What’s the e best financial decision you’ve ever made?

[Anonymous]

Honestly, my best financial fortunes were pretty much luck / being at the right place at the right time - I married a great guy from a wealthy family, had kids without significant special needs, got that first great job out of college that opened a lot of doors later, have great parents who encouraged education and savings, I don't have an addictive personality.

[Anonymous]

Born to rich parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At least two people have said, "leaving journalism."

If you or your spouse left journalism for something that paid more, what was it and how did you do it? I have a resume with decades of journalism experience.

Left for a comms position in the industry I covered. Very common.

[Anonymous]

Definitely meeting and marrying my DH young. We lived together cheaply, made goals, saved together, shared insurance, etc.

Next runner up would be buying a house in 2009 (with the 10k from the government, plus a little of my meager savings). I wasn't married and was so broke (made 40k) but I was able to swing it. I made 300k when I sold it 4 years later after not doing a single improvement to it.

[Anonymous]

Buying a house in Pimmit Hills in 2000

[Anonymous]

Switching to index funds from managed funds. And then to ETFs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least two people have said, "leaving journalism."

If you or your spouse left journalism for something that paid more, what was it and how did you do it? I have a resume with decades of journalism experience.

Left for a comms position in the industry I covered. Very common.

This. I have a few friends who transitioned into comms/PR roles, both inhouse and in agencies. They knew the subject matter and had the connections.

[Anonymous]

To spend less than I make. Whether I made 68K or 200 K, I saved money pre and post tax every month

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, my best financial fortunes were pretty much luck / being at the right place at the right time - I married a great guy from a wealthy family, had kids without significant special needs, got that first great job out of college that opened a lot of doors later, have great parents who encouraged education and savings, I don't have an addictive personality.

you haven't made any financial decisions, really. this is totally unhealthy. go away.

[Anonymous]

PP here. sorry i meant unhelpful not unhealthy. your experience was certainly healthy -- for you

[Anonymous]

Buying real estate.

[Anonymous]

marrying a like-minded person
maxing out retirement
always getting the maximum company match
buying a house much less than what we could afford
being careful with our money always, even we can don't have to

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here. sorry i meant unhelpful not unhealthy. your experience was certainly healthy -- for you

Why? It shows you how much of life is out of one's control.

[Anonymous]

Marrying someone smarter than me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having only one child
Moving from Northeast to Dallas area, no state income tax and the weather is way better.

Except you have to live in Texas. Let's hope your child isn't a girl who gets herself in trouble some day.

My DC is 19 so no issue there and she goes to school out west. Honestly, I live in a town that is more diverse than any other I’ve ever lived in, both in the Boston area and in the Tri State area, the weather is fantastic, the politics are purple, technically blue in my town, I live 12 minutes from the airport, the weather is fantastic, drier than FL, the food is awesome, very diverse choices, the people are super nice and friendly, the state is open and has been open for the past year and our covid cases aren’t any worse than say California, people are living their lives, happily. It’s cool that you buy into the vilification of Texas from the news, but I’ll tell you, we all live in a 10 mile radius of our homes and the big politics don’t really impact day to day life. And my radius to pretty f’ing good.

See, this is where you give yourself away. You're one of them.

Also, thanks to my making better financial decisions over the years than to live in Texas, I don't have to let things like state taxes dictate my life. That's sad.

You’re the type of person who will believe what you want to believe so I’ll just let you keep thinking it. If you’re happy be happy. If you’re sad bitter depressed and judgy I can’t help you.

I mean, c'mon. If the best financial decision you ever made was to just have one kid and then move to Texas, that just sucks -- and if Texas is so great why did that one kid move away as soon as she could?

We've lived around the world and I'm thrilled DC picked a uni that was her top choice... I'd never guilt her into staying close to home?? Why do you see it as 'moving away from you'? Is that a guilt trip you'd lay on your kids? In which case, really and truly, and deep down, you know this about yourself - You're the one that really sucks.