These writing prompts are an excellent form of introspect. I would say that I rarely say no to anything that may help myself and my family achieve our goals. We have been on the same page regarding our retirement as well as our investing goals, so there isn’t much room to say no.
We put money into the market every week. If there is an opportunity, we put more money in where we think it will have the biggest impact. We keep the communication open and we regularly look at upcoming bills, account status, and what we want to afford.
If you would have asked me this question 3 years ago, I would say it would have been often that I’d say no. Live in the moment, no need for savings, lets buy everything we want! Credit can be paid off later! Those are the wrong things to say, and after reading and learning and noticing how we were handling our finances, we weren’t thinking much about our future. You may not think of what life will be like 30-40 years down the road, especially if you just entered the workforce, but you need to know that everything you save or invest now, compounds into much more than what your traditional 401K would offer.
We had trouble affording vacations, or hosting parties, and could hardly imagine a world without debt. When we became pregnant and our daughter was on the way, we realized that we had to make a better life for her. We had to do better with our finances, budgets, and INVESTING! Learning so much from these books, especially The Richest Man in Babylon, (favorite book BTW) we learned that we needed to pay ourselves first, live within our means, and pay for everything including bills with the other 90%.
Fast forward to today, we hardly every say no. We know that the more we do now, the easier our future and our retirement will be. My advice to you, don’t say no! Buy less toys, spend less on vacation, eat at home, and use that money to build yourself a new life.
Thrifty Investing 