Doing it all wrong.
Like i’ve mentioned on the landing page of this website, I have been chasing the idea of success. Over the past decade I have been doing what I can to save money, invest, look for ways to improve quality of life, etc. I have spent many hours listening to financial podcasts, reading books like the millionaire next door or rich dad vs poor dad and so on, and yet I still seem to make some very common mistakes that I know are not a part of the program.
Everyone knows that once you begin investing in low cost index such as the S&P, you do not touch it until it’s time to retire. But what did I do after about 5 years? I pulled the whole damn thing out to buy my first house. Some may say this is fine because it is an investment, but for a smart financnial move, this is not the way. I commute a fairly good distance for work and I decided that I was sick of driving the car we had and wanted a new one. Of course taking on a new car payment is not a smart move financially, especially if rates are not good. What did I do? I let me ego get the better of me and went and bought it anyway. Now I’m stuck with a much higher payment.
Those are just a couple examples of the easy mistakes we make along our life long journey of finances and making decisions that maybe we didn’t think through enough. I think I wanted to write about this because I know that I did not make the best financial decision, and even with knowing it was going against everything I have been learning about climbing the latter to financial independence, I think sometimes we make dumb decisions. I don’t think that means it is the end of the world, and if it was Dave Ramsey talking right now he would say something like, “sell the damn car and buy something cheap!” I just don’t think that is the way I want to live my life, at least not right now. I think we need to live with our decisions and be very conscious about what we do with our money. Do your best to invest as much as you can without giving up everything that makes you happy, try to cut your expenses and live within your means, pay down your debt and stay on YOUR path. In the end everything is going to be okay, and if it is not okay, then it is not the end.