Wow, the people in the first story really squandered a gift. Inheritance is hard to come by, and that would have been a great opportunity. It's a shame they chose nonsense lifestyles and consumerist trappings over a home. I guess you can lead a horse to water..... The second person missed their chance because they couldn't compromise. It's really shortsighted. I think most people cannot plan for even a month in the future, much less financial positions 5-10 years down the road. How sad. Nice anecdotes though, you can really learn a lot from other people's shortcomings/poor judgement!