This chick next to me at Starbucks right now really wants to know :)
Or rather, she wants to know what her friend was doing on June 24th as she’s YELLING REALLY LOUDLY into the phone and I can’t concentrate on what I’m doing here! And now wondering what the hell I was doing myself all those years ago too?! It’s actually 15 years to the date, if you can believe that. Remember Y2K??
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…
So instead of learning about the 3 simple steps to save money today (who cares about that, right?), you’re going to learn about what 21 year old J. Money was doing in 2001 instead. And hopefully you learn something from it ;)
After all, if you can’t look back to see how far you’ve come, why even have memory?
Here’s what I was up to on this day 15 years ago:
- I had just graduated college
- I was a bachelor about to jump into a 4 year relationship
- Had about $1,300 of c/c debt after financing a new Mac iBook (65 MB of ram, baby!)
- Was hustling three part-time jobs while looking for full-time work (boat renter in the morning, car washer in the afternoon, and dishwasher at night (my entire job history here))
- I was trying hard to get up to New York city to pursue being a rock star graphic designer/famous person/partier (I only succeeded in one of those ;))
- And I had no concept of money whatsoever outside of knowing you were supposed to “invest for your future” – which I promptly ignored.
I was pretty much a hot mess financial-wise, but the one thing I had going for me was that I was GREAT at chasing dreams. Within 5 months I had succeeded moving to NYC, had a stable – yet not exactly glamorous job (Old Navy), was pursuing opportunities, and was more or less enjoying the night life as much as a guy making $8/hour can ;)
It wasn’t perfect, but I was proving to myself – and to the adults in my life – that anything’s possible if you want something bad enough. Which ironically led me to better finances years later when I started applying that passion to money!
I was also learning that you had to get pretty creative sometimes if you wanted a better shot at succeeding. The first week in the city was a shock trying to find an apartment by myself when all I could afford was a crack house (no joke), so I scrambled to find roommates and eventually ended up in a much nicer – and safer – neighborhood even though 4 of us were crammed into a 3 bed/1 bath apartment. Where we took turns living in “the room with only 3 walls” and “the room where you can’t stand up,” haha… When that lease ran up, I moved across town into a friend’s living room where my rent dropped from $600/mo to $300/mo (in cash) which was entirely earmarked for “beer money” ;)
During this second year I also realized that my graphic designer/famous person route wasn’t paying off too well, so I instead made a list of other things that would be fun to do for a living too. Some of them had to be crossed off as they were pretty inappropriate, but the last item – “travel!” seemed do-able so I enrolled into a travel agent course which eventually led me to the airlines and I got to do exactly that – travel the world for pretty much free! I never had enough money to really go ALL out while there (turns out that job pays crap too), but man, what an experience… we’d literally fly somewhere new every other weekend, from Cancun to LA to London – it was crazy.
So that’s what I was doing around June 24th, 2001! Chasing dreams and exploring my new found freedom! I’d burn out a few years later after all that living paycheck-to-paycheck, but I learned quite a bit in the process, and particularly that financial freedom sure beats out regular ol’ freedom ;)
I’ve always thought that was kinda ironic, actually – that people tend to have tons of money but no time, or all the time in the world but no money. I’m glad we here have realized there’s a way to get both!
What were you doing in 2001? I bet you’ve come along way too.
*******
PS: The three simple steps to save money today:
- Take out your wallet
- Pull out a $20
- Put it in the bank!
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Hmm, I just finished sophomore year of high school. I didn’t have a car yet. I was working at Dunkin Donuts (one of my favorite jobs ever). I had 0 net worth and still wanted to be a lawyer. I was dating some girl, I can’t remember who. I had already met my future wife on the first day of high school, but we were only friends at that point.
Now I have a masters in Chemical Engineering, am married to a wonderful wife (we started dating Junior year of high school), have two daughters, and have better paying (but less fun) jobs.
And that’s only 15 years!
BOOM! A beautiful life!
