There’s a Money Genie over at Adam’s blog today, and he’s been so kind as to lend him to us! A true gentlemen indeed. Now, this genie isn’t your ordinary genie, but rather a financially-savvy one! So don’t try and ask it to bring you hot women or better looks or anything like that because it won’t work ;)

Before I continue though, I should spell out two things here. The first, this genie is not real (sorry, folks). The second, I don’t really believe in wishing for pasts to be different when it comes to this sorta stuff. Call me old-school, but I seriously believe the only way we can be where we are today is by experiencing and learning from all those boneheaded moves we’ve come to hate. So I’d have to tell that genie to go F off if he tried to wipe away my knowledge at the same time.

That being said, it’s still fun as hell to think about ;) Plus, you never know who you may be helping by listing these out! That’s not to say high school or college students would actually *listen* to us all here, but the advice is still free for the pickin’. So, I’ll go first. Although I warn you there’s nothing too exciting about my 3 choices. I luckily never got into much trouble over the years, so for me it’s more about lost opportunities than past mistakes. At least for my #1 and #3. Number 2 (haha…) is a toss up:

1. I wish I contributed to my 401(k) from work day #1: It’s no secret I’m a HUGE fan of 401ks, I just wish I paid more attention to them my first 4 years out into the workforce. It was the only thing my dad harped on, only problem being I just didn’t care. Lesson learned Daddy-O!
2. I wish we didn’t buy a house when we did: This isn’t to say I’m against home ownership or anything, cuz I’m not, but more that we should have waited a bit longer. At the time I was in “I can do anything” mode and disregarded the fact that I like to live care-free and move around every other year. There’s a helluva lot of pros that come with home ownership, but deep down I’d still rather be renting.
3. I wish I saved 10% of my earnings “for real”: For Real in that I xfer it into my savings account, and I leave it. Not I xfer it in, then take it back out when I over budget, then put it back in 3 weeks later… and then take it back out again, and then put it back in again ;) You all know what I’m saying.

Okay, so now your turn! What 3 wishes would you ask for to better your financial situation? And remember, you get to take those lessons learned along with you ;)