At what age did you become a saver

I've always been a saver. Modest savings in my 20's, more in my 30's, and then way more (and increasingly until retiring) at about age 40 after having our Corp pensions frozen and retiree health care eliminated entirely. In retrospect, it was probably the best thing that could have happened when it did...
 
Midpack said:
I've always been a saver. Modest savings in my 20's, more in my 30's, and then way more (and increasingly until retiring) at about age 40 after having our Corp pensions frozen and retiree health care eliminated entirely. In retrospect, it was probably the best thing that could have happened when it did...
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Wouldn't be surprised if we both worked for the same Megacorp.

I'm thinking that most of us who are here started saving earlier in our lives than the average person who won't ER. In retrospect, I don't recall that my older sister ever saved up for anything. As soon as money hit her hands, she figured out a way to spend it as if there would be no tomorrow.

She is semi-retired but struggling.
 
After my divorce in 1983-4. Then it was "Where do I go from here?" and I wanted my own home. Saved the down payment in 18 months and after that it was just keeping enough in savings to fix stuff that broke for several years, and oh, some furniture would be nice.

But I also had a pension coming, so I didn't feel the need to save enough to live on after retirement.

At a young age I spent my money wisely on comic books and candy. Wish I still had the comic books. Would probably have flunked the marshmallow test.
 
I never had any debt, but never really saved until I got married when I was 29. My wife has been a saver all her life and she showed me the light.
 
I never was able to save money (and never thought about it!) until I started working at corporate jobs at age 40, where there was a 401K. I was not making much money and had to dress well at work so a lot of $ went for essentials. But when I FINALLY got real money - at age 47 or 48? - I saved as much as I could. When I turned 50 I started working for my last employer and was paid well - and started really investing and maxing out the 401k and doing other savings as well.

Now I'm in the spending phase but I'm really comfortable about it. I don't budget. I buy what I want and right now I want a lot of travel because I'm not sure how long my energy or health will last. It's a little freaky but since the stock market has been very good to me (or I was good with it?) my assets keep increasing. :D
 
Arifriekinel said:
Boyfriend and I have always been huge gamers (We met because he was the manager of the video game store I frequented) But luckily our game purchases are now paying off in the form of resale for more than double their original cost :D
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Wow - good job on managing to make a profit on a truly enjoyable hobby! :)

For the longest time in High School (early-mid 90s), I agonized over the temptation of pissing away $600 on a NeoGeo system. I would go to the Babbage's in the nearby mall every so often, and steal glances at the NeoGeo box hanging on the wall behind the counter, as I made my way in to look at the various computer and entertainment system games they had.

Thankfully, one of my fellow classmates who also was eyeing up a NeoGeo talked me out of it one day, when we both finally realized that spending that much cash on just the system (plus like over $100 for EACH game - and that was back in the early 90s!) just didn't make sense when it won't be used for THAT much playing time and enjoyment.

Since my high school days, my software splurges have been far more controlled, and limited to Civilization III, and Diablo II/III. :)

I was shocked to see a story last year about the NeoGeo system, and it still being available for like $600 somewhere, but I'm surprised that it would still have a market for it, given how graphics are these days on the other systems.

obgyn65 said:
I have always been a saver. If given the Marshmallow test at any stage in my childhood, I would never have eaten mine. :)
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LOL - yes, I would have definitely also squirreled away the marshmallows. Heck, even in my 30s currently, when I would go to my grandma's or parents' house for dinner, for both dietary and fiscal reasons, I'd simply eat just 1 pork chop or cut my steak in half, and wrap up the rest to take home for lunch the next day. It wasn't lost on my grandma, who was pleased to see at least one of her 4 grandkids take after her and grandpa in the area of looking ahead.
 
Third Grade. I had saved up $25.00 and kept after my mother to take me to the bank to open a savings account. Money was scarce as a child and I saved what little I earned through odd jobs. I would often look at the passbook and marvel that they actually gave me money for keeping my money safe. I kept that account through college and my first job. Still have the passbook!
 
Age 12.

My grandfather gave me 25 cents for every dollar that I saved. The amount was determined every Jan 1 when my bank book would be examined.

After a few years my balance grew and we mutually ended the project. It was fine while I had a paper route but grew substantially when I started cutting lawns and shovelling snow.

At the same time I received some great words of advice....

'take care of the nickels and dimes and the dollars will take care of themselves'
 
I started saving for retirement when I was 24. I hated my job so much, but I was already too far down the path into a high-paying career to switch. I decided to buy my way out by saving and investing aggressively. During my first month on the job, I decided I would retire by age 45.
 
