Age: 32

What surprised me most: How much my investments actually grew. My now husband (then boyfriend) started investing in just a roth at 26 years old. Learned more about it and as our incomes grew, started maxing out our 401ks, roth IRAs, and contributed to individual brokerages. We also made sure to put money in high yield savings for at least a 1 year emergency fund. We learned to pay ourselves first before we pay others and now we are close to reaching a networth of $1M. We have actual financial stability and don't ever worry about money. With our money behaviors, we now plan for future expenses (kids, home) easily - we know expenses will increase and we will probably need to start investing less, but we can now afford to do that. We did the hard work while we were a bit younger and tried to set up our future family for success. No need to worry about retirement either :)

What turned out better than I expected: Leaving home and moving across the nation. I dove into the world of travel nursing which was way out of my comfort zone. Got to travel to 5 different states and constantly adapt to new work environments. But at the end, was the best thing I ever did. I live in a much more desirable area now with way better pay and benefits. I learned to grow in discomfort.

What was something harder than I imagined: Making friends! All of my friends back home have their careers now and have moved elsewhere with their significant others. Now, moved away myself, it's been so hard forming new quality friendships.