If it makes you feel any better, almost everyone I know who bought it early, sold it way too early as well. Some could've had millions if they kept it all until today, but they just made a decent amount.
Wanted to put in $7k, at $7, so 1,000 coins. But I didn't want to send a copy of my passport to some shady (Magic the Gathering) exchange in Japan. And it would take 3+ weeks before I could get my coins. What an idiot I was.
So in the beginning you could mine bitcoin on a computer but as the price went up to continue mining and pay for power you need better hardware. I believe he just set up the machine to autopay the electricity bill as it mined so he essentially lost his bitcoins paying the bills. Basically there was no payout for mining on the same hardware as time went on.
