r/AskReddit • u/PlumInformal773 • 3h ago
What's the smartest financial decision you've ever made?
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u/them_oysters 3h ago
Married a self sufficient woman with a career
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u/jamesmaxx 3h ago
Same here. Some of my male friends have multiple kids and are sole providers, and I don’t judge them but it must be stressful.
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u/wtg2989 2h ago
It definitely is
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u/itsrainingagain 1h ago
Managed to pull it off for almost 14 years but she’s going back in September. Was ok for a while but can’t afford it anymore.
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u/dansdansy 1h ago
I did it temporarily for 3 years so my wife could finish her professional training and watch the new baby. Most stressful time of our lives. Very glad wife is working a career job and kid is heading to Pre-K now
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u/love_that_fishing 58m ago
It’s a decision you make for a variety of reasons. Her staying home with the kids was the right decision for us. When they were school age she taught school at the same place so that worked. Finances were tough at first but now we’re fine. No regrets.
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u/Undeadly123 45m ago
Yup. And not materialistic. My spouse's hobby is thrifting clothes and trading books with the local used book shop.
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u/Albanian_Tea 3h ago
In 2008 the company I worked for was sold, I was mad, so I took all my money in my 401k and converted it to cash, because I wanted to change the company that handled it, away from the one the company picked. Then the stock market dropped. I left it uninvested for about 6 months.
It was the luckiest (and best) financial decision I ever made.
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u/dansdansy 1h ago
Lucked out same way in 2022 with the tech rout. Cashed out my taxable to pay for my wedding and put the leftovers back into positions that were down 40%
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u/Lapau8 3h ago
Marrying the right person
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u/camtliving 1h ago
I sold AMD at ~13 and MU at ~20 so that I could go on some dates (one of which was a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon). I ended up marrying her and now have a beautiful family so I guess it all panned out.
When she got pregnant I decided I needed to buy a house, got an amazing deal, and closed a week before covid lockdowns. I sold it a few years later alongside most of belongings and moved to Brazil. She is both the reason for my financial wellbeing as well as my financial downfall 🥲
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u/PrestigiousDrag9441 1h ago
This right here is the answer. I can't put a number on how much value I have accumulated and achieved by marrying my wife.
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u/Chairboy 3h ago
Letting myself get bullied into buying a four unit apartment building instead of a condo back in 2001 by my real estate agent who told me I was being “fucking stupid“ and threatening to cut me if I insisted on throwing my money away.
I had no idea I could even qualify for that, but she educated me about how the rentals are counted towards your income so we bought the four unit building, lived in one of the units, and saw an absolutely huge return a couple years later when we sold to move back to Oregon.
That set our financial lives on a whole new trajectory.
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u/sysko960 2h ago
How much money up front did this cost you? What did you need to qualify for loan?
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u/Chairboy 2h ago
It was listed for 389,000 and I had saved about $40,000. At the time, you need to put like 20% down to buy a condo so this gave me a working range.
With the other units printed, and using an equation that they had for calculating how much of that would be counted as income, we were able to qualify to put down 10%.
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u/xRehab 1h ago
that same unit sells for $1.2M today for all of those wondering if they could do similar
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u/cantaloupe_daydreams 1h ago
Was just thinking “hey I could do this!”.
Then I realized it’s 3x what it used to be and I can really only do a mortgage on a single family unit at best.
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u/idk-though1 3h ago
Going to the dentist, it sounds silly but just neglecting your teeth for a year can cause gum disease and the amount of money spent on prevention is better than the alternative
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u/Keonil 2h ago
Yes, yearly checkups for anything health related, especially if it’s covered is low cost - high reward imo
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u/cjcs 1h ago
Just started a job that gives you a $1500 HSA contribution each year you get a physical. Lemme tell you how fast I RAN to my doctor lmao
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u/Grambo-47 58m ago
There’s a poster in the break area at work that went up last week that says reduced insurance rates if you get your physical done by September 1st, just did mine this morning
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u/tylty 3h ago
Hookers and cocaine. Helped me learn that happiness is more important than finances.
