
The Best Financial Advice I Ever Got - RickJWagner
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-best-financial-advice-i-ever-got-11560737220?mod=rsswn
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josh_fyi
> "Never open one of your 401(k) statements from the day you start work to the
> day you retire, 40 or 50 years later."

Metaphorically, yes. But you absolutely should open them periodically. If
there has been theft or an error, you want to report it immediately, not 50
years later.

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walshemj
And you may have several pensions (401k)s running at the same time so you do
need to make sure you are happy with the allocations'

I have three pensions plus my SIPP (self invested) running at the moment.

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toomuchtodo
Whenever you leave a company, you should roll your 401k over to a Traditional
(or Roth, if you had a Roth 401k) IRA, as the fund expense ratios are usually
cheaper (I recommend Vanguard).

~~~
walshemj
Um I mentioned Pensions - I just added the 404 the usa's poor relation to even
a DC scheme for context for US readers.

We don't have IRA's we do have ISA's which are awesome in comparison
(basically remove £20k pa into a tax efficient account)

I think my main DC pension is about .5 and I will be moving my small NEST
(government scheme) over to my self run pension shortly.

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dalfonso
Mine would be, "Don't be pennywise and pound foolish".

Sometimes it's worth it to spend the extra money. The example that's burned
into my brain is hiring movers.

~~~
jen729w
> The example that's burned into my brain is hiring movers.

Or a nice coat. A nice coat doesn’t come cheap but it’ll last years.

(Actually I think this applies to clothing generally. I don’t buy _many_
clothes because I rarely buy _cheap_ clothes.)

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easymodex
I always buy cheap clothes because the rare times I decided to buy something
expensive it lasted about the same time as the cheap ones give or take.

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lozenge
You need to care for them as expensive.

"This shirt's dry clean only, which means it's dirty" -Mitch

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_nalply
No. You aren't always an expert about things you buy. You should not then
start to rely on the price as a proof of quality. If something is expensive it
is either good quality or you have a greedy seller. To catch the greedy seller
you need to understand what you buy. This is not always possible. Therefore:
always buy the cheapest you can get if you aren't an expert or just don't buy.

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heavenlyblue
Oh wow, this is such a misguided advice.

Assume it is the same advice government takes when procuring public
projects...

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_nalply
The government has the task to know what it procures and also should have the
resources for the task. However a single person doesn't always. Even for the
government it is difficult. We all know stories about government being fleeced
by providers.

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std_throwaway
* Stop paying so much taxes.

* Use money to make money.

* Never get sick.

* Never get divorced.

~~~
ebg13
* Never have children.

* Never get caught.

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InvOfSmallC
Hahaha when you don't live in Europe, it's actually doable.

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lordnacho
A lot of this advice is unrealistic.

How many people are going to be able to live on one spouse's income alone? Of
those who can, how many will want that second income vs time with the kids?

About not getting into debt, how many people are can go to college ("invest in
yourself") without?

IMO the only good piece of advice is "be smart about probabilities", which if
you follow it to its logical conclusion basically just means be informed about
the facts, a general piece of life advice that makes a lot of sense.

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neap24
I don’t think it’s unrealistic at all. My wife and I have always lived on one
income. Before we had kids, we used the other to pay off our college debt very
quickly and build as much savings/retirement as possible. It also taught us to
narrow the set of physical goods we valued in life. We are now living very
comfortably on one (modest) income with 3 kids.

As far as never going into debt, I think you should interpret that a bit more
loosely. Obviously, going to college has huge payoffs in a few short years.
That is more of an investment as long as one chose and affordable college.
Taking out a loan on a new BMW or Tesla is debt.

~~~
lordnacho
> I don’t think it’s unrealistic at all. My wife and I...

Come on now. It's about what is generally achievable. Imagine living in London
on £25K, which is roughly the median. If you find another median salary, are
you gonna save it all? Unlikely.

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gambiting
So you mention "generally achievable" and then bring up London in the same
sentence? Really? Vast majority of British people don't live in London. It's
like saying that home ownership is UK is unachievable because no one in London
can afford to buy anymore. Which is true, but it has nothing to do with the
rest of the country.

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lordnacho
Well unless you talk about city states, the vast majority of the population of
any country is not living in any particular city in that state.

Salaries in the rest of the country are lower, so you'd be making a similar
comparison with let's say $20K in eg Sheffield.

Obviously there's people living on that budget, but the point of the advice
was to not break that budget, _even if twice the amount were available_.

Which even if you're very frugal you are unlikely to do. You're gonna think of
something to spend that extra 20K on, and it's not dumb to spend at least some
of it.

To me the advice sounds like "if you and your wife are partners in law firms,
save half the money".

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jaclaz
Quoting myself, an old Italian proverb:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14594858](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14594858)

>In Italy there is (was, as it is not much used anymore) proverb: "Fare i
conti spesso, moderar le voglie, spender men di quel che si raccoglie".

>It cannot be translated easily, but more or less it amounts to:

>Do the (financial) math often, limit your cravings, spend less than you can
gather.

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throwaway72873
Do not get married!

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seanmcdirmid
Having kids is bad for your financial health as well but not all rewards in
life are financial.

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conductr
Even financially. If they help you at all when you’re old, it’s worth the
investment. The cost of in home care, independent living, etc is insane

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seanmcdirmid
At least in the west, many of us don’t want to be a burden to our kids like
that.

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conductr
I get what you mean. I’m American. Grandparents have extended their
independence in their home by 20 years, on land an hour outside of city,
because their kids go over every 1-2 weeks to count out their meds, meal prep,
and help out with a few other household things. They have done a few periods
of livein care while they recovered from surgeries or falls. They’re in their
mid90s and it’s getting pretty hard now because there’s some dementia and
other issues setting in. They’d have much more help if my stubborn grandfather
moved to the city near other family members (we could casually drop off
groceries while we’re doing our own errands, etc).

Every case is different, but I don’t think you have to be under one roof to
significantly help some people keep their independence and avoid spending
money on caregivers that are very expensive especially

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Jerry888
If i could go back the best financial advice i would give to my self is:

Earn more spend less.

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conchy
LOL the best investing advice everyone in this generation ever got is "buy
bitcoin" ... and not one of these clowns said it (before OR after the fact!)

