Author Topic: At what age were you making good decisions?  (Read 12232 times)

moostachio

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #50 on: August 10, 2016, 08:41:32 PM »
DW and I were lucky to be the youngest in both of our families.  By the time we were making our Will we had seen how the 12 or so data points of our nieces and nephews were doing in their 20's and early 30s, how mature they were etc.  We decided to make our kids responsible with their inheritance in our Will when the youngest of our two kids turned 28.  So one would be 28, the other 31. If something happened to us, the oversight of our inheritance would be done by their Uncle a college professor, and would well serve the mentor responsibility.

Our attorney said he had seen it typically be 25-35, so that agrees well with what most have said.

Auckland Stubble

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #51 on: August 10, 2016, 10:59:04 PM »
I'm 27 and feel only within the last 6-12 months I've been making rational decisions.

SachaFiscal

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #52 on: August 11, 2016, 08:17:13 AM »
I started making better decisions at 30 (like getting and staying out of debt). But I was still a total speedy pants until I found MMM at 38.

markbike528CBX

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #53 on: August 11, 2016, 09:12:35 AM »
Me, still waiting, for that age

no obvious trainwrecks, but I am posting from work ;-)
and from 25 to 42 I did race motorcycles on a track on my own dime$$


A quick word from the US Constitution:

Article 1 Section 2.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years...
Article 1 Section 3.
No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years,....
Article 2 Section 1.
...shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years...

It's nice to see that the range hasn't changed much in 200+ years.

MrsPete

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #54 on: August 13, 2016, 02:51:00 PM »
A couple thoughts:

- Using a trust to control your money /dish out X% at 25, another X% at 30, or whatever costs money.  So your child ends up inheriting less.  You might decide it's worthwhile, but it's not free. 

- You can set up a trust so that the executor can make a decision based upon circumstances; for example, if your child needs money for medical needs, the executor can be allowed to make that judgement call -- if you set it up that way. 


stashing_it

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #55 on: August 14, 2016, 01:04:40 AM »
one thing you can do is create a trust that will either give annual disbursement of money or choose age disbursement.

For example:
Age 18 and enrolled in college trust will pay 50% of educational expenses
Age 25 - child will get $xx
Age 30 - Child will get $xx
Age 35 - Child will get remainder

You should also factor in what happens to the left over money should your child not survive to the age you assign.  Will the money be divided between the other siblings?  If your child has a family, and your child dies will the money go to his family with the same stipulations?

This.   Split the disbursement of the money with the final being between 30-35.

18 pays for college
25 starts them with a house or pays down any loans or bad debt
30 helps them with kids
by 35 they are likely on their path without any obvious changes that you could predict ahead of time

arebelspy

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #56 on: August 21, 2016, 09:39:11 AM »
Quote
At what age were you making good decisions?

Hard to say, because I'm not objective. Either the answer is "not there yet, so cannot say" or "6."
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Metric Mouse

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #57 on: August 21, 2016, 10:17:38 AM »
I'm not sure that holding out money until some arbitrary age is the correct way to deal with the possibility that someone may make poor choices. Either set it up to give them an allowance every year, or let them have it whenever they decide to take it. Can't protect people from themselves.  I make poor decisions every day; doesn't mean I'd be better off if I were broke.

MoonLiteNite

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #58 on: August 21, 2016, 11:57:50 AM »
like 13? I had always saved money, the only things i bought when i was a kid was a PSX, and a MT bike, which has over 20,000 miles on and i just recently finally retired it...

Of course I made a mistake or two at age 19, but got right back on course, and then one more mistake 3 years ago at age 26.

My mother was sick growing up and my dad worked. So i got to be a dad to my younger siblings and worked myself.

My mistakes at age 19 was buying a 28k car making 24k a year.
My next mistake was buying a 200k home making 24k a year.
And final mistake was at age 26 i bought solar panels for my home, not thinking i would most likely be ready to move soon.

House is nearly paid off now 10 years later, of course my pay has gone up since then but that was a dumb choice. Solar panels are iffy, but i cal it bad, i could have invested all that money and have had way better returns.

gggggg

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #59 on: August 21, 2016, 02:21:58 PM »
I was given the keys to a mutual fund worth 35k when I turned 21. I was good, and left it alone (it was intended for school, but I went to Police Academy, and didn't need it). My cousins and sister got the same amount each, and blew through theirs early on, buying cars, trips to europe and whatnot.

KickingRocks

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #60 on: August 21, 2016, 03:24:57 PM »
21-22. It was when I woke up an realized my mother was a terrible financial role model and never do anything she does. I made a commitment to never take on debt again and to this day, still haven't.

My mother will be 57 this year and still dependent financially on her mother. So some people never grow up in that regard.

X2


People have always asked me how I got so good with money.  Before I answer I always ask them if they want to hear the truth.  When I tell them I did the complete opposite of everything my mother did.  They don't know what to think.  My mom is 65 years old and still thinks it's everyone else's job in the world to provide and take care of her.  cough government cough  What is sad and I've pointed it out to her before is that over the course of her lifetime she's had several windfalls that would total a couple hundred thousands dollars.  When I ask her why she didn't save or invest that money or buy a house.  I get a blank stare from her and her reply was that was my money and I deserved to have fun with it.  It's no fun to pay bills.

How myself or my siblings turned out to be contributing members of society still baffles me to this day?

PFHC

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #61 on: August 21, 2016, 06:01:56 PM »
The maturity of your children and how early they start making good decisions is largely dependent on you. If you give them enough responsibility early on, they should be able to handle themselves by 18. We are making the efforts that our kids will be mature enough to handle all of life, including any money they would get if we perish, by the time they leave the house.

Also, if you're dead, it is not up to you what they do with the money. It is their life and their choice. If they fritter it away on hookers and beer, so be it. Not your problem any more. And, that will not be too likely if you help guide them to a strong moral code.

SJS

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Re: At what age were you making good decisions?
« Reply #62 on: August 21, 2016, 06:31:05 PM »
Probably about 28.  Although I did start saving for retirement at 22 when I started working for a Fortune 500 company (in my 401K), I was spending way too much $$ on booze - I'd buy rounds for friends, etc.  by 25 it was getting old.  Decided to save for down payment on a house (still single), so then I tighten the spending budget.