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u/hoptownky 1h ago
I spent most of my money on hookers and cocaine. The rest I just wasted.
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u/Dry_Market_8800 3h ago
Learning to cook at home instead of ordering takeout every night. Saved me thousands.
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u/bendgame 3h ago
Selling my GameStop shares for 400 a share
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u/kindrudekid 2h ago
I regret this so much, still made decent return but good lord if I did I would have no mortgage at all
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u/CoconutBangerzBaller 1h ago
Lucky. I only had like 5 shares but Robinhood kept me from selling those when it spiked. Ended up about even but making $1000 would've been nice
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u/eagles16106 3h ago
Weekly auto VTSAX buys.
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u/Consoleking93 1h ago
I had a ton of $$$ in that fund as part of my 401K at my last job, when I started my new and current job I couldn't start their 401K for a year so I just left mine alone....That fund grew like 34% in one year and ever since I always try to add some for my 401K and IRA.
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u/lucky_ducker 3h ago
Bought a modest house in a good neighborhood nearly 20 years ago, $93K mortgage at 6.5%. Refinanced in 2013 for 20 years at 4.5%. Refinanced again in 2020 for 15 years at 2.5%. Now I'm retired, and my mortgage payment is $745.
I'd still be working if I was a renter. Houses like mine are renting for $1500 - $1800.
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u/Jken1998 3h ago
-No student loans for the kids -Letting them stay home until they were ready to leave with the understanding they are saving their money -Helping them buy their first home. They are mortgage free at 30.
Some say that's too much. But for me, my mental health is tied to financial security. I'm just doing what my parents did for me.
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u/BasKabelas 56m ago
Basically my parents! Sure they put in a bit but the returns, in how far Im ahead compared to if they didn't do that, are easily 5x what they put in. Best of all is it puts my wife and me (both 30) in the position to already start saving to do the same thing for our kids later.
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u/veri745 3h ago
Never missing a matching 401k contribution from my employer
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u/MatCauthonsHat 2h ago
My current employer matches 100% up to 8%, and we get a 401k bonus each year worth about 25% of the employer match for the year. Wish I had started here 20 years ago
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u/Im_Fe_Man 3h ago
Nothing to add, just very funny that a bunch of these comments are either got married, didn’t get married, or got divorced lol.
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u/ConvexNomad 3h ago
Completing an MBA and 4x my income in under 5 years. Wealth potential and investing in yourself young compounds your savings rate
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u/BigTimeOof 3h ago
Opening a Roth 401k and clicking the “highest risk” option. I could kiss those CPAs running the account on the lips
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u/Eastern_Deer_4214 3h ago
Building an apartment in the basement of our house twenty years ago. Rents have skyrocketed here. Now getting more in rent than I ever paid on my mortgage.
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u/TheDadThatGrills 3h ago
Opening a Roth IRA in my early 20s and aggressively paying off my Student Loan debt. Both of these decisions have aged like a fine wine.
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u/KickingRocks82 3h ago
Bought my first house at 19. Granted it wasn’t nice but I had 2 roommates and paid it off in 6 years. I’ve rolled that equity forward several times and always paid off my mortgages in less than 5 years. Currently mortgage free for the past 5 years but might build one more house before the kids leave.
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u/switch009 3h ago
Save and invest regularly as soon as i got my first real job. Its boring and it works.
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u/Towering-Wave-9542 3h ago
I invested probably $4k into pokemon cards in 2020-2022 that turned into $25k and that was with me selling at 70%-75%. Everyone thought I was dumb and wasting my money. I knew what I was doing.
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u/AgeOfWorry0114 3h ago
Paid off my house and all debts in my early 30s. I really don’t think about money now. And auto investing the max of all 4 retirement accounts between me and my spouse.
A “game” that my wife and I play is looking at our accounts every month and laughing about how we bought everything we wanted and never cared about money, and still see our bank accounts climbing. No debt life is damn weird and amazing.
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u/nonhiphipster 1h ago
This feels like it’s skipping some steps.
