At what age did you become a saver

[rodi]

Mine's a mixed bag.

I had credit card debt until my late 30's. Paying that off was a big change in attitude.

But I also contributed at least 10% to the 401k since my first job out of college. And started a taxable rainy day investment account by my late 20's. ($50/month dollar cost averaged into a mutual fund.)

In my late 30's I met/married my husband. He had ZERO debt. That made me feel guilty - so I cashed out some company stock options (happily, timing it to the historical peak of the stock - it went down dramatically a few months later.) - paid off my car loan and cc debt. Only remaining debt since then is mortgage.

I realized after the fact - that he may have been debt free - but I had a higher net worth. (More savings, more home equity, etc.) Good thing I didn't realize it - paying stuff off was a good move.

Since then, in the past 14 years we've been paying down the mortgage aggressively. (And we had a bigger mortgage, since we live in CA.) Should be debt free next year. Also have been maxing the 401k and catchups. Deferring all this money to the mortgage and 401k have made me much more comfortable with our proposed retirement budget... since it's been a few years of "practice" on the lesser spending.

 

[pb4uski]

I was in my late 20s. I had a job where I traveled a lot and ran my expenses through a personal Diner's Club account. Things were great until I pulled a long project at home and the Diner's Club bills kept coming in but there were no expense reimbursements inflow. I ended up with a $3,000 balance (about 1/5 of a year's gross income at that time) that took me months to pay off. I decided then and there that I would never again carry a credit card balance.

I also remember us wanting to buy a $40,000 condo when we got married and didn't have the $2,000 needed for a down payment. We had negative equity when we married as DW's whopping $10,000 student loan debt exceeded my meager savings. That was when I started saving in earnest. I began by putting the amount needed to maximize the company match in the 401k and added about half of every raise to the 401k contribution until I eventually maxed out.

Funny thing is that today our monthly credit card bill (which is paid in full each month) is about $2,000 - the same as the down payment we didn't have for that condo!

 

[jollystomper]

I started when I was 6. The bank in our neighborhood had kids accounts, I think they used to call them "Christmas Clubs". My parents would take me every week to put in a little money, and the end of the year if you had put in something every week you would also get a bonus that was 10 times what you put in every week (e.g. if you put in $2 a week they would give you a $20 bonus). You could either take the money out at that point, or roll some or all of it into next years program. That lasted up through middle school (which we called "junior high" back them).

I didn't accumulate much, but kept saving though summer jobs in high school it so that by the time I went to college I probably had about $1000. I had to work during college and pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck but always had at least several hundred in savings. I saved the most on my summer job before my senior year, when a weeks pay covered my entire rent for the summer (sharing a house with 2 other friends). I was able to get my savings up to $2000 of thousand but decided to give my parents a break and used a lot of it to cover what they usually contributed for my college bill.

I didn't become serious about saving until I started working. I overhead on a co-worker on a plane trip, who was 28 at the time (I was 22) say how he had worked for 6 years and only had $500 to his name. It shocked me because our pay was pretty good. I started setting savings goals for myself to avoid being in that situation. But I still a little lose with credit - not high card balances. but not paying them off every month, car loans, etc.

I never thought about retirement savings until 401ks became available, and even then it took a couple of older co-workers pushing me for close to a year before I started saving (it just seemed so far away and my Megacorp had a good pension plan at the time ).

DW and I really started focusing on LBYM back in 1990 (age 32), when we saw that, after tracking our spending more closely, our savings had gone done by several thousand, and we had also gotten into more debt. That is when we truly kicked things into high gear.

 

[Sniggle]

I really started through megacorp 401K plan when I entered the workforce in 1987. Outside of the 401K I have not been a great saver....managing my household finances to keep debt free except for the mortgage.

Within the last 10 years I started a Roth IRA, and have ramped that up in the last 4 years.

The 401K savings (typically at a rate between 10% and 15%) really freed me to just worry about day to day living....although in hindsight I wish I had been funding the Roth IRA more aggressively in years past.

 

[aja8888]

I started several times, first around 20 when I invested $50/month in a mutual fund. That became a down payment on a small house in Detroit in the 70's. I started again after a messy California divorce that left me nearly broke in 1990. I started again after some family issues cost me quite a bit. That was 1999. I am OK now with a nest egg near 0.75 mil and three paid for houses.

 

[DeborahB]

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.

And you are, aren't you?

 

[DeborahB]

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.

Congratulations on saving so much, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Hope you eat lots of cake and retire soon. I'll be 65 in June. Hello Medicare.

 

[naggz]

I started saving when I learned about compound interest (thanks dad) when I was 15 - Was working 2 part time jobs + baby sitting in high school.

I forgot about saving (and spent every penny I had) in my late teens when I discovered bars - the drinking age is 18 in Alberta.

Started saving again with my first "career" job at 22.

 

[RobLJ]

Savings

I started saving at 27 when I snagged my first full-time job after grad school, through the 403b that matched 8.5 to my 6.75. Wife also got a job that had a 2/3 match.
After that we saved most (2/3 or more) of her bonuses for kid's college or other needs, usually house repairs but sometimes part small vacations.
Our gains this year so far are 2/3 of my salary so far, and we figure we can live on my salary until SS kicks in for one of us. So we're nearing ER, at least if one of us can work part-time. Amazing. We did get lucky in avoiding the worst of the 2008-9 and 2002 crashes.

Before that I would save for goals, like a stereo, etc., but leaving a cushion.

 

[Grigori]

Age 38. Embarassed it took so long !

I couldn't keep a dollar in my pocket. Plus I thought I had to spend lavishly on dates, or support a girlfriend who didn't work.

I thought the only way to get ahead was to make a lot more money than I made ten years ago.

I had frugal relatives, but thought they were not enjoying life the way they should.
Read "Your Money or You Life", and I had a whole different financial life. I finally realized savings = freedom.

I read "The tightwad gazette" too, and saw that people could really make money stretch.

I've made a hobby of finding ways to stretch money. Cooking at home. Driving cars for more years. Finding simple ways of entertainment like walks and sitting on the beach.

 

[Jack_Pine]

I would say 28. That is when I started the 401k at megacorp. I squandered the first few years of employment.

 

[seraphim]

Started working as a kid and Dad showed me how to start a bank account and saved a bit. After high school, he told me if if I could put myself through college, he'd provide room and board. Otherwise, I worked and paid my share of the bills; which I did for a year. He also insisted I put away so much a into into savings. 10 months later we showed him DWs engagement ring. He asked if I used a credit card, and I told him it was paid for. After determining I had done everything he asked, and that I could still put a ring on layaway for ten months and pay it off, he declared I could obviously handle money. Had enough for two years of college, and got my BS degree in that time. DW and I married, went into the military, and I've always had some worth of direct deposit and pension savings. DW did as well, though she started a full time job a few years later, after I got out of the service. Pensions and savings paid off. Retired Fridat at age 57. DW retired last year.

 

[seraphim]

Oh - and went I entered college, Dad gave me back all the money I had paid him. Said he hadn't needed it, just wanted to teach me there is no free ride in life.