Stock Market

When I first started investing I'll admit I was fairly conservative, still am to some degree. In the beginning of my investing career I read a lot of Peter Lynch and Buffet and that has guided my choices. Boring I'll admit but I'm a blue-collar guy, so I try to be smart with my money.
I've always been financially conservative. At this point, I would label myself risk-averse. If I make a serious error, I don't have the time to wait for the recovery. I'm too old to be poor. Fortunately, my only vice is shooting.
 
I've always been financially conservative. At this point, I would label myself risk-averse. If I make a serious error, I don't have the time to wait for the recovery. I'm too old to be poor. Fortunately, my only vice is shooting.
Im finding it hard to find the balance between doing/enjoying things now and work all the time/saving. Like I literally haven’t done much of anything for 5 years now trying to save and invest as much as I can. I’ve always been super financially conservative and thats all great and everything but I also feel like I need to back off some and start enjoying things. If y’all got any advice for a guy in his mid 40’s on how to balance all these things, I’m all ears. It’s not easy when you got bills, aspirations, kids, college, weddings to save for and on and on and on.
 
Im finding it hard to find the balance between doing/enjoying things now and work all the time/saving. Like I literally haven’t done much of anything for 5 years now trying to save and invest as much as I can. I’ve always been super financially conservative and thats all great and everything but I also feel like I need to back off some and start enjoying things. If y’all got any advice for a guy in his mid 40’s on how to balance all these things, I’m all ears. It’s not easy when you got bills, aspirations, kids, college, weddings to save for and on and on and on.
You do the best that you can. Save what you can. Don't fret about it. Improve your career and income when the opportunity presents itself. Don't get caught up in the materialistic things that you don't have. Everyone has bills, aspirations, and the other things you mention. Keep things in balance...enjoy your life.

The one thing that I would do over again if I were young is to spend more time with friends and family and enjoy their company. I spent too much time climbing the corporate ladder and missed out on a lot.

That's the only advice I can offer that is worth a damn.
 
Im finding it hard to find the balance between doing/enjoying things now and work all the time/saving. Like I literally haven’t done much of anything for 5 years now trying to save and invest as much as I can. I’ve always been super financially conservative and thats all great and everything but I also feel like I need to back off some and start enjoying things. If y’all got any advice for a guy in his mid 40’s on how to balance all these things, I’m all ears. It’s not easy when you got bills, aspirations, kids, college, weddings to save for and on and on and on.
It’s hard to make up for lost time in the market. You have to figure out your goals and proceed from there. You either have enough to do all of it, or you don’t. If you don’t, then you have to look at your priorities.

I wish I had an answer for you, but I will say that you’ll never be able to buy time or missed experiences back. My friend’s dad had great plans for retirement, but he died at 55 and did none of those plans. That has always stuck with me.
 
You do the best that you can. Save what you can. Don't fret about it. Improve your career and income when the opportunity presents itself. Don't get caught up in the materialistic things that you don't have. Everyone has bills, aspirations, and the other things you mention. Keep things in balance...enjoy your life.

The one thing that I would do over again if I were young is to spend more time with friends and family and enjoy their company. I spent too much time climbing the corporate ladder and missed out on a lot.

That's the only advice I can offer that is worth a damn.

It’s hard to make up for lost time in the market. You have to figure out your goals and proceed from there. You either have enough to do all of it, or you don’t. If you don’t, then you have to look at your priorities.

I wish I had an answer for you, but I will say that you’ll never be able to buy time or missed experiences back. My friend’s dad had great plans for retirement, but he died at 55 and did none of those plans. That has always stuck with me.
Thank you! Very solid advice. Definitely trying the best I can but feel like I’m failing in some capacity every day. There is always room for Improvement.
 
Im finding it hard to find the balance between doing/enjoying things now and work all the time/saving. Like I literally haven’t done much of anything for 5 years now trying to save and invest as much as I can. I’ve always been super financially conservative and thats all great and everything but I also feel like I need to back off some and start enjoying things. If y’all got any advice for a guy in his mid 40’s on how to balance all these things, I’m all ears. It’s not easy when you got bills, aspirations, kids, college, weddings to save for and on and on and on.
Nobody can answer you, really, without knowing how much you have invested, your income and savings ratio, and, most importantly, your goals for the savings. Spending levels, etc.

It may be that you can back off. Or it might be that you are behind and need to save more.

If I could make a suggestion, it would be to go over the Mr. Money Mustache forum and read some of the case studies. It will give you a good idea of what some others are doing, and suggestions folks have for improvement or relaxing.

I would also encourage you to read this article.
 
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Donny is outdoing himself. 104% on China. Brilliant. This "multi-dimensional chess-master" is an absolute genius. Apple moving to India, that'll bring jobs home. The "Republican" grumblings are growing louder. Musk and Navarro bitch slapping each other in public is a class act. Only thing this group is missing is a tiny little car and rubber noses. 2028 is going to be a rout. Outstanding.
 
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WTF is he doing? Now he is pausing tariffs? I’m sorry stand your ground, wait for people to negotiate or don’t do anything. This makes us look weak imo.
It is 100% illustrative of Donald J. Trump's inability and unfitness to lead. It doesn't make the US look like anything. The whole planet is looking squarely at Donny. It was all just a "trick". :rolleyes:
 
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Neither really. Just pointing out that he put a hint out this morning. I am learning that you have to really read his social media posts carefully to find little Easter egg type info.

The man announced tariffs guaranteed to panic the entire planet, waited a couple of days and then shared a post on his social media Saturday saying he was "intentionally crashing the stock market."

Then after a few more days (including a false rally on Monday from a rumor that he was delaying tariffs), he gives out hints this morning to "buy now" and a few hours later announces a move guaranteed to cause a massive rally. Not exactly easter eggs.

Now imagine what someone with a few million to spend and a couple of days notice of how severe the "Liberation Day" tariffs were going to be could have made over the past week in the market.
 
So he's draining the swamp by insider trading with tariff policy to enrich himself and friends. Is America great again yet? Looks like everyone if off your bonds.
Yep, and now we're going to hear (it's already everywhere on the news etc.) that we need to stock up on staples and make all those big purchases in the next 87 days before the tariffs kick back in. The first article on Yahoo this morning "You have 87 days, what to stock up on now!" Every major news outlet has stories on what you should stock up on now. Retailers will have a great Q2 sales boost from panic buying. Banks will love that people are going to rack up even more debt on 20+% credit cards cause consumers are idiots as a whole.

So he tanks the market for a couple weeks, tells all his buddies about him reversing it ahead of time (The volume of favorable options placed the morning he reversed prior to the announcement are massive) then just pauses knowing many stocks will come back 20+%. Now you can make a case that a lot of investors might look at a market drop that big as an opportunity to buy (I know I did) but you know if Trump is willing to send out social media messages that it's time to buy, his buddies and their buddies and 30 minutes later probably his enemies all knew it was happening long before the announcement.

Whenever this happens all the politicians all have the exact same excuse. "My financial advisor makes all my trade decisions for me". Well at least those that don't keep their investments in a trust so they are not public info.