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My biggest financial set back ever was when I moved from CT to Columbus, OH one year ago for a job opportunity, in hopes of a better economic/financial life. I had $76,000 in liquid cash in the bank. However, I spent a total of about $5,000 to relocate and buy new things for my condo rental, and a few other things. I started a new job but then got fired after two months and was unemployed for 6 months. Even though i was collecting unemployment benefits, I still ended up depleting about $8,000 of my savings over that period, because of spending money on interview travel, healthcare needs, auto maintenance and general living expenses. When I finally got a job, the new job was located near Hartford, CT, so i had to relocate AGAIN. But I had to break my lease for $2,000, then pay for moving expenses and some new furniture that got damaged during the move. This second relocation cost me a good $5,000 all over again. So basically, within a 9-month period, I blew through almost $20,000 of my liquid savings, bringing my savings down from $76,000 to $56,000. It was a total catastrophe and depressed me for a while. Fortunately, I'm saving money again -- slowly but surely -- and really like my new job. But it was a shame that these companies did not offer to pay for relocation/interview expenses. Ugh!
My biggest financial victory ever was when I had my job in Stamford, CT, which I left last year to move to Ohio. I was receiving HUGE bonuses of about $10,000+ per year, after taxes, in addition to saving about $1,000 a month.
What is your biggest financial setback and biggest financial victory in your lifetime?
My biggest financial setback occurred when my son was about 14 or so. Some kid at school had asked him to "hold" a packet for him, and he'd walked around all day thinking he was too cool because he had drugs in his pocket.
On his way home, a police car pulled over to ask him if he knew some kid they were looking for. He panicked, pull out the packet and swallowed the entire contents. The officer saw that something had happened, and kept questioning him just in case, so was there when my son collapsed.
42 days in the hospital with my medical insurance fighting me every step of the way. Near fatal liver failure, heart issues, brain damage with the insurance repeatedly assuring me they didn't cover "drug addiction."
I wiped out my savings, all my retirement accounts and took some outrageous loans before it was all done, but he survived.
And it was also my biggest financial victory. Knowing that I had to start totally over, I did a lot more research than I previously had and made a lot better choices. Plus saving for retirement jumped from "when I can" to "absolute priority" which made a huge difference.
Biggest? Hmm, that's a hard one. I think I have two that qualify, the scale is different because they happened at different stages of my life...
#1: When I turned 19 I gave a guy I was seeing $4k of the $10k I had earned the previous year because he was behind on his mortgage (he was 24 at the time.. don't ask me why he even owned a house or why I was even seeing him... obviously many bad decisions were happening in that situation).
#2: When my husband got his first job post PhD (as a tenure track professor) we decided to immediately buy a house instead of rent because the job and income were considered super stable and we felt it was important for the kids to make a "real" home. Except that my husband HATED his job and the institution he was employed at... so we moved less than 2 years later. Between closing costs, PMI, interest on the loan and repairs to the 70 year old home we wasted tens of thousands. We barely had an emergency fund and zero investments.
Best decision??? Well, the verdict is still out on that one... my husband started a new job this week where he's making nearly 2x the amount he made at the last one, which was 2x what he earned as a university professor, which was nearly 2x what he earned as a software engineer out of college. The income is high enough now that when Hillary Clinton said she's going to tax the rich, I'm slightly less enthusiastic
I've had a couple of "best"... but the most fun: When my business hit a higher level. I had presales for a new product. It did not hit me until I was getting out the car at the post office with several large black garden trash bags filled with orders. I looked insane. I'll always carry that moment... it was such a nice day. It took a while for me to wrap my head around the numbers I'd pulled in that month.
Second time was actually before that... it was the seed money for me to work my biz full time came. I was numb with excitement.
Worst? Out of work for almost a year due to a one-time medical condition (very humbling experience)... economy failed (2008, if you have not guessed)... many businesses I worked with went under... and a bunch of other stuff. I went from on top of the world, to a real disaster. I was probably depressed, but I kept it together. I failed badly right before I was to take my business to the next level. It all fell apart. Failure is painful.
My biggest financial setback and victory were sort of the same thing. When I decided to drop out of college was a hard decision, but my parents were on the verge of bankruptcy. I wasn't really doing very well in college, I honestly probably wasn't mature enough to be there. In 2007 after 2 years of college, my dad called me up asking how my grades were. I told him the truth, not great and I was getting burnt out of school. He told me his construction company was on the verge on bankruptcy and asked if I was willing to come help him. He told me he would give me 5% ownership of his company and pay off my school loans. But he wasn't going to be able to pay me for a few months. It was a huge risk, but I wasn't really getting anything out of college, so I decided to do it.
