Comments on: What Old People Know

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 17:00:05 +0000

Thanks again Babs!! Your 1st post – I loved it. Much better than MY first, and with a LOT more eyeballs than mine too, haha… 1 person would have been more than mine back then :)

Strongly considering having you as a weekly poster here. If you’d like it, of course ;)

@Kim – “Sitting in front of the TV and wish you were doing something else? Turn it off and DO something else.” YES!!! My friends ramble on about that a lot, but don’t DO anything about it! Drives me bonkers.
@Nicole – Awww that is so cool! Congrats! :) (didn’t think you’d hear that after 5 years, eh?)
@Ginger – Yeah :) Our situation here is a lot like yours actually – I’m the “go with the flow” kinda guy, and the wifey is more conservative and needs the safety net. Makes for a good pairing though, eh? You each learn a little from the other :)
@20 and Engaged – Haha… you can be like me and just “see what happens” ;) If you take away the certain items that def. stop it from happening! Haha…
@Jessie – Wow. You’d certainly remember that one! I might have to take a cruise like that just so I can remember it! haha… good one. I like that.
@Kody @ Financial Money Tips – Got some good points there too ;) Esp if the parents don’t WANT you in their home, haha… they’re free now!
@Jen @ Master the Art of Saving – Awesome! It’s honestly one of my fave too – thinking of giving Babs her own column ;)
@Donna Freedman – True true, all parents are different. I’d LOVE to move back to mine, but my wife wouldn’t have it ;) I’m pretty sure my parents would be cool with it though, at least for a year.

By: kody @ financial money tips

kody @ financial money tips — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 04:31:04 +0000

@ Donna Ya i do understand what you are saying. Some parents want their privacy and i realize that. However, i don’t know too many parents that are like that. Most parents that i know would beg to have their kids live with them again. Mine in particular.. Why? Because its financially smart and we love each other like a family should.

Like you said i am an adult. Which means that i have grown up in full size and strength. No longer underage and able to make my own decisions. And when i decide on these decision i try to be as financially smart as possible. This one was common sense for me.

By: Donna Freedman

Donna Freedman — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:38:54 +0000

“…why get married and move into an ghetto apartment, when you can get married and live together in your parents awesome basement and save money at the same time?”
Um, because you’re ADULTS now? And maybe because your parents would like a little privacy?
It’s one thing if your parents are dying for you to move in. If they’re pleading with you to do it because they want what’s best for you, then perhaps you should consider it.
However, why do so many people assume that their parents want them living at home? Maybe your parents would like to have lives of their own without their kids underfoot (literally, in the case of a basement apartment).
Just sayin’.

By: Jen @ Master the Art of Saving

Jen @ Master the Art of Saving — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:31:41 +0000

This is definitely one of my favorite guest posts on here. Great advice! :-)

By: Kody @ Financial Money Tips

Kody @ Financial Money Tips — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:53:17 +0000

i like this article, i really do. The part about investing into your health was awesome!

However, i don’t totally agree with you on some other stuff. Like for example, why get married and move into an ghetto apartment, when you can get married and live together in your parents awesome basement and save money at the same time? This way, the married couple would have more cash-flow to invest. Maybe the married couple can buy a home and rent it out to another family. Doing this will help you get a head start on paying off your mortgage until you decide to move out. In this struggling economy you can easily find a family to rent and pay your mortgage. It is the perfect time to invest.

Living with you parents can create opportunities that would be a lot harder to achieve while paying for rent, food, and the such. Babies are a whole another story.. Don’t have babies if you feel not financially ready. What if something comes up and you can’t pay for the medical bills?

I understand that you need to take action in life, but taking action doesn’t necessarily mean to go live out on your own and eat macaroni and cheese. First, that is unhealthy. And second, if your eating macaroni then you probably can’t pay for a gym membership, or maybe even buy diapers for your newborn..

I am not living in fear, I am just planning for the future.

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:39:47 +0000

Thank you for this post. Sometimes we need a reminder that we only live once. My husband and I are 26 and we’d like to have a baby within a few years, but I keep saying that we need to wait until our “financial ducks are in a row”. Everyone else keeps telling me that if I wait until we have money, we’ll never have a baby. I hate hearing that, but it’s true.

My brother-in-law is moving to England in October for a few years and my husband and I would LOVE to travel abroad for two weeks to visit him and other countries, but of course money is an issue. How can we justify a trip to Europe when we have credit card debt and we can’t even plan to start our family? I don’t want to travel the world when I’m 70 and work myself to death in my 20s and 30s and have zero fun. I definitely want to enjoy my life.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:04:06 +0000

Thanks so much for the wonderful inspirational reminder : “Whatever your dreams, get going now! Don’t try to figure everything out before you take action. You will never hear an old person say, “I just wish I’d waited longer to find my bliss”.”

This is so true! It took me a while to figure this out, and, I’m still having to remind myself of it all the time. However, I have noticed that my life is, indeed, much more satisfying and pleasurable.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:44:10 +0000

This is a great column. A few years ago I took a cruise, using the first proceeds I had inherited from my parents’ estate. So many of the people on board were old people who seemed to be on the lower economic rung where they had finally saved enough money for the trip of a lifetime. There they were mincing slowly and painfully around the seaside ports where we stopped, some dragging oxygen tanks, many of them obviously unable to enjoy their vacation as they could have 30 years earlier. That was the best lesson I could have had in saving for the future but also enjoying some things NOW, while I still have my health.

By: 20 and Engaged

20 and Engaged — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 07:16:51 +0000

I want to wait until the right time to have kids but everyone says there is no right time. I don’t know if that means just have them now or what, but I think I’ll wait a little longer lol

By: Babs

Babs — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 01:28:30 +0000

You’re right Kevin, saving early and well is the best course of action if you can. And yes, there are lots of investments at any given time that are smarter choices, and I have just many of them now. (But a steady 6% for 20+ years is nothing to sneeze at.) But you don’t need an old person to tell you these things–J$ and his readers already have a pretty good handle on these ideas, and you prove my point. But there are some things we don’t know at the start of our financial journey, that we may end up learning the hard way. I’ve turned learning the hard way into an art form, but managed to end up pretty well off financially. I like to share what I’ve learned so others can get right to the “well-off” stage and skip the learning. :)