Hey everyone, I’m in a really tough spot and could use some perspective/advice:
Background:
• In 2021, my younger brother had convinced my mother that millionaires were made from the GME craze, my mum gave me £25,000—her life savings—to invest however she told me that any profits would be mine.
• My younger brother convinced me to put most of it into EV stocks in early 2021, riding the wave of post‑GME FOMO. At the time, it made sense: Tesla was booming and the whole sector felt like the next big thing. I tried to initially play it safe and invest in blue chips like TSMC, AMD, Intel TSLA, Ford etc. But these had dropped significantly after a year.
What happened:
• My younger brother had convinced my mother that millionaires were made from the GME craze, I didn’t know about this myself as I hadn’t kept upto date about this stuff but I agreed without thinking (my mother and younger brother considered me the “smart one” in the family and could turn that into millions). The market was at a peak—right after the GameStop craze—but none of us timed that. Stocks cratered, and the entire portfolio dropped by 2023 to around 8k GBP left.
I then started taking out loans and took that remaining 8k to try and day trade, but minus 15% stop losses over and over again. Eventually I was out of money and also now am in thousands of debt with the bank as well.
• Instead of acknowledging market risk, my brother and mum have turned on me. They accuse me of lying, stealing, and “not appreciating money.” Now they constantly make remarks about me being a thief and refuse to take any responsibility for their own decision to invest.
How it feels:
• I was acting in good faith and made calls that any rational person might’ve made at the time.
• My brother never put his own name on the paperwork—he’d invested through me, so when things went south, I took all the blame.
• Their comments and insults feel like emotional abuse and gaslighting. I’ve lost my peace of mind and keep replaying “what if” scenarios.
Where I’m at now:
I’m drained, guilty (even though I know I didn’t do anything dishonest), and worried this is going to permanently damage our relationships. I’m not sure how to get them to accept responsibility for their own choices, or how to stop feeling like I’m the bad guy.