What is a financial decision you made early in life that paid off?

[bjl584]

Anything specific you did as a young adult that paid off later in life?

I could point to my education, making a large down payment on my house, and avoiding buying cars often.

[kork13]

Starting to invest in my 2nd year of college. 20 years later, the results of those early habits are staggering.

Similarly, being intentional about keeping my expenses well below my income enabled me to save 35-50% of our income every month.

For purchases ... I've always erred toward lower-cost options, but I've also learned to appreciate intentionally balancing cost vs. quality. Sometimes (often, actually) the extra expense of a higher-quality item is truly worth the cost. There are, of course, vanishing returns of that dynamic the further up the scale that you go.

[Drake3287]

Getting a good paying job that included a pension and 100% medical/dental coverage for life for both my wife and I. Secondly, saving/investing a little every month for 35 years. It's a wonder what 35 years will do when you save a little each month.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Maxing out all saving vehicles before increasing our lifestyle. Our lifestyle has ramped up a lot. And I have always felt we've been getting super spendy. And we really are now. Now we live like how I see a lot of our friends lived before. And i'm like woah. Wow. this is what it's like to not care what you spend or spend 95% of what you make and save 5% or 10% and spend the rest. we have always saved at least 25%+ and lived on the rest which is usually less than half. To now go to living on 95% is wildly spendy.

To go from caring about pennies to not worrying about dollars. Oh yeah and be with someone with similar financial values. I have no idea what it's like to hide spending or worry about fighting about money. I don't even look at what he spends nor does he look at me. He just trusts me and I trust him. It's wild.

[MonkeyMama]

Things I did in my early 20s...

The usual stuff: get a college degree, marry the right person, start saving for retirement

Less usual: Purchased a condo in HCOLA. I don't think there's anything smarter we have done financially. But this is more of a 'single transaction' and easier to quantify. Also, moved to a city with 75% cheaper housing. These two got a lot more, "But that's impossible" type responses, and were also a little more outside the box.

[Fishindude77]

Learning how to work very early in life. Worked some type of job from age 13 on.
Makes you appreciate the value of a dollar.

[GoodLiving]

never took a student loan out more than $3500.I never had a car loan. At one point when I was in my late 20s and early 30s I was saving 25% of my income (this might have included the employee match). purchased a short sale condo for $30k in 2012 when the market had tanked (it was across the street from work and gas was similar to where it is now - I lived an hour away. Also when I lost my dad, I mostly saved my inheritance (attorney said most folks spend out their inheritence within 8 years). One of the accounts started at $35k and currently is over $185k. Always lived within my means.

[Tabs]

I opened a Roth IRA early and tried to max contribute to it every year. I didn’t make a lot of money, so it wasn’t easy. Plus, I still contributed to 401(k) first, though only up to the company match. Regardless, most of my retirement money today are already in Roth, so… no big worries about RMD or conversions etc…

[Like2Plan]

Three big winners:
1. Investing in VTI
2. Saving for DS's college and investing in a guaranteed prepaid 529 plan. (Our state discontinued the plan in 2019 to new enrollees after 23 years due to "rising and unpredictable tuition costs made the fixed-price defined-benefit model financially unsustainable." But, they made good on their promise for everyone enrolled in the plan. )
3. Maxing our retirement contributions.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

oh yeah saving for college early. $2k a year turns out into a ESA Coverdell (the maximum still) invested in VOO turned into over $100k in 16 years. Wildly enough to cover 4 years tuition and room and board at most in state universities in the country. $2k/year for 18 years is enough to cover college. Not cheap california state universities but most states outside of california. Wrap your head around that.

In state for us is $35k/year. That is $140k. That is a serious dent using the $2k/year. Go to somewhere cheaper and it's more like $20-30k/year and $2k/year into VOO for 18 years. $2k isabout $40/week. Wow. When you say it like that. Wow. I could definitely have done reselling like Disneysteve and made $40/week. Or not bought crap. Wow.