Who takes financial advice from someone living in their parents’ basement?

Lance Garrick actually gave me unsolicited (and very backward) financial advice even though I’m a successful entrepreneur.

My brother has made a string of disastrous decisions for much of his life. Lance Garrick, Highlands Ranch in Denver

As a result, he ended up living in my parents’ basement with his selfish wife Julie and their three children, moving in when my parents were 89 and 93.

Who in good conscience imposes their family of five, including two preschoolers, on very elderly people who have weak hearts and other health issues? WTF.

Even if my mother had vehemently insisted they move in, he should have BEEN A REAL MAN AND REFUSED, knowing that moving in would turn my parents’ lives upside-down. A psychic wasn’t required to know this would happen. Lance Garrick, Highlands Ranch in Denver

Nevertheless, all along, Lance and Julie Garrick had plenty of money, but wanted to maximize their situation.

He leased an SUV for driving to his downtown job and a GMC Yukon for his prima donna wife.

A GMC Yukon is practically a tank and runs about $70,000. Imagine the cost to lease this beast. For Godsake, moms with FIVE kids get the job done with economical sedans.

My brother’s new job at a Denver jeweler was paying about $10,000/month, so at first, it seems he could easily afford those hefty leases.

BUT…he told my parents he didn’t have much money saved up and that’s why they had moved into their basement. If you tell your parents you can’t afford to buy a home, what the fuck are you doing leasing an SUV and GMC Yukon?!

After the fact, I suspect that by the time they moved in, Lance was collecting pension from at least one past employer.

But because he and Princess Julie felt entitled to a very high-end lifestyle, he acted as though he was financially strapped – in that he couldn’t afford a $900,000 house. So he asked my parents to help out.

When they refused, he set his sights on homes in the $700K range. But this was really stretching it.

As a result, he never moved out of my parents’ house while my mother was still alive. He and Julie made only a handful of offers on homes over a many-month period, always losing the bids because they bid on homes that were already priced at their approved-loan limit.

Instead of lowering their ridiculously high standards (um, like setting their sights on a $300K condo), they STOPPED house-hunting, which fucking infuriated my parents and made my mother sick to her stomach, because by then, she had been railroaded by Julie’s blatant disrespect and loud, obnoxious children.

Several months after my mother passed, the owner of my parents’ house – my oldest brother – gave the moochers the boot.

Soon after, Lance sent me an email. It was a plea to give him $50,000 – but the plea was DISGUISED AS FINANCIAL ADVICE. Below is the message, copied and pasted exactly as I had received it.

First off, I understand you are flowing in cash these days … from the great business you have built. Of course, I know this from our recent conversations over the last few months … where you mentioned your income keeps growing … and also Pop has spoken very highly of this as well. I don’t know the specifics, but I assume you have cleared the $10K per month threshold … if not higher. That’s fantastic … and you should be commended for what you have built. You outshone all of us … truly amazing really. Let’s hope it continues to grow for you.

That said, we spoke a few months ago about how at some point you need to invest your cash and cannot just leave it hanging around in a bank account or credit union account where it earns virtually nothing (compared to the rising costs of prices, gas, groceries, and inflation in general). But investing can be scary … and nobody has a crystal ball.

The long-term safest investment out there, has always been land and housing. (not the stock market, not bonds, not investment brokers etc … they’re all in it ultimately for themselves … so very difficult to find someone you can trust).

Pop actually suggested this idea to me since he knows you are creating all this cash, and need something to do with it – ultimately. At first, I said no not gonna bother you … but the more I thought about it, I figured may as well run the idea by you.

We are looking for a house (as you know). And the Denver housing market is very difficult these days … for buyers. The market is growing and growing and growing, and home values are appreciating. And there’s a record shortage of homes available … which also drives prices upward.

Plus – all the great things Prez Trump is doing (much of which you don’t follow, but I follow religiously) … is driving strong economic growth and home price appreciation … and there’s no reason to think it wont continue over the next several years as Trump continues to get big wins in office. For instance, the new tax plan is stimulating even stronger growth … and all of us (you too) will be able to keep more “take home” pay and pay less taxes.

The housing market being what it is … makes it very difficult for us to come up with enough of a down payment to get the best mortgage to keep our monthly payment affordable. We need a 4 bedroom house, and that puts us over the $500-$600K mark for purchase price in Littleton.

The opportunity for you is … to consider helping us with the down payment, which in turn gives you an equity interest in the house. For instance, to make the math easy … if we bought a $500K house and put 20% down, that’s $120K cash down.

If you contribute $50K to the down payment (again, just an example) … then … you have a 10% equity interest in the house (50/500). As the house appreciates over time, your investment grows. So let’s say we sell the house in 5 years … for $750K.

