MoneyEnergy

It would have been good to have saved more of my money when I was 20 or so and working three jobs at once. I wish I had’ve put more into my investments then, but I was too cautious.

SB

just filled out the survey! been reading your blog for awhile, my main challenge is with consistent application! I’m trying to use my early 30’s (age group not money amount!) to work that out and get rid of some bad habits.

Adam

I wish more than anything I would have not neglected paying for my car insurance. Of course I got in a wreck which obviously set things back a little bit. I really shouldn’t have been able to buy the car in the first place, but they sold it to me! I didn’t have gap coverage either. I did however end up settling for 26% of what I owed on the car with a collection agency (the 3rd one coming after me for the same account). Now I want to buy a house and just spent over $3K to cover not paying car insurance for a few months. So I guess the biggest would be emergency fund or car down payment.

Alison

I wish I would have saved more in the summers and on breaks so I didn’t have to work during school. I ended up relying on credit cards, and when the balance grew to be more than I was comfortable with, I left school to work full time. It is easy to look back and say now that my costs were so minimal, an extra shift or two each week serving tables would have meant I could relax a little during the school year, and I would have graduated much sooner.

Josh

I didn’t save much during my years of university but I worked very hard every summer (50hrs +) so that I could spend freely during the 8 months of school. Spring Break vacations, partying with friends and school trips far outweighed the happiness I would have enjoyed if I could look at a large lump sum of money in my account at the end of school. I still managed to graduate debt free so I know I am ahead of many fellow recent graduates. Reading Ramit’s book has shown how automating my money can help me save for the things I didn’t think I could ever afford.
So truthfully my personality type flourishes on maintaining both a hectic work and party schedule and thus I don’t need to worry about my daily account activities as everything is automated.

Andy

Thinking back at 31, two things I wish I would have done in college would be to study abroad and work while in school.

First, study abroad. I feel that getting rid of our US-centric mindset will help the US compete better in the global economy. Just understanding another culture provides insights that you cannot get from a book. Knowing a second or third language makes you immenently more marketable. I currently work overseas and work with people that know 3 or 4 languages, and they are called secretaries. I am struggling just to pick up #2, French.

Secondly, I would have tried harder to participate in work-study or gotten a part time job while in school. I worked my tail off in the summers to not work during the school year. Thankfully I had parents willing to pay for tuition (my 1/2 scholarship covered the rest and I paid for my own books and entertainment) to give me an advantage they never had, to be a debt free college grad. However, just by working 10 hours a week I could have funneled $1 or 2k a year into a Roth, or saved for a house down payment while in school. Instead, at the beginning of every summer I was nearly broke and when I left school, I may have had no debt and a good job, but I was starting from zero.

Mike Pastore

I wish I started to handle my personal finances properly 10 years ago. But it’s alright, although I didn’t learn how to spend money wisely in my early years, I am practicing it right now. As the saying goes, “it’s better late than never”.

For tips on personal finance, visit http://www.mikesmillions.com/blog.

Martin

Wow, this is very informative… will soon be able to invest and do the right thing with my finances. I’ll be paying attention to this blog for a while.