Most important financial decision in your life

[eta2020]

What was the most important financial decision during your life? Decision / choice which fundamentally contributed to your financial success.

For me it is 2 things: Education and DW.

 

[Lucantes]

Deciding to work overseas since 1996 has contributed the most to my financial success.

 

[2B]

IMHO

1. Who, if anyone, to marry

2. Chosing to LBYM

 

[panacea]

Although I haven't attained all my financial goals yet, the financial successes I've had so far came from a combination of things:

1. Education
2. Hard work
3. Being deliberate with my career choices
4. Taking control of my personal finances early
5. Some luck / good timing

 

[travelover]

Finding that lottery ticket in the gutter.

 

[aaronc879]

IMHO

1. Who, if anyone, to marry

2. Chosing to LBYM

I agree with these two and will add: Don't buy too much house.

 

[Pleeplus]

For me it is 2 things: Education and DW.

Dito.... Education came a little later in life for me as I had an extended "party phase". Met DW at school (she was my financial aid advisor). With an open window to my finances I am still trying to figure out what she saw in me. since then things have turned around dramatically.


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[athena53]

I agree with these two and will add: Don't buy too much house.

We really made a quantum leap towards ER when I changed jobs and we moved from NNJ to a LCOL area right after DH and I married. (He was 65 and retired except for some freelance work.) It wasn't deliberate; my job with a small, struggling consulting firm looked shaky in late 2001/early 2002 and this was the only opportunity I could find. I joined them in May, 2002 but worked from home for a year till DS finished HS.

DH and I sold our houses and that released about $300K in equity. We bought a McMansion that cost half what my previous house had sold for. We could have bought much more house and chose not to. It was a great decision; real estate in this area has been sort of stagnant and a house in a fancier neighborhood with a bigger lawn would have been a poor investment. In the meantime, our lower expenses meant we could save a lot of $$$ while still enjoying life along the way.

I'm just glad we did well on the houses in NJ. We'd had to stretch to buy those places because they were within commuting distance to NYC, thus a desirable area. It was a case where you had to commit to a high % of your income going to housing if you wanted anything decent. In my case, it was 50% of my take-home pay.

 

[Tigger]

- No marriage, no kids
- Selling my real estate while the market was hot

 

[target2019]

#1 - Spouse
#2 - Child #1
#3 - Child #2

 

[mrfeh]

I agree with most of the points made in this thread. If I had to choose just one, however, it would be to start saving early.

 

[MRG]

Mine was starting full time night school at age 26 to get a j*b in IT.

 

[poorcarver]

Choice of wife of course but it all started when I was in HS. The government was giving a war to which I was certainly going to be invited. My plan was to join up and do the GI bill after. Out of the blue I was offered an ROTC scholarship which paid for everything. I was cash positive through four years of engineering and a separate military sponsored graduate program. I did get attend the government's war but at a significantly higher salary. That one thing changed everything ten years after HS I had savings, a discharge from the Army and two engineering degrees as well as very valuable personnel management experience.

 

[scrabbler1]

While it was not intended to be a financial decision, it turned out to be the most important financial decision: being childfree

Runner-ups to the top choice: avoiding debt and paying off debt early

And of course, LBYM

 

[CaliforniaMan]

I think for me it was starting out young not caring too much what other people thought about my choices, and caring less and less as I got older. I wanted people to think I was a relatively decent person, and that I did good work. Other than that my goal was to not worry about what others thought about me.

 

[photoguy]

After taking a high school job and doing coop in undergrad I realized structured work was not for me

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[Midpack]

Like others, I'd say:

• Choosing a spouse, I got lucky, DW not so much.
• Choosing LBYM, thanks largely to both our parents habits.
• Choosing to learn about investing early on, fortunately it was interesting to me before I had $ to invest.

 

[38Chevy454]

1) Engineering education so I could get a good paying job that enabled me to have the std of living I want, be able to save money, and still have a bit left over for fun stuff.
2) LBYM, without that you are not saving
3) Spouse who is similar financial mindset
4) Just good overall economic and financial sense - spend money wisely

 

[jjquantz]

Every house purchase was made so that the household could continue to run on only one one paycheck. This was our single best way to implement LBYM.

 

[LoneAspen]

- Never married
- No kids
- Landed at a pre-IPO startup as a mid double-digit employee (now over 700 people) that has since IPO'd and has a great trajectory.

 

[nash031]

Marrying my wife (and not some others I dated).

 

[brett]

Apart from the usual like married well, eductation, work hard/smart, etc. etc. two that stick out would be:

-remain in megacorp's DB plan (grandfathered) instead of being bought out for a poultry sum in 2000. Those that took the DC option got slaughtered in 2002 and again in 2008. Performance bonus' during each of the six years prior to retirement increased my entitlement by forty percent. A double dip!

-selling stock options at a good price to secure our retirement and having the good luck to do so prior to the 2008 crash AND holding onto the money as cash because we were not certain what to do with it. It allowed to invest later and realize excellent gains.

 

[DFA]

1. Stayed in the active USAF for 20yrs, and IT jobs after.
2. Married DW with who is a LBYM person.
3. No kids
4. DW, is doing both Military and FERS retirement jobs.
5. Started really savings after I got out of USAF and we were to max out all of them, and never sold during a downturn since 1988.
6. No kids, I know I said it twice, but I see what a draw they can be on income from both of our families.

 

[RE2Boys]

Besides the points already made by other such as LBYM early in career, like-minded wife, and good education, one decision we made greatly paved the way to ER:

When we met & got married we were both in established engineering careers. We knew we wanted children but weren't sure if both of us would continue working so made the decision to gear our lifestyle to live on only one income in case that is what we decide once children came. Once son #1 came, we had about three years of my salary saved up way more than enough to cover the cost of a custom built home for the growing family. No mortgage payments hanging over the monthly budget. DW became a stay at home mom. Four years later, due to organizational downsizing, was offered the opportunity to retire early at age 50. The decision to live off of one income for several years put us so far ahead financially that it enabled me to join her as a stay at home parent with minimal reservations.

No regrets, boys are now 17 and 15 and I've participated in their lifes constantly.

 

[razztazz]

Simply saving my money instead of pizzing it away on the American dream. ie Buying sht all the time. I'm sure it cost me some career potential and I know it cost me lots of friends over the years but a job is just a job and friends, like family, cannot be relied upon to be there when you need them. Money is more loyal.