My dad is a general contractor and does all commercial and industrial work. Just before the housing crash, commercial construction had already come to a halt. My dad had about 10 main competitors he bid against for jobs. 7 of those companies went bankrupt or closed from 2006-2008. My dad went into industrial demolition for the state, since that is the only jobs he could find to bid on. It was incredibly hard work, but it was a blessing, because most jobs no one else would bid on what my dad was doing. There were only 3 other companies licensed to do the work in a population area of roughly 3 million. My dad got almost every job he bid on.
We stayed in the line of work from 2007 to 2011. Finally commercial construction started to pick back up in our area. My dad paid off my debts, paid my back pay, I was making roughly $45K a year, and he gave me 5% of his company, which is now worth about a million dollars.
I found an entrepreneur spirit during that time, opened a lawn mowing company, got out of that after 2 years, sold it and made a good profit. Met my wife and we opened a restaurant just over 2 years ago. We are doing very well now. We plan on opening a second location in the next 2 years.
My biggest financial setback and victory were sort of the same thing. When I decided to drop out of college was a hard decision, but my parents were on the verge of bankruptcy. I wasn't really doing very well in college, I honestly probably wasn't mature enough to be there. In 2007 after 2 years of college, my dad called me up asking how my grades were. I told him the truth, not great and I was getting burnt out of school. He told me his construction company was on the verge on bankruptcy and asked if I was willing to come help him. He told me he would give me 5% ownership of his company and pay off my school loans. But he wasn't going to be able to pay me for a few months. It was a huge risk, but I wasn't really getting anything out of college, so I decided to do it.
My dad is a general contractor and does all commercial and industrial work. Just before the housing crash, commercial construction had already come to a halt. My dad had about 10 main competitors he bid against for jobs. 7 of those companies went bankrupt or closed from 2006-2008. My dad went into industrial demolition for the state, since that is the only jobs he could find to bid on. It was incredibly hard work, but it was a blessing, because most jobs no one else would bid on what my dad was doing. There were only 3 other companies licensed to do the work in a population area of roughly 3 million. My dad got almost every job he bid on.
We stayed in the line of work from 2007 to 2011. Finally commercial construction started to pick back up in our area. My dad paid off my debts, paid my back pay, I was making roughly $45K a year, and he gave me 5% of his company, which is now worth about a million dollars.
I found an entrepreneur spirit during that time, opened a lawn mowing company, got out of that after 2 years, sold it and made a good profit. Met my wife and we opened a restaurant just over 2 years ago. We are doing very well now. We plan on opening a second location in the next 2 years.
College is not for everyone. My dad was the same. He had an extremely successful small business for decades. Congrats on making it the restaurant industry... that is really difficult.
College is not for everyone. My dad was the same. He had an extremely successful small business for decades. Congrats on making it the restaurant industry... that is really difficult.
Thanks, the restaurant industry is tough. We are trying to diversify into rental properties, but we haven't gotten started in that yet.
Being married was the biggest financial mistake I ever made. I was very naive. It's embarrassing now to remember how effin' stupid I was. He had alcohol and gambling problems and just married me because I had a decent enough job and good credit and he could use me to finance his lifestyle. I still had the job when I got divorced but my credit was shot and we--read I since he had no job so they came after me--owed the IRS money, as well as a lot of credit cards. It was all mine to take care of. He paid as little child support as he could for my daughter, arguing every time I asked him to please give me the paltry $50 a week that the court said he had to pay. I would get $100 every couple of months. It was very tough for a few years and my daughter and I had to live with my parents for a while, but eventually, I started to get promotions at work--three over five years, and my salary went up and I knocked down the debt from being married. I had considered declaring bankruptcy and I didn't, and I am so glad. I paid it all off.
I ended up taking on more debt to help my daughter get through college--AGAIN, he got away with paying very little because even though he'd been forced to support himself once we divorced and got a decent job, he lost his job while she was in college and I had to pick up the slack over and above what she could get in student loans for herself. That is OK, though--I did not go to college and I wanted my daughter to get her degree, and she got two.
But--I continued to get promotions and ended up in a good position when I retired from the same employer after 37 years. It was a public-sector job, so I have a defined pension plan. I was retired a month when someone called offering a consulting gig, and after that, someone else called and offered me a job. I didn't apply for either of these things, they came to me based on my old job. So now I've got a pension and a salary and I will make more money this year than I ever did before in my life.
There are always two sides. If I had been smarter and not gotten married, I would have never had my daughter, and I can't imagine life without her. I would have had more money, of course, living as a single childless person all those years instead of a married, then divorced person with a child to support, and I would likely have gone back to school and moved up the ladder earlier in my career.
It's OK that it worked out as it did. But having experienced both, I really, really like having enough money better than not having enough money, lol.
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