My Top Ten Financial Reasons to Be Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving Day. My Wealth Builder wishes that everyone has much to be thankful for this year. I wrote my first top ten list in 2006. Here are my top ten “financial” areas of thanks for 2012.

Number 10 - No credit card debt. As regular readers of My Wealth Builder know, we use credit cards only for convenience and pay them off each month. So we are thankful for this every year. (Read more about using cash or credit.)

Number 9 - No car debt.  We decided to pay cash our most recent vehicles.

Number 8 - No mortgage. We paid off our mortgage on May 20, 2009.  Although our house is worth about 20% less than we paid for it, I'm still glad we have no mortgage.

Number 7 - Have good health insurance. My company offers health insurance to early retirees that is comparable to the insurance that I had as an employee.  It does cost a little more than for employees and the premiums have been going up each year.

Number 6 – Cars running well.  Our cars are 9-1/2 years old with only one major repair, new discs for my truck's brakes.  We do all the scheduled maintenance of oil changes and major tuneups every 30,000 miles.  I expect we'll get another 3-5 years from our vehicles

Number 5 - Maximizing tax benefits. Working as a seasonal part time tax preparer has helped us has provided significant savings since we were able to maximize both our deductions and tax credits.

Number 4 - Funding our college savings. We have funded our daughter’s 529 account every year since we adopted her in 2005.

Number 3 - No major unexpected house, auto or healthcare costs occurred that required use of our emergency fund or any of our insurances. This was good since we have insurance to primarily protect our wealth and give us peace of mind.

Number 2 - Survived the Great Recession. I retired in October 2007, just before the start of the Great Recession.  Although our retirement savings took a major hit, we have recovered a significant portion, though not all of the loss.

And my Number 1 reason for being thankful is - Staying healthy. On average, healthier people are wealthier. Several studies have shown a positive correlation between state of health and amount of wealth. The University of Michigan published a study about this relationship in 1996. Yahoo! recently published an article on a new study by the British Medical Journal that reconfirmed the findings.

Have a happy, safe, and healthy Thanksgiving holiday,

Super Saver

Photo Credit: morgueFile.com, Malinda Welte

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC