Decisions you are glad you made and those you regret

[Cpadave]

1. Buying a heated bidet.
2. Switching to safety razor from disposable one.
3. Buying eyeglasses online
4. Buying a citizen eco drive radio controlled
5. Switching from actively managed stock to low cost tax efficient index etf
6. Becoming vegetarian
7. Buying Investment condos at the right time and right place
8. Marrying my wife and having kids ( In case she is reading)
9. Retiring at 40

And those I regret:
1. Buying our current house
2. Buying one person saunas
3. Selling my investment condos too early
4. Buying leveraged fund before the big market crash

I am sure there is more but for now I can think of it.

 

[Octogirl]

1. Buying our rental property
2. Canceled cable TV
3. Buying eyeglasses online
4. Marrying my 2nd husband
5. Retiring at end of 2019
6. Buying an Airstream trailer for more travel

And those I regret:
1. not many ....maybe not getting back to Hawaii

2. Not moving MM funds to an ETF in past 4-5 years
3. Buying a boat we hardly use

 

[Nemo2]

Regrets, I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention...

 

[SumDay]

I feel like all the less than brilliant decisions I made helped make me the person I am today. As there are quite a few of those decisions, I choose to not dwell on them. But I'm having fun reading these lists and commiserating!

 

[Ready2Go]

I'll play! Off the top of my head....

Glad I did:
- Getting married and having kids (in that order)
- College degree
- Signing up for 401k deductions my 1st day at my first "real" job
- Buying my current home 22 years ago

Regrets:
- Not going away to college
- Buying my 2009 Chevy Malibu (money pit)
- Not scratching an entrepreneurial itch I had when I was younger

 

[NYEXPAT]

I could write a book on bad decisions I made "at the time". In retrospect they were obviously the "right decisions" as I am where I am! oh! wait, there was that tomato,basil,cream pasta I ordered at Chili's once, never do that again!

 

[skipro33]

Glad;
1. Married at 18. 44 years and she's still the prom queen in my eyes.

2. Stopped at 2 kids. Now have 6 grand kids and that's all I'll ever be able to remember anyways.

3. Join Air Force. Best training for a career I could have ever gotten.

4. Settled in California. It's almost impossible NOT to make a butt-load of money here.

5. Bought my first home at age 27. Paid off by age 45. Been living mortgage free ever since. This one thing alone is the biggest reason I was able to save and retire early.

Regrets
1. Didn't pursue getting my commercial pilot license after getting out of the Air Force.

2. Not dumping toxic inlaws. DW's parents were so toxic, she's still in therapy even years after they have passed away. I should have moved us far away and cut off all contact with them in order to protect her. I kept thinking they would change. Evil never changes.

 

[Scuba]

Glad:
1. I found DH and had the good sense to marry him despite not really wanting to get married again after divorcing.

2. Went to work for Megacorp at 25 and stayed for 20 years, a huge ER enabler.

3. Moved to California. Have really enjoyed living in Coastal So CA and met DH and my BFF here.

4. Generally lived below my means and invested well, another huge ER enabler.

5. Stayed at final job just long enough to maximize my benefits and gave minimum notice per my employment contract - thanks to advice from this forum.

Regrets:
1. Owned three homes at one time, a primary home, vacation home, and investment property that didn’t make money. Definitely delayed ER.

2. I have mixed feelings about never having children. Mostly I’m glad because I don’t think I’d be RE’d and enjoying travel if I had kids vs focusing on my career. Sometimes though I wonder and I think DH would’ve been a great dad.

3. I agree with others that our decisions including mistakes make us who we are, but sometimes I also wonder if I could have done more with my professional life if I had tried to go to an Ivy League school and if I had been willing to relocate more often with Megacorp. Oh well, things turned out great anyway!

 

[ImThinkin2019]

Glad:
1. Met, married, and stayed married to my wife. Still my best friend and partner.
2. Had kids and remained close to them.
3. Lived below our means all our lives. Maxed out all tax sheltered accounts from a young age. Have enough now.
4. Stopped drinking and consuming helpful herbs a long time ago. My life is richer now without dulled senses.
5. Maintained our family relationships. Now have moved closer to all of them.
6. Lifelong development of practical skills like home repair, etc.
7. Had jobs including my last job where I can use my technical skill plus customer relationships. Relationships are one of the most satisfying parts of life.

Sad:
1. Invested quite a bit of money in a high yield mortgage fund run by a friend of my father's friend. Lost it all and he went to jail.
2. (Mixed on this one.) Did not become a doctor like I planned. Became an engineer instead. Maybe better suited for engineer life. Did not want to work as hard as needed to get into med school.....

 

[EarlyBirdly]

Thankful:

> 22,200 days on The Planet

Mindful:

> Could have used some of them differently, but no one was handing out Crystal Balls.

Regrets (?) : As a good friend told me in H.S. ( wise young man ) " I don't understand why people regret things. You make the best decision you can with the information available at the time. You can't know the future and you can't change the past. Looking back is just Monday Morning Quarterbacking. "

Or something like that...

