As someone who learned almost nothing about finances growing up, I think getting educated was my greatest achievement. It allowed us to retire with dignity in January this year. Chris
Hanging in there. And learning from my many mistakes. One of the best lessons (learned the hard way): Don’t panic when the market takes a dive. It’s a buying opportunity. Buy carefully and make the most of it!
Whenever we have purchased a house, we have resolved to pay off the mortgage in under 5 years. We did it four times. Each time it got easier ‘cos we had built up equity in the previous house when we sold it and had a larger down payment for the next one. Our current house (the most expensive one) was paid off in 3 years.
We are planning to move to a HCOL area and plan to stick to the 5-year deadline, even if we have stopped working by then.
In the first five years after my financially disastrous marriage ended, I paid off the house, and in the next 23 years I grew my net worth from near zero to $2M at retirement, all while never earning more than $75k as a teacher. I’m grateful for having a frugal temperament and for finding free information in the library and on sites such as HumbleDollar.
As someone who learned almost nothing about finances growing up, I think getting educated was my greatest achievement. It allowed us to retire with dignity in January this year. Chris
Hanging in there. And learning from my many mistakes. One of the best lessons (learned the hard way): Don’t panic when the market takes a dive. It’s a buying opportunity. Buy carefully and make the most of it!
ONE THING: Staying the course through market down cycles. Has made all the difference (and is not easy!)
One thing I learned: Wife’s input is a contrary indicator. When she asks if we should be buying/selling stocks, do the opposite 🙂
Whenever we have purchased a house, we have resolved to pay off the mortgage in under 5 years. We did it four times. Each time it got easier ‘cos we had built up equity in the previous house when we sold it and had a larger down payment for the next one. Our current house (the most expensive one) was paid off in 3 years.
We are planning to move to a HCOL area and plan to stick to the 5-year deadline, even if we have stopped working by then.
In the first five years after my financially disastrous marriage ended, I paid off the house, and in the next 23 years I grew my net worth from near zero to $2M at retirement, all while never earning more than $75k as a teacher. I’m grateful for having a frugal temperament and for finding free information in the library and on sites such as HumbleDollar.