Gostevie

[Clitheroekid]

I just heard that Gostevie (real name Steve Holdsworth) died very recently.

I never had any personal dealings with him, but I enjoyed his posts, and going back to TMF days his story of fighting back to solvency after a financial disaster was pretty inspirational.

It’s surprisingly upsetting to lose someone you’ve never known personally, and it’s a vivid demonstration of the fellowship that a site like this can generate. Long may it continue.

RIP Steve.

[CliffEdge]

I remember his fight to become debt free and then his posts on investing.
Oh that is so sad.

[XFool]

...Sadly only about 58 and not long retired.

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.p ... 90#p394390

[staffordian]

Yes, CK. Upsetting.

An amazing story of beating the odds, and such a shame he was not able to reap the rewards of his hard work as he'd no doubt planned.

RIP Gostevie

[Lootman]

What is even sadder is that of the Lemons we have lost in the last year or so (that I know of), none of them were that old.

Gostevie was 58 or so. Gengulphus was 65, I believe. I do not know PinkDalek's age but, having met him once, I would guess somewhere in that range.

Life is precious and fickle.

[Dod101]

I am really sorry to hear that. I never had any dealings with Gostevie but he always came across as a genuine sober fellow. I sometimes wonder how I have survived.

Life is indeed fickle.

Dod

[Hallucigenia]

Having had a couple of longish threads with him back in the depths of the DWD days, I must admit I opened this thread with trepidation, it's weird that he won't be around any more. Not only did he face up to DWD with great determination and stoicism, but on the boards his mix of humour, humility and generosity made him one of the personalities that made Fooldom what it was.

Bugger.

[swill453]

Sad news, I remember well his momentous decision to declare bankruptcy much to the relief of many Dealing With Debt regulars, followed by his utter failure to follow it through...

He dragged himself out of debt with hard graft and spreadsheets instead, and as other have said managed to accumulate enough loot to retire early. He did, at least, achieve some major goals in his short life.

Indulging in a bit of internet stalking, I see he had a Twitter account, active up until just over a week ago, with his profile picture putting a face to the name https://twitter.com/sholdsworth1963

He also contributed to a podcast back in 2017 https://www.conkers3.com/steve-holdsworth/

Scott.

[WrenChasen]

Such sad news.

I had a few conversations with Steve. His strength of character and determination to overcome his many problems was both admirable and at times very frustrating. If anyone should have survived long enough to claim their state pension it was him.

RIP Gostevie. You left us far too soon.

[Hypster]

Oh what sad news. I saw gostevie pop up in the comments over on Stockopedia from time to time.

RIP Steve. May the admins elevate your forum status to St Clement.

[UncleEbenezer]

Thanks for posting. Now that you mention it, haven't seen much of him recently, though I've no idea if that has anything to do with it. I remember him mainly in the context of TMF's VCT board.

It’s surprisingly upsetting to lose someone you’ve never known personally, and it’s a vivid demonstration of the fellowship that a site like this can generate. Long may it continue.

But we did know him, even if we never met face-to-face! Unlike that outpouring of grief you see when a popular celebrity dies, coming from people who never exchanged a word with them.

Requiescat in pace.

[Hypster]

ShareSoc blog post:

https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/general-n ... oldsworth/

[Dod101]

ShareSoc blog post:

https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/general-n ... oldsworth/

I must say that I only came across his name in the DWD Boards on the old TMF site. He occasionally contributed here I know. At any rate, he obviously was well known in the world of investing and good for ShareSoc to write of him so well.

Dod

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Infinite sadness.

Until our paths cross again ... Go Stevie, in peace.

AiY(D)

[Clariman]

It is such sad news to learn that Steve is no longer with us. He was a great contributor to the Dealing with Debt board on TMF; always willing to share his story, including his plans and techniques to pay off his debts. What I loved about him was that he was so honourable and helpful.

'Honourable' because his view was that he had taken on those debts and it was his duty and desire to pay off every penny, despite many people proclaiming loudly (if you can be 'loud' in print on a discussion board) that he should declare himself bankrupt. He seemed acutely aware that if he did not pay off his debts, then others would be without the money that was rightfully theirs, so he stoically and meticulously paid them all off. It was a significant sum of money.

'Helpful' because he always had time to listen to other people's debt woes; providing constructive help and warm encouragement to those who were also in debt. He then used the same meticulous financial management skills to turn towards investing. What a turnaround and what a great human being.

Such a sad loss RIP Steve AKA Gostevie

Footnote
I have often said (though not for a while), that the Dealing with Debt board was the single most valuable and important board on The Motley Fool - for the help it provided to people in financial difficulty. Although LemonFool is a great forum with very helpful contributors, it is my biggest regret that we did not provide a better home for the DWD and LBYM discussions that were such an important part of the TMF forums. That said, most of that section of the user base had already moved on to the forums at MSE where there is a very active Debt Free Wannabee forum which is, in some ways, the natural successor to DWD.

Clariman

[paulnumbers]

Very sad indeed. I was going through my own debt battle at the same time as Gostevie, so I remember his posts well, they were quite an inspiration for me.

I'll raise a glass ...