The 75,000 is gone isn't it ?

[Memestockwidow]

My OH has been obsessed with meme stocks , keeps saying he's going to be rich have no mortgage and retire. The stock has crashed to 102 and he's just bought more. There's no diversifying his portfolio he's literally bunged 75,000 in one stock. We have been saving to upsize for a few years but my OH keeps putting it off as he wants to be mortgage free. Whatever I say he won't listen 75,000 pounds has gone into a meme stock it's like a bloody cult. We could have moved already with that money and it's been pissed away.

Is this a gambling addiction ?

My XH was like this, he never got over failing to be a trader for a bank and moving to the IT side. A complete sucker for get rich quick and showing off. Just an immature berk really. I got rid to fully secure my own future and that of my DC. Couldn’t let him drag us down.

He has fallen for a get rich quick scheme, the problem is he got into the market after everyone else had left. Hedge fund managers will be all over this, they definitely won't fall for the same trick twice. The stock is dropping because it is still massively overvalued. Small investors like your OH will get burned

....and if he does believe hedgefunders are still shorting the stock, then the stock will continue to drop so now is still not the time to buy.

He could still get some money out, £35k or so. But he'd be forced to admit he was wrong.

I see it's down another 8% today, so that's another few thousand lost.

[quote HacerSonarSusPasos]@ChargingBuck the 75k sounds like a recent investment and OP knows he has form for that. I would have moved the family savings to an account he can't access before he had a change to waste more.[/quote]
@HacerSonarSusPasos we don't know that OH used money from a shared account, so we can't say that OP could have prevented it. Even if she could have, retroactive victim-blaming isn't exactly helpful.

They're also unmarried, so she doesn't share family money on any legal footing. Sounds like she's protected the savings she can move now - but I hope she soon realises the exposure re: shared mortgage can have far wider & more damaging implications than whether she can afford the repayments solo.
Especially from a man with form for getting sacked for cheating the system.

Whatever you do don't marry him

Good lord OP, protect yourself from his stupidity.

Don't allow him to drag you down with him.

Yes it is a form of gambling and it is dangerous to those around him that share his life, who he won't listen to.

Protect yourself financially and think about walking away.

This has all the hallmark of a very stressful life, being with someone chasing a dream and loosing huge money in the process.

@starfro

He could still get some money out, £35k or so. But he'd be forced to admit he was wrong.

I see it's down another 8% today, so that's another few thousand lost.

He will never admit he's wrong he thinks he's really clever that's the problem. I've just asked him what would he do if the share price goes to 5 dollars he said he would buy more. He truly believes it's going to rocket he's like a cult member it's all he talks about.

I will be looking to remortgage on my own ASAP I just need to get him to agree as I cannot afford to buy him out for another 5/6 months.

Gamestop stock is going nowhere now, the whole point of it was that it was being shorted by hedge funds and that's when all the memers found out about it and bet the other way, it's not now, by the time he probably heard about it it was already too late.

I'm very grateful I'm not married to him thank the lord.

Also, gamestop as a business is still in a dying model, everybody is switching over to online content, they're biggest money maker was/is selling used games.

He's gambling assets away like water. Ltb.

I've told him to keep the money in now there's nothing we can do don't expect a win though but he cannot invest anymore money at all

That's where it could get difficult, OP; after all he "thinks he's smart" and that he's "never wrong", so it's possible the outright deceit could start soon as he chases his losses and things start to turn manic

Very wise of you to keep money separate in these circumstances and to look into remortgaging alone - best hope there aren't any surprises in store as to what he's already take on

@Biker47

Also, gamestop as a business is still in a dying model, everybody is switching over to online content, they're biggest money maker was/is selling used games.

Good point. There is also some business left in selling gaming consoles, but that puts them in competition with Amazon and others who can buy them at a lower cost. The redditors have made much of the fact that Gamestop has a new hotshot CEO, but it's still a huge up hill fight.

Buying individual stocks isn't always a bad idea. It depends on the company and how long you plan to hold it. My DH bought Apple and Amazon shares in 2009 when the whole market was in the loo. We still have them and they've made us a lot of money.

Unfortunately I don't have a share token, but this article is really excellent and has a number of parallels with your situation. I would urge you to read it:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-my-husbands-online-trading-addiction-destroyed-our-marriage-tpqgsz5b5

Others have made good observations about the WSB phenomenon and meme stocks so I won't repeat what has been said.

I will add that this is very definitely gambling and not trading. Trading is all about discipline. A trader should be able to tell you at the initiation of a trade what their target is, where they will stop themselves out (exit the strategy), what their target is. Occasionally they may have a pre-determined level to add to the strategy below current market level. Adding to a position at a level that you didn't pre-define is generally regarded as a bad, bad strategy and a sign of a loss of discipline aka "averaging in". Your partner's strategy which appears to be "buy at any level" is the opposite of trading, it's the Greater Fool Theory in action.

