How do you do it?

[Crazy_Pilot]

Pace yourself. It's tempting to ring up the credit and buy all of the toys in one go but that can bury you forever, even with a better than average income.

My fiance and I just bought our first house in November. We found a place for a low enough purchase price that I can afford it on my own while she gets her professional life started. The mortgage is 25 years but our goal is to knock it down to 15 or less, which will probably save me 100K+ in interest. To keep life affordable we have cars that are paid off, don't enjoy too many luxuries (a movie every couple months is about it), don't go big for christmas or other holidays, don't have cable, etc... Also don't smoke or drink. It's amazing how fast beer money adds up!

My biggest vice is my expensive taste in hobbies. Cars, RC toys and particularly airplanes. My biggest goal in life is to own my own small plane one day but it's something I can only dream of for quite a while yet. The Cessna I rent is $125/hour, so it adds up quickly.

The irony is that often to make the money that would pay for the things we really want we have to work so much there's no time to enjoy it. That's my life right now, 6 day, 70+ hour work weeks. I'm so tired at the end of it all I want to do is sleep. Fly an airplane? Ha.

I'm also looking to start some side projects from home, use the garage equipment to generate a bit of cash in my spare time. I won't be getting rich off it but if I can make the garage basically fund itself then that's a success in my books.

My fiance and I are only in our 20's and while it's tempting to jump in with both feet we have a plan and are sticking to it. If that means we're 40 before we can enjoy the fruits of our labour then so be it, I'd rather live in a paid off house with some project cars when I'm older than grab everything up now and wonder how I'm going to afford groceries next week.

 

[KMinAF]

Patience! It has taken me the better part of 40 years to get everything that I have. Also, I prefer to buy quality used than junk new. Yes it does take money, sometimes lots of it. if you want it bad enough then you will find a way

The advice I have given my kids is to learn a trade, money is made by doing the things other people can't or won't do. Then be the person that the company can't live without.

 

[rusty1]

...be thankful for what you have, not sad for that you don't,...someone is always worse off than yourself....a lot of people are happier thru life than those that seem to have it all.

 

[Kevin54]

It's not easy. To get ahead boils down to nothing but hard work and smart financial sense. I don't know how many times I have sold a vehicle just to try and get ahead. Get in a bind, sell a toy. I've done it many times.

Like I told my son year back when he bought his house, I told him that before he throws money into toys, invest in the house. Curb appeal. Fixing up a house builds equity, and that is better than a savings account. Once you get equity, and you know where the line is as far as balancing the money you put into the house verses going over, you'll make money. You can put too much money into a house a screw yourself. If you plan to stay there for the rest of your life, then that is different.

Myself....with the economy, and what we have done to the house, and with the location, I am tapped out. There are newer houses 1/2 mile down the road with full basements, all brick, and are selling for $300,000. I have a 2600 sq. ft. ranch on 1.6 acres and I am at my peak at $200,000 tops. My garage addition I am planning may cost me $30,000 and hopefully a little less, but it is what I want, and will no way increase my property value by that amount. So financial moves take planning. Will my $30,000 do me any good? Not as far as equity today on the house, but maybe years down the road. But unless there is something tragic that happens, we are not moving, and the house will go to the heirs. The investment we put into it is for our pleasure.

 

[Wanna Ride]

Anytime I've ever needed more money, it was always fixed with more work.

 

[Parrothead]

All that glitters is not gold. I know people who look like they've made it, but one missed check and it's all gone.

For us? No kids, and that was a choice partially based on financials. Additionally my wife makes 73% more money than I do. We're very good with our money, and have done a good job with financial choices. As an example, I haven't spent more than $4,500 on my car in 20 years. Don't try to keep up with the Jones, you never will...unless of course your name is Warren Buffett...then have at it!

 

[PassnThru]

I could write a book on this based on my own experience and what I've seen others do in my lifetime.
But I'm late to the party - the collective wisdom of the Garage Journal elite has risen to the occasion so I need not add more.
Please read and absorb - you will not find finer advice anywhere with real life experience to back it up.

