Microwaving Contacts, And Other Mega-Goofs

Flaherty's co-worker was having trouble paying on her $1,300 credit card charges. Concerned that his colleague would never get out of her debt hole because of the late fees and high interest rate tacked on, Flaherty paid off the entire bill.

"I had just about that amount in my savings so I felt I was in the position to help her and it gave me a nice Mother Teresa feeling," he said. "She was elated and thanked me profusely."

His co-worker agreed to pay Flaherty $100 a month.

I'm sure you can guess what happened next.

Two months after their agreement, Flaherty hadn't seen a penny in repayment. He asked for his money.

"She said she will start [repaying] very soon," he said. "After another attempt she said, 'I'll pay you back what I can when I can.' "

Okay, right after that comment, security would have had to escort me out of the building for threatening a co-worker.

The woman then left the company. She refused to return any of Flaherty's e-mails or telephone calls.

So, anytime anybody asks you for a loan, remember Flaherty.

Finally, the first-place prize goes to Erik Bartlett of Casco, Maine.

"This subject is still very painful to me," Bartlett wrote. "Back in 1991, I began investing $2,000 a year in stock; pretty much all tech funds and stocks. Needless to say, this was like printing money at the time."

Bartlett said he was getting returns of more than 30 percent a year. At the end of the decade, he had parlayed $14,000 into $130,000.