Poll:How much did luck help you FIRE?

[calmloki]

Hmm. My gal's favorite artist is Tom Petty, Mr. Whiney Voice. She doesn't tire of singing this song around me.

YouTube - Misheard Lyrics of Tom Petty - You Got Lucky.wmv

Yep. Just got lucky babe.

 

[kcowan]

I consider myself lucky. I had a load of debt in 1981 when the rates got to 20+% and that converted me. Since then I have worked away at eliminating all debt and currently carry none. Learning that lesson 31 years ago was a fortunate event.

I also had an insight into what jobs were good for me or not and made wise choices. But in the final analysis, I was extremely lucky. In fact, I presented to 3rd year Engineering students about for several years about how the education just prepares you to make wise choices. And that if anyone tells you they are following their grand plan, they have justified that after the fact!

It struck a responsive chord because by the second year, there was standing room only.

 

[Westernskies]

Won the birth lottery, it's all been blind luck since then...if so, I could have made poor personal choices, had issues with crime, drugs, alcohol, made a different career choice, worked less, saved less, and spent more, and it would have all worked out the same.

It seems like the harder I worked, the luckier I got, and the more opportunities I was exposed to...some worked out well, I learned from the others. Lucky?

Maybe, maybe not.

 

[Midpack]

Luck was a factor for sure.

1) DW and I were born in free, democratic and wealthy countries.
2) DW and I have been in relatively good health all of our lives (and even though I retired for health reason, I won't complain).
3) Our parents were not poor (but nor rich either).
4) DW and I were born with reasonably good intelligence.

Pretty bold to answer none of it IMO given the factors above. I answered the last choice - you make your own luck. We got college degrees (lucky our parents could provide), got good jobs, stayed healthy (no bad luck), saved & invested well, lived below our means (luckily both our parents set an example we followed as adults) almost from the very start.

The only factor that I personally consider outright "luck" in my story was having MegaCorp freeze my pension (worth about $1K/mo now with no COLA) and take away retiree health care when I was about 40. Really forced me to assume greater responsibility for our net worth more seriously, until then I thought we'd be pretty well set thanks to MegaCorp. If not for that "luck," we would not be FI today I am sure...

 

[Moemg]

I really made my own way . The only luck I had is that I woke up at 32 and decided to get serious about saving . I plugged away for forty years and always lived below my means .

 

[Alan]

I consider myself extremely lucky. I met DW2B in 1973 when I was 18, and hit the jackpot. Seriously. I had talent and drive, but suffered badly from the 3 H's. (Hormones, Hooch and Horsepower). If not for her, I'm not sure where I would be. It is not so much about who she is, but who I am when I am with her.

 

[Westernskies]

I consider myself extremely lucky. I met DW2B in 1973 when I was 18, and hit the jackpot. Seriously. I had talent and drive, but suffered badly from the 3 H's. (Hormones, Hooch and Horsepower). If not for her, I'm not sure where I would be. It is not so much about who she is, but who I am when I am with her.

Good thing, 'cause that urinating in the sink trick might have gotten out of hand...

 

[Alan]

Good thing, 'cause that urinating in the sink trick might have gotten out of hand...

Absolutely - once we'd met she taught me to take the dishes out first

 

[Westernskies]

Absolutely - once we'd met she taught me to take the dishes out first

What were you taking out first before that?

 

[NW-Bound]

Well, if one measures success with the typical financial yardstick, I am not filthy rich but doing quite OK with my networth in the low 7-figure range.

Was luck involved? I am sure it was, although my share of luck was not sufficiently adundant to extend to the fate of the start-up companies that I joined. They went bankrupt instead of prospering to the IPO point so that I could cash out and live happily forever after. No luck there, as my friends and I toiled way harder than we ever did at our previous megacorps. In fact, I would have been better financially if I had stayed with the megacorp I left when I was 40.

College education? So many people have that. A well-paid job? I was not paid exceptionally better than coworkers at past megacorps. No stock option for this guy. No lucky windfall from some outperforming stocks either. In fact, I would do much better if I had been simply accumulating Berkshire Hathaway shares in my life. I knew about Buffet, but never spent the time to research and look into buying the stock. I wonder if people would call me lucky if I did that.

In some past posts, I have told about my parents suffering from a couple of "black swans" that practically wiped them out, but they recovered both times by making the right choices. Still, I guess luck allowed the right happenstance to occur to them.

Will I stay lucky to enjoy a long healthy life into my 80s, and then to go to bed one night and to die peacefully in my sleep? I dunno. I am trying to help my luck by keeping my weight and blood pressure low, and by not indulging in risky activities.

 

[vicente solano]

Just sheer luck. I was compulsorily laid off in a massive downsizing of one of our public shipyards.

 

[ERD50]

I chose:

You make your own luck. (I got lucky, but it was only useful because I had already spent years accumulating knowledge and assets that let me take advantage of it.)

And I think the line from your OP is very important:

having the resources, strength, and knowledge to take advantage of that lucky break weren't important, too

And not just 'lucky breaks', but opportunities. I can't tell you how many people I worked with that passed up golden opportunities. You'd explain it to them, and they are just "well, I don't know...."

It would be easy to vote "some of both", that's true also, and depending on my mood, and frame of reference, "None of it was Luck", might get my vote. Many of us can point to some good luck that helped, but since I don't dwell on the negative, I could probably make a long list of bad luck that held me back if I thought about it. Maybe enough to offset the 'good luck'? I know plenty of people who dwell on every little bad thing that happened to them (that they let happen, usually), and to them, that is the "reason" they never succeeded. Heck, get over it, move on, learn from it, get to work!