 

[Chngalay]

My wife is very grounded and she handles the money. I get an allowance. I also have a savings account that is dedicated to whatever I want to buy (when she puts money in it). My shop is less than 700 sq. ft. Took almost 10 years to save the money to build it. If you want something bad enough, you'd be amazed at the sacrifices you are willing to make to get it. Here is an example of the sacrifices I mean, my truck is a 2000 F250 with 170,000 miles. Still runs great (V-10) and I don't owe money on it. Our daily driver is a 2004 Yukon pushing 190,000 miles, paid for. I don't mean you go without eating as a sacrifice, but most people have things they spend money on that they can either do without or at least cut back on. I grew up seeing "rich kids" in the neighborhood getting whatever they wanted. They always had all the cool new toys, their houses were bigger and their parents cars were nicer and new every couple of years. Most of those guys have financial issues today. Set goals and do the things it will take to reach them. Everything worth having is worth working for.....

 

[code4pay]

My freind who went into realestate told me, you know all those people in our town we thought where wealthy, turns out they are nearly all up to their eye balls in debt. I could build a $100k shed fill it with snapon tools and start rebuilding 3 classic cars. The bank would lend me the money no problem. I wouldn't chose to do it but other would and do.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

One thing I'll add to this (along with the comments about starting early, good decision making, hard work, getting an education, good employer, etc. etc.).. My collection and two shops (one basement, one in the garage of a standard home) have occurred over the course of about 40 years now.. I don't pass up a good buy for a good quality tool .. even if I have intentions of giving it to a neighbor or sibling or whatever. I go to many flea markets, garage sales, etc. and keep my eyes peeled. I also love a super deal at a retailer or at the pawn shop. And once I find something I cannot do without... I save and eventually buy it. I have a list of wants and needs and build accordingly.

In short.. my collection is sort of saving in reverse.. several small incremental purchases over many many years..and now I have what I have ..

And of course, the ever forgiving wife of mine.. Without her support my garage would look like most of my neighbors..a couple of shelves, a mower, some long handle tools, and a bunch of other stuff taking up space in storage.

 

[sberry]

I want it I build it. Scrape together the material and gain equity. Its slow sometimes at a cost of delayed biz too but I am not paying 30 yrs either. A common garage doesn't cost but what a common car does anymore and doesn't depreciate as well as can return some in maintenance. A garage can cost or save.

 

[sberry]

I am going to do another one shortly, just did a reno I got bogged a little in but a month of part time wiring and service is 14K and we did a better job than most contractors. It got drug out slow because of the part time nature which is bad.
I started as some fix up and did reman. I could get some back if I sold it or over longer term in a careful rental which is where its going and am going to take 100 a mo less to go with someone will appreciate the value vs kicking the sheet out of it.
If this rental cycle ends it will be market ready and I might semi contract the roof.

 

[sberry]

I will hire some the next job, will hire direct. A couple shirt tail carpenters, maybe even a lead and a couple laborers. I will save about half he cost of a new house in about 18 months. We will be the general contractor but there wont be any subs.
The only reason I ever used one in the past was for forms which is pretty much a mistake, should have found someone out of the biz and rented some.

 

[sberry]

I had an ins underwriter out to look at one and he asked and I said, I got about 65 in materials but it books for 200, he said,,, maybe more.

 

[ratdoggy]

Work hard....
I've always worked 2 jobs until about 6 years ago....Still sell odd stuff at swap meets and Ebay now and then.
Be smart....
I've only bought 2 new cars and that was after I was 40
Don't make mistakes....
Like getting Mary Lou knocked up when you are 17
Save as much as you can...
Stock market and time are your friends
Buy a house but not too much house
Tax advantages and appreciation make it cheaper than renting over the long haul

I will say that I have made mistakes but keeping them to a minimum will help

 

[sberry]

I skated by with used cars, was single a long time and lived above my shop. Getting married and having some pups changd my game, I really need or should go to real work. I am worth a quite a bit but don't have money which is about like being poor too. I almost slid thru without a new house but looks like I might have to go back to work.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Financial responsibility and self control, as in, don't do stupid ****.
Just this week one person I know was actually considering buying a $4-5000 motorcycle, on a loan, which of course would have required full coverage insurance, at THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS PER MONTH!!! Are you fecking kidding me!!! $300/mo insurance on a $4000 bike!?!?!?!

What the hell did he do wrong? I've NEVER paid more than a $300.00 a YEAR for full coverage, even on financed bikes that cost more than 3x that much. He needs to look at a different insurance company, for sure...

Tommy

 

[n8n]

What the hell did he do wrong? I've NEVER paid more than a $300.00 a YEAR for full coverage, even on financed bikes that cost more than 3x that much. He needs tomlook at a different insurance company, for sure...

