'I Feel Like A Clown Right Now'—Redditor Regrets Convincing Their Parents To Buy SPY And Nvidia Near The Peak, Just Before The Crash

A Reddit user recently shared a painful lesson in investing: convincing their parents to buy U.S. stocks just before the market took a sharp downturn. In a post that quickly gained traction on the r/stocks subreddit, the user admitted, “I've been telling my Asian parents to buy US stocks for about two years now. They finally caved in three weeks ago and bought 200,000 worth of SPY SPY and 100,000 of Nvidia NVDA. And voila, the market collapsed.”

Feeling “like a clown,” the user lamented their timing and wondered if they should have advised waiting, especially with recent tariff concerns.

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Reddit Responds

Responses to the post were overwhelming, and the most popular advice was brutally straightforward: “Never ever give investment advice. You get no credit for the gains, and all the blame for the losses.” Another user reinforced this sentiment, pointing out the danger of stock-picking: “And don't give stupid advice like to put 1/3 of the portfolio in a single stock.”

A lot of people said it's important to spread out investments instead of putting too much into one stock. One person explained that SPY was already a solid choice, but putting a big chunk into Nvidia was too risky since SPY already included some Nvidia shares.

The Danger of Timing the Market

While some tried to reassure the original poster that SPY is a long-term play that will likely recover, others highlighted the emotional toll of investing at the wrong time. One commenter reflected, “I'm realizing it's not a good idea to influence people to buy stocks because when they go down, it's on you.”

Others emphasized that buying at market highs is a common mistake, with one user sarcastically stating, “So this is the real sentiment gauge, I guess. Sell when Asian parents are finally FOMO'ing.”

The Psychology of Investing

Beyond financial strategy, some users touched on the emotional impact of losing money. One wisely noted, “This is why I’ll always [dollar-cost averaging] instead of lump sum. Mental health is one of the biggest factors in investing. DCA keeps me in a better headspace and looking at things rationally.” DCA, involves spreading out purchases over time to reduce the risk of buying at a market peak.

Another highlighted the challenges of giving financial advice, saying, “I gave relatives advice on buying [A]mazon [AMZN] years ago, after a triple in value, I told them to sell, which they did. The comment I got was, ‘Well, you bought way more than me, so you’re way better off than me now.’ I mean, you’ll never get a thank you even when you give them a winning lotto ticket.”

A Lesson Learned

The original poster later clarified that their parents had insisted on picking a stock themselves, admitting, “I should have put my foot down and said no or at least diversified that across a number of stocks instead of one.”

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