And one of the best smelling jobs on the planet, that Dunkin’ Donuts, mmmmmm…
I was chasing around two, two year-olds and about 7 years into my IT career. Oh and we had no clue how to handle money, we were living way beyond our means.
So how are things going now?
Those two, two-olds are now 17 and they have a 14 year old sibling. We paid off 109K worth of debt, and are on to building wealth! Our children have been involved in the financial discussion since day one and will better prepared then we were at their age. All good.
Freakin’ love it… So powerful once you set your mind to something!
Ha! This takes me back. I was 19 years old, pregnant, and recently dumped by my then-fiance. I was also working full-time as a U.S. Marine. I’d enlisted right after high school. Back then I was making a whopping $17,000.
15 years later, I’ve just had my second child (with a great guy) and my first is about to go to high school. In the years between, I put myself through college (first in my family), then law school, and now I make a pretty sweet income as a consumer finance attorney. :-)
I’ve also moved over 10 times, lived in six different states, and owned five different houses!
Tasha, you’re unstoppable!
Love a good comeback story :)
I was in my second job after finishing my MBA and my husband was busy building our first home…literally. We’d been married for less than a year (and instead of buying a diamond ring we had the most amazing 5-start honeymoon in Jamaica…one of the best decisions we ever made). I smile about it every time I wear my pear-shaped CZ :).
Spoken like a true financial blogger :)
Since I would have been 13 at the time I would make a safe bet and say that I was doing yard work 15 years ago today, because that’s how the majority of my summers went for us. How I miss those acres of land. I probably had about thousand dollars in my savings account since I didn’t have any expenses in life. I guess that means that my net worth has grown by about 16,700% in the last 15 years. I sure hope that trend continues over the next 15 years.
I was just a freshman in high school, no job yet since I’m pretty sure at that point I was still deciding if I’d be a pro soccer or pro basketball player. Unfortunately neither turned out. Instead I ended up getting a finance degree and M.B.A.
Without a real goal I was living a frugal life and saving all extra income and then stumbled across the FIRE community and realized I needed to be financially free. Now I’m working hard toward FI with a five year goal!
I believe that just finished 8th grade so I had my $40 per month paper route as my cash source. I put $10 from each check in the bank and spent the rest on things I probably don’t want to remember!
I was a rising senior in high school. I had a summer job, but savings was not on my mind. I was spending faster than I could earn. Can’t remember much else about those boring years, lol
Just finished my freshman year in high school & had a paper route. One lesson I will teach to my parents, never get a paper route. It pays close to minimum wage & it’s about impossible to find a substitute to go away even for a weekend.
As a sidenote, congrats on being featured in the most recent USAA newsletter.
Hey, thanks! Huge fan of USAA so it was def. an honor :)
I bet that paper route gave you a hell of an appreciation for work & money though, eh?
June 2001: I was grieving because my dad passed away from cancer almost exactly one month earlier… and I didn’t know what to do with my life because I hated my university (UCI).
On a happier note, I totally thought I was going to be able to tell you exactly what I was doing that day because a very long time ago (over 10 years ago) I started writing down everything I do every day–not a journal–more of a life log. And I haven’t stopped. It’s turned into a slight obsession.
Then, 6 years ago, I added a tab to that spreadsheet and started tracking every penny in and out of my life. That, too, hasn’t stopped, and now, 7,475 Excel rows later, I can tell you exactly how much I spent and made by day or month or year for the last 6 years. It’s been enlightening to say the least, and I highly recommend trying it for just 1 week, or 1 month for a more accurate snapshot.
I know this is only going to be interesting to me, but now, just for fun, I’ll tell you what I did on every June 24 since 2010:
June 24, 2010: Day off! Played Red Dead Redemption and lounged.
June 24, 2011: Went to work. Walked to Whole Foods with friends. Had dinner with them. Walked back to Whole Foods with them to get ice cream. Watched the movie “Click” with them.