Tommy

Probably lived in a hellhole like PG County (MD). I sold my old '84 Scirocco not because I needed the money or driveway space but it was costing me $1200 a year to insure and the car was worth... about $1200

A year or two later I moved to Loudoun County (VA) and without changing insurance companies my rate fell in half.

 

[sberry]

I wanted a few things and they all didn't have to be new. When you get a hair up your azz buy it right. a used snowmobile you bought right can be worth more than you paid. I know several hobby guys that have some discipline to make every trade count.
I am a poor seller, I hope to change that a little.

 

[snorky18]

A few things I didn't see mentioned yet (though I was just skimming, so I may have missed them).

Have some amount of money auto transferred from checking to savings every payday. You'll never "see" the money, so you'll never miss it.

Along a similar train of thought, every time you get a raise, increase the amount you're drafting into retirement. Got a 5% raise? Bump your retirement witholding by 2-3%. You still get a raise on your take home.

If you've ever studied conservation of energy (or mass), I think of money that way. It doesn't disappear - it goes places. A certain amount goes in, a certain amount goes out (to a lot of different places). You need to watch where it goes out to closely, you better know where it's going.

For the goes-in amount, maximize it as best you can. Work hard, work long, work smart, always look for opportunities to improve, forget about all that warm-fuzzy do-what-you-love stuff (unless what you love happens to pay really well, then good for you, know that you're in the minority). Just do something you can tolerate that supports your household financially.

For the goes-out amount, go to war on reducing the amount that goes out every month (want vs need). Especially reoccurring monthly bills. As an example, we haven't had cable in a decade, haven't missed it, and have saved thousands with that one decision. If you don't NEED it, consider eliminating it, or finding cheaper substitutes (we pay the ~$8/month for netflix).

Go to war on ANY loan you have with an interest rate above 5% or so (that number is my opinion, others will have a different opinion).

There are only 3 things you should even consider taking out a loan on:

1. Mortgage (only if it makes sense vs renting-there are good calculators for this)

2. Education - only if your loan payments will be a small fraction of your post-graduation income, and you can prove it on paper. Racking up 20K in loans when you're going to be making 60K/yr post college (engineering for example) is very different from racking up 150K in loans to get a masters degree in education from a high dollar private school so you can be paid 28K/yr post college.

3. LEGITIMATE business expenses, assuming you run a business, and that expense is making you more money every month than what it costs you, will for the life of the loan, and you can PROVE it on paper.

If you can't eliminate a monthly bill, try and reduce it (i.e. car insurance). Look at ways to reduce your medical insurance and bills (we use high deductible health plan and an HSA, so virtually all our medical expenses are now tax free).

Even if you don't live a financially militant lifestyle where you track every penny every month, at a minimum you should conduct self-audits on what you've been spending. I try to do this about quarterly, and look back at the last 90 days, and look close at the "optional" expenses (tool buying, eating out, that type of thing). Anything outside of acceptable parameters gets discussed with the other spender in the house, and we try to constantly self correct / improve our spending habits based on that knowledge of what we've been doing historically.

 

[wood02]

I have never lived in a house with a hallway. Even now at 68, our house does not have a hallway. I often think of what it would be like. My wife and I have been married for 44 years and are still happy. We have lived in this house for 44 years. I never new of white trash and still do not really know what it means. My father was killed in Korea when I was four. Mom loved us four kids very much. She made a game and we would hide in the closet when the bill collectors would (to me) bang at the door. She always told us to work hard and we would be okay. I actually pulled a wagon with the "stuff" I would make and sell door to door. I shoveled snow, mowed yards, did all kinds of odd jobs until I got a job working at a Shell Service Station from 14 to 16 years old. I then got a job working at a steel factory making parts for railroad cars. I worked second shift. I worked as a hod carrier for a private contractor for one summer. I had to mix the mud and supply the block and brick to three masons. It was not to bad until the scaffolding got so high I had to climb with the mud, brick, and block. I did all these jobs while still in high school. So, the road that I was taking was what my Mom taught me...work "hard" and everything will work itself out. I wish I would have taken the educational road as opposed to the more physical road. I agree completely with an earlier post...learn to distinguish between your WANTS and your NEEDS! I have never tried to compete with "others". If wife and I want/wanted something, we would save until we could afford it. This has worked well for us through the years.

