Lost My Life Savings in an MLM Stock (Beachbody)

My name is Aaron and I am 28. I live in Chicago and have been investing since I started my first job at 16. While I originally only ever traded stock in larger companies like Southwest Airlines, Walmart, and Disney, in November 2021, I made the most shameful mistake of my life- I invested $100,000 in Beachbody, the fitness company known for famous brands like P90X and Shaun T's Insanity.

You can read a bit of my story below. Please note, I only recently shared this story publicly, as it is one of tremendous shame and guilt for me. Your time reading it or sharing it with someone who may relate is the greatest gift I could and have received in recent weeks.

HOW I GOT MY INITIAL INVESTMENT

The money I invested in stocks mostly came from working and saving. I worked year round starting at 16, worked three jobs at a time in college, and then went on to work for Amazon during the pandemic. Like many people, I was able to stuff away a lot of my paychecks and pandemic savings because I was not going out and doing much with it. I now work at a college running their gym and fitness programs for students! I make less money than at Amazon, but I am much more fulfilled living with a purpose like health and wellness!

WHY I INVESTED IN BEACHBODY

I had been a fitness instructor since I was 18 and ultimately now work in the fitness industry helping people feel good and get healthy. I was intrigued by Beachbody because they claimed to be moving away from the MLM model they became known for (i.e. pyramid scheme-y). They claimed they were going to become the "Netflix of Fitness". They also claimed in 2021 that after they had grown so much during the pandemic from people working out at home that they would grow 30% annually through the end of the decade.

WHAT HAPPENED

Mismanagement, greed, and false projections brought the stock down to where it is today, 99% below its initial value. The stock debuted in 2021 at $10 a share. I actually bought it at $5 thinking I was getting a great deal, but today is sits at just $.015!!!!

This company never left its MLM scheming ways. The CEO and CFO claimed on every earnings call that things were going to turnaround and to just be patient. This is how I ended up investing $20,000 more to get my average price per share down thinking someday it would be easier to get back to breakeven. However, this never happened and the company's false projections and empty promises caused a further decline of 95% from where I bought.

The company also debuted as a SPAC instead of an IPO, a method of going public that is subject to less regulatory oversight and saw a boom/bust cycle in 2021. Beachbody is not much worse off than many SPAC's, but it is one of the ones that has no chance of recovery due to mismanagement and their sleazy MLM and predatory business practices.

WHY I STARTED A GOFUNDME

Eventually, in November 2023, I sold all my stock. I had considered it as a lottery ticket, what was $120,000, what should've been a down payment for a house or a head start for my child's college savings, was now a few thousand dollars, so why even sell it when I could just hold on and hope for a miracle.

I realized though from meeting a group of former Beachbody coaches who had been stuck in the MLM loop that I was a victim much the same as them. I was stuck in a toxic cycle of hyping myself up when management would promise better times ahead, followed by crushing defeat when there was no follow through. This became very very toxic for me and it was until the last month I realized how much this company was controlling my life. I was more depressed than usual, isolating from friends, and I was spending hours a day watching the stock price and talking to people in stock forums, trying to convince myself everything was fine.

It was not until I got out that I realized how negative keeping the stock was for me. And how much like the former Beachbody members I was, trapped in a never ending cycle.

WHAT THE FUNDS ARE FOR

While in 2021 I was ahead financially, I now live paycheck-to-paycheck. I don't have any emergency fund or savings, and the prospect that my Beachbody money is actually gone is starting to set in.

I am raising funds to create an emergency fund. These funds will be used for unexpected life expenses and to hopefully restore some of the savings account I once had. One day I will need a home, my car has 140,000 miles on it and makes weird noises, and I am one medical or car bill away from not having anything.

This is a very specific fundraiser. I am not the subject of a random emergency, I am not homeless, I am not jobless. I have my family who still loves me (even if I am super ashamed and embarrassed), I have friends who didn't run away once I told them the truth about why I had been acting distant, and I have a job that gives me purpose.

This loss of finances was completely self-inflicted. It was a mistake that I own 100% and I will have to live with it forever. Nobody forced me to buy the stock, nobody forced me to hold out hope and not sell it sooner, and no God-like figure came down and took away everything I had. It was me, and I acknowledge that.

I feel weird and guilty making this, but if anything, I hope that people will learn something from mistake. Or that perhaps someone else who lived a similar situation at some point will feel less alone. I found support this past month and it was the most valuable thing that could have came into my life.

So, if you are able and willing to give, anything at all, I am so extremely grateful. Your time reading this and any donation you make will probably make me cry (I am a crier)!

I want to thank everyone, even the strangers on YouTube and Instagram, who has sent me messages of support and love. They saved me from staying in a dark dark place this year.

While $120,000 obviously is not my goal (that's like powerball money!!), I have listed it as a symbolic figure, for myself and others.