June 24, 2012: Went to Trader Joe’s. Drove to Chick-Fil-A, only to remember they’re closed on Sundays. Went to Whole Foods. Talked to my business partner about our new venture. Watched Four Weddings and a Funeral with my roommates.
June 24, 2013: Worked. Talked with my business partner. Exercised. Hung out with the gf.
June 24, 2014: Worked on building a site for someone. Got dinner/hung out with the gf.
June 24, 2015: Went to the vet for the gf’s dogs’ checkups. Went to a bakery supply store, Walmart, a donut place, and picked up food with her.
June 24, 2016: To be determined…
All through this time, I was doing the same thing as you, J… chasing dreams and launching ventures.
LOVE THIS!!!!
Especially the part of tracking all your pennies over the years :) Would you be up for writing up a post about it? Sounds fascinating!
Was on my way to becoming a freshman in high school, I think I still had an allowance.
That was probably a good summer, it was the last time I didn’t have a job of some sort
I had just graduated high school June 23rd so I was likely sleeping off my graduation party from the night before! :) Driving a paid for car, no debt (yet), but I was heading off to state college to become a teacher.
Fast forward to today, I just finished my 11th year of teaching and after making loads of stupid financial decisions from 23-26, I have paid off all my debt except 9K in student loans and I have about 65K on my house. Living off a written budget and telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went is a wonderful thing!
You know it, baby.
Good lord I was in freaking jr. high. I can’t even remember what I was actually doing that day. Scary how fast time goes by :(
June 2001. Racking up debt as a third-year, almost fourth-year medical student. Living in a shared 2-bedroom apartment, paying about $375 a month for my share.
A lot has changed in the last 15 years!
In June of 2001 I was 10 and had just finished 4th grade! (sorry to make anyone feel old). I would’ve been working on chores, helping my mom with her business, playing outside, and going to Girl Scout Camp :) Money wise I had about $200 in a bank account I wasn’t allowed to touch.
Oh my goodness, haha…
In 2001, I was getting ready for my senior year of college. Working at Burger King with my friends, who gave me a ride to work, to pay for rent and showchoir expenses. I was taking the SAT and preparing my one college application. I was hungry, because my family was really poor. I spent as much time at other people’s houses as possible because their parents would feed me.
Oh wow, I didn’t know you grew up poor :(
Finished my sophomore year in college. Going to major University from a community college. Man, that was the best summer as an almost adult I ever had. Worked full time at a radiology office and did whatever I wanted. $10/hr full time with no bills except gas, I WAS RICH, but then again I just spent it all chasing a girl…totally worth it.
HAH! Sounds about right…
At this point, I was probably on my way out to Colorado Springs for college, after attending the University of Tennessee for a year and quitting because that school didn’t have the major I wanted. Looks like a lot of us were in college!
Hmmmm…..as memory serves I was attending a parade and ran into an old business acquaintance…who offered me a job….even though I wasn’t looking for a job…and explained this ever so politely….I agreed to meet for lunch and he explained he needed my help. Took the job for about 3/4 years until the corporation divested itself of the division I worked in. BEST health insurance I’ve ever had in my life for CHEAP. I left when the GM who was running the place into the ground was to take over and become independent. Seems just like yesterday…..
Oh wow, time flies. We were watching Independence Day last night and realized that was 20 years ago! In 2001? I was working at the Megacorp. Dual income no kid, it was a nice lifestyle.
Like you said: … but, I learned quite a bit in the process, and particularly that financial freedom sure beats out regular ol’ freedom :)
Me – went back to college at 50yrs old – had the time of my life:) all paid for too as long as my grades met the required levels.
NICE!!!!! What a journey!
Easy one for me: I was celebrating my 15th birthday. I’m sure I went out for pizza with my family, a birthday tradition.
I was fairly money-conscious even at that age. I kept a rough budget using Microsoft Money and tracked my income from chores, lawn mowing, and other miscellaneous projects.
It was fun to read all of the other comments. Not a bad way to start off age 30. Thanks, J.
