Western Slope homeowners who regularly watch the “Today” show or Fox Business, or who listen to NPR’s “All Things Considered” on the drive home from work may already be familiar with the views of Liz Weston, a regular contributor to ATC and a number of other leading media outlets. Her best-selling book, “Your Credit Score–Your Money & What’s at Stake” is a years-long bestseller, rating 4+ stars on Amazon.

Weston, who is also a best-selling author, frequently unearths practical takes on day-to-day household financial matters. One recent research report appeared in nerdwallet.com under the tantalizing title, “The 3 Biggest Financial Decisions You’ll Ever Make.” Unexpectedly, the momentous choices she revealed aren’t directly financial in nature. They don’t deal with things like opening a savings account or picking stock market winners. Instead, all three are key lifestyle decisions that research shows are directly correlated with financial stability:

  1. Education level. Over the 24-year period from 1990 to 2013, the median net worth of the families studied soared for those highly educated—and dropped for the others. The difference between those who didn’t finish high school and two- or four-year college grads was striking.
  2. Marital status. Married people showed almost double the net worth of those who never wed. Even so, —divorced persons were worse off than never-marrieds for as long as ten years after the split.
  3. Homeownership. The decision to buy and retain a home “can have the biggest impact on your wealth.” By the final year of the study, the gap between the net worth of homeowners and others was $195,000 for the homeowners versus $5,400 for renters.

That these lifestyle choices wind up being crucial financially won’t come as a surprise to Western Slope homeowners. Helping make the most of that decision is where we come in. we do hope you’ll give us a call!