whats the best money you ever spent?

[the incredible b]

for me: public toilet. i dare anyone to beat it.

[Chachma v'Oz]

Individual Retirement Account.

[the incredible b]

Individual Retirement Account.

did it relieve your bowels and bladder when they were about to rupture?

[Chachma v'Oz]

did it relieve your bowels and bladder when they were about to rupture?

Not at all. This isn't my first rodeo.

My first experience in asset evaporation was The Crash of '87. In October everything we'd invested and gained since the first of the year went up in smoke in just a couple of weeks. I was fascinated, but there was nothing I could do about it so I decided to just ride it out.

It turned out to be a short-lived adventure. By the end of the year the markets had recovered and our portfolios (IRAs and non-tax advantaged) were showing a double-digit gain for the year. If I hadn't made the max contributions for the year already I could have made them after the crash and ended up with a lot more money by year's end. And I learned from that: buy on weakness, sell on strength.

That experience is what allowed me to create the strategy that worked out very well for us over the years. I decided on a strict asset allocation (95% equities/5% cash) and whenever that got out of balance (like 97/3 or 93/7) I either bought or sold our equity position to bring it back in line. Maintaining that allocation forced me to sell when prices had appreciated and forced me to buy when they'd gotten cheap. It didn't take any decision-making on my part when to buy or sell; I simply had to accommodate the market when our allocations got out of whack.

After 16 years of being forced to buy low and sell high, through Hell and high water, sticking to my plan with self-discipline while others around me were either selling in a panic or paying outrageous prices because they were chasing even more gains, I retired at 56 because it was no longer necessary for me to work for a living. I had so arranged our financial affairs that we were set for the rest of our days without external income.

The Republican debacle of '07-'09 put a big dent in our financial assets but not enough to threaten our security reserve. (I maintain a reserve of Joint Life Expectancy X Basic Living Expenses.) Anything and everything above that reserve is our Mad Money.

Calculate how much reserve you would need (Table III at http://www.irs.gov/publications/p590/ar02.html, near the bottom. Extrapolate as necessary if you're young). Multiply your JLE times how much you need to meet your needs each year.

You can see that the reserve amount alone produces considerable annual gains in its own right, all of which is Mad Money, which we add to the income from our annuities purchased over many years in the workforce.

I no longer buy on weakness. We have no need for even more gains. My only interest now is capital preservation so I sell when markets surge to maintain our allocations, which are now age-appropriate. I harvest gains as they occur (skim the cream) and ignore the markets when they dip.

I sleep well at night because I have enough experience to realize that markets are cyclical. What goes down will come up. As long as we can keep the wrong people from assuming positions of power where they dictate national economic and fiscal policy, I expect we'll enjoy 44 years of retirement following the 44 years I spent in the workforce. We're almost 20% of the way there already. Time sure flies when you're having fun.

[Ponce]

Me?, the $58.00 to start my own bussines......retired in six years.

[Mrmint]

Best money i spent was when i went to a all you can eat sushi bar.

[Šñøü†ê®]

$5 for some Roses on Valentine's Day for a broad I dated senior year in college.

[Malcolm Wright]

I can't remember how much it was, but I saved up for an eternity to go to Australia when I was 16. Probably the single best thing I ever did considering what it led to.

But I agree that doesn't hold a candle to public toilet money.
Sometimes all you really really need is a dirty toilet.

[Misteria]

Money makes the world go round and yes I too have spent a couple of coins to wee

[queenlillian1962]

I think buying my house. I hate living in apartment housing.

[Going Postal]

The iPad.

[86Dùde]

The hospital bill for my daughter's birth.

[Charles]

The $500/semester I spent to earn my engineering degree. It was $350 for tuition, $100 for books and $50 for everything else (parking sticker, health fees, etc). I lived at home for $300/month room and board. This was in 1979 though.
The financial investment was getting a lot for a little.

[BooRadley]

Not so much spent, but I took a pay cut to get a Tech Support job with a dial up ISP in the late 90's, making a career switch that has worked out very well for me.

[86Dùde]

I'm tired of tech work. It bores the hell out of me.

[BooRadley]

I'm tired of tech work. It bores the hell out of me.

Switch fields? I started to get bored with HP-UX about the same time all the HP-UX jobs disappeared. Then Solaris. Now Linux, focusing on backups. Kinda-sorta planning to get more into the storage work, but for now I'm revamping the backup sytems. Interesting assignment. Lot's to learn.

Come to think of it, I started with Windows, then switched to MacOS, before moving to HP-UX. Keeps things interesting.

[enola]

One dollar for a vintage toy haunted house made of tin at a yard sale and getting 625 bucks for it on ebay.

[4West]

Bangbros membership subscription.

[IFF]

75 cent for the vinyl lp of "i, lucifer" by the real tuesday weld