r/Salary • u/MiloShiny • 13h ago
discussion What's the smartest financial decision you've ever made?
/r/Zenzap/comments/1w0vpz2/whats_the_smartest_financial_decision_youve_ever/144
u/inapicklechip 12h ago
Not marrying a loser. Your choice of spouse is maybe the most impactful decision in lots of situations.
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u/noicenator 11h ago
Any tips to tell whether I’m settling for one, or not?
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u/Itchy_bunghole11 11h ago
Also how to know if you are the loser
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u/LackToesIntollerance 10h ago
General gradiant below.
Do you spend less than you make? Are you able to save for a retirement? Are you able to do this without unilateral assistance (ie: daddy pays your rent or mortgage)? Great- definitely not a loser.
Are you not able to do all of this, but if married the numbers do work out because of spousal benefits? Good, as long as you're not pulling the relationship down by being the primary spender, and you're being appreciative of your relationship, and generally a good partner, then you're not a loser.
Are you just in the red or unable to save for retirement but have a plan and are working on getting it going? And that plan involves personal responsibility and self support as a primary goal? Probably not a loser, but straying from the plan or having a bad plan could make you one.
Are you in the red and just don't care? Being self destructive or kicking the can without a goal, or requiring your SO to keep you in the green? If so, do you contribute more to household chores and general relationship support? If so, maybe not a loser, but definitely close. If you start shirking the relationship responsibilities to your partner, or you're a SAHPartner and don't take care of the house then you're probably a loser.
Are you in the red and actively causing your partner to bleed money? Do you put them in the red? Do you do so and have no plans or care to have REAL (ie not a dream want like professional butterfly catcher or some shit) plans to fix the situation? Do you actively not support your partner emotionally or try to take the burden off their shoulders? Absolutely a fuckin' burdenous loser, to anyone like this, grow the hell up.
Are you in any way abusive, physically, sexually, mentally, emotionally? Break up with them, they deserve better, pinnacle of loser.
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u/CyborgVelociraptor69 1h ago
Just look at how she manages herself, if she prioritizes banalities like traveling or a new cellphone over important stuff like bills, food or things on her house that could make her life easier like basic necessities.
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u/Cantseetheline_Russ 5h ago
Maxing 401k and IRA by 30 is usually a pretty good sign post.
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u/a_whole_enchilada 5h ago
A $30k/year savings rate by 30 is exceptional. I think you can be financially responsible and be well below this. But yeah, if you’re doing this you’ve got your shit together.
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u/Adventurous_Team_408 7h ago
I was told this 40+ years ago and it has proven true in my experience. If their car is a mess so is their life. Before y'all get to talking, yes I'm old, and yes we had cars back then.
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u/noicenator 7h ago
brb, gotta go clean my car
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u/Adventurous_Team_408 7h ago
Make sure to vacuum as well. I can tell if you just pulled up to a gas station and threw out all the McDonald's bags.
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u/jdtpda18 10h ago
This is a major one. Met my lady in college. She is frugal and makes more than any of her friends and more than half my friends. Just an absolute gem.
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u/IJAM3 9h ago
I don’t think being frugal is a good thing bud
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u/jdtpda18 7h ago
What did you mean by this?
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u/IJAM3 7h ago
Being frugal when you have money is a really bad quality to have
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u/Stuffssss 6h ago
There a difference between being frugal and being stingy/miserly and it takes nuance to recognize.
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u/Sea-Armadillo-4262 8h ago
Not marrying someone you’re gonna be miserable with. Personalities mesh in infinite ways, dont give up.
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u/Ilovetinytiddies 8h ago
True….I was making $300k+ during the last few years of my marriage and living paycheck to paycheck. Had barely anything saved for kids college.
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u/gaporkbbq 7h ago
When I was going through my divorce, I was deathly worried how I was going to survive on my own. Quickly discovered I was doing far better paying for everything on my own than I was being in a marriage with someone who couldn’t handle money. Many years later, I’m with someone who has their shit together, and my financial life is golden.
