Financial Responsibility

It took me a loooooong time to realize what makes me happy and what I need to make myself happy. I've pissed away shit tons of money chasing dreams and trying to scratch an itch that never seems to get relieved.

At this point in my life I've decided that my children are more important than me and I want them to have everything I didn't have growing up, including financial knowledge and understanding. My kids both have a savings/retirement account that my wife and I contribute to monthly. I'll work until my body doesn't allow it, but my kids will have a better chance at "The American dream" than I ever did. I wish I had more adults stressing to me the importance of financial responsibility when I was younger so I could have better prepared myself for the future.

 

i'm going to be brutally honest. i was extremely dumb financially. i partied way too hard, and have nothing to show for it. I'm now at the point were my jealousy of people buying homes has eaten away at me. I am changing my life. the only downside is, I was laid off 3 weeks ago, so now i'm whoring out my resume. I think it was for the better. I was absolutely miserable at that place, the money wasn't great, and the commute was starting to eat at me. so now the next job i get, my girlfriend and I, who have been together for 7 years, are going to bank everything, and try to get our own home in the next 3 years. My truck is paid off. I was able to do it in just shy of 3 years (bought my 13dcsb at the end of 2014, and paid it off in January). I was able to pay off the majority of my cc/misc debt down to about 2800, when about a year ago it was about 18k. I'm just turned 34. I don't care about clothes or jewelry. I love my truck. I love firearms (even tho i sold off just about everything to pay off debts). I learned to love my truck in moderation, because I could easily sink another 20k into it. moral is: for all you young boys. don't be flashy and idiots. don't fuck up your credit. don't make poor choices. its a process trying to unfuck your life.

 

Great topic to bring up. I struggle with spending because I love hobbies and I seem to pick expensive ones (including fly-fishing as you mentioned). I go through periods where I save and save and then sometimes I go through splurge phases, where I blow a lot of money at once to do upgrades. It's important to me to not only save but to also enjoy my earnings. No point in hoarding it all away but also wouldn't want to live in debt. I took a huge risk last year by moving and taking a major paycut, and now I make a third of my prior wages and I'm not saving as much. I need to strap down and get my savings back to their previous level

 

Funny, sometimes I'm jealous of people who still rent at a reasonable rate and don't have a massive mortgage haunting them each month.

Don't let it eat at you too much. Owning your own home is great, but it's COSTLY. You might even be better off waiting for the next recession(its coming)

 

We spoke of it briefly earlier, but the hardest thing I have ever tried to do is define "happy". A young and foolish me would have said money. Now that I have a family and kids it is very different. Fishing makes me happy, not the name on the rod. Do I use cheap no name junk? nope. But I don't read magazines drooling over the latest carbon fiber ultra rods. I rarely watch TV. I read books and the internet. I spend as much time as I can with my girls and my dad. I love my truck, but I have no desire to modify it. A supercharger and a maxed out charge card aren't going to make me any happier. I'm not bashing guys that spend money. everyone can go there own way. I just kinda realized early on that there's more to life than working harder, to pay more bills, to buy more shit, that I didn't have time to use (working too much) and then die. My dad is in his mid 70's. He tells me all the time that one day I will go to bed and wake up an old man. When you need money you don't have enough. By the time you have money you are too old to use it. I decided to make some changes now and enjoy more life sooner. Hopefully you guys will too. Almost forgot... The "happy"? Take off when the next nice day shows up, get out your canoe, and take your dad and kids fishing without answering the phone or checking your emails... You'll figure it out.

 

lots of good input in here

 

Awesome post, for me it was Motocross and trucks, I spent so much money for the latest and greatest bike, newest or ultimate Tacoma, lifts, gear etc. racking up debt and realizing that I was forcing myself into staying in the Air Force for the rest of my life, which would be another form of voluntary slavery in my mind as my heart aches to do something more with my life/career. So here I am at 31 renting a house with 2 other guys, sold the bikes, sold the tools, gear and paying off debt full steam while working on grad school and what I hope will be a future career in something I can wake up everyday and love to do not work for stuff, if that was the case might as well put in an OTS package, but life is so much more than collecting things, but that's a whole other conversation. Wish I had got to this point sooner in life, but is what it is. As much as I want to rush out and buy a lift for my truck, armor, new MX bike, etc. I know it will only lead me right back to where I was, instead Im motivated as I see the debt go down and knowing the future ahead. Here's to that DD214. Great post OP.

 

Some people get it, some don't.

 

Most people never get it until it gets them!!! I've been building my new shop. The bills are killing me but I will pay cash. It's a 40x56 building. I poured my own foundation with the help of my awesome friends. I hired a Mennonite crew to help frame it and sheet it. This barn has been over five years of planning and saving. All of my side jobs and cash are vaporizing before my very eyes! The important part is that I will have done it with no borrowed money. 10 years ago I would have never dreamed of doing this. I wanted to buy another rental property, but it is time to regroup, organize, get everything inside in one place. Had I not waged my war on debt, I would never have done any of this.