[Mikeisha]

Regarding finances, If you, had to start over from scratch knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

Imagine you had the chance to begin your financial journey from scratch.

What strategies or decisions would you implement differently this time around?

Consider aspects such as budgeting, saving, investing, debt management, and financial goals.

Would you prioritize different financial habits or approaches?

For instance, would you adopt a new method for managing expenses, seek out different investment opportunities, or approach debt repayment with a different strategy?

Share your insights on how you would reshape your financial decisions to potentially achieve better outcomes.

Your experiences and perspectives could provide valuable lessons for others who are looking to improve their financial planning.

[Peggy]

Never let family know your actual income level, never loan money to family, never help boyfriends with money management issues.

[Kathleen]

Nothing… Because I have been so frugal my whole life and busted my butt I have a beautiful, paid off rancher I built with about six hundred dollars a month in bills at the age of 65.

[Sam]

Ditch the bum boyfriend who wasted every spare penny we had on nonsense.

[Michele]

Always put 10% of what you make in the bank and leave it alone

[Yvette]

Know difference between want and need. Branded goods are a scam, quality is key.

Squirrel as much as you can away.

It’s more painful to spend if you have to draw from savings.

Build up a year’s emergency funds into high yield savings account.

Put as much as possible into retirement investments.

Pay off each credit card bill 100% no matter what.

[Jaded]

Not tell people abt settlements. Not helped an ex boyfriend out with his medical.

I’ve been screwed too many times.

Don’t loan anyone money.

If you can’t afford it as a gift to someone don’t do it

[Nanette]

Save, save, budget, don’t compete with others for appearances sake, be satisfied with what you have, shop frugally, buy quality not quantity, DIY if you can, no debt if you can, work hard while you can, move forward, make sure your partner is on the same page, keep your sanity and seek help if you can’t, follow a reliable, conservative money advisor, invest in yourself first.

Y’all are gonna come at me for this, but make sure your partner has a good job, benefits, work ethic.

Don’t partner down.

[Caroline]

Gone to a trade school or gotten an associates in something practical. Put a little money aside from every paycheck, starting from the first one.

[Renée]

Choose a better partner who was more on the same page with finances when it came to spending, saving, and investing.

[Allison]

1. Never open a credit card. Cut corners and figure out how to pay cash.

2. Dump the mooching friend sooner.

[Amanda]

Be more insistent to my husband to take the cash over the big wedding he wanted.

Save for retirement earlier and more aggressively.

Overall I’ve been pretty frugal and I feel like I always made the right decisions for the information I had at the time.

One has to be careful about guilty thoughts with pure hindsight.

Lost wages are huge from picking an unsustainable career early on, but I probably wouldn’t change that piece.

I loved it for as long as I could and don’t regret those years.

[Molly]

Rollover my 401k immediately when changing jobs. I lost out on thousands in compound earning and management fees because I didn’t know to rollover when I was in my 20s and changed jobs a few times.

[Annette]

I would not do anything differently. What I think works is knowing the difference between need and want.

[Judy]

Buy less, save more, take advantage of matching employer funds and learn about investing.

Buy what I need but evaluate the value of wants.

[Bethany]

I would have saved all of my change. Every single penny and used a change machine to get cash.

I would have bought a vacuum sealer earlier and bought meats in bulk.

I would have taken $20 every check and put it into a savings account.

I would have gotten a rewards credit card and paid the balance every time I used it so I could get cash back for things I was alrwady buying.

[Connie]

At what age? At 16 I’d open savings account and put $50 a month in it…

I’d work extra hours to make the money if necessary.

By 18 I’d be stashing back $100 a month.

I worked two jobs and sometimes three../ I would have saved instead of spent.

At age 30 when I got that great job opportunity, I wouldn’t have allowed my husband to talk me out of it because he wanted me to work only PT and be a stay at home mom.

I would have made purchases that I decided not to… a friend let a building lot go..

payments were $99 a month…

I would have taken it over.

There were a few other good deals that slipped past me that I would have snagged.

[Jackie]

Never use a credit card. I wasted so much money on interest. I’d take my tax return, pay them off and be back in debt next year.

I’d take that $100 monthly and use to pay debt instead of over paying the IRS.

I was never a spender but when I needed car repairs or had medical bills I used credit.

Interest rates were 18% in the 80’s and inflation was high.

Today inflation is low and mortgage rates are 5-6% when mine were 10% in the 80’s but Credit card rates are much higher now.

Learn the difference between a want and a need.

Also always ask yourself if you have enough and except for love, family and friends you probably already have enough.

Give your grandkids memories not stuff.

[Rebecca]

Keep a separate account with my money in addition to the joint account with my husband.

(took 2 divorces to hammer this one in!).

And put something in that account every paycheck.

When living on his paycheck – if I’ve got money left from my budgeted funds, sock that into my account.

[Angel]

Not try to buy or start a business. Instead use the money to escape & store over & pay for therapy.

Not take on the responsibility of parenting & protecting my mom & sister.

Go to the police. Get a computer as a kid.

Save the money from my first few summer jobs to escape my family.

Learn to be independent. Learn to micro dose mushrooms for cptsd earlier

[Nadine]

I wish I listened to my dad’s advice when he first told me as a teen – pay yourself first (every time ya have any income at all, from any source like a pay cheque to selling a used item, 10% goes to retirement, never touch it until 60-some yrs old).

I’m stuck telling myself I can’t afford that or I’ll put money aside but then spend it cuz I’m too broke to squirrel away anything.

But the sooner ya do this, the better.

[Author]

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