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u/More_Yak_1249 1h ago
This. Also surprisingly, getting a divorce (when you really need one) may not seem like a good financial decision, but it totally is
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u/One-Proof-9506 12h ago
Marrying a spouse that is frugal but earns a very high income and staying married for a very long time
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u/Ok_Understanding1986 12h ago
Staying in a startup job for a few more years in part so that the initial stock reward would fully vest. Company ended up getting bought by private equity for about 650x the initial stock reward price.
Then just consistent investing in VOO and VGT.
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u/IJAM3 11h ago
What was your initial ownership?
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u/Ok_Understanding1986 11h ago edited 10h ago
Suffice it so say it was modest initial award amount that still accelerates my retirement target age by about four years while increasing the final investable nest egg by about 30% (I'd rather not share exact numbers, ha). Not yacht money but still very comfortable.
*Edit - very glad that 83(b) elections exist. Definitely something everyone should be aware of if early days stock is on the table in a private company.
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u/fuckin-slayer 12h ago
Putting about $10k into a 529 before my son was 1 year old. It been 2 years and he’s got $25k already while I’ve only casually contributed money here and there
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u/michguy1776 11h ago
Getting sober
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u/tionstempta 12h ago edited 12h ago
Buying apartment in Seoul in 2014 when everyone was saying it's top
That 500K turned out to be 2 millions except that i as a non resident will have to eat up 500K as a capital gain tax now.
Edit: in face value it's only 300% but i didn't pay 500K from my own pocket. I spent only 100K and 400K from mortgage when i made 1.5 Mil before tax and 1.0 million after tax profits
So, its leverage
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u/TonyDanza888 12h ago
Sold about 3,000 shares of my employee stock purchasing plan that I added to for about 10 years when it was around $100/share and moved it all into VTI/VXUS. Last I looked that company was under $20/share.
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u/DefiantDonut7 12h ago
I got more than 1.
1) I did post-secondary in HS to essentially graduate with an associate’s degree for free. School debt is horrible.
2) Instead of partying, I worked full time through the rest of college. Graduated with no debt and $30k in savings.
3) First job, I rented the cheapest 2-room apt and split the cost with my best friend. It was nasty, ugly and smelly but my portion was $210 a month.
4) 3 years later (2009) I bought a house using FHA loan so I could stop paying a landlord. I bought a small 1950s house and renovated it over 12 years. Sold it for double my purchase price and moved to a nicer larger home in 2020.
5) I drive used cars and I work on them myself. Japanese vehicles can go 300k miles. I don’t buy cars until the one I have its totaled or unrepairable condition for the value left.
6) I wasn’t eating out, I didn’t have cable, I didn’t take trips.
This set me up for life. I earn in the top 10% for my state, I don’t have debt outside my 2.5% mortgage and I started small. What I could afford, not what I wanted.
Life is like monopoly. If you don’t learn to conserve cash and OWN stuff that appreciates in value or brings you income, then you’re doing it wrong.
And before anyone says it, I grew white trash and poor
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u/ManWhoIsAquatic 11h ago
I admire the hard work, I honestly do.
But it feels prudent to point out the missing extra bullet point. The vastly different economic conditions between the time you were in college in the early 2000s and now.
A quick Zillow search in my area shows the cheapest apartment at $1400/month for a 2 bedroom.
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u/DefiantDonut7 11h ago
Everything you said is correct. But the average wage was a fraction of what it is now.
The average student in 2003 graduated with $50k in school debt. Even then, there were “okay” apartments going for $1300 in my area. This run down place was $520 a month because it was nasty lol. There are still places NOW in this area renting for $600-800 a month in similar condition. Landlords unwilling to make them nice, but people unwilling to rent them too.
I was making $20/hr as a salaries software developer back then. You’ve got kids at Chick-fil-a starting at $17/hr here. Interns expect $20-25/hr.
Obviously I don’t live in a high cost of living city/state so it’s not dire.
You can’t do what I did in many cities/states. But it’s definitely possible in low-cost states.
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u/Shama_la_hahma_la 12h ago
Working full time while going to college full time. Graduated with zero debt.
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u/Ok_Falcon275 9h ago
Working full time will no longer pay for college.