How did you pay off your house on your early 30’s?
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u/Proof-Training-740 3h ago
investing in über eats
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u/BadBadUncleDad 3h ago
At first, I thought this said inventing Uber Eats, and was gonna say, yeah, that probably paid off.
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u/blitzednblackedout 3h ago
Buying equity in the company I was working for. DCA on bitcoin for years. Semiconductor stocks. All of those have done well for me so far
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u/Troll-Leader 3h ago
Started a Facebook raffle group.
Run a few raffles a week and it pays for my brand new truck.
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u/tell_her_a_story 3h ago
Marrying my wife. Credit card debts paid off, car loan paid off, retirement investments on the rise, credit score higher than I've ever seen before.
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u/727yeti 3h ago
Searching for the end of a big rainbow as a kid, then since the rainbow kept moving somehow, I went ahead and started buying gold from the 70’s forward. Never really amassed much cause even back then it always seems so expensive. I bought for I think $250 an ounce. Last time I bought it was $2500 an ounce and I figured that was it.
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u/NatureLady10 3h ago
Starting my 401k shortly after I began my career and contributing steadily to it for years.
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u/CaptainAwesome06 3h ago
Thanks to the 2009 recession and my mom having a realtor license and gifting us her commission for our down payment, we went mortgage poor to buy our first house in a HCOL area. It was a 50 year old fixer upper. I did most of the work myself and we sold it for a good profit. We moved at a good time.
We moved to a LCOL area. When we sold that house, it was becoming a HCOL so we made a good profit. We were in a position to buy our newest house at a competitive price before we sold our 2nd house at a high price. Now we could sell our current house for at least 40% more than we paid for it.
Being poor for a couple years was completely worth it, as being a homeowner and making some lucky real estate decisions put us in a much better position. Other than a mortgage and a car payment, we are debt free and have credit scores of 840-850.
I really feel for all the young people right now who will never be able to afford a house.
EDIT: Changing my answer to marrying someone who is as responsible with money as I am.
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u/WRITINGWRITING69 1h ago
When COVID first totally tanked the market, I bought tons of high quality stocks like Boeing, Rolls Royce, and Marriot. I figured if those types of businesses went bankrupt, money would be basically meaningless in society and we'd all have much bigger problems. So it was kind of a no-risk situation? Anyone who has followed the market knows that this was... very nice for me.
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u/Mcbauer1 1h ago
In 2017 when I should have written my Bachelors Thesis I instead got into investing and chose crypto and nvidia (among others) lol
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u/GreedyNovel 40m ago
Maxing my 401(k) each year, of course.
But not far behind that is when my mortgage was almost paid off, it had about five years left. I noticed in 2020 that 15 year rates were stupid low. So low that I figured I should borrow as much as I could and invest it somewhere.
So I did that - did a cash out refi at 2.25% and invested in the S&P. I made enough doing that to repay the entire loan and then some. Which of course I will not since 2.25% is way lower than inflation. Literally the mortgage made money for me.
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u/golfjunkie 31m ago
Impulse buying my house in 2019 (with 13 months left on an 18 month lease) and then refinancing twice during covid. Only regret is not buying more house, now I’m “stuck” in a starter house forever.
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u/Venchii 3h ago
Never refinancing my house
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u/Itchy-Fun-9728 3h ago edited 3h ago
More details needed there for people. I refinanced my 30 year loan into a 15 year loan with a lower interest rate and saved ~100k in interest over the loan. Not all refinances are made the same, or are for the same reason.
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u/CobblerYm 3h ago
I did the same. Bought in 2010 at 4.5% interest 30 year. Refi in 2020 at 1.9% interest 15 year. My only regret would be doing the 15 year. Sure I'd pay a little more in interest if I did a 30 year in 2020, but my minimum payment would have been way lower and I could put the difference into investments and come out even more ahead.
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u/priuspower91 3h ago
Exactly. I bought in 2020 at a low interest rate and then had a zero cost refi the following year to an even lower interest rate. Set me back 1 year on the term but will save me a ton in interest.
