Due to events in my past, I’ve long had money-insecurity issues. As our net worth has grown and I’ve gained a firm and clear grasp of our financial situation and where we’re going, those issues have receded. But they’re still there and certainly keep me on my toes.
That’s a double-edged sword. Good that our finances are something very much on my radar so that I remain on top of them; bad that I’m nowhere near as relaxed about our finances as I’d like (and probably ought) to be at this point.
As for mistakes, there are many.
Owning instead of (at least considering) renting, for example.
Not opening a taxable brokerage account and not maxing out our retirement account contributions earlier being other major ones.
Not figuring out how to lower the amount I took out in law school loans is yet another (tho, the experience of paying off those loans was some of the best education I ever received).
And taking out a car loan (even if small) because “that’s just what you do, you know” is another one that comes to mind.
I also once invested in a single company’s stock. The company promptly went bankrupt. That, however, also was a valuable learning experience.
As for what I’d do differently, it’s almost a cliché at this point, but I’d have started investing far earlier. Had I been able to have seen others’ well-funded accounts and passive income streams, I probably would have.
Gives me some hope as I am late to the FIRE party as well. I loved hearing that he’s been able to retire far earlier than he originally projected. The cliche of starting earlier is so real. These young-un’s with all their financial literacy in their twenties make me so jealous!
With compound interest, it is ‘easier’ if you start young as in the amounts required to be saved are a lot smaller vs someone who starts later. But it can still be done and no, it’s never too late to take action 🙂
It’s like some proverb somewhere said:
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.”
I think it doesn’t matter how early or late one discovers FIRE, because a person can’t really travel back in time and make decisions on things they haven’t discovered yet. It would be like folding a 2-7 and having the flop come 7-7-7. It’s not physically possible to not fold the terrible 2-7 at the time because it’s not physically possible to know at that point in time that the flop will give you quads.
I think the most important thing here is that once FIRE is discovered, you got started and that’s an enormous and awesome step!
Congratulations on all your progress and thanks for the inspiration.
So true, Angie – we can’t travel back to make changes but we can start now and change our future