Similar to Gwen, I’m on the younger side of the mix…I had just finished 5th grade. So, I was excited to be moving on to middle school (taking the bus! lockers!). I was constantly hounding my parents for my allowance–I seemed to always remember that better than they did on Sunday evenings. :) And I occasionally was house/pet sitting and “baby sitting”–although it seems bizarre to me that an 11 year old was entrusted with any kids. (Granted, my mom was always at home in the neighborhood whenever I was working.)
I really do miss lockers and having all your friends around :)
A day in my life on June 24, 2001 makes me feel old and boring after reading this:) I had just quit my job a few months earlier to be a stay at home mom, had a 10 month old baby, and had literally (like within days of this date) moved into a fixer upper home that we really couldn’t afford. Life was good, finances were not!
Oh my gosh, this is awesome and weird to think about. I was only 15 years old… so I was in 10th grade, working part-time at a coffee shop in the mall (making $7.75/hour) and blowing it all on useless stuff + partying. Ohhh the things I would tell 15-year-old Cait now, haha.
My husband and I were making the most money we ever had….totally socking it away so we could move to a community with a bigger house….and we did just that only to time the housing market perfectly to be part of the famous housing market bust and lose a job. If I only knew what was on the horizon we would have made different plans!
In June of 2001 I just finished my freshman year of high school.
Luckily, my Dad taught me to be responsible with money, so I was already saving for retirement (no joke).
I was 15 years old, so I was probably looking forward to getting my driver’s license.
Those were the days.
Old Navy dudes party the hardest. I was in sixth grade and looked like a fat kid that practiced the trombone all the time. Glad to see that my life is different now haha
Haha….
(and very true about Old Navy dudes! ;))
Very sick and very broke and very much alone in my sickness and brokeness. I got better, got less broke and then not broke and learned the hard lesson that people who are unreliable when you are healthy, they don’t magically become reliable when you are sick.
Unreliables are still unreliable. That hasn’t changed!
I’m so sorry to hear :( It’s crazy how different all our lives are, and most times don’t even know what people have gone through – or *are* going through. I’m so glad things have gotten better for you! Did the online community help that over the years? Being connected to more like-minded, positive, people?
Ahhh memories! I can’t believe it’s been 15 years! That’s crazy. I just finished my junior year of college and was working at a temp job making like $10 an hour. It was great money to me at the time and luckily I was pretty frugal at the time and saved a decent amount of it. Most of my friends were broke so we didn’t have lavish lifestyles, even though we were living in NYC. I think I allocated like $50 to $100 to go out on the weekends and I didn’t make any ridiculous purchases.
2001 was a big year for me – I married my hubby, we bought our first house, and we had just started our 401k’s because we were finally “old enough”. We were doing okay financially, but we’ve definitely learned a lot since then!! Now we’ve sold our bigger home, and are renting a 3 bdrm townhome with our 2 kiddos – saving up for early retirement!
YES!!!! Beautiful love story with both your family AND your wallet, haha….
I was in high school. It has been already 15 years. I can’t believe it. Of course I had $0 in my bank account. Just reached $200K now. It took me 15 years. Haha
So….what was the chick’s friend doing on June 24, 2001?
I don’t know! She left shortly after so it’ll always be a mystery :)
Uhhh….I was 11, going on 12. So, I had just finished up the most dramatic 5th grade experience ever. We had 4 boys in our class, the rest of us were girls and oh, my lord. I bet our teacher was thrilled he was retiring after that year. I probably went to summer camp in June, as I always did. But…I can’t remember if that was the year I did the backpacking trip or horse camp. If it was the backpacking trip I ended up having scarlet fever. If it was horseback riding I got kicked off my horse and trampled, because my friend was riding a horse that my horse had a beef with. I actually loved summer camp minus those two terrible experiences. I was probably super nervous to be going to middle school, too. So, thankful all of that is done though!
