I don’t know, I kinda feel like if I had 68b, losing 67b wouldn’t be so bad.
The best things I ever did were:
Contribute the maximum allowable into the company 401K when I first became a “professional” and was still used to living off a shoe string budget.
Move out of California. Despite being able to max out my 401k, I still had a hard time just saving cash. I’d save for months on end to build up $1000 in saving only to see it go bye bye due to car or home issues. When I moved out of California, for a little less pay, I immediately started saving significant amounts. My first full year in Washington State, I saved 16 thousand on top of my maxed out 401k AND maxed out IRA (which was only 2k per year at that time).
Regarding stock market investing, if I was in my twenties, or even early thirties, knowing what I know now, I would invest everything into SOXX, HACK & TSLA. SOXX is a semi-conductor index (think Intel) and I think over the medium and long term chip stocks are a can’t miss. HACK is a cyber security index. I can’t say I’m entirely confident in the stocks held in HACK but I am confident in the market for cyber security over the next 10-20 years.
As a 50 something investor, I invest in those 3 equities plus dividend producing healthcare and blue chip. I’m ridiculously over-weight in TSLA. I know it’s not smart but what can I say, I’m a believer.
So here’s an example of why I invest in chip stocks. This morning I posted in the cowboy boots thread. A few minutes ago I clicked on a link in the Movies You’ve Watched thread and an ad for cowboy boots popped up. As spooky as that shit is, I’m inclined to invest in companies that can practically read your mind.
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Save first. Spend second. If you don’t have the money then don’t buy something. Don’t live on credit cards. Don’t use car loans. A house is a big expense so you’ll probably have to finance that, but put 20% down.
Get some bills in your name to develop credit. The mistake I made (which wasn’t huge) was thinking that staying out of debt was a good thing. I bought a house and then bought a car (with a loan) and I got stuck with a high interest rate (initially) because I had no credit history.
Lenders want you to show that you can pay back debt. It’s dumb but it’s the way the world works.
Edit: read Financial Peace University or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.
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I know right. I wonder how he’ll make that back.
I wonder where’s he’s gonna get his next meal from. He better start looking for a basement apartment on Craig’s List.
There’s been much talk about this divorce and his Bezos “lost” half his fortune (which we all know was ONLY earned from honest work and ethical work 
).
He didn’t lose it. His ex-wife simply obtained what she has the right to according to divorce law, which goes for ex-wives of all economic classes, poor to rich.
inb4 #whiteknighting
This is definitely yet to be seen. It’s not uncommon for Uber rich people to have prenups in private.
Would be hella interesting to see her suddenly in the Forbes top 10. And under her headshot would say ‘divorced Bezos’
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I actually don’t even know if he had a pre-nup or not. But I’ve heard much talk about Bezos “losing” money.
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Literal lulz here.
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I gotta make light of it. Thinking about how alimony/child support/etc works in this country trigger the hell outta me hahaha
But really though. Imagine divorcing a guy and suddenly being (arguably) one of the most powerful people on the planet. Shits crazy
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That isn’t how she earned it in the first place though. She hooked up with him when he had a negative net worth. She’s the best talent scout on earth.
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There was some good personal finance info being shared in the thread here.
Please let’s not hijack it to an alimony/divorce/deadbeat dad debate. That can be a solid and in-depth thread all on its own that anyone can go start.
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If y’all like personal finance blogs, check out Mr. Money Mustache. Pretty hardcore recommendations, but you can take bits and pieces of what he says and apply it to your own life.
I’d say the most helpful things I’ve read would be to max out 401k to get matching and to decrease taxable earnings. Invest remainder of savings into low-cost, passively managed equity funds (since actively managed tend to underperform by their fees in the long run).
If you have debt, pay down your highest interest debt first. For example, if you pay down a 14% credit card debt, then you are essentially “earning” a 14% return. Pay down higher interest debts with lower interest borrowing sources (e.g. pay down a 14% credit card debt with a 5% credit line tied to your home equity.
Stay in equity if possible for longer-term financial goals. If you have a short-term goal, think about how quickly you need the money and allocate to equity, bonds, and high-yield savings accounts / money market index funds accordingly.
Don’t keep too much in a no-interest bank account because your buying power will decrease over time (the magnitude depends on the rate of inflation). Keep a small amount of spending money in the bank and move necessary funds back and forth from a money market index fund into your bank account.
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This brings up an interesting thing I discovered in the mortgage industry.
There are very few more cost effective routes to consolidate your debt than via your mortgage. Given the interest rates will likely be the lowest you’ll ever have access to, I’ve seen a good number of people who did a cash out refinance of sorts to consolidate your car/credit cards/etc.
A few borrowers at my old company were know for refinancing their property every 3-5 years (depending on current rates) and doing things like paying off a car loan, etc.
Doing so (in my state) has the added bonus of things like ‘now I can have liability coverage on my car instead of comprehensive that the lender required.’
FYI, this is typically a 10%r or better type of practice.
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I will move it. It is yet another topic I’m interested in.
Sorry.
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No worries, thanks. I shifted some of the posts over to keep the conversation going there:
Cool man. That’s a pretty smart strategy. However, it those folks are getting a car loan, then they should probably be buying used 
Haha people at that level rarely buy used cars.
But if they did this strategy would still work. It’d probably just be less impactful.
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I like budgets are sexy as well.
*The blogger tracks their net worth, which is pretty cool.
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Financial samurai is a good blog as well. I can see where MMM is coming from, but it’s not my bag.
Anyone want to talk about books that helped them?
For me:
total money makeover
millionaire next door
Rich dad poor dad & cashflow quadrant
Richest man in babylon
*can not recommend those 2 enough if you were raised middle or lower income. They’re less “how to” and more mindset. The message is simple, but profound.
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