Anonymous wrote:Saving 35-50% of net yearly on top of 18.5k in the 401k (or whatever the IRS max has been each year).

Starting a brokerage account.

Like starting in your first year of work and for your entire career? Damn. Impressive!

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.

Taking a financial investing class in college that was offered by the university in the evenings, but not for credit. Came from a low to MC Midwest family where no one had money to invest. Learned a ton. Opened a brokerage account while still in college with the little money I had - started small. Later went to law school and bought my first townhouse 2 years after graduating in 1998 - Clarendon area. Bought under what I was approved for and sold it for triple years later (obviously luck involved in that too with the real estate market around here). The house was the best move but I would have never thought of doing it without that financial investing class.

Working for two years and living at home between grad school and law school. I wasn't qualified to do a whole lot with my BA in history and ended up just doing entry-level non profit work but the $60K I was able to save and put toward tuition/living expenses was key. Saved like $40K in interest payments.

Certainly one of the most pivotal decisions that I ever made when I was first starting out was to buy a new, affordable reliable car (Toyota) vs a somewhat cheaper, less reliable brand of vehicle. I could afford my payments but there was no way that I could have afforded to make car payments while paying repair bills like some of my friends at the time were doing.

Another thing I did that really helped me out in the long run was to live in no frills, shared rentals located in some less sought after areas (at least for young singles at the time). My rent was affordable, I was able to save up for a down payment which enabled me to purchase a house right before the housing boom took off and prices shot through the roof.

Anonymous wrote:
Going to college.
Working during college to minimize college loans. Getting internship junior year.
Paying off college loan asap.
Fully funding max 401k on first day.
Marrying someone with the same hard work ethic and drive.
Continuing to keep my foot in the door during early child rearing years.
Buying a house base on one income.
Living on one income and saving the 2nd.
Selling my townhouse in 2006.
Buying a car with cash and driving it til the cost of new outweighs cost to fix.
Having just enough kids as I can afford to send to college.


What kind of job did you start with that had a spare $18k?????

I was a consultant. I was able to do this by living in group housing and having roommates just as I did in college. I was traveling a lot the first few years and it did not matter that I had my own apartment.

Marrying the right person at age 22.

Saving 35-50% of net yearly on top of 18.5k in the 401k (or whatever the IRS max has been each year).

Starting a brokerage account.

Probably buying 2 condos and a farm. All will be paid off soon. I would've never been able to save this money, but I always make my payments on time.
My Master's is going to cost ca $15k. Should pay off in no time.
I'm also going to move to a super low cost country. So some of my financial decisions are yet to come.
Hoping to be a nanny to my future grandkids and I'll do it for free. That goes towards my kids' finances.

Anonymous wrote:Getting married, going to law school, buying a house

Ditto

Anonymous wrote:Going to college.
Working during college to minimize college loans. Getting internship junior year.
Paying off college loan asap.
Fully funding max 401k on first day.
Marrying someone with the same hard work ethic and drive.
Continuing to keep my foot in the door during early child rearing years.
Buying a house base on one income.
Living on one income and saving the 2nd.
Selling my townhouse in 2006.
Buying a car with cash and driving it til the cost of new outweighs cost to fix.
Having just enough kids as I can afford to send to college.

What kind of job did you start with that had a spare $18k?????

Moving in with my partner at 19. Stil togerher 18 years and only paid one persons (because we could live in a place designed for one with 2) rent the whole time.

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

Going to college.
Working during college to minimize college loans. Getting internship junior year.
Paying off college loan asap.
Fully funding max 401k on first day.
Marrying someone with the same hard work ethic and drive.
Continuing to keep my foot in the door during early child rearing years.
Buying a house base on one income.
Living on one income and saving the 2nd.
Selling my townhouse in 2006.
Buying a car with cash and driving it til the cost of new outweighs cost to fix.
Having just enough kids as I can afford to send to college.

Marrying my husband.