Hi Tom,
Thanks for sharing that, Tom!
I'll say, regarding my friend who got the inheritance... I didn't know about his inheritance till all this had happened, and he had already lost a big chunk of it. If I had known, I feel I could have probably helped steer him more in the right direction...! (He only started talking to me about it after most of the money was already gone...)
He hasn't had a lot of income his whole life, so I guess he never bothered to educate himself on what to do when you do have money to invest. Then, when he had it - he didn't know what to do with it!
Sadly, he seems a bit morose nowadays... I haven't really talked to him about it explicitly, but I think he knows he had an opportunity to "set himself up" financially for the rest of his life (if he had invested wisely)... and he blew it... I think he can probably see that in hindsight... I don't want to rub salt into open wounds...
On no. 5... I agree with "TommyBoy"... what's the good advice? What's the bad advice? Curious minds want to know...!
We'll all have "rainy days"... We'd all like to think we'll be healthy and energetic the rest of our lives. I've had my "scare" with diabetes, which has affected me... I seem to have it more or less under control now, but it took me a long time to figure out what seems to help me (diet-wise, supplement-wise, and so on)...
Can you survive (financially) if you get sick? That's a very scary question for many people...
The solution is to educate yourself... Be open-minded but also a bit "skeptical" of the "gurus"... Then take action, maybe small actions at first (while you test the waters), then, as you gain in experience and knowledge, dip your toe, then your whole foot in the water...
Best wishes,
Dien