lifetime financial decisions

[ftpiercecracker1]

This is the basic question I am asking, if you don’t want to read the wall of crap below.

 

How much happiness would you be willing to sacrifice now for greater happiness that might or might not come in the future?

 

 

Not eating out, not buying stuff for your Jeep, boat, ATV, shop, no TV/Cable, no internet, not going out with friends, etc.  

 

 

Ex. I just bought a boat motor for $500, which makes me happy, but was it one of those ten thousand small decesions that ends up putting finacial independence out of reach? I'm thinking yes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we know the all mighty dollar is what makes the world go round. As a young person, 25yo here is that still considered a young person?, looking to the future, I am painfully aware of each passing year, lost time, and the importance of accumulating wealth. I do not come from wealth by any stretch of the imagination and was never taught about a thing about investing. Thankfully a long time (and successful) family friend has taken me under his wing and has given me invaluable advice on investing, but I’ve just scratched the surface. At first I was totally in the dark, now I have a lit match. 

 

 

 

 

My father is more of the 'live while your young' mentality, but I have grown to detest that notion. I believe that statement only applies to rich kids and the irresponsible who don’t have enough brain cells to think beyond Friday night.

 

 

 

This is how I see the world,

 

 

•   you can goof off and "live" while your young and mess around, backpack the country, couch surf, "have a good time" then by the time your thirty you start to settle down and get serious, but by then it’s to late and unless you already come from wealth as I said before or get lucky there is VERY little chance of being able to retire or become financially independent (wealthy) at any point in the future. If you’re lucky you can live a decent middle class life. 

 

The other option

 

• 'sacrifice' your youth working/building a business/college aka being responsible so that you can retire before your 70, if you live that long, and become financially independent/live off the interest of your assets.

 

 

My goal in life is to become the financial pillar of my family and extended family. My brother is a big driver for me here. He is a machinist/welder/fabricator and easily the hardest working individual I have ever met. I have tremendous respect for him, but he has four kids and he is the sole income provider. If something happens to him, injury/illness it will put his family at great risk. No one in my family is exactly "rich" immediate or extended, they provide for themselves fine, but they all struggle from time to time. Some more so than others. 

 

 

I, unfortunately, am getting a late start towards this goal. I was a shut in during my younger/teenage years. I worked and went to college but didn’t finish. Now 25 I look back and see that not only did I not get to have very much fun, I didn’t make any progress accumulating wealth either. 

 

 

I am trying my hardest to catch up though. I have a decent little business now, handyman, that keeps me busy, but I don’t make a lot, approx $1350 a month, and will be returning to college this fall to complete my engineering degree. At some point in the future I plan on opening an engineering firm. After having my current business, there is no way I could work for someone else again long term. Business ownership is in my blood now and I will do what I need to do to start another. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the basic question I am asking, if you don’t want to read the wall of crap above.

 

How much happiness would you be willing to sacrifice now for greater happiness that might or might not come in the future?

 

 

 

 

Not eating out, not buying stuff for your Jeep, boat, ATV, shop, no TV/Cable, no internet, not going out with friends, etc.  

 

 

Ex. I just bought a boat motor for $500, which makes me happy, but was it one of those ten thousand small decesions that ends up putting finacial independence out of reach? I'm thinking yes.

Not eating out, not buying stuff for your Jeep, boat, atv, shop, no TV/Cable, no internet, not going out with friends, etc  

[shelbyluvv]

[87Warrior]

In my opinion, It's a balancing act based on individual circumstances and what you are comfortable with.

 

Me? I like having a solid foundation. I don't want to wonder where I'll be sleeping at night or how I'll buy my next meal while couch surfing the world. Hey some folks thrive on that stuff, it's not my cup of tea. I have investments, savings, IRA, and 401k I regularly pay into. If I happen to make it through my working career alive, it will be nice to not have to worry. But I am a younger guy, 31, and like to enjoy life. I don't max out contributions to my investment accounts every year so I have some funds to have fun and spend on frivolous 'fun' things. While I can't take 2 months off work to explore Alaska, I do take a week and a few long weekends throughout the year to have fun.

 

I can honestly say that life without TV/cable/hulu/Netflix/etc is fantastic. It's been 8 years since I've had any service like that and I do not miss it at all. Some may say I'm not living life because of that choice, but I'd argue the opposite ;)