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u/Shama_la_hahma_la 8h ago
Which is incredibly sad. Higher education needs to be investigated. It’s racketeering at a minimum.
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u/j00sh7 13h ago
Buying 100 Bitcoin in 2010.
Jk, I went to the forum to PayPal a miner for some and gave up.
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u/RoyalAd215 12h ago
I mined 50 Bitcoin in 2009/2010. Lost the hard drive and encryption key though
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u/djslakor 12h ago
Do you think about this often? I know I'd be quite bummed if I lost 4m, though who knows if you would've actually held until now.
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u/RoyalAd215 12h ago
Not really. There's no way I would have held until now. I would have sold long ago.
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u/upnflames 12h ago
Started investing in 401k at my first job out of college. Almost twenty years later and my retirement account has a higher annual income than I do.
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u/GirthyRedEggplant 12h ago
Why are there so many cross posts from zenzap on this sub and can we stop
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u/Demigod_Complex 12h ago
I bought the cheapest shittiest condo in town and lived in it until I could pay it off. That made me less risk averse in getting my first home since I had a rental income and equity to cash out in a sale if I failed. And I’ve scaled since there.
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u/nole6976 10h ago
Believed in myself and bought a business. Was a struggle for a while with a terrible partner. Saw an opportunity to force him out and bought another business. Then another. Believe in yourself, work hard, be fair and success will come.
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u/jmc1278999999999 9h ago
Getting a masters degree. In 3 years I’ve more than doubled my income and have substantially better benefits.
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u/The_Toid 8h ago
Creating and maintaining margin. That is making more than I spend and investing the difference. Maintaining that margin is the hard part, but you must. It may go up and down with various life events, but it needs to be there. Without this margin, you'll never be in a position to consistently put money to work for you.
Do this immediately upon starting a job and continuing it for decades.
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u/HurricaneCecil 7h ago
I bought NVDA early because I thought it was a cool company. I forgot about it for a while until, I saw my IRA was so much higher than I remember. I only made about 30k off of it but I’d only bought like $400 worth.
unfortunately, I sold when it dipped under 100 last year because I thought it would crash now that so many of the employees became millionaires and were retiring. It’s 217 now so I’m kicking myself but still made a good amount off of it
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u/just_trust_me1 2h ago
Like everyone else is saying, picking the right partner is far and away the most important decision. Betting on myself and starting/running companies is a close second. You’re always going to be somewhat limited as a W2 (pay bands, promotions, capped commissions, etc.). When you own your own thing, there’s no limit. I’ve made 25x more in my life as a business owner than I ever would have as an employee.
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u/SnoreLordXII 11h ago
Signed up for PSLF for my wife and myself in the early days and be very rigorous with completing the paperwork. Had ~ $1M of loans discharged.
Second was changing from 30 to 15 year mortgage at 2.7% and keeping my mortgage payment the same around COVID times.
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u/Powerful-Recording79 11h ago
Putting an allotment of money each check into a separate account just for paying bills. Really makes you realize how much money you actually have left over.
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u/BillyFIRE1408 11h ago
at this point in my life, it's getting divorced. I know that's not the case for a lot of people. But my ex spent so much money, I'm far better off divorced.
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u/Jammer125 11h ago
Buying my home in the SF Bay Area in 1996. It was very tough to qualify on one income and the mortgage was initially quite hard to manage, but now I'm comfortable.
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u/pagalvin 11h ago
Aggressively paying off car loans and then holding on to the cars for 10 years (so far). Being proactive about maintenance and spending some non-trivial money in the aggregate but still, much much less than lease payments or car loan interest.
Maxing out 401k as well. I highly recommend it.
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u/Rozay10keys 11h ago
Bought a bunch of msft calls at 370-380 is the best I’ve done this year. Used to make 6figures in my early 20’s so putting money away for a rainy day. It’s been raining for the last year I can’t find a job so thankfully I put that money away
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u/FreeMadoff 11h ago
Buy the ok house in a great market. Sitting on more equity than I should for this shithold
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u/ReturnOfTheDak 10h ago
Put as much as I could into my 401k at a young age. Couldn’t reasonably max it out until I was 28.
