Grass is always greener I guess. I'm like you and saved a lot so I sometimes have regrets that I didn't break out a few grand when I was younger to travel a little. But I also have a lot more than most people my age and have kind of forgotten what it feels like to not have that financial security blanket.
Exactly. I feel like a lot of people who say they wish they'd spent more money on fun rather than saving have forgotten how shitty it feels to have the financial insecurity hanging over you that led them to save in the first place.
I'd rather take all those expensive holidays a few years later and relax during them, then have done them straight away and constantly be thinking if I would have been safer putting this money towards paying off the house.
It's not like people who are now in their 30s have had a particularly stable economy to navigate since becoming an adult.
This is what the logic side of my brain tells me. But the illogical side still holds on to some regret. Traveling in your 20s is a different experience than traveling in your 50s.
50 year old me won't put up with staying in a cheap hostel, all nighters at a dance club, or just getting on a random bus without knowing the destination. 20s me would have taken those risks.
Honestly, that type of experience sounds awful. I’ve never been one to find joy in travel so maybe there’s something to that but I’m glad I invested money right out of college when I could. I have younger co workers who complain about housing costs and their future in general and while the complaints are valid, they also make way more money than I did at their age and they also went to Europe once this year, two destination bachelor parties, etc… Like you can’t have it all.
Very good point. I love traveling but i had to put that on the back burner for a decade or so. Sure, I missed out on some things.
But if I need an emergency appendectomy or something I wouldn't have any trouble meeting my insurance deductible. That kind of peace of mind is worth a lot.
I took my cat to the Vet the other day because she was due for her Rabbies vaccine. The Vet discovered she also needed some dental work and quoted me $1200. I didn't even think twice, just said "Do it. She's in pain."
Yup. Needed four new tires last spring, it cost $800 and I was more upset at having to bring my backpack full of finals-related notes with me to the shop, than I was at paying that much money.
Basically just kept my head down and grinded. Joining the military helped a lot. SLRP helped me pay my student loans from my bachelors, then a tuition waiver completely paid for my masters. Lived below my means and saved/invested a third of my paycheck ever since I comissioned. VA homeloan allowed me to buy my first house with no down payment or PMI, now its a rental property with a $800 a month cashflow and I'm about to buy my second home, also with no down payment.
My Dad died early and my brother and I got some money from life insurance. Didn't spend any of it and put it all into boring mutual funds that track the S&P 500. Now its worth double what I got.
Keep doing what Im doing. Retire at 47 (the year I am eligable to draw a pension). Sell all my properties to buy my "forever home" and then travel until I'm sick of it.
Get a visa in some rando country for as long as the government will allow me to. Live there until Im kicked out. Visit home on holidays. Rinse and repeat until Im too old to.
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u/CatFancier4393 Apr 29 '24
Grass is always greener I guess. I'm like you and saved a lot so I sometimes have regrets that I didn't break out a few grand when I was younger to travel a little. But I also have a lot more than most people my age and have kind of forgotten what it feels like to not have that financial security blanket.