 

[EarlyBirdly]

Okay...I DO have a regret I guess.


With all of the time I spent on the other side of The International Date Line, I never bought a newspaper containg the winning Lottery numbers, or the winning Horses, for the previous day back home in the Good Old U.S.A.


Think about it...

 

[Rianne]

Good:
-DH my best friend and love for 35 years.
-Secured ER and am happy in our downsized home.
-Have great friends, close family (a few exceptions )
-Enjoy volunteer work with forest preserve district, fulfilling use of time.
-Had 1.5 good years with my mom before she passed. Quality time almost everyday when we moved close to her.
-Lost close to 100 lbs. by weight lifting, cardio and calorie control.



Bad:
-Did not utilize MBA to full potential. Got lazy with DH career.
-Kept too much cash out of stock market during early bull run years.
-Took some bad advice along the way.


Ugly:
-Severed a few high school/college relationships.
-Regret getting angry over silly things.
-Cannot forgive a few family members over stuff in the past.


I simply changed my religious views in the last few years. I'm less churchy and more agnostic. Organized religion just doesn't work for me anymore.

 

[ckelly78z]

-Married for 31 years...most of them happily.
-Raised 2 responsible kids with good work ethic.
-Bought 10 acre rural farm 25 years ago. (hoping to keep for another 25 years)
-Invested in higher risk 401K options.
-Got engineer prototyping job off of the factory floor to save my body, and sanity.
-Driven older used cars to be able to FIRE.
-Never started smoking, or needed to drink.
-Made far less bad financial decisions than most, we research everything.

REGRETS.....
-Didn't take better care of my teeth.
-Was overly shy to a fault in HS.
-Didn't apply myself more in athletics.
-No recent regrets.

 

[Gumby]

Regrets, I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention...

Non, je ne regrette rien.

 

[Nemo2]

Non, je ne regrette rien.

Oui, La Môme Piaf, magnifique.

 

[COZICAN]

Okay...I DO have a regret I guess.


With all of the time I spent on the other side of The International Date Line, I never bought a newspaper containg the winning Lottery numbers, or the winning Horses, for the previous day back home in the Good Old U.S.A.


Think about it...

When I was 2-3yo we lived in Portugal and my DF would always bet on football with his friends back in the US.

 

[Cobra9777]

According to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, for every decision you make, there's a new version of you that made a different decision. So in another reality, there's a version of you who just posted all your regrets as good decisions, and vice versa. So there's no reason to feel bad about not getting that commercial pilot license. And of course there's another reality where we are all spending beyond our means and up to our eyeballs in debt. So don't be so giddy about retiring at 40.

 

[pacergal]

Good: married DH and raised 2 wonderful kids
close family relationships
landed a job with govt., stuck it out over 35 years, not realizing the wealth of the pension benefit until much older.

Regrets: oye, probably too many to list, but don't dwell on them. They are in the past, I learn and move on.
Life is Good! Make that Grand!

 

[6miths]

Regrets, I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention...

+1 Brother.

My biggest regret is that I haven't been able to take both forks in the road when the choice presented itself. But it has been a great ride!

 

[rayinpenn]

Regrets:
1.Some years after an MBA i did an MS in tax, should have done computer science i am a techie.
2. Didn’t get off the insane rat race of Long Island sooner. Spending your life on the LIRR or the expressway is a fools game.

I grew up in some difficult circumstances so as I sit here coffee cup in hand in my mortgage free home retired, FI and i am pretty dang happy. Good wife, good kids able to get around on the new knees. I feel blessed - and obligated to enjoy retirement.

 

[blueskyk]

I’m of the “whatever choices you made brought you here” (and that’s a good thing) school but there’s one substantial regret:

1. Mr. Blueskyk and I purchased a restaurant (and then remodeled it!!!) shortly after we married. Thought it would be fun to work together. It was not. Lost a LOT of money.

Good decisions:

1. Listened to my DF’s advice to max out my 401(k) in my very first real job at Megacorp.

2. Worked at two Megacorps doing work I thoroughly enjoyed and the benefits played heavily in my ER possibilities

3. Got an engineering degree from a great school (Texas A&M I’m looking at you)

 

[atmsmshr]

DW and I agree that good choices and bad have brought us to where we want to be today.

Not within my control, but I am ever thankful for my parents and to be born and lived as an American in these times.

 

[candrew]

I feel like all the less than brilliant decisions I made helped make me the person I am today.

“Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from making bad decisions.”

Mark Twain

 

[Tiger8693]

1. Marrying my first wife and having 2 children
2. Divorcing my first wife, marrying my 2nd
3. Going to college, specifically the college I went to

Regrets:
Too many to list, mostly financial after I read some of the bio's here.

 

[target2019]

1. Marriage and 2 children
2. Current Home
3. Did what Mom said (stayed in college)

Regrets
1. Not investing sooner, on a regular schedule
2. Eating poorly and not exercising
3. Wasn't nice enough to parents