What is the single best thing you did to get where you are today?

First thing has to be dumb luck.

Going to college, unlike my siblings.

Dogs instead of cats (just kidding!).

Kids (because DH and I are idiots and would not have socked away a single dollar we might have saved by not having kids, but we did sock it away once we did).
 
Went to medical school, married a (frugal) doctor, 30 years as a federal employee, and so many other things...
 
1) Dumb luck

  • Born at the beginning of the BB
  • Stumbled into a new (and lucrative) field DP/CS/IT
  • Awarded mega-corp stock options which did nothing as I accumulated a lot and increased by a factor of 8 just as they were about to expire.

2) Under our control

  • Never spent more than we earned
  • Never, well almost never, borrowed
  • Small house, junky cars etc
 
1) Chose the right parents. ;-) Got some real estate from them. Sold it at the right (?) time.
2) Went to college (inexpensive in my country)
3) Switched to better paid careers whenever I could, never stopped learning new skills
4) Never married, no kids
5) LBYM, no debt
 
I picked careers that allowed me to save, and provided a cola'd pension. I knew the military would not make me rich, but I would always have a pay check. We lived within this paycheck and saved.
 
Well, I personally do not care if people have no kids in order to ER.

We can ER even with our two children. Wouldn't that make our financial management skills superior? :angel:
 
Taking a long sabbatical 20 years ago. During that sabbatical I came to realize that what I enjoyed the most was being on sabbatical i.e. Permanent ER. I then did the financial research, set the $ goals and got my wife's buy in to accomplish FI/ER 12 years latter.
 
Tigger said:
1) Chose the right parents. ;-)

My parents were the major influence in every good thing that has come my way in life...I won the lottery here and didn't even know it until it was too late.

Stuck it out in marriage through all the ups and downs...more ups than downs if the truth be told

Education, and willingness to stay with my latest job, which has good benefits and pension plan

Lived below my means most of the time. Emphasis on "most"

Miraculously had a studious, thrifty and hardworking kid(now 27) who won a merit scholarship to college and segued out of school into a lucrative career
Click to expand...
 
NW-Bound said:
Well, I personally do not care if people have no kids in order to ER.

We can ER even with our two children. Wouldn't that make our financial management skills superior? :angel:
Click to expand...



PS. I would also understand how people decide to be childless because of the peril of raising kids. It is indeed a lot of hassle and not at all risk free. The unknown of how your child will turn out out-weights the financial cost considerations, in my opinion.
 
Our child-free status was entirely unrelated to our desire to retire early. However, it has unquestionably been a financial bonanza for us. Those who managed to raise children and still retire early have my respect and admiration.
 
Met and married a very understanding spouse. I'd have been dead by 35 at the rate I was going if she hadn't taken pity on me.
 
To paraphrase Warren Buffett: Being born in the US (new age folks would actually say that, like you choose your own parents. There that should set something off!)

Big one is LBYM and a spouse that feels the same way. All the rest is accounting.
 
1) Married the right person and stuck with her (36 years and counting)
2) Went to college (free in UK, when parents income is low enough)
3) LBYM, no debt at all, ever, except affordable mortgages
4) Had our 2 kids early so they were through college and independent before we were 50.
 
I forgot to say that for us it was LBYM.

Being booksmart and spending too much time for technical studies, I did not know much about investing until my mid 30s. I would have done much better if I had taken some time to study investing like many posters here.
 
1. Raised a wonderful family, always taking the time to participate in family activities, be involved and put family ahead of career.
2. Tried to explore life in all phases, enjoying each day, seeking new experiences and enjoying life to the fullest.
3. Shared what I had.
4. Started saving early. Never saved a lot, but did save steadily taking advantage of 401k plans, employee stock purchase plans, etc.

Today I've been FIRE'd about 4 yrs. Didn't make it until 58 due to a minimum of early LBYM and a lot of fairly intensive living all along. But, no regrets. We're comfortable enough financially, enjoy the grandkids, extended family and friends and plan to keep on keeping on!

I hope for lurkers or others reading this thread that there is no perception that it is necessary to give up any of life's experiences or even live outside the norm in order to accumulate wealth for retirement. Life is to live and enjoy not to spend toiling at jobs you hate or doing without life experiences you'd miss having. A little reasonable planning, some hard work and a little luck and you can pretty much have it all........ within reason. ;)
 
For me, it has to be a series of things - not just one thing:-
1. Right spouse who works hard, careful with money and loves me.
2. Don't go cheap but don't live beyond your means.
3. Work, save and invest.
4. Have a roof over your head and pay off the loan.
5. No kids.
 
yakers said:
To paraphrase Warren Buffett: Being born in the US (new age folks would actually say that, like you choose your own parents. There that should set something off!)
Click to expand...
In Buffett's situation, it was not only being born in the USA, but also being born in the USA and coming of age into the most prosperous period of just about any civilization in history, the post-WW2 economic boom. It wasn't just the location or birth, it was also the timing of his birth.

Still, even though a child born here today is already over his/her eyeballs in public debt and probably faces a tougher economic environment than Buffett faced in young adulthood into middle age, there are many worse places to be born.
 
What Ziggy said.

It's tough for a typical 3rd world country resident to be LBYM. Down from 2 bowls of rice a day to what? We tend to take things for granted, particularly the younger generation in my extended family.
 
When I got my career job I starting saving the max into a 401K. At the end of the month, what ever money was still in checking was invested into mutual funds/stocks. never considered the investment money spendable while working. Had 2 kids and started saving in a CUTMA account early on (CA unified transfer to minors account) that allows interest free from taxes and withdrawals with no penalties if spent on education. Was aggressively invested and rarely tweaked the mix - checked the balences in 2006 and found that I was FIRE ready at 49.
Kind of disiplined dumb luck....and not a monent to soon - I was severely burned out
 
I started contributing to an IRA account the first year that it was available to me in 1982. In 1984 I signed up with the first 401k that was available to me. I have contributed the maximum to each of those programs every year since except for one year of involuntary unemployment.
 
Divorce. Huge financial hit, but afterwards, I had control over MY money. :)
 
I woke up and realized my happiness and freedom depended directly on my acquisition of income-producing assets. I said goodbye to the fairy tales.
 
I didn't have good jobs until I was in my 40s (and they weren't great then, either!) I was an artist and devoted to that but... not enough money. Got an MBA at 35, still had trouble getting a great job. It can happen. But over time things have improved.

So: live below your means and save everything you can - without feeling deprived. Max out your 401k if you have one, max out a roth IRA or regular one depending what works for you. Save in taxable accounts, too. Don't feel that you have to have "new" everything. Buy decent stuff that lasts a long time. Don't try to keep up with the neighbors. Don't ever have credit card debt, and as much as possible buy cars for cash. I have always had a mortgage but not a large one. I will pay it off for tax reasons but at 65.

Did I mention saving money? Investing? Learning about investing? Saving money?

If you do all that - you will be fine. If you get lucky and have a huge salary and all that stuff, great. If you don't you'll still be okay.
 
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