So is this blog working? I really don't know, but I figure I should give this a shot.
When Lewis & I were 1st married back in the 1980s, we had no money to invest for our future. Neither of us had jobs that offered any type of savings for retirement whatsoever, and most of our income was tied up in just paying basic expenses. Sound familiar?? Our first big financial break came when the owners of the 1-bedroom apartment we were living in decided to convert them into co-ops. We had the option to buy in as 'insiders' (literally!) at a substantially lower price than offered to the general public, and in a leap of faith we opted to take that chance on the last day of the offering.
Three months later we were able to sell our co-op at a 50% profit, which we then used to put a down payment on a modest house. Twenty-seven years later we are still living in that house, where we raised our kids.
Not everyone falls into an opportunity like that. This was sheer dumb luck, and it was also sheer dumb luck that we managed to agree on the final day of our co-op's offering to buy in to our first real estate deal.
We bought our house thinking we paid top dollar for it; 1987 was a very pricey year for real estate and we thought housing prices had hit its ceiling. Turns out we were very wrong about that, and that real estate prices could indeed soar much higher than we ever dreamed. So our first adventure into the world of finance was in real estate.
Paying for our house & living expenses did not leave much room for saving for the future in our case. Interest rates were astronomical when we purchase our home. I have no doubt that many Americans are still in the position we found ourselves in until we were in our 40s, and in no way am I foolish enough to believe that the average family can grab money out of thin air to tuck away for the future. That being said, however, many employers do offer 401 K programs and many partially and even fully match an employee's contributions. Knowing how to manage that money is a valuable skill!