The best financial decision you ever made

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the best financial decision you ever made?

Marrying and divorcing my first husband.

[Anonymous]

Maxing out my 401(k) when I first started working.

[Anonymous]

Maxing out my 401k when I first started working. I'm still working but haven't put in a dime since I became a father 15 years ago. At least I have something.

[Anonymous]

going short in various ways from 7/07 up through 7/08.

going long from 3/09.

Had never before and probably will never again market time but this effort was spot on.

[Anonymous]

Refi $400k of med school debt from 7% to 4% interest by going to private lender. Took about an hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the best financial decision you ever made?

Marrying and divorcing my first husband.

Hi Ivana!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:All these posters chiming in with how ‘smart’ they were to purchase that 200k house that’s now worth 600k are really just lucky, lucky, lucky. You happened to buy (+be in a position to buy... so born) the moment before the biggest upswing in home values in the history of... ever. Sorry but that is not a reflection on your financial savvy.

You could say the same about anyone who invested at what turned out to be the right time, or chose what turned out to be the right stock.

We took a calculated risk. We bought in an area most people thoguht was a warzone -- in fact, a man was mugged in our front yard about a month after we moved in, at 2 in the afternoon.

The fact that the generation behind us decided Capitol Hill was THE place to live is largely because people like us moved there a decade earlier and made it a lot more inviting. Call it gentrification, or simply call it people who saw the potential of the area. Doesn't matter -- we paved the way. And it's a decision I'm proud of.

And, just for the record, we paid $141 and the house is now easily worth $850K. Just for the record.

I think the point is that even a house bought in nw dc before 1997 would have appreciated by a similar multiple.

No it's not (different poster btw). My house has increased from $180k to around $1m in 15 years because I bought in a neighborhood no-one wanted to live in. If you bought in upper caucasia in the same period you wouldn't have seen such a huge increase. Likewise, when you buy a foreclosure, like I did, you make a better investment than buying a renovated flip and paying a premium for granite counters.

I think the original luck pp is saying that you happened to be in a position (age at a certain date in history) to buy such that these opportunities were available. For those looking to get on the property ladder today there are far fewer opportunities (read neighborhoods with tremendous potential) than there were when these posters were able to get in on the ground floor.

That's crap. You're just not looking in the right place.

So you can't afford a Capitol Hill row house today. I couldn't have bought a penthouse on Park Avenue in 1998. So I bought a row house on Capitol Hill -- over the strong objections of almost everyone I knew. I took a risk, and it paid off.

I had no idea it would pay off as it has -- nor does any investor at the moment she chooses to invest. That's what risk means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly? Being born an upper-middle-class white person.

This. Dumb luck.

[Anonymous]

Never let an employer match go unclaimed. This is the rule to live by when you first start earning. Regardless of how low your earnings are.

[Anonymous]

Becoming a teacher. The pay is moderate, but I calculated what I'll be getting for my pension and it is really good.

[Anonymous]

Spending only about 50% of after-tax income, and investing the rest in an equities heavy portfolio.

[Anonymous]

Dumb luck that I had the good fortune to be born in the United States, with the freedom and respect for individual property that we all enjoy to accumulate wealth under reasonable tax rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Living in a LCOL area until I progressed to a point in my career where I could actually afford to move to a higher COL area. I see so many new grads pissing away huge portions of their paycheck on housing because OMG I just want to live in DC (or NYC/SF/Boston) soooo bad. And I shake my head.

I look back at those 20 something years in Nyc and Dc as some of the best in my life Have a family and nice house in the suburbs now and no regrets!

[Anonymous]

Getting an MBA from a top 5 school.
Working full time since graduation.
Marrying someone who supported my career and was cool with me earning more money
Living frugally for the first 15-20 years (not so much now)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dumb luck that I had the good fortune to be born in the United States, with the freedom and respect for individual property that we all enjoy to accumulate wealth under reasonable tax rates.

That's not a "decision."