 

[bobemmerich]

I have NO idea??? I'm horrible with $$$. Luckily, my wife and I both have decent jobs and 401's.
I'm 46 and just recently moved into our second (and last) home. I now have what I consider to be a decent size shop(22x25 + attached 13x20 shed) and a barn on our 1.5 acre property. Granted, it's not much in comparison to a lot of guys on here, but it's mine. I have my toys (65 & 66 Mustangs) and lots of tools. Of course it has come at a sacrifice. Looking back, if I hadn't spent so much on tools/toys/beer/food, I could probably have a lot more. But I'm okay with knowing I have to work until I'm 70.
It also boils down to where people are. The difference between what 250K buys you here and out West or down South, is H-U-G-E! That's why a lot of people leave here to retire in those places.

 

[UpstateNY]

Hi all.
I was just wondering how some of you guys do what you do. I mean I don't know how you afford these huge Garage Mahals plus awesome houses and great cars and might be building 2 or 3 cars at once as well. I just don't see it, I would love to build a garage and would like either a 3 car or oversized 2 car, but at around $25k for just a building with no floor or electric I just can't do it. I just don't understand how some here do what they do and still pay the bills.
Jon

I make a shitload of $$$ in my job, as does the wife.

 

[sberry]

Yes, real money means different things to different people. Its hard for some to fathom someone paying 60 large out of pocket for a car. I know a young sprout just paid 28K from checking to have the windows in his house replaced. Got a wife and 2 kids, new car no payment. He has a job but it mays 200 large or so.

 

[Iroc-Z]

Like everyone has said it's all about sacrifices and being smart with money.

 

[Theruse]

I am sure we are a broad spectrum of members from all walks of life. What I sense we all have in common is that most of us are DIY'ers, either out of necessity or curiosity. So many of us probably decide where we can Do it ourselves and save money to provide some spare change for our "toys".

 

[bagged89s10]

I have NO idea??? I'm horrible with $$$. Luckily, my wife and I both have decent jobs and 401's.
I'm 46 and just recently moved into our second (and last) home. I now have what I consider to be a decent size shop(22x25 + attached 13x20 shed) and a barn on our 1.5 acre property. Granted, it's not much in comparison to a lot of guys on here, but it's mine. I have my toys (65 & 66 Mustangs) and lots of tools. Of course it has come at a sacrifice. Looking back, if I hadn't spent so much on tools/toys/beer/food, I could probably have a lot more. But I'm okay with knowing I have to work until I'm 70.
It also boils down to where people are. The difference between what 250K buys you here and out West or down South, is H-U-G-E! That's why a lot of people leave here to retire in those places.

No doubt that Connecticut is an expensive place to live. Good to see another CT member.

 

[stikman56]

Wife and I have always worked. Always owned a home. Took until I was 33 until we bought this place with a garage and a shop and 2-1/2 acres. Hard work, good choices got us here. Now I'm 50, we're looking at our next home... building it on our bare land, 3-car garage, 3-car shop. It just takes time, unless you're making crazy money to begin with.

 

[Ray916MN]

Take a finance course. Learn the differences and importance of income and assets

Learn to judge wealth based on assets, not income.

Income alone does not make you rich. Using income to obtain assets which can produce income is the path to becoming rich.

• Someone is not rich if they earn $2M per year and spend $1.9M and have $100K in the bank. They just have a big income and are a big spender with little savings. They aren't set for life. Based on their income, spending rate and savings rate they could be set for less than a month if they lose their income. They are barely living within their immediate means.

• A rich person, may have $100K in income from working, but have savings or assets worth $1.9M that generate $100K a year in additional income. They could lose their job and still be set for life. They are probably living within their means. They are much wealthier than the person earning $2M per year who is spending $1.9M per year and only has $100K in savings.

To maximize the rate at which you build wealth learn to judge what you can afford based on your assets, not your income

Understand that finance companies qualify people for car and home loans based on income, not assets. Their best customers are the poor, not the wealthy. Cars and your personal home are necessities. You need transportation to get to work and you need a place to live. They are costs, not investments. The more income you tie up to pay for a car and home loans the more you are setting yourself up to be addicted to financing for necessities. Finance companies, like drug dealers want you to be addicted. Like being addicted to drugs, being addicted to financing necessities makes it much harder to ever be rich. Finance companies are experts at siphoning off wealth from income. Figure out how nice of a car or home you can own, based on your assets not your income. If you have no assets, you can barely afford a car or place to live, no matter how much income you have unless you are willing to let the finance companies siphon off your opportunity to create wealth.

