throw good money after bad
Escalating failed investments
To throw good money after bad is to spend additional resources trying to salvage a failing investment or hopeless situation, compounding the original loss.
The phrase captures the sunk cost fallacy—the reluctance to abandon what's already lost: We've already spent fifty thousand on repairs; throwing good money after bad won't make this car reliable.
- sunk costs fallacyHonoring irretrievable investments irrationally
- martingaleTack restraining head position
- irretrievableImpossible to regain
- falling knifeRapidly declining investment
- bygonesFormer offenses dismissed
sunk cost · chasing rainbows · fool's errand · beating a dead horse · costs · investment · fruitless · burn rate · losses · money pit · inefficiency · bailout · doubling down · futility · waste · penny wise, pound foolish · cost-benefit analysis · robbing Peter to pay Paul
throw good money after badcut your losses
Exit before further damage
cut one's losses · stop the bleeding · pull the plug · walk away · call it quits
throw good money after badlet bygones be bygones
Release past resentments mutually
make a clean break · start fresh · fresh start · clean break · move on
throws, thrown, throwing, thrower, goodness, goodly, moneys, moneyed, monetary