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I think he's just asking you if you had to give somebody advice, what would you say? It looks like you've done pretty well so he's just asking what you would say was the biggest thing you've learned in the process that you would pass on to somebody else.

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This. Sorry if it was confusing.

Okay, understood. My path has been a littany of basic stuff, not windfalls or lottery wins. Here's list...

Dollar cost averaging in 401(k), Roth, 529 plan, and other funds (I.e. Dodge & Cox)
Brown bag lunches
Savings funds for cars, travel, home renovations
Modest vacations on an annual budget
No revolving debt
Bulk buying groceries and reading the flyers
No expensive clothing (my office slacks, polo, and doc martens run $80 total).
Eat out with coupons, order water, drink beer at home. Hole in the wall tex-mex is just as good as Pappasitos.
Keep funiture a long time
Don't remodel (finally caved on that)
Cash for cars (sinking funds as described already)
Hand-me-downs for kids
Keep PITI < 20% of take home pay, < 15% of gross, if possible.

Good night!

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Minimum match in 401(k), max out Roth IRAs
Brown bag lunches, eat out w/ coworkers 2-3 times a month
Savings funds for cars, travel, home renovations
AWESOME vacations on an annual budget
No revolving debt
Bulk buying groceries and reading the flyers
No expensive clothing (my office slacks, polo, and doc martens run $80 total).
Eat out with coupons, order water, drink beer at home. Hole in the wall tex-mex is just as good as Pappasitos.
Keep funiture a long time
pay off house before kids, goal is 27 (we're 23 now)
pay for 2/3 of kids' college, have them cover 1/3, give them remaining 1/3 when they land a job/graduate, this is how my parents did it for me

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FTFM. Very similar situation/strategy for wife and I.

This may not be the right thread for this, but I see car loans for 1.59%. I personal think this is almost free money and would not pay cash for a car if this were the case. I am not an expert on this issue though. I drive a 10 year old Toyota that has 205,000 miles I bought brand new.

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This may not be the right thread for this, but I see car loans for 1.59%. I personal think this is almost free money and would not pay cash for a car if this were the case. I am not an expert on this issue though. I drive a 10 year old Toyota that has 205,000 miles I bought brand new.

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You can definitely leverage low interest rates in a way that makes them beneficial. The problem is that for every person that takes that note and then uses the cash they would have paid with to invest and get better returns, there are probably 5 more people that take that, then say "look how much cash I have" and uses it to buy stuff they don't need.

The math side of most of this stuff is pretty easy - it's the self discipline to follow through that many people don't really do.

Or they downsize in sq ft but upgrade in location so they don't make/lose any money

[This message has been edited by Dill-Ag13 (edited 8/8/2014 1:50p).]

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You have to live somewhere and you can't really use that equity to live

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I got a lot better deal (4%) on a cash out refinance than I would have by liquidating mutual funds or borrowing from my 401(k). The home equity loan allowed me to continue making money on the full value of the home, while paying low interest. Home equity can be a tenuous portion of net worth because it is the least diversified of any asset...but you'd better believe I include it.

I'm no expert, but from a portfolio balancing perspective, I wouldn't want more than 20% of net worth to be tied up in home equity. Yes, paying off a home is good for getting out of debt and freeing up money to do other things, but speeding it up to the point where you have 80% of your net worth in your house exposes you to a lot of risk.

If you are a new homeowner who paid 20% down, you may consider paying down more quickly the first few years to build up equity, then take your foot off the pedal and make sure you are diversified.

Not qualified to post on this thread, but I did have a dream that I won the powerball and earned the right to post on here. The first, and hopefully last, dream I've ever had that incorporated texags.

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Home is about 20% of net worth. Don't really count it though because only my heirs will realize it. Don't think it adds much until you payoff mortgage. We paid off our first house in 7 years and paid cash for 2nd one. Love not having a mortgage. It allows you to save so much more and gives you a good chance to retire early if you want.

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Mortgage-free is the way to go.

You'll never get rich if you're paying off debt all your life.

[This message has been edited by techno-ag (edited 8/8/2014 3:46p).]

So I am interested in starting to accumulate some rental properties hopefully condos.

What is a good general book to read?

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So I am interested in starting to accumulate some rental properties hopefully condos.

What is a good general book to read?

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Three of my favorites here:
http://mobile.texags.com/Forums/59/Topics/2502316

[This message has been edited by techno-ag (edited 8/8/2014 9:08p).]

One other thing I include is the cash value of my pension, because that's what I'm taking the day I retire.

One other point about homes. Even if I paid it off, I'd still owe $700/month on it, due to TI and loss of interest deduction. No one ever truly "owns" their home.

Never take out any debt, be as cheap and conservative as possible to stock pile cash away so at some point in your life if you need to take the risk you can actually afford to take that risk.

My dad taught me that, and I owe all my successes to that one little lesson. I had enough money when I was out of a job to start my own company. From there I did what I needed to

For guys on this board that are multimillionaires, at what point do you start noticing a serious change in your quality-of-life? It's a little depressing to think how one million dollars is just not that much money these days. I'm wondering at what point your quality-of-life can honestly change. I.e. you quit a crappy job and get a job you really like that doesn't pay as much, take more vacation, etc.

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For guys on this board that are multimillionaires, at what point do you start noticing a serious change in your quality-of-life? It's a little depressing to think how one million dollars is just not that much money these days. I'm wondering at what point your quality-of-life can honestly change. I.e. you quit a crappy job and get a job you really like that doesn't pay as much, take more vacation, etc.