Use your assets to create more income.

Focus on learning how to identify the best opportunities for using your assets to create income. Maybe the opportunity is to use savings to buy equities or bonds, rental properties, bucket truck, start a business, expand your business.

Reinvest your income and use leverage to create geometric growth in your asset wealth.

Use the income from your assets to grow your assets. Learn how to use your assets and assess risk and use financing to leverage your assets to produce more income so you can grow your assets faster.

Be humble

I'm from an immigrant background. I have seen family members who could not speak English and barely had high school educations, come to America when they were in their 40s and go from working in restaurants to being multi-millionaires in less than a decade. Of course they worked hard, but they also do not dress well, live in really nice homes or drive really nice cars. They focused their attention on listening and learning from others on how to succeed instead of on spending money to convince people over their success. If you passed them on the street, you would assume they worked in the jobs they first had when they arrived in America.

 

[jives]

I did not get my first "real" job until I was 31 (grad school for 9 years), wife stopped working to raise the kids, now have 6 kids - all of whom have been homeschooled. Yes, I have a good job at a college, but the local public school teachers make the same as me. We used to be in debt, but using advice from trusted friends and Christian financial principles, we got out of debt slowly and began toward financial security. The main principle is your view of the world. We are happy with what we have, are thankful for anything special, are not impressed by the Taj Mahals or new cars.

Practically speaking, we buy what we need. Our "newest" car has 80K miles, our home is modest size for any family, let alone one of 8 people. We do "stay-cations", but never forget that first chunk of our income goes to church and charity. We have one credit card, live on a budget, do our own repairs or do without. My wife has just begun taking on child care work in order to pay for our upcoming garage. When we first built our house we left off the garage, the porches, and other features because they did not fit our budget. The bank would have lent us more money, but it was beyond what we wanted to pay in mortgage. Patience, slow and steady growth, and strict and honest budgeting are the framework.

 

[Pumpman1968]

Wow. You guys really aren't afraid of work. I have a good job and so does my wife, but right now and into the foreseeable future I can't afford to do hardly anything, hopefully in a year or two that will change, but right now I can't. Oh well I guess it gives me more time to figure out exactly what I need in this project.
Thanks,
Jon

Jon....just hang tight and do what you do best and things will come around.

When I was married, I had 2 new cars, house on 11 acres and a pile in the bank. I also worked 60-70 hours a week and drove 60,000 miles a year just for work..........by the age of 26!

Then, I got divorced.....and by 35 I moved to a new area with no more than a dufflebag of stuff and the clothes on my back....the "wife" got EVERYTHING. Oh, except any debt.

10 years later, I'm in even better financial shape, back down to working 40 hours a week.....and my COMPLETELY stress-free job is literally 7 miles from home. Older cars...but no car payments. No CC debt and I make 2 mortgage payments each month.

It can be done, Jon....just keep at it Bud!

 

[ducksface]

I did not get my first "real" job until I was 31 (grad school for 9 years working to raise the kids, now have 6 kids - all of whom have been homeschooled. Yes, I have a good job at a college, but the local public school teachers make the same as me. We used to be in debt, but using advice from trusted friends and Christian financial principles, we got out of debt slowly and began toward financial security. The main principle is your view of the world. We are happy with what we have, are thankful for anything special, are not impressed by the Taj Mahals or new cars.

Practically speaking, we buy what we need. Our "newest" car has 80K miles, our home is modest size for any family, let alone one of 8 people. We do "stay-cations", but never forget that first chunk of our income goes to church and charity. We have one credit card, live on a budget, do our own repairs or do without. My wife has just begun taking on child care work in order to pay for our upcoming garage. When we first built our house we left off the garage, the porches, and other features because they did not fit our budget. The bank would have lent us more money, but it was beyond what we wanted to pay in mortgage. Patience, slow and steady growth, and strict and honest budgeting are the framework.

I'm going to use as an example of why college sometimes does not work.
By the time many people are 31, any enterprising person, they have so much experience and knowledge and savings that they are becoming ceo's or opening their third shop or store.