Please please protect your financial assets. The depths to which gamblers will stoop should not be underestimated.

OP, protect yourself re: the property in this dull but very important way.

• Sign up for a free property alert

www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

• Register a Form LL restriction using the RX1 form against the title. This requires that any sale of the property cannot be registered without a certificate from a licensed conveyancer confirming that the person who executed the transfer (i.e. you) is the registered proprietor:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/enter-a-restriction-registration-rx1

If your OH tries to re-mortgage or sell the property by forging your signature, you will be alerted by the UK Land Registry via the property alert who will send you an email telling you there has been activity on the title of the property. This gives you notice to take evasive action. Any sale will require a licensed conveyancer to certify they have checked you are the owner signing.

We did it for our property. The conveyancing lawyer said not many people know that they can take these steps to protect their property from increasing fraud. The first one you can do yourself. The second one you might be able to yourself but if necessary use a conveyancer. It is the best few hundreds of pounds solicitors fees for peace of mind.

Definitely loss chasing and the market can stay wrong longer than most can afford to hold a 'clever' position.

I'd be interested to know how the 'leader' of the syndicate is faring, my experience of syndicates is that those leading them can take advantage of going against the grain and selling when the suckers are buying and vice versa. They may look like your best mate, but they rarely are.

Hes an addict and basically not to be trusted. I think you need to swing into action making sure that he really can't get at your accounts or the house. And that's including him forging your signature. (Happened to a friend of mine, she didn't lose the home but there were charges in it from loans she didn't know existed and it caused a lot of issues when they divorced)

@Memestockwidow

I have tried to discuss this with him the mortgage is unchanged and untouched so thank god it's a very small mortgage as well 92k which isn't even his yearly salary so I'm fairly certain the house will be fine . I will phone the bank and make sure he can't remortgage without my permission, I'm not in the position to outright buy him out but will be in about 6 months I can afford to pay the mortgage and bills solely on my income so I'm grateful for that .

His mates have a WhatsApp group where they all discuss GME and they all try to outdo each other on how much they can invest. They have a leader who they think the sun shines out of his backside and follow everything he says in regards to investing it is like I've lost him to a cult.

Trouble is that it's not just potentially the mortgage you'd have to pay - he'd want the increase in value and he may have already secured loans upon the house.

GameStop was last January, if he bought at $20 he could have sold at $300+ but if he was late in and didn’t sell when he should have done then all he’s doing is holding empty bags of nothing. Your 75k is gone and it won’t be coming back. Sorry.

The whole market is down at the moment so I would look to wait a few weeks to see if there is a small increase. Then close out the position.

As others have said, he’s chasing losses not buying dips. When you read some of these boards you see loads of “ooh it’s so cheap right now, I’ve bought more!” Bullshit from teenagers in their mums basement. It’s like a mob mentality that makes you question whether you too, should be balls deep in the latest pump and dump.

Personally I have 1 percent of my total net worth in ultra high risk gambles like this one. If it pays off then great I’ll go on an awesome holiday. If it crashes then I’ll be annoyed because who likes to lose money, but my life won’t really be impacted.

He sounds like he has no limits and he’s in too deep.

I really think you need to see a solicitor, and soon OP. You need to proceed as if you're separating, even if the relationship is not over. You need to financially separate regardless, so ask a solicitor what you should do as you're separating but your OH refuses to let you buy him out. If he won't agree to a financial separation, you end the relationship and proceed in exactly the same way. If he wanted to save the relationship, he'd allow you to protect yourself from his addiction. If he refuses to accept he has a problem, then the consequences of that are on him.

@starfishmummy

Hes an addict and basically not to be trusted. I think you need to swing into action making sure that he really can't get at your accounts or the house. And that's including him forging your signature. (Happened to a friend of mine, she didn't lose the home but there were charges in it from loans she didn't know existed and it caused a lot of issues when they divorced)

100% agree with this, this happened to a relative of mine. Banks and lenders fall over themselves to lend money and it's so easy to defraud someone you live with because you know their info like DOB, bank accounts etc and can easier forge your signature. I think you can put a block on your own credit file, and make sure you can buy him out of the house/take over the mortgage when the pigeons come home to roost for him!

OP "He doesn't believe the hedgefunders have finished trying to get the money back out. He believes the stock is dropping because the hedgefunders are getting rid to do a short then the squeeze will happen and the share price will rocket . I have no idea I'm not a stockbroker and very boring so I don't know what it all means but to me it sounds like he's listening to a cult leader . "

I don't think it sounds like a cult, and it sounds like a possibility he is right. Or has insider info..

However, if he is using money that's for you and DD as well, that's not right.

If he is only using his own...that's a very impressive salary, if I earned that much, I might have a different attitude to risk as well.

I don't know the risks re your joint finance and names though, so obviously I'd think you need to be careful there. Thank goodness you aren't married.

@Memestockwidow

I'm very grateful I'm not married to him thank the lord.

How is the house titled, joint or in common?