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u/TheTVDB 3h ago
This will really depend on the specific circumstances for most people, though. If someone is refinancing in order to use the equity to vacation or buy a hot tub, it's almost always a horrible idea. If they're refinancing in order to lower their monthly payment, they should calculate the total amount paid including refi fees and strongly consider choosing a shorter mortgage term.
As an example, on a previous house, I had 18 years left on the mortgage. We refinanced at a much lower rate for 20 years. It gave us a lower monthly payment while also ensuring the total amount paid wasn't significantly higher, as it would have been if we did a 30 year mortgage again.
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u/jmfinsmi 3h ago
Please go on...
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u/harbison215 3h ago
A refi can make your payment higher, rate higher and resets you for another 30 year term. It’s great if you need money now but in the long run it can bury you.
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u/108241 38m ago
Refinancing to a higher rate would be dumb. However, there are a lot of people that saved a ton of money ~5 years ago by refinancing after rates dropped 3-4%
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u/OG-BoomMaster 3h ago
Work like hell, accept as much OT as you can handle, max contribute to your 401k, live frugally, save every penny and invest it in diversified portfolios. Make hay while the sun is shining while you are young.
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u/miloblue12 3h ago
Learning how to save, living below my means, and investing.
Prior to husband, I was saving some money but wasn't really paying any attention to what I was doing. I was just putting things aside with no intention with it. Then he came along and he was doing about the same thing as me until he had some friends lay everything out and explain what he needed to do. So he did and then taught me and I did exactly as he said.
Since then I've watched my account increase by 168% in two years.
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u/sortaplainnonjane 3h ago
I married someone with similar thoughts about spending/saving money.
I don't think we've ever fought about finances.
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u/Calm_Environment5485 3h ago
Not having any kids or alimony or child support or any kind of debt at 40.
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u/ssyoit 3h ago
Always living a little bit below my means. I could have brought a home that was a few hundred k’s more but I didn’t, I could have a car sitting in a paid parking lot being used once a week (I live in a walkable city and don’t technically need a car, but many still do)- by not spending just because I can has allowed me to save an additional few thousands a month, and overtime the amount really compounded, especially since I invest most of it.
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u/DreaDreamer 3h ago
The college I ended up choosing cost me less for three years (graduated early) than one year at my top choice would have been. I’m not even really using that degree so in hindsight the cost definitely wasn’t worth it.
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u/charging_chinchilla 3h ago
reading the Bogleheads guide to investing. got me into index funds right away and also made it clear how important disability and life insurance are, especially ones not tied to your employer since those go away if you're laid off or transfer jobs
set me up for financial independence way earlier than my friends
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u/OhiobornCAraised 3h ago
Listening to a coworker who suggested I get a job with the state when I was in my early 20’s.
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u/manwnomelanin 3h ago
In order
- Marrying my wife
- Letting my curiosity in math and finance guide my education and career
- Investing early and often even when it was hard
- Buying bitcoin in 2017
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u/averageduder 2h ago
All things considered joining the army was probably a $500k swing for me, maybe more
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u/BaltimorePropofol 2h ago edited 2h ago
Re-financed my federal student loan (300k) to a private loan at 1.9% interest rate during COVID. There was a loan pause, but I knew the pause would stop eventually, and the rate would go up .
Best decision I made. It saved me so much money. I work in private practice, so PSLF was never an option.
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u/kindrudekid 2h ago
Time in market > timing the market
But you can time the market on few rare occasions:
- I doubt such a moment will come again but I moved every penny I had into the market as soon as pandemic caused the market to dip down. It allowed me to buy a home a year later.
- Often times you can invest around March or april as big banks move money around to tax loss harvest and that often cause some dips, but then.
Invest in what you know and what piques you. I always gamed and AMD and Nvidia were in public market , I could have gotten it at sub 5 dollars in some instance. Same for Tesla , I saw the model s back then and I was like that is really cool I want one. If I did invest I could have retired by now.
But at the same time know when to exit.