In my twenties. Paid my way through college and continued to save from there. We had a few lean years, where it wasn't possible to save as much, but we still saved. I've never lived paycheck to paycheck, even with lower paying jobs.
 
As far back as I can remember. My parents opened a custodial passbook savings account at our local bank when I was no more than 8 or 9 years old, probably younger. My uncle had bought me one share of Ford Motor Co. and every quarter they mailed me a dividend check (less than $1) and my mom would take me to the bank to deposit it. My grandparents would also mail me checks every so often (birthdays, for example) so my mom took me to the bank to deposit those, too. It was a good way to see the value of saving, as on some trips the bank added some interest to the account which I thought was cool - earning money without doing anything LOL!

My mom also took me to the bank to get an occasional money order drawn from my account to buy something I wanted through the mail. She did this so I could see how money can leave my account and the value of saving up to buy things.

When I was 16 I got my first job but I opened up a separate account under my name to deposit my paychecks. It was nice having a steady income stream, even if it were only $60 or $70 every two weeks, still a decent amount of money as a teenager circa 1980. This money would eventually go towards my college expenses.

These actions set the foundation for my later saving tendencies. In fact, I had forgotten about the custodial account when I hit my early 20s and it still had about $4,000 so I used it to pay down my student loans before the grace period had ended. The interest rate on those loans was 7% or 8% so getting rid of much of it was good for my budget and paying off the rest of it 18 months later.

After paying off the student loans I began saving up to buy my apartment then rebuild my savings to buy a better car and eventually pay off the mortgage in 9 years, a big step toward my ER in 2008.

I do credit greatly the foundation years in becoming a natural saver.
 
My parents opened a passbook savings account in my name when I was still a toddler. I still own that account though, the passbook feature is now gone. But I kept my old passbook as a souvenir. I must have done a good job saving my pennies because I gained a reputation for being tight with my money at an early age.
 
I'm not going to count my savings at age 12 when I started babysitting for $.50/hr. My mom made me save 75% of what I brought home. Any tips were pocketed before that. ;)

DH and I started saving shortly after college when we both landed corporate jobs - a little less than 50% of our net pay and we've been savers ever since (even when we became a single income household in '87) maxing out his 401k, paying off mortgages years early, yadda, yadda, yadda.

DH will taking ER at the end of next month at age 56 which is what we've been saving for. :)
 
early 30's I think. A friend turned me on to stocks around 1982 and I started to put a few bucks into mutual funds. Of course it turned out to be a great time to start. But I'm glad I spend anything and everything that came in during my 20's. You never have that time back again and I sure did have fun!
 
When I was really young, I learned to keep my eye out for dropped change on the ground. I went to a day camp for kids all summer. Once a week we would be bussed over to a nearby public pool for swimming. That was a real treasure area. :LOL:
A neighbor would pay 5 cents for a dozen nightcrawlers to sell at his mom-n-pop store down by the Hudson River. My brothers and I would soak the front yard and wait for the worms to come up. I got really good at sneaking up on (with a flashlight) and grabbing the worms.
Next paid jobs were weeding another neighbor's garden, shoveling the sidewalk and front porch while my brothers did the driveway, entering baked goods in the local 4H fair and getting money prizes for blue ribbons (my very first checks), raking leaves, etc. Babysitting in the afternoons followed once I turned 13, for the same neighbor with the garden.
I put all my found coins into a piggy bank, and handed over all earned money to my Mom for a passbook savings account. :)
 
obgyn65 said:
I have always been a saver. If given the Marshmallow test at any stage in my childhood, I would never have eaten mine. :)
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I have always been a saver, too. If I had been in the marshmallow test, I would have waited for both marshmallows and then tried to sell them to the other kids. :)
 
I was 7 when my dad was injured at work. Mom and my brothers and I worked picking green beans that summer. I earned about 50 cents a day. That is the first time I remember money being important, hard to earn and I saved almost every cent.

I have never believed in waste and always wanted the most for my money. Even when I spent a nickle it had to stretch so instead of a candy bar I got sunflower seeds or a tootsie roll since they lasted more than a few seconds.

I saved $50 before I was 18 and had never had a real job. Babysitting only paid .25-.35 cents and hour and wasn't frequent.

I spent it all leaving home so even earning 1.25 while paying rent I started a new savings account.

Then I married a spender, I tried hard to save, hid money a few times but whenever I got ahead he would find out and spend it.

