For those of you speculating on payphones having poor investment potential, I share your thoughts.
Selling their payphones was probably an idea for the telephone companies to get one last puff out of their probably considerable investment. The phone companies could see that cellphones were taking over.
That was one of many questionable investments I've seen or heard about over the years. Another was diamonds - in a bag. A young guy harassed my F-I-L to buy diamonds until he told him - "If they're such a good investment why are you telling me? You should buy them yourself".
In my younger days another (Canadian) "investment" was in MURBS (Multiple Unit Residential Buildings). They were apartment or condo units, largely a tax write off, promoted primarily to doctors and lawyers. One of my patients tried to sell me a MURB. I assessed the investment potential and told him I thought the costs were excessive and the rent projections far ahead of reality. He said that was all true but wouldn't I like the tax write off? One Saturday morning in the Surgeon's Lounge at the local hospital, a group of community doctors were "chewing the fat" when the subject turned to MURBS. A number of older docs gave us "young uns" some advice - "don't invest in MURBS, they're an ongoing cash sink." I understand that it's only recently that many investors managed to get out from under their "invetments" by selling their MURBS at break even or a small profit.
What else has come and gone? There were also hockey cards, and movies.
And what do we have now? I suspect that investing in cryptocurrencies will end in tears for many "investors".