Well you just can’t be left alone, can you? :)
On that day I was 21. I woke up at 6 am. Got my almost 10 month old a bottle of soy formula (dairy allergy). Got us dressed and ready for church. After church we went home where I did my daily update on my blog. I’d been blogging daily for 2 years at that point. We went to one of my sisters house to hang out and then made dinner for our family that lived locally. After dinner & Sunday night movie I took my little one home. He went to bed and I dialed into AOL to troll people, my favorite sour ce of entertainment back then.. I went to bed at 11:30 because I had work the next morning at 9 am. I managed a retail beef store and the business side of a cattle ranch.
A bonus 24 June fact, though 3 years later, I quit blogging. One of my readers took the time to find the address of the apartment I had just moved to. Creepy middle aged man randomly showed telling me he’s a big fan of my blog was not cool.
ACK!! Yes, exactly why I’m anonymous here – the internet is full of weirdos! Sucks he had to ruin it for you – you were on a good streak!
On that day I was 21, living in the basement of a ghetto house in Salt Lake City going to the University of Utah. I was studying film production, thinking I’d be the next Stanley Kubrick. I worked the bar at Chili’s, which actually was a pretty cool job as my first bartender experience. I met a lot of cool people, and heard a lot of cool stories.
I had very little money, but also very few bills. Fast forward 15 years. I’m now married with 2 kids. I’m an Aerospace Engineer (yeah, the film production didn’t work out too well). I have very little debt, just student loans that should be paid off within a year. I am a stock market investor who now gains his thrills from reading annual reports and seeing words like leverage, intrinsic value, debt/credit cycle, etc. It’s been quite a ride these last 15 years.
Haha…. beautiful.
I was an assistant team leader in a financial call centre, earning £6ph, 35 hours pw plus any overtime I could get. Saving hard in preparation for starting uni that September. Worked with a young man who later became a 5 year relationship.
Now, I’ve just completed my final exam for a p/t degree in a totally different subject. I have a salaried job with no over time available for a charity I believe in. I am in a long term relationship with a not so young anymore man with whom I have a forever house. We also have more coming in each month than I saved that whole summer – although expenses are a lot more than the £100pw board money to my mum!
I was 11 and probably up to no good. Crazy that 2001 is 15 years ago…
I was finishing up my first year in a job where I worked 80 hours a week and did night school for another 40. Plus I was dating my then girlfriend now wife. Both of us were in year 1 of our careers, on this day we would have been saying “only 1 week left of work before were off for the summer” Funny thing is we said the same thing today. Haha. I guess some things don’t change.
With Brexit I wonder if in another 15 years we will be saying “Man I wished I had invested when the market dipped” or “I’m happy I got in” or something else. Time will tell. Great post J, thanks for the reminder. :)
Hell yeah dude!! If I had a pile of cash right now I’d totally throw it all in and let it ride… If the whole market crashes for real there are worst things to worry about than investments!
I’m sure I was packing. We moved to our current home in July 2001.
2001 was also the year we really started getting serious about money and planning for the future. I was working part-time at three different hospitals so I could work around my husband’s schedule and avoid paying for daycare. I joined the pension plan at work and we both started regularly contributing to our RRSPs. We bought term life insurance and made a will.
Now, house will be paid for next month. We only have a 19 year old left at home, daycare has not been an issue for many years and I work a full-time Monday to Friday job. The value of my pension and our RRSP accounts have steadily grown over the years, We have 5 years left on the 20 year term insurance policy we bought in 2001. And our will is seriously out-of-date :-) Updating it is something we have not got around to, right now my sister’s ex-husband is still my executor! In 2001 he was the most money-savvy person I knew. He may still be money-savvy but has not been married to my sister since 2009!
Haha….
Congrats on almost having the house paid off in full! 15 years is quite the accomplishment!
In June 2001, I was finishing my long distance high school courses from Texas Tech since we just got back from living in Argentina, I was 2-3 months from starting college, was 4 months from meeting my now-husband, and was a complete hormonal, emo, 18 year old. :-)
Just finished my 4th year teaching in an Eskimo village on an island in the Berring Sea. Headed into The big city of Nome to celebrate.