College isn't always the answer. Nine years and you make what a four year teacher makes. I'm certainly not bagging on you, it's just important to sometimes quash the 'you can only get ahead if you go to college' mantra.

Again, I use you as an example only due to the facts you posted and nothing more.

 

[ducksface]

'Work smarter not harder'.
That's another bit of slacker ********.

You work hard, assess, then you work smarter according to your assessment, while working just as hard, but producing more. It's ongoing. There are no laurels.

 

[Kevin54]

I did not get my first "real" job until I was 31 (grad school for 9 years), wife stopped working to raise the kids, now have 6 kids - all of whom have been homeschooled. Yes, I have a good job at a college, but the local public school teachers make the same as me. We used to be in debt, but using advice from trusted friends and Christian financial principles, we got out of debt slowly and began toward financial security. The main principle is your view of the world. We are happy with what we have, are thankful for anything special, are not impressed by the Taj Mahals or new cars.

Practically speaking, we buy what we need. Our "newest" car has 80K miles, our home is modest size for any family, let alone one of 8 people. We do "stay-cations", but never forget that first chunk of our income goes to church and charity. We have one credit card, live on a budget, do our own repairs or do without. My wife has just begun taking on child care work in order to pay for our upcoming garage. When we first built our house we left off the garage, the porches, and other features because they did not fit our budget. The bank would have lent us more money, but it was beyond what we wanted to pay in mortgage. Patience, slow and steady growth, and strict and honest budgeting are the framework.

That's the problem with a lot of people. They want it all right now. I always looked at it as if we can retire comfortably and out of debt, then we have set out to do what we needed to do.

Even though neither the wife or I now work (retired and disability), we did refinance for 10 years to add on to my garage. I could pay it off if we pulled out of our investments, but our loan is only 4 years longer than what we had left. And our investments are making good money now, and overall will make more over the period than what we borrowed. Plus we got a 3 1/4 interest rate on the loan. If things work out right, we will have everything paid off free and clear by the time I am 65. And there is satisfaction in knowing that if need be, and an emergency popped up, that we could take some out of our investments and pay everything off.

In the event that (God forbid) there would be a tragedy where one of us passes, things would still be good without having to touch any of the investments to pay everything off. We were lucky that we were able to roll over our life insurance when we left the shop, and keep on paying what we were paying. We don't carry as much on my wife as I do me, because I wanted to make sure she would be taken care of in the event of me passing, so I have a $250,000 policy on my. She has about half of that on her.

When budgeting for everything, Life Insurance is always one big thing to consider to make sure your spouse and any children at home are taken care of and to continue the current lifestyle they are used to. I know many individuals that only live for today, and never plan for tomorrow, then start crying when something happens. Just one accident at work that takes you off work for a few months can set a person back a year or so in bills. Over the last 10 or 12 years, we have shelled out more in medical bills than what we owed on the house probably. Copay's add up, meds add up, what insurance doesn't cover, the out of pocket adds up. So you always want to plan for things like that.

I made good money as a Toolmaker, and I always planned for retiring early at 62. It scared the **** out of me when the wife retired at 59 1/2 because I didn't think we would be able to make ends meet, but we did. I NEVER thought that I would be out of work at age 55 due to disability. But by planning ahead, things worked out fine, thankfully.

Right now, I am on Long Term Disability, and can be on that until I reach the age of 65. So what LTD doesn't pay, Social Security makes up the balance until I reach age 65. Then everything will be Social Security, which what I receive will change and go up. But I did find out last night from our tax guy, who was also a former coworker that some things have changed with our shop, and me falling under two different plans from the shop when it comes to retirement that if I go ahead and retire now, which I can because of being totally disabled through the SSA, I will possibly gain another $12,000/year. So I seriously have to make some phone calls Monday.

Now........if that happens, our house will be paid off all the quicker. We are comfortable in our lifestyle now. So if I gain that much a year, that money will not be party money, or money to piss away, just because we get more. It will go towards paying off what is currently outstanding. Careful planning, hard work, and looking ahead is how we got to where we are. Always in my mind is "WHAT IF", and the "what if" to me always deals with medical or death in the future, and to plan around that.

