J. Money – Break Free From the Crowd to Make Better Financial Decisions

<p><strong>BIO:</strong> J. Money is an award-winning personal finance blogger. He’s founded several popular projects over the past decade, including Budgets Are Sexy and Rockstar Finance.</p><p><strong>STORY: </strong>J went looking for a 2-bedroom apartment to rent in 2007. He got lost and ended up buying a $350,000 house on a whim 48 hours later, with no idea of what he was getting into. A few months later, the property market went bust, so he could not sell his house. J has always been a drifter and buying a house that he could not sell saw him get stuck in a place he did not enjoy living in for seven years.</p><p><strong>LEARNING:</strong> Do not do things just because others are doing it; try to shape your lifestyle according to your dreams. You could make more money by being a renter than a homeowner because there is no guarantee you’ll sell the house for a profit.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-center"><strong>“There is no shame in renting. Take your money and invest it in the stock market.”</strong></p><p class="ql-align-center">J. Money</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h2><strong>Guest profile</strong></h2><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmoneyyyyyy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>J. Money</strong></a> is an award-winning personal finance blogger, a daddy of 3, and mega-fan of the Personal Finance space online. He’s founded a number of popular projects over the past decade, including Budgets Are Sexy and Rockstar Finance, and is now curating the best articles from around the community at All-Star Money—a project in partnership with The Motley Fool. You can find his entire story<a href="http://jmoney.biz/story" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p><h2><strong>Worst investment ever</strong></h2><p>When J got engaged, he felt that the next thing on his life’s checklist was buying a home. But at first, they decided to rent a one or two-bedroomed house.</p><h3><strong>Finding a home by sheer accident</strong></h3><p>One day, as the couple was apartment hunting, they got los