[aigel]

I don't think I have any "best investments". I have always been very conservative in terms of taking risks, so that also means no crazy stock I bought took off. But buying a house soon after graduation, before things went nuts in CA, was a very good investment. It is my foot in the door in CA. If I had to do it now, it'd be very ugly. I can't buy a second house even though the first one already pays for itself when I rent it out.

On cars I have never driven junk but also never spent a lot of money in terms of depreciation and this has saved me a lot over the years. I always buy cash and the nicer vehicles I generally buy at just over 100k miles and drive to 200k+.

I finally can see the end of the tunnel, i.e. if I lose my job tomorrow, I would be fine for quite a while as a stay at home dad on my wife's moderate income. I have to remind myself how little I owned in grad school and how much of a good time I could have just wrenching on cars, fishing and exercising. No reason not to go back to that mode once the kids are out of the house.

G