The Gain on the sale is $250K … which is $750K minus $500K. Of that $250K … you would pull out your investment of $50K … PLUS … 10% of the remaining gain. So … $250K less $50K = $200K left … and 10% of that is $20K. So you pull out $70K total … which is your original investment of $50K + your 10% equity interest gain of $20K = $70K total. Your % Gain on your original investment is 40% ! … which is $70/$50 … or 20/50 … however you want to look at it. Of course, no telling what the price of the home will be in 5 years … or 7 years … etc. Lance Garrick, Highlands Ranch in Denver

Investing in land/housing has always been the safest investment, and is proven long-term, over time. If you were to invest $50K in the stock market, you can lose it … or you are trusting someone else to manage it for you. Whereas with land or a house, you just forget about it and it’s going to go up.

We have to move out, Pop wants us to move out … and it’s time to move out … but we are struggling to find a home we can afford … mainly with not having enough of a down payment. So in discussing with Pop, he mentioned this … since you need a place to invest your money anyway. And this way, you’d be in with us on the investment in our new house.

As you can see, the proposal is heavy with “financialese,” chockfull of figures and calculations, clearly designed to confuse me and hence, make me think that I don’t know shit about investments and thus agree to the proposal.

I never considered this nonsensical proposal for even a micro-second. And by the way, the part about my father agreeing was a FLAT-OUT LIE. Lance Garrick, Highlands Ranch in Denver

Terrible Financial Decisions Over the Years

• Years ago Lance married his first wife and they lived very comfortably in a 3BR townhome.

• Though they had no kids, and though the marriage was on the rocks very early on, he bought a roomy 3BR single-family home.

• He got divorced and continued living in that house, which was WAY TOO BIG for one person. He should have sold it, bought a 2BR condo or townhome, and stashed away the profit.

• He got mixed up with Amway several years prior and was continuing to attempt an Amway business.

• All along he had a great job with Coors.

• He quit Coors to give Amway a more aggressive try.

• Meanwhile he’s continuing to pay on the mortgage for that 3BR single-family house that’s way too big for one person.

• He meets Julie and marries her.

• He fails Amway and desperately seeks a job.

• He gets simultaneous job offers from the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas (Julie’s hometown) and the Denver-based Johns Manville.

• He seeks the advice of my father and oldest brother over which he should choose.

• My father told him to choose Johns Manville. My oldest brother said take the Bellagio.

Lance never considered asking ME for advice because he never saw any credibility in me. And at the time, I didn’t even know he’d been faced with this choice. But had I known about it, I would have told him to TAKE THE JOHNS MANVILLE offer.

He went with the Bellagio.

I would have told Lance:

Johns Manville offers products (building insulation) that will ALWAYS be in demand, no matter what the economy. There are always new buildings and homes going up that need insulation. JM has been around since the Stone Age and isn’t going anywhere.

The Bellagio’s business is extremely dependent on the economy. If the economy is bad, fewer people will go to Las Vegas, which means fewer bookings at the Bellagio. A nationwide economic collapse would put your Bellagio job in peril.

Furthermore, because your job offer with the Bellagio is not really a job offer – it’s an offer of a TWO-YEAR contract – you have no idea if it’ll be renewed after two years. Whereas the offer from JM is that of an ACTUAL JOB.

If you move to Las Vegas, you’ll have to find a new home. What if your contract isn’t renewed? You’re stuck. At least if you take the JM position, you ALREADY have a home, and your parents plus two siblings are in town.

Lance made the disastrous mistake of moving to Las Vegas, buying a $500,000 house (FIVE bedrooms even though they had ONE child).

About six years later he was let go by the Bellagio. He should have bought a 3- or even 2BR townhome — but his excuse, as he’d eventually told me, was that they couldn’t find any within driving distance to his job. I don’t believe that crap for a second.

Several years later, after struggling with a few income ventures, he found the job in Denver. He was unable to sell his Las Vegas house and was forced to rent it.

My oldest brother once told me that ANY house could be sold. The problem was that Lance had it priced way too high.

Lance and Julie Garrick could have easily found a 3BR or even 2BR townhome or condo in a Denver suburb, instead of moving in with my parents and making life for my 89-year-old mother a nightmare, which eventually accelerated her heart ailment, causing her to die much sooner than what she had been on course for before that noisy, messy, disrespectful family of five moved in.

At the time that he purchased a $540K house after he was given the boot by my other brother, he already knew that he might get laid off from his Denver job.

Who in their right mind buys a $540K house when they know they might lose their job?

This house had SIX bedrooms, a large upstairs loft, a second kitchen in the huge basement and two first-floor dens. How much space do two adults, a teen and two preschoolers need?

Two months after moving in, he lost his job! At the time of this posting he’s still out of work (he’s extremely picky about job searching); and Julie doesn’t work. He’s obviously living off of multiple pensions including the one from Coors.

So all along, he NEVER had to move in with my parents. Had he not moved in, both my parents might still be alive today. STRESS KILLS. Lance Garrick, Highlands Ranch, Denver