Your best & worst financial move in 2010?

[pb4uski]

Best move: Submitting a ridiculously low limit order to buy on May 6th and having it fill.

Worst move: Filling out a FAFSA. What a waste of time.

FAFSA is a waste. I refused to do it since I knew that I wasn't going to get a penny of help given our income and assets and I didn't want to share that information with some gov't bureaucrats and college admissions people. DW and daughter were not happy since it closed daughter out of some private scholarships.

Luckily, daughter was a good student and got a reasonable scholarship (effectively a discount on tuition). Still, I was happy after seeing the last tuition bill.

 

[obgyn65]

My best financial move : keep working.

My worst financial move : investing in CDs only

 

[SVHoper]

FAFSA is a waste. I refused to do it since I knew that I wasn't going to get a penny of help given our income and assets and I didn't want to share that information with some gov't bureaucrats and college admissions people. DW and daughter were not happy since it closed daughter out of some private scholarships.

Luckily, daughter was a good student and got a reasonable scholarship (effectively a discount on tuition). Still, I was happy after seeing the last tuition bill.

Except for the happy part about the tuition bill, I thought the same, but after first year my daughter's grades were "not up to her parent determined potential" so, as I had warned, she is now contributing to her costs via FAFSA student loan (I think anybody gets this)... it costs her interest which could be considered silly since we have cash and lower interest credit but I think it is worth the constant reminder that her free lunch now has a real cost to her... and grades improved this semester.

 

[pb4uski]

Except for the happy part about the tuition bill, I thought the same, but after first year my daughter's grades were "not up to her parent determined potential" so, as I had warned, she is now contributing to her costs via FAFSA student loan (I think anybody gets this)... it costs her interest which could be considered silly since we have cash and lower interest credit but I think it is worth the constant reminder that her free lunch now has a real cost to her... and grades improved this semester.

While daughter was a motivated student, son was not (even with 20% skin in the game) and is now living at home and working. The "new deal" is if/when he returns to school that he pays for the first semester himself and if he does well (B's or better) he will get 100% reinbursement and can turn around and use the proceeds for the next semester. You can lead a horse to water......

 

[W2R]

While daughter was a motivated student, son was not (even with 20% skin in the game) and is now living at home and working. The "new deal" is if/when he returns to school that he pays for the first semester himself and if he does well (B's or better) he will get 100% reinbursement and can turn around and use the proceeds for the next semester. You can lead a horse to water......

That sounds like a terrific method of motivating him, and I'll bet it works really well! Very good parenting, it seems to me.

 

[FUEGO]

I disagree your best financial move was not loaning money to your SIL. Pat yourself on the back for that one.

That is definitely one of my better moves!

 

[Westernskies]

I disagree your best financial move was not loaning money to your SIL. Pat yourself on the back for that one.

That was the BEST financial advice I've ever seen posted on this forum; also the only financial advice that EVERYONE on the forum agreed on.

 

[FUEGO]

That was the BEST financial advice I've ever seen posted on this forum; also the only financial advice that EVERYONE on the forum agreed on.

Yes. I'll say that was the easiest $23,000 I have ever saved.

 

[jstriding]

Best financial move: paid off our house 25 years ahead of schedule (our only debt) and now can focus on other questions like "which life insurance" and "what asset allocation" moving forward.

Worst financial move: working with a "financial advisor" (Broker!) for the very first time. It was a really bad experience where we were basically being sold products that did not truly serve our best interests. We ended up firing this person within the month and rescinded all asset transfers.

Somehow we were smart enough to accumulate a $500K+ nest egg in our late30s early40s and paying off a $700K balloon mortgage in 5years but we did not think we were smart enough to control our own financial destiny.

If there's a silver lining with the "worst" event, it was that the experience led me to hanker down with some investment books, join the Bogleheads forum, and take control of our financial destiny (all in a span of a month). 2011 is looking better already.