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Ever find yourself on the fence about whether to jump on an amazing investment—whether it’s going after an advanced degree or buying a vacation home?
By Michele Pearlstein
We wanted to know what investment opportunities grandparents regret not taking earlier in their lives. Looking back over a lifetime of decisions can be daunting, but we asked some grandparents to do just that. Read on…
“I regret never starting a weekly college fund for the kids. When it was time for college, we thought ‘Now how are we going to do this?’ I also wish we had bought more property, but the first thing that comes to mind really is the college fund.”
Marlene, age 57
“I remember my wife and I were down in our earlier years right when I first started my dental practice. She was supporting me…We happened to be near Fort Myers, Florida, near Sanibel Island. There was some property right there. It was just about beach front property. You could buy the lot for $500… That $500 today would have been worth $800,000. We decided it was too expensive at the time for us. I always think of that little piece of property… I regret it every time we go down that way.”
Irvin, age 81
“Not investing in getting my degree earlier in life is my biggest regret. I always have regretted not going to college because I knew not only that I could have done well and learned much, but because it has also held me back in my professional life. I work in the education field and you simply can not advance beyond the role of an assistant without a degree. I hope that getting my degree at this stage will still provide a better chance of advancement professionally but realize looking back how much more beneficial it would have been to have a degree when I was much younger.”
Carol, age 52
“In the old days it was the big corporations like AT&T, Xerox and IBM that had we invested in, we would have made money. This is going back 40 years when the big corporations were guaranteed and safe investments.”
Larry, age 78
“My biggest regret is not buying more life insurance for my kids so that they could have used the money to go to college. Or they could have used the money to get started on their homes.”
Virginia, age 83