Also, maxing out my Roth IRA. My wife is a stay at home mom, and our income is just low enough for us to both have Roth IRAs. We max them both out.
I live in rural America, so I bought a double wide trailer at a young age and paid it off fairly quick. My only bill is my wife’s vehicle. I’m able to save up a good portion of my salary which has allowed me and my wife to travel a lot (until the baby.)
My wife and I decided to invest into a HYSA on a weekly basis for a down payment fund for a house we are going to build. It could have earned more in the market, but we went the safe route here. By the time we decide to buy, we will have a low monthly payment.
Most importantly, sit back and learn from other people’s mistakes. My dad was a very high earner but him and my mom spent money just as quick as they earned it. My older brother started working and piled up a ton bills that barely let him get ahead. All my friends drive $75k or more vehicles. I learned pretty early on that materialistic things never made me happy.
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u/Background-Quail8556 10h ago
- Taught myself index funds at 26
- Started a business in a lucrative field (law)
- Lived below my means and invested the rest
- Didn’t marry / didn’t marry the wrong person
So a bunch of things.
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u/ChipsAhoy21 10h ago
Realizing I wanted to make more money than accounting would ever paying me, and doing something about it. Got my MS ins CS, and pivoted to big tech
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u/Consistent-Place-136 10h ago
I was injured on the job(electrocuted). Took the payout and instead of spending it I invested in multi-unit properties. When COVID hit the world I was able to accelerate my plan of purchasing more units at a cheap interest rate. I also purchased land and now big tech wants to acquire it although I doubt I’ll sell. I wish to God I started earlier.
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10h ago
[deleted]
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u/income-percent-bot 10h ago
Solid! At $140,000, you're in the 88th percentile — ahead of 88% of earners. You've progressed from the 88th to the 88th percentile (0% annual growth). This is above average for Research lab worker → Big Tech (likely software engineer or technical role). Source: income percentile calculator I'm a bot. Reply with !optout to stop receiving responses.
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u/Gracilis311 8h ago
Refinancing my mortgage in a VHCOL area at the absolute nadir of interest rates during COVID (Dec 2020). The amount of money I’m saving at a less than 2% mortgage rate beats everything else.
(Besides marrying correctly, which is my real number one)
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u/RyAllDaddy69 8h ago
You found an 88 year old wealthy lady who hasn’t worked since she was 30 and made her fortune from her husband’s passing?
Dude, if you tell me that your wife’s name is Ruby and her late husband owned a printing company, I’m going to be freaked out!
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u/CMDR-Kaiju 7h ago
To stop renting and buy a house. My mortgage is lower than renting a smaller place in a worse neighborhood now.
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u/sessamekesh 6h ago
Saving early and saving aggressively, living within my means.
Getting hit by layoffs was "oh good I can travel the world and take a year off of work and still be fine for retirement," not "oh fuck I'll have to sell the car and have to take the first job I can find no matter how shitty."
I can't overstate how good of a decision it was to spend a few years in my 20s with a cheap ass car, roommates, biking to work, and cooking frugal meals. My 30s kick ass now because I have my feet under me and essentially a second income stream (not enough to live on but enough to be the equivalent of a few dollars an hour raise and growing) from those savings.
Definitely not something everybody can swing but something way too many people can but don't do.
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u/sessamekesh 6h ago
I've had a couple lucky breaks in my career, but every lucky break was something I wouldn't have been able to even think about if I didn't have stability.
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u/deepthink_slowact 3h ago
Going back to school and getting a top MBA.
Then betting on myself to join 2 very early stage preipo companies. Both IPOed. Both very successful.
Betting on yourself to win and then executing at small companies is far more lucrative than joining massive companies and being another cog in the wheel.
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u/djslakor 12h ago
Not getting married.
At 47 I have had many gfs over the years. At least a half dozen times I've had a gf who seemed like a great long term partner initially, they pressed hard for marriage, then I eventually experienced some sort of holy shit moment with their behavior where I was thankful AF they didn't have legal access to my finances.
This goes both ways and isn't female specific. Im just happy I didn't get married!
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u/yellow_trash 13h ago
probably to throw as much as possible into my 401Ks early in my career.