Our nephew tried to do that to a certain extent with his wife. But with her passing yesterday leaves him with some future legwork to do. I don't think they had a Will. Her car was solely in her name. She worked and had her checking account, and he worked and had his. Certain bills went to one or the other. No one ever thought that she would pass at 38 years old. Now he has to deal with getting things straightened out as the car, who it goes to, the checking account, and things like that. Thankfully the wife and I, after dealing with my parents, and the enormous amount of paperwork I had to go through, knocked us in the head hard enough to realize we needed to get our own priorities in order as far as vehicles, the life insurance policies, the phone numbers to call, the house, and our investments. So in the event of either one of us passing, things will transition over to the other without any problems. And in the unfortunate event of both of us being in an accident, things are put in order that things will smoothly transition over to the recipients of our estate.

The only thing we have left to do is get a cemetery plot, get the vaults, and get the opening and closing paid for.....and possibly pick out a couple of caskets, but they change all of the time. A casket can be done at the last minute. That way, there is no huge last minute burden on someone.

So for the OP and for others......careful planning, and always plan for the future, and not just live for today, because today or tomorrow, things could change drastically and just blindside you or a spouse.

 

[Kevin54]

I'm going to use as an example of why college sometimes does not work. By the time many people are 31, any enterprising person, they have so much experience and knowledge and savings that they are becoming ceo's or opening their third shop or store.

College isn't always the answer. Nine years and you make what a four year teacher makes. I'm certainly not bagging on you, it's just important to sometimes quash the 'you can only get ahead if you go to college' mantra.

Again, I use you as an example only due to the facts you posted and nothing more.

I'm not going to knock college, but I totally agree with what you say.

What is bad though is that businesses today will take someone with a degree over someone with hard working ethics, and a lot of common sense. In my career, I made more than ones with a degree. I got dirtier than ones behind a desk, I had to do their job at times for them because they did not know the answer, but they also didn't get paid overtime, yet had to work the same amount of hours as I may have put in that week. And if something went wrong, they caught a rash of ******** that may or may not have put their job on the line. And when you are on that side of the fence, you have to play the game.

This doesn't apply to every job out there, but it's a basic rundown of what a big business is like, and my responses are more based on where I worked for over 32 years, but worked under a few different owners. It was tough for a lot of people in Carpet Land (office people) to play the game. Laugh at the lame jokes, constantly trying to wipe the brown off of their noses. and slowly losing a spine, all for the fact that they now had a title, a pedigree, and a desk. A lot of work for what little benefits they got in return.

 

[tomphot]

I started working at 14 peddling a Popsicle cart - I haven't been out of a job since (I'm not on my cart though). I was the first one in my family to go to college and worked the entire time I went to school. I made a couple bad financial decisions early in life and learned my lesson. Since then, as others have said, it's about making the right choices. I live well within my means and have saved enough to be able to retire soon.
My wife has a good job and we have no kids.
We have a lot of friends who make a lot of money yet have a lot less. They seem to want to live behind the gates and buy a new car every other year. Just the other day, a women who works for my wife was commenting that her husband had 6-7 years in a row when he was making over $250K. Yet they lost their house and are now renting and are in debt. How does that happen?
I just finished building an additional 2 car garage in the back to house a lift and my '87 911 and '64 356SC. The cars have turned out to be great investments should I ever decide to sell!

 

[autonaut]

Wants and needs..

 

[coljar]

Been working since I was 9. Always had job, worked through college, took over my grandfather's auto repair shop, and closed it down several years later to go to work in industry 27 years ago. I'm less than 4 years from retirement, but I don't know if I know how to not work. To answer your question, I do stuff or buy stuff as I have the time and money. Time is the biggest problem, because there is very little work I farm out.

 

[jfish]

This thread is 100% truth. So much good info.

I have a close relative that is exuberantly wealthy. Has a home and shop that will rival the best seen on here. He has, does and always will out work any of his peers, manual labor, management or otherwise.

He chalks it up to the flowing.

Attitude is everything.
Work hard play hard.
What you put out into the world will come back to you from this world.
Make a plan.
To be successful you must first visualize success and surround yourself with successful people.


Of course I know the real truth is all of that is ********.

Because sir I have seen the golden horseshoe that he was born with up his ***.

 

[Scud67]

Live below your means and don't be jealous of what others have - more than likely they are in a heap of debt to "have" those things. My wife and I both work, have no car payments (and never plan to again), no credit card debt and only have a mortgage, normal bills (utilities and such), don't go out to eat much and try to decide if we really need something or if it is just a "want".
The average household has about $25k in unused "stuff" that is just sitting around - SELL IT!