What was your luckiest financial endeavor or gift?

[Anonymous]

My grandparents were the original Millionaires Next Door. They had inherited oil shares but lived frugally. My parent reinvested and organized their estate so that grandparents could give each grandchild 10k as a gift in the late 1990s.

I used my share to buy a starter home that I later sold to a builder - walked away with 100k to then buy a home I otherwise couldn’t afford.

[Anonymous]

Almost full ride scholarship to top law school. Gave me lots of flexibility on what type of job I could take afterwards. I worked for that, but it also definitely involved good luck.

[Anonymous]

My brother helped my dad buy a large whole life insurance policy on my mom a few years before she was unexpectedly diagnosed with the first of a series of terrible cancers. I wish I had my mom instead of the money.

[Anonymous]

Four all by the age of 23 that set me off for a very comfortable financial life:

Graduated from George Mason in 1999 and lived at home so I was able to cash pay for college. Additionally I was able to save money.

Got a job in 1999 which was an awesome time to get my foot in the door in tech. My longevity and early in this space has paid off very very well.

Met my now DH at George Mason who also graduated debt free with some personal savings and who also went into tech at the right time.

We combined financial forces in 2000 and purchased our first home in Vienna with only 3% down and had college friends as roommates until we had our first kid.

[Anonymous]

Investing about $500K into TSLA stock in 2019 before it’s meteoric rise and multiple stock splits. And then selling the stock in late 2021 for Long Term Capital Gains. Never have to work again if I choose not to. And I don’t even own an EV. I admit there was a lot of luck in this but I when I saw people with lower incomes buying these cars I figured it was a good investment. The Biden administrations energy policies just added fuel to the fire.

[Anonymous]

Tesla stock here also. That one wasn't even hard to see.
Unexpected death in the family this year, ca $200k.

[Anonymous]

We had a lucky bit of timing and being in the right state (Maryland) that pulled us back from declaring personal bankruptcy. Our medical situation was hitting the fan when we qualified for expanded Medicaid after the Affordable Care Act. I didn't have insurance through my job, so I went from expensive/lousy insurance to low-cost/very good insurance. It was a life changer for my spouse and my child.

We still don't make the big bucks but enough that we no longer qualify for free ACA insurance. I still joke about our three years of living with "European" healthcare.

[Anonymous]

This thread is so depressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so depressing.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Investing about $500K into TSLA stock in 2019 before it’s meteoric rise and multiple stock splits. And then selling the stock in late 2021 for Long Term Capital Gains. Never have to work again if I choose not to. And I don’t even own an EV. I admit there was a lot of luck in this but I when I saw people with lower incomes buying these cars I figured it was a good investment. The Biden administrations energy policies just added fuel to the fire.

Depending on when you bought in 2019 and sold in 2021, that’s a roughly $5M to $20M capital gain. Good for you. Ouch on the tax bill but at least it was the lower long term capital gains rate.

[Anonymous]

full ride to college. didn't have the best social experience there, but a good academic one so it was worth it to be debt free and have good mentors.

stretching to buy our house in DMV and being able to refinance pretty quickly down to 2.7%

marriage, combining resources

starting roth ira after college and maxing out yearly and looking at it, sibling just told me to stick max in s&p 500 and ignore it otherwise

parents give us about the equiv of a 3-5k year annually. it's not huge but it adds up over time and takes some of the edge off of childcare bill

[Anonymous]

(whoops, i meant NOT looking at it--the roth. i can't garden worth squat, but compound interest makes it not so hard to grow $!)

[Anonymous]

My sibling died and my parents gave me $20,000 of their life insurance payout. I used that for a 5% down payment on a house in Clarendon that I could barely afford. Sold it 3 years later and made over $200,000.

[Anonymous]

Gifted $1M for a down payment which we weren't expecting. Very nice surprise

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Investing about $500K into TSLA stock in 2019 before it’s meteoric rise and multiple stock splits. And then selling the stock in late 2021 for Long Term Capital Gains. Never have to work again if I choose not to. And I don’t even own an EV. I admit there was a lot of luck in this but I when I saw people with lower incomes buying these cars I figured it was a good investment. The Biden administrations energy policies just added fuel to the fire.

Depending on when you bought in 2019 and sold in 2021, that’s a roughly $5M to $20M capital gain. Good for you. Ouch on the tax bill but at least it was the lower long term capital gains rate.

Fortunately, half of it was in a Roth IRA so the government isn't getting one penny of that to waste.