-ERD50

 

[gratefuled]

The #1 reason I was able to retire at 36 is that I learned to recognize and act on opportunity when it came my way. So: made my own luck, but very humble about it because it's a bit of a chicken-and-egg proposition. While the opportunities originated beyond me, they would've passed by if I hadn't been alert.

 

[Tractor guy]

I voted some of both.
I'll take personal credit for LBYM, working hard, and pursuing jobs with more responsibility (and risk) that led to more pay and stock options.

I don't take credit for being blessed with the ability to be an engineer and my parents willingness to fund an education that made it all possible.

Looking back, the biggest piece of luck was being denied a job at GM when I interviewed them in 1978. If I'd taken this, I probably would have stayed until they laid me off 2 years ago at age 58 with no medical and the company stock worthless. Instead, I worked for a different megacorp and retired with medical benefits, a pension, and stock options that are significantly in the money. I can't take credit for this smart decision. It was luck.

Lorne

 

[Martha]

Not many are expressing thanks for their nature. I think that this board is filled with lots of people who by nature are smart and highly disciplined. Lucky folks all! Character (and circumstance) is destiny. I can't answer the poll because the choices don't fit with how I think how I and other people end up where they are.

 

[ziggy29]

Usually, luck is where preparation meets opportunity.

There are exceptions, of course, but most people who are commonly "lucky" probably exemplify the statement above. Having said that,it feels like the ability to FIRE increasingly depends on having picked the right occupation and perhaps the right type of employer as well as your own financial discipline.

 

[W2R]

Usually, luck is where preparation meets opportunity.

There are exceptions, of course, but most people who are commonly "lucky" probably exemplify the statement above. Having said that,it feels like the ability to FIRE increasingly depends on having picked the right occupation and perhaps the right type of employer as well as your own financial discipline.

Not only the right occupation and employer, but also the right spouse, the right location, and so many other factors. In fact, I think you could generalize and say that the ability to FIRE depends on all of one's choices in life as well as on one's financial discipline.

 

[HFWR]

I am where I am because I'm awesome!

Charlie Sheen

 

[MichaelB]

Not many are expressing thanks for their nature. I think that this board is filled with lots of people who by nature are smart and highly disciplined. Lucky folks all! Character (and circumstance) is destiny.

Perhaps forum members are like the children of Lake Wobegon - all above average.

I think the results of the poll fit right in with American cultural mythology about prosperity and individualism. It is self-satisfying to associate individual choice and personal responsibility with positive outcomes. There is no doubt that these things are related but it does disregard all those who work hard and choose well but still have less beneficial outcomes. It also is self-rewarding in that it attributes poor outcomes also to choice (poor) and effort (inadequate) and therefore relieves the social and moral obligation to contribute and help the less fortunate.

 

[Westernskies]

I am where I am because I'm awesome!

Charlie Sheen

I knew that was you, HFWR!

Too funny...

 

[Meadbh]

I voted option #4.

Born to intelligent, hardworking and frugal parents: luck!
Took advantage of parents' desire and willingness to fund education: savvy!
Chose well paying career track: luck!
Realized need to plan long term future: savvy!
Went to great lengths to develop successful career: effort!
Kept abreast of world events: savvy!
Bought modest home in great location: savvy!
Paid off mortgage in 18 months: savvy!
LBYM x 20 years: savvy!
Realized in 1991 that Japanese economy had peaked: savvy!
Education in finance: effort!
Inheritance in 2005: luck!
Sold inherited property in Ireland close to peak of overheated market: savvy!
Invested proceeds of inheritance in carefully evaluated sound financial institutions: savvy!
Did not flinch during 2008-2009 market meltdown: savvy!

I could go on. Next hope: sell modest home in great location in seller's market. Luck!

 

[Westernskies]

. It also is self-rewarding in that it attributes poor outcomes also to choice and effort and therefore relieves the social and moral obligation to contribute and help the less fortunate.

So, do you feel that we have a "social and moral obligation" to financially penalize those who made good choices and put forth the effort required for a good outcome to subsidize those who didn't? It's like the fable about the ant and the grasshopper, and you always appear to be wringing your hands over the plight of the grasshoppers... please tell me I'm wrong.

(I'm not referring to those who are physically or mentally disabled, I truly believe they need and deserve our help; but these folks aren't part of the social engineering iceberg, IMO.)

 

[SunsetSail]

So, do you feel that we have a "social and moral obligation" to financially penalize those who made good choices and put forth the effort required for a good outcome to subsidize those who didn't? It's like the fable about the ant and the grasshopper, and you always appear to be wringing your hands over the plight of the grasshoppers... please tell me I'm wrong.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. This social and moral obligation you write about was tried before. Maybe it wasn't done at the 'height' of capitalism, so once we become more evolved it will work next time.

 

[youbet]

So, do you feel that we have a "social and moral obligation" to financially penalize those who made good choices and put forth the effort required for a good outcome to subsidize those who didn't?

So, do you feel that the joy of hoarding yet another unneeded penny to the stash exceeds the joy of sharing the penny with someone who truly has needs?

 

[Onward]

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

I don't think the guy who said that would approve of any of our ill-gotten gains!