I divorced in 1984 and since then have saved over 700K. Compounding is great, I make as much off investments as wages now and still save 23K in my 401K and 6.5K in my ROTH and get profit sharing of around 9K so my net worth went up about 100K last year. I am up about 65K so far this year.

I will be 65 tomorrow and have been on vacation at the beach the last few days. Wonderful to take a nap whenever I want. We have to still get up early because of low tide and wanting to get razor clams and oysters but back at camp and clean the catch then naps, WIFI and cable TV. Camping is more fun in a camper than a tent.

I am thinking of retiring but doing OMY first so maybe in January 2014 if not sooner.
 
I remember my Dad taking me to the little country bank to open a savings account when I was about 9. I had just started to work in our soybean fields cutting weeds. (For the non-country folk, that entailed walking 1/4 mile rows of soybeans, taking four rows at a time and cutting the weeds out. Weed seeds in the final harvest decreased what the elevator paid per load). Dad paid me .05 per row and I could cover four rows each one way trip. I kept a ledger and gave Dad the total rows each week.
In the Fall, I would pick up ears of corn that the corn picker dropped. I don't remember what I was paid for that. Probably not much since corn is pretty heavy and I didn't last long.
The money I made was mine to spend any way I saw fit. I learned the great thing called "interest" the bank added to my savings. I also learned the hard lesson of "when you spend it, it's gone until you earn more". For me, that was until the early summer or fall.
What are country kids to do now with Roundup killing the weeds and corn pickers that are so doggone efficient?? ;-)
 
old woman said:
I was 7 when my dad was injured at work. Mom and my brothers and I worked picking green beans that summer. I earned about 50 cents a day. That is the first time I remember money being important, hard to earn and I saved almost every cent.

I have never believed in waste and always wanted the most for my money. Even when I spent a nickle it had to stretch so instead of a candy bar I got sunflower seeds or a tootsie roll since they lasted more than a few seconds.

I saved $50 before I was 18 and had never had a real job. Babysitting only paid .25-.35 cents and hour and wasn't frequent.

I spent it all leaving home so even earning 1.25 while paying rent I started a new savings account.

Then I married a spender, I tried hard to save, hid money a few times but whenever I got ahead he would find out and spend it.

I divorced in 1984 and since then have saved over 700K. Compounding is great, I make as much off investments as wages now and still save 23K in my 401K and 6.5K in my ROTH and get profit sharing of around 9K so my net worth went up about 100K last year. I am up about 65K so far this year.

I will be 65 tomorrow and have been on vacation at the beach the last few days. Wonderful to take a nap whenever I want. We have to still get up early because of low tide and wanting to get razor clams and oysters but back at camp and clean the catch then naps, WIFI and cable TV. Camping is more fun in a camper than a tent.

I am thinking of retiring but doing OMY first so maybe in January 2014 if not sooner.
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Enjoyed your post. Thanks!
 
But at some stage you need to eat yours. :) Although I have been a saver all my life, I also make sure to spend some money on those things that are important to me. It's all about finding the right balance.
daylatedollarshort said:
I have always been a saver, too. If I had been in the marshmallow test, I would have waited for both marshmallows and then tried to sell them to the other kids. :)
Click to expand...
 
old woman said:
I was 7 when my dad was injured at work. Mom and my brothers and I worked picking green beans that summer. I earned about 50 cents a day. That is the first time I remember money being important, hard to earn and I saved almost every cent.

I have never believed in waste and always wanted the most for my money. Even when I spent a nickle it had to stretch so instead of a candy bar I got sunflower seeds or a tootsie roll since they lasted more than a few seconds.

I saved $50 before I was 18 and had never had a real job. Babysitting only paid .25-.35 cents and hour and wasn't frequent.

I spent it all leaving home so even earning 1.25 while paying rent I started a new savings account.

Then I married a spender, I tried hard to save, hid money a few times but whenever I got ahead he would find out and spend it.

I divorced in 1984 and since then have saved over 700K. Compounding is great, I make as much off investments as wages now and still save 23K in my 401K and 6.5K in my ROTH and get profit sharing of around 9K so my net worth went up about 100K last year. I am up about 65K so far this year.

I will be 65 tomorrow and have been on vacation at the beach the last few days. Wonderful to take a nap whenever I want. We have to still get up early because of low tide and wanting to get razor clams and oysters but back at camp and clean the catch then naps, WIFI and cable TV. Camping is more fun in a camper than a tent.

I am thinking of retiring but doing OMY first so maybe in January 2014 if not sooner.
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You are my hero.
 
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