Did not expect to hear that this morning, haha…
I was still in elementary. I was probably in grade 5. That was too long and I completely forgot what things that made me busy.
I was 21. Going through a long, drawn out break-up with my first boyfriend. I was also going to college and working part-time as a hostess at a Mexican restaurant, if I remember correctly.
I was also probably living at home with my parents, but since I was only working part-time making $7.50/hr I was stupidly taking out student loans to cover college and probably a car payment.
Doh!
Love the story. It is funny that this date played such a key part of your life and molding you into the person you are now. It seems like you have always had the itch to work , build yourself, and keep on hustling!
While I can’t say for certain, I was probably at my mom’s house nervously practicing the Torah portions for my upcoming Bar Mitzvah! Yes, I was only 12 (about to turn 13) back on June 24th 2001! Let’s just say I NAILED IT when I got up on stage.
Bert
Haha… I have no idea what that is, but totally wish I could have been there to witness it :)
I was 6 years old 15 years ago.. I would imagine I was coming up with a convoluted scheme to get my older brother in trouble ;)
But thank you for sharing your post. It’s an embodiment that just with work and consistency, anything is possible! That’s what I love about it, whether it’s relationships, career advancement, or reaching financial independence!
You’re so young!! And so smart for reading $$$ blogs!!! :)
Just trying to continuously learn my way!
Wow, that was a big summer for me! I had just graduated high school a few weeks earlier. I had planned on traveling in Europe for 3-6 months with the $8,000 I saved while working in high school. But instead I broke up with my boyfriend that I was living with and went to bible college out of state. I bought a sweet 5th wheel camper and lived in it as “student housing”. 7 years later I moved to Europe, so still got my traveling in. =)
Fascinating!
It was a bit of a U turn. =) There were a few people more than a bit supersized. One friend very sweetly pointed out that I wasn’t exactly “bible college material.” =) True! I’ve always had a lot of fun in life, and high school was no exception. =)
I was teaching, working on my Masters degree, and raising two kids (on an extremely tight budget) as a single parent. Out of the approximately $9000 it cost to get my Masters, $7000 came from scholarships and fellowships. It always amazes me that people think they don’t have time to apply for a scholarship–where else can you make $500–$2000 for essentially two hours of work??
As a side note, it’s interesting to read the responses from everyone (especially the innocence of the younger readers), and to know that about three months later our lives would be forever altered by 9-11.
I know :( So freaky….
June 24, 2001?
My wife and I were anticipating our trip to Hawaii for our 20th wedding anniversary, and I had just landed a new gig as a high school counselor, so I was going over senior transcripts, counting credits and looking at graduation plans. Fun Fun!!!
Not a real exciting life, but we sure enjoyed Hawaii!!! Hard to believe that it’s been 15 years already.
Thanks, J., for reminding me that I’m getting old. :-D
You can always count on me :)
I had just finished up my Junior yr of high school. I was also working a pretty boring summer job at City Hall.
Just moved to San Francisco after escaping NYC prison! In corporate housing. Didn’t know a soul, and was on a new adventure.
Slummed it in a really crappy apartment for 1 year too. LOVE SF and the West Coast. I don’t think I can ever leave.
June 24, 2001: Turning 10 :)
Probably had about $400 in my piggy bank/pencil box with an eel sticker that said “electrifying” because it was shocking how much money I had! haha I was such a nerd ;) But somehow I was a natural saver, and it’s served me well over the past 15 years!
You win the comment of the day, haha…
Are you *shocked*? ;)
I was a computer programmer in my 12th year of a career at a National Laboratory when I saw that issue of the Weekly World News at the register in a supermarket. I bought it and it hung in my office until I retired last May. Started selling off my collection of toys and collectibles shortly after retirement and the Y2K scare issue of Weekly World News sold on eBay for $14.95 in January. Not a great return on my investment but it was cool that it sold at all.
Hah! That’s awesome!
And congrats on the retirement :)