 0 in debt was a true blessing. When choosing where to donate, my alma mater always makes the cut. And they are remembered in my will.

[Fishindude77]

Owning a business for many years, I've had quite a few nice windfalls. On several occasions partners and I took $200K or more distributions above and beyond salary and bonus, when we had really good years.