[WyoCherokee]

i guess i can chime in. I am 29. i graduated college in 2012. i got a full time job as an engineer making 50k a year. i lived in a $#!&ty $500 a month apartment for 2 years.  i was soon promoted to making 80k a year.  i have bought a house, sold it 2 years later, bought another house, and will have been in it for a year next month. I made money on the first house simply by doing fixerupper items and selling when the market was right. The money i made, i put right back in to my current house. I have bought and payed of a 30k truck, have a camper, 2 horses, a atv, and 2 other project vehicles, and i hunt 6 months out of the year. I feel i am fortunate to be in this position, but i worked my @$$ off to get here. I did college for 5 years, and barelly graduated with a 2.5 gpa. I am a firm believer that yes you need to save, but what is the point of hoarding money, if you have no fun in life. I budget my bills, my savings addition every month, and that tells me what i have to play with my only bills, are my mortgage, utilities, camper payment and credit card payment.  Sure i could take that extra play money amount and put it in to savings, but then i would be stuck at home with no money to do anything. I have friends who are complete money hoards. they NEVER do anything. they get a paycheck, and put every penny of it in the bank, they eat hamburger helper every night and live in a damp crummy loud apartment. and they always complain about how they wish they could go have fun. BUT they brag all the time about how they have $50k in their savings account, and no long term debt. To me its all about balance of savings vs life enjoyment. and right now for me being 29 and a single bachelor, i would rather enjoy my life while i am physically and mentally able to. Overland expedition through the rockies! Sure lets go tomorrow! but first i have to finish up my work load, delegate my work responsibilities, request the time off work, and make sure i have a house sitter to feed the horses. Then lets go!

[Jeep Driver]

Stay sober and marry a woman who is smarter than you. 

 

Everything you want will always be just out of reach.

 

Look up to no one, they are not as smart as they claim they are. 

 

Work hard and stay out of trouble, the money will come. 

 

Don't live for the money, everyone dies broke anyway. 

 

 

That's the best I can offer. 

[jpnjim]

Best thing I ever did was buy my first house in a so-so area when the economy was total crap.

 

It was terrible timing for me financially,

but prices were dirt cheap, so buying a 2 family and renting out half would be cheaper than paying rent on the 1 bedroom apartment I had.

 

When things improved for me financially,

I kept the cheap house/low standard of living.

 

I kept my bills low, and hammered the mortgage payment as much as I could, refinanced it when the rates dropped, and instead of dipping into the equity to buy crap I didn't need we paid it off after about 13 years.

 

After 20 years of living cheap, the market was low again so I bought a house I really wanted at a good price.

 

So it took 20 years to get what I wanted, but it was 20 years of living below my means, not worried about losing my house or going broke when I got laid off.

 

I had friends that lived better during that 20 years, and friends that lived worse,

I chose security over spending every dime I had.

 

Your choice,

or better yet marry rich and you can have security AND every material item you want  :yes:

[big66440]

Thanks for posting this, it's a real eye opener for me right now. OP all I can suggest is save for a rainy day but go out there and LIVE LIFE.

[shelbyluvv]

I saved a lot money at one point. I had money in a IRA and savings. I was not rich but I had enough to retire comfortably. Then I got divorced and she cleaned me out. I watched my Jeeps, money, dog and kids drive away. I lost everything I saved for.

 

I flew home in February because my dad was in the hospital. He was fine one day and sick as hell the next. He ended up with cancer that took him in 30 days from the time he was diagnosed. He was 65 years old. He never got to enjoy being retired. Never got to use the money he paid in to SSI and saved.

 

I will not go down that path. I will make sure I have enough life insurance to take care of the family for a year or so but you can bet your @$$ I am living every day to the fullest.

 

If I want something, I buy it. If I want a beer, I drink it. If I want Buffalo wings, I eat them. Life is too short not to enjoy it to the fullest. There are no guarantees tommorow will be here for any of us.

 

Live life!

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[big66440]

I saved a lot money at one point. I had money in a IRA and savings. I was not rich but I had enough to retire comfortably. Then I got divorced and she cleaned me out. I watched my Jeeps, money, dog and kids drive away. I lost everything I saved for.

 

I flew home in February because my dad was in the hospital. He was fine one day and sick as hell the next. He ended up with cancer that took him in 30 days from the time he was diagnosed. He was 65 years old. He never got to enjoy being retired. Never got to use the money he paid in to SSI and saved.

 

I will not go down that path. I will make sure I have enough life insurance to take care of the family for a year or so but you can bet your @$$ I am living every day to the fullest.

 

If I want something, I buy it. If I want a beer, I drink it. If I want Buffalo wings, I eat them. Life is too short not to enjoy it to the fullest. There are no guarantees tommorow will be here for any of us.

 

Live life!

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Sorry for your loss, I have that same mind set as well, your number can be called any time so make life worth while.

[ftpiercecracker1]

I appreciate all your responses, your willingness to be open and the time it took to share your stories.

 

Whenever I get down or depressed I try and remember all that I do have and how fortunate I really am. It's very easy to get caught up in this infernal rat race, especially in a culture like the U.S. where more is always less.

 

 

 

Shelbyluvv:

 

Having never been in a relationship I can't begin to imagine what that must have been like. I'm sorry you had to endure that.

 

 

To the mods, thank you for creating a place where my silly questions that have absolutely nothing to do with MJs can be asked.

 

FPC

[Pete M]

that's what friends are for :D

 

my 2 cents:  short term happiness is just that, short term.  strive for smiles that last.  :)  

[ComancheKid45]

[shelbyluvv]

Glad to share my story. I was a real eye opener. I am happy as can be now. We are not rich, we don't have a lot of money in the bank. But what we do have is ours and we enjoy what we have very much. I think Pete said it best.