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At the risk of sounding cheesy, quality of life is not defined by money. I understand what you mean though. I made a tremendous amount of money by the age of 35. I lost it all within 6 months ( medical bills, thieving partner while son was dying in hospital for 3 months, and a major market crash). I got away with enough thru a buyout to save and put a down payment on another business at the age of 37.( I had to stay on with buyers company for 18 months) My lifestyle changed; but my quality of life was always very good. This was based on being part of a great family.Things are on the way back up rapidly, and we learned some great lessons about what to do with earnings/ employees. My kids learned some great lessons about frugality and discipline too. If you like your field of work, or even just see the potential to do it better than your current company, start your own and don't look back. Owning your business is the greatest adrenaline rush on the planet. I've enjoyed reading this thread. Work, invest, give, live. Life is good.

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For guys on this board that are multimillionaires, at what point do you start noticing a serious change in your quality-of-life? It's a little depressing to think how one million dollars is just not that much money these days. I'm wondering at what point your quality-of-life can honestly change. I.e. you quit a crappy job and get a job you really like that doesn't pay as much, take more vacation, etc.

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I'm not sure what the definition of "quality-of-life" is, but I'm not much happier now than I was in college with a net worth of maybe $20k. I've never been really unhappy either though.

3 years after starting the business that provides most of my net worth we started hiring employees. I would say that's when I started feeling the weight of the business start coming off my shoulders. At that point my business partner and I started taking bonuses and I quit thinking about every dollar I spent personally and no longer felt like I had to work 80+ hours a week. I average 40 hours a week today, have plenty of discretionary income, and nothing that keeps me awake at night, but I don't look back on those first three years with any kind of remorse.

I think a big part of happiness is having something to look forward to or obtaining a goal. When my wife and I paid off our first house, it felt so good. When we saved up and bought the nice cars we wanted, it felt good. Now we write checks for those things without much emotion. I still daydream about things I can't afford, but they're so unreasonable they don't have as much luster as dreaming of paying off my first house did.

We take more vacations and nicer vacations, but I can't say they're any more enjoyable than our vacations when we were on a budget.

The one thing that still gives me as much satisfaction as it ever has is accomplishment. Working long hours to close an acquisition or sale. Getting a lot of work done in a day. Doing a project around the house. Mostly stuff anyone else can do regardless of financial situation.

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This guy gets it.


VERY well said.


[This message has been edited by Stive (edited 8/13/2014 8:54a).]

TxAg20

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Never take out any debt, be as cheap and conservative as possible to stock pile cash away so at some point in your life if you need to take the risk you can actually afford to take that risk.

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Completely disagree with this depending on your need and uses for said debt but to each his own.

Just read this thread for the first time.

I'll make a few brief comments. First off, I consider myself fairly successful financially.

One of the most helpful books I have read was the millionaire next door. For me that was convincing.

The reason I wanted to post however was to bring up a point I don't think I read explicitly, that is I use cash almost exclusively for discretionary spending. I go out on the first and draw the same amount each month and keep it with me. I end up spending less that way because it pains me more to hand over cash than it does to use plastic. I often don't use all if it and then just have more cash te next month.

Really liked this threat and hopefully on the way!

Hopefully entrepreneurship and running a business is in the future sometime.

Great thread with a lot of helpful info. Graduated in December and am about to hit the one month mark at my first job. Trying to have a savings and a Roth IRA in addition to the retirement account from work where they do a 2:1 contribution. Apartment Rent is way too large of a percentage at 36% of gross income so I need to figure out a way to reduce that and pay off my truck to have zero loans. Really hoping to own my own business and be successful with it someday.

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Just read this thread for the first time.

I'll make a few brief comments. First off, I consider myself fairly successful financially.

One of the most helpful books I have read was the millionaire next door. For me that was convincing.

The reason I wanted to post however was to bring up a point I don't think I read explicitly, that is I use cash almost exclusively for discretionary spending. I go out on the first and draw the same amount each month and keep it with me. I end up spending less that way because it pains me more to hand over cash than it does to use plastic. I often don't use all if it and then just have more cash te next month.

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Curious, Grinder, what percentage of take home do you consider discretionary spending? I have been trying to find some balance between saving every penny and enjoying a few luxuries.

well, I had to calculate it cause we didn't come to it that way. It is about 2.5% of take home.

2.5% is prob about what I spend on partying/booze(reg wkds not including vacations) with a modest 6figure salary and I spend about half what my friends do in that area

2.5 is reasonable for us (my wife and I both do 2.5 a piece btw.) it is where we're at for about 1.5 yrs to accomplish a goal we have. This will go up after this goal is reached but it is manageable with the incentive we have to accomplish the goal, prob have a hard time doing this forever.

Who has lost million/millions and rebuilt from zero? How long did it take before climbing back on the saddle...what is your 2nd success story?

First million I felt that "I've arrived" but with the second million I felt it was never enough...

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First million I felt that "I've arrived" but with the second million I felt it was never enough...

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You get to a point that you think that ''enough" or 'making it' is being able to walk in and point at a chopper and say 'that one'. That's never happening. I see how my boss (the CEO) lives and makes and am coming to a realization that I'll never make enough to 'make it'. Still doesn't mean I don't work towards it.

double post - see next