Back from a Thanksgiving weekend today (left early to avoid NY-bound traffic from central PA). Three family dinners left me full of turkey, laughter and some sage advice from my wife's aunt Janine.

Most of the party had died down on Saturday night as the various family members hit the road. I was left with my wife and mother in-law and Janine who is 60 years old. She was telling us about her and her husband Daniel's new house in S. Carolina.

When this place is done it will be a palace. 7,000+ square feet, all of which are to be covered with brazilian cherry wood as well as a two story chimney in the same style. The entire thing is done with French arches. Sounds amazing and I'm hoping to make a trip down to see this when it's done.

As she's rattling off the finer points of the house I'm watching my wife's eyes get starry. "That will be BEAUTIFUL." she says. All the while my financial planning mind is spinning with what must be the incredible cost of this new estate.

Then Janine makes me very happy when she says, "None of this would have happened if we hadn't invested all those years."

She elaborates for me because I have never heard this story, "Daniel's father died when he was 14. They really had nothing. Daniel paid his way through medical school by joining the Army. Even when the kids were born and we lived in a tiny house he always said we had to invest. We had to have discipline. Our whole lives we've worked hard and saved and that's why we can do this."

Now that's about as "Kodak Moment" as it gets for a financial planner. Was that a tear in my eye?

The story couldn't have ended better if I scripted it. All of this led to a nice conversation with my wife about her recent spending on some items that I don't think we needed to spend on. I'm hoping Janine and Daniel's lessons can teach better than my harping.

Hope you all had a great day and gave thanks for your successes.mortgage calculator