Wednesday, September 21, 2005

A turning point

Yesterday I officially entered my late 30s. I am not "mid" anymore, at least not in my opinion. I was taken out to dinner to celebrate, at the fabulous Blue Ribbon in Brooklyn. I think this will be my last blow-out meal for a while, both in terms of calories and price, but what a good way to do it! (The chocolate chip bread pudding is breathtakingly good.)
This situation with the apartment has given me a new impetus to change my habits and focus myself on making smart decisions with my money instead of being passive about it. Sometimes passivity is ok-- it's probably not a good idea for someone like me to constantly trade stocks as opposed to holding them for the longer term. But I've been letting money sit in low-earning accounts, and I've been too lazy about following leads on apartments. I missed the lowest mortgage rates, I missed seeing apartments that I could have afforded over the past few years because I wasn't really sure I wanted to buy. It's all water under the bridge now, and maybe it's for the best, but going forward, I need to get more out of my earnings. I need to put more of my cash into better investments. And I should also probably start thinking about my next step on the career ladder. I want to own a home before I'm 40!
I also need to use more moisturizer and go to the gym more, but I'll have to start another blog to cover that...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

We all need to get our finances in gear. At least you've realized what you need to do. Some people realize too late and some never do.

Anonymous said...

you're being hard on yourself.

i looked at your net worth list and you doing really well for yourself. most people in their 30s have most of their net worth leveraged in their homes. you have a high net worth and you're mostly liquid.

quite a feat, no matter how you look at it. you should feel proud at where you are today.

Anonymous said...

happy birthday! i agree you shouldn't be so hard on yourself, you have accomplished a lot.

Anonymous said...

Happy B-Day! Man is that choc chip bread pudding at Blue Ribbon the best or what!!!

And yes, you are doig just fine.

Money Turtle said...

Happy B-day! Hey, you must be doing something right to generate a net worth of a quarter million.

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday, Madame X!

Caitlin said...

boy I am late to this party, but I hope there's still cake!

Happy Birthday, Madame...and I agree that you shouldn't be too down on yourself, but I also think it's good if you are challenging yourself to do better in the future.

I'm in a similar boat (turned 38 last month) and find myself wanting to do better (though I certainly don't have your net worth - grin) -- challenge is good...just keep improving

but give yourself a pat on the back for where you are now, cuz ...it doesnt suck!