What I wish I knew when I was 40...

[nbluesky]

Wow, so many great responses! One of the hardest things for me to balance is how much time and money to spend living the moment (ie. let's buy a DP and fix it up so we can make memories and just bleed money ) vs. save for the future and work like mad and miss on making time for the family.

Time does fly by. I know I am close to being past the time when my kids want anything to do with us. (10 and 14) I want to enjoy every minute I can with them, still make time for myself, make time for the wife and I as a couple...it's a juggle and yes...48 hour days please!

Family is very important to me. I was lucky enough to start a family young at 25 which snapped me out of the 20's party life quickly. 30's has been pretty seriously advancing my business to a point where I make good money and work about 9 months a year. I could easily work more but try to spend lots of time with the fam. My worry is all that income I am not making would be my retirement.

How much do all of you put away? I know I need to be more diligent. 27% of gross seems a bit out of reach.

Taking care of my body. That is a great point. We do pretty good, eating 98% home cooked meals. Organic produce etc. We spend more on food than our mortgage each month! I am pretty physical at work (construction) but not always as I manage a fair bit. I need to exercise more...

[JohnBoyToo]

As far as what to tell you now ?!?! Whew... times have changed !

We baby boomers were fortunate:

having been raised by the greatest generation and in absolutely BOOM times,

happened to be introduced to a guy at church that I knew was referred to as Doc, and got me into what would be an IT career when pc's were just coming out...

Later found out he was high up at Los Alamos and KNEW his stuff!!!

So,
Only things I can think of is:

Don't ever let yourself get into a situation where you say "I wish I had..."

We all think back to that time when if ONLY we had...

But Do start saving now for later, if even small amounts, and put it into something that won't be taken from you...

Now, you've made me think back to when I should have good luck

[baraff]

I would tell my younger 40 year old self, STOP CARING WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK! I spent a lot of time and energy trying to please others and conform to their way of doing things, to my own personal detriment. It wasn't until I changed careers at age 45 that I finally figured this out. D'oh!.
Fortunately, the last 21 years of my life have been much easier and a hell of a lot more fun.

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by nbluesky

Wow, so many great responses! One of the hardest things for me to balance is how much time and money to spend living the moment (ie. let's buy a DP and fix it up so we can make memories and just bleed money ) vs. save for the future and work like mad and miss on making time for the family.

Time does fly by. I know I am close to being past the time when my kids want anything to do with us. (10 and 14) I want to enjoy every minute I can with them, still make time for myself, make time for the wife and I as a couple...it's a juggle and yes...48 hour days please!

Family is very important to me. I was lucky enough to start a family young at 25 which snapped me out of the 20's party life quickly. 30's has been pretty seriously advancing my business to a point where I make good money and work about 9 months a year. I could easily work more but try to spend lots of time with the fam. My worry is all that income I am not making would be my retirement.

How much do all of you put away? I know I need to be more diligent. 27% of gross seems a bit out of reach.

Taking care of my body. That is a great point. We do pretty good, eating 98% home cooked meals. Organic produce etc. We spend more on food than our mortgage each month! I am pretty physical at work (construction) but not always as I manage a fair bit. I need to exercise more...

DO NOT NEIGLENT FAMILY

You WILL Regret it later ----

27% of GROSS was EASY
It comes out before Taxes...Lowers your Tax Base and NET Take Home does NOT change a whole lot.

I kept telling the New Guys to increase the deduction and when they did they finally realized their take home was not a lot different.
Then you need to live within your means.....and become debt free.

[l1v3fr33ord1]

I once saw a motivational sign that said “We are what we do.” That is incorrect. We do what we are. If you are what you do, then when you don’t or you can’t, you aren’t.

[ratherberv]

What I would tell my 40 YO self? Don't waste money on a 2020 planner!

[GypsyR]

Not wearing hearing protection may not only cause you to lose hearing later in life, it can also give you loud buzzing noise in your ears that never ever stops.

I don't think tinnitus was adequately explained to me very well back then and was just jumbled in with "hearing loss". Losing hearing late in life seems to be a genetic certainty in my family so I gave protection little thought. This non-stop buzzing noise however....

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by GypsyR

Not wearing hearing protection may not only cause you to lose hearing later in life, it can also give you loud buzzing noise in your ears that never ever stops.

I don't think tinnitus was adequately explained to me very well back then and was just jumbled in with "hearing loss". Losing hearing late in life seems to be a genetic certainty in my family so I gave protection little thought. This non-stop buzzing noise however....

What was that ...huh?


Tinnitus can be caused by Stress and Alcohol
Stress not an issue in my life
Guess I will just continue to live with the buzzing....usually goes away when I am 'buzzed'

[Bobby F]

Originally Posted by GypsyR

Not wearing hearing protection may not only cause you to lose hearing later in life, it can also give you loud buzzing noise in your ears that never ever stops.

So true. Loud music, guns, machinery . . .

And sometimes it changes from the hissing buzz to the warbling of a flock of millions of tiny birds.

Yeah, this is a good one for this list. But when we're young, we know we're invulnerable and so we probably wouldn't have listened to the warning anyway.

[HarryStone]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

What was that ...huh?


Tinnitus can be caused by Stress and Alcohol
Stress not an issue in my life
Guess I will just continue to live with the buzzing....usually goes away when I am 'buzzed'

Can be caused. I'm not stressed, and I certainly don't waste my time with alcohol, and I have tinnitus. It's caused by my 20 years working on jet aircraft in the AF, not enough hearing protection, and not being nearly concerned enough about it back then. Both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy suffered(suffers) from tinnitus from a on scene explosion from Star Trek in the 60's.

[DaffyD]

I just retired a year ago.

Save for the future, Live for today.

Set goals that you can move that bar of accomplishment accordingly.

Pay some attention to your health, no reason to retire without the ability to do what you want.

Lastly, this was a hard one for me, You spent the better part of your life saving for this retirement thing, spending what you save that long takes a total reprogramming of your mindset.

[allenb12]

I would tell myself that life is much better once you get out of an unhealthy relationship. Even if it costs you 1/2 of everything.

[Pylelr]

Go back. It's a trap!

[garry1p]

Here's what I didn't know or really understood.
There is NO GUARANTEE ON TOMORROW for any of us.

You may wake up tomorrow with no partner or your partner may wake up without you.
Don't go overboard over those things you have no control over but think about things you do have control over like having a lawyer draw up a will.
Make sure important things are in both names.and what most others have said about savings.
Don't want to sound morbid but stuff happens.