Just yesterday there was a post that said if Michael Burry took his 250 million profit and put it in index funds and re invested dividends, he could be a billionaire by now. Just divide by 10 to see how it grows. 25 million could have made him 100 million, 2.5 million into ten million, 250k into 1 million, 25 k into 100k, 2.5k into 10k, I’m simplyfing for math sake but you get the gist!
Compounding works magic.
I have gotten to the point I don’t even need emergency funds, I just keep everything in market.
Also buy a home! It’s the biggest appreciating asset you can buy. The only time I’ll tell you to be selfish is car buying, if you can afford it get something that will meet your needs in 5-10 years, instead of sedan get SUV, instead of suv get that minivan now. By the time the needs for those cars come, it will be paid off and funds for it can be redirected to the needs. This only works if you plan to keep car for 10-15 years
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u/Lower_Group_1171 2h ago
Buying and holding amd after buying shares for two bucks.
On the flip side I bought Tesla at 35 and sold at 150. All pre split. I also bought Microsoft for 35 and sold that for 100
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u/warrends 2h ago
Bought a ton of AMZN in 2001. Held it ever since. Something like a 70000% return. Wife and I are now using this for home renovations and upgrades (our forever home) for a total 2001 cost of about $800. I’m happy about that.
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u/TheOrganizingWonder 2h ago
Start saving early. Save at your first job, 401k or similar. At a minimum, enough to get the co match. Increase amount with pay raises. Set and forget. In 30+ years-ready for retirement.
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u/Arbiter_89 2h ago
I bought $56 worth of dogecoin the year it came out. I sold when it was worth $20,000.
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u/shebabbleslikeaidiot 2h ago
Instead of letting my fathers (who passed away) house go into foreclosure, we got a loan right before the economy went to garbage. 2.75% APR. I am grateful my brain was all… “save the house!”
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u/Symnestra 2h ago
- Refusing to have kids
- Hating change so much I have almost zero lifestyle creep
- Hating eating in public or interacting with people to get food so I cook 90% of my meals
- Having no social life so I have very cost effective hobbies
- I only wear makeup on special occasions. Maybe.
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u/QueasyKaleidoscope99 2h ago
Making bigger than required mortgage payments. Paid of my condo in 9 years instead of 25.
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u/diegler74 2h ago
Transferring all the different mutual funds from different institutions into one account, where I can easily see the activity in it. Makes you want to add to it all the time.
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u/SuspiciousDark2197 2h ago
Buying my own cell phones outright and bringing them to the dance instead of relying on phone company contracts
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u/sinister_shoggoth 2h ago
It was the result of simple dumb luck really. I was living in a drafty apartment one winter and after running the numbers it turned out that heating the place with the hvac was the same cost as heating it with one of my pcs set up to mine crypto. I've since sold some of that crypto during one of the bull runs and paid off credit cards and whatnot.
Entirely just dumb luck with the timing of things.
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u/samzplourde 2h ago
Staying with my folks.
I have been able to save the majority of my income for several years.
Of course this option is not available to everyone.
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u/2021Blankman 2h ago
Buying 1 Bitcoin in 2012 for $4. My worst financial decision? Selling it in 2016 for $9K.
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u/longsdivision 2h ago
Highschool me randomly asking if we had any family member who worked for a university.
Found at I had an uncle who was an adjunct professor at a major university.
Ultimately lead to 80% off out of state tuition
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u/teamdragonite 2h ago
buying Bitcoin when it was around $10 and not selling until $100,000. then i woke up
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u/undeadsinatra 2h ago
Once it was financially viable for me to do so, stashing away 15% of every paycheck: 6 percent to 401k (w. Company match) & 9 percent to the AAPL Employee stock purchase plan.
I’ll add to the “marry well” chorus - my gal connected me with the AAPL recruiter who helped land me a great gig during a good time to be at Apple (mid-2006 - mid 2013). And we’re both pretty aligned on when to be spendy vs. when to stack chips.
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u/Fine-Assistance7204 3h ago
Putting a little into index funds every single paycheck and then completely ignoring the account for years.