What got you excited about retirement saving?

A natural saver, a frugal up bring, from a poor family from a very small rural town. I know from an early age what I wanted for a career, and I went and got it and spent 35 years with one company. I always know I wanted to work for a good wage and company with great benefits.

Saving and surviving financially was in my genes and I wasn't going to fail...
 
Frugal parents, early-retired parents with good pensions. Early-retired in-laws with good pensions. No pensions for us so we knew we had to put as much away as we could. Didn't get there at 55 but felt comfortable at 60 to pull the trigger. Seeing friends pass away at early age or while still working kept us on task.
 
My dad was a spendthrift and got our family into financial trouble. In my early 20s, I swore to myself I would never be that way. Bob Brinker also gave great financial advice over the radio. He made investing entertaining and everything he said seemed smart and full of common sense. We listened to him while driving distances home and back for the holidays. I would say Bob Brinker made the biggest impact on our saving and investing. We loved the "Land of Critical Mass" and used to laugh about how he pushed that idea.
 
FI and RE weren't linked for me, not in the beginning anyway.

I had the good fortune to hire into a megacorp with a rock solid reputation after grad school, but in just my first few weeks at work, I realized I wasn't well-suited for my job, and the first layoffs in megacorp's history were imminent. I did what I could to find a secure and stable niche at work, but after growing layoff rounds, I saw FI as the only safe path. So maximizing savings rate to minimize time to FI began with my very first paycheck.

The RE part came a few years later when I caught a Money magazine follow-up article on the Ter Horsts. This couple did ER aged 35 IIRC, and I saw how I could hit their numbers within just a few more years. Thanks to the bull market of the 1990s and what had become my ingrained habit of high savings, I was ready to RE on my 40th birthday.

By contrast my brother had the misfortune to join a young tech darling with lots of buzz on Wall Street. They were hiring like crazy, he liked his job, and his stock option awards value jumped into seven figures within his first few years thanks to a 30-fold rise in their share price. Against this backdrop the idea of limiting spending to save for the future seemed irrelevant. Well, it wasn't long before the bubble slowly deflated and employees began to be treated as an expense to be minimized. Making up for all the lost time is difficult in this situation, but that's what he's been doing the past few years.
 
Finance Dave said:
I'm sure many of us have interesting stories, or something that got our minds focused about saving at a young age to prepare for FIRE...what is yours?

For me, I was an auto mechanic in my early/mid 20's. I did alignments and brakes, and we had a "pit" bay where I could stand under the car and work on things. I was working one day on aligning a car in the winter, lots of snow outside, and I remember adjusting a tie rod end while watching the screen to get the setting just right...and every 2-3 seconds a drop of ICE COLD water would drip from the melting snow down the back of my neck. After about 20 seconds of that....I'd HAD ENOUGH.

That weekend I signed up for Engineering school, started my 401k, and over the next 10 years worked my way into a finance executive job at a Fortune 500 company. I FIRE'd at 51, became a home inspector for a few years while I built my rental business, and now I do some minor handyman work (no more than 200 hours/year) just for fun money.

That cold water dripping down my neck was the trigger for me...I realized I didn't want to be doing this dirty, noisy job when I was 60 years old.
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I had a similiar epiffany from a summer job between my freshman and sophomore years of college.

For high school and the first year of college I had sort of been doing the minimum needed to get grades acceptable to my parents. In fact, in my first semester of my freshman year of college I fell short and when my parents wrote out the check for the second semester mother made it crystal clear that if my grades didn't improve that would be the last check that they wrote.

I improved just enough that second semester to stay in my parents good graces.

That summer, I had a job in a tire store. I picked up tires from other stores, delivered tores to customers and other stores, did inventory, some time on the sales floor and some time in the shop installing tires and doing oil changes. I recall a particularly hot and humid day in the shop where I was working with a couple other guys just a little older than me who made 25-50c more than me. It was a miserable hot day and we were all sweating and it dawned on me that if I didn't up my game on my studies that sweating my life away in a shop was probably my future and I didn't like that idea.

So I upped my game and was Dean's List most semesters thereafter. However, the impact of first year grades were a drag on my GPA so I ended up 0.025 points short of the GPA that I needed to graduate with honors.

On the money side, I saved in our 401k mostly for the tax benefits and company match very early and with compounding it all worked out great over a 35 year career.
 
I grew up in a household that did not believe in investing...a passbook savings account was sufficient. Typical nuclear family...dad worked, mom kept house, 2 kids and 1 dog. I married my high school sweetheart at 19 (she was 18), a couple of dumb kids who had no clue about anything other than wanting to be with each other. That was 1970 and we're still together. We had the same lifestyle as our parents...work, pay your bills, work some more, save a few bucks in a savings account.

Our first rude awakening occured about 2-yrs into our marriage. We never had a honeymoon so we started planning a trip to Florida but soon realized we didn't have the cash to make that trip. Why? Because we owed $1000 on our K-Mart credit card! Looking back I'm hard pressed to understand what the heck we bought at K-Mart that was worth $1000, but we buckled down and started to work on paying off that debt and saving for the trip. It took a couple of years but we did it. We took the trip in 1974 paying cash all the way. (We've never carried a CC balance since then).

Paying cash meant more $ going into savings and by the early 80's we were in our first home and life was good. We were on the Ramsey plan but that was way before Ramsey was Ramsey. One day as I was going thru the mail I see an envelope from 20th Century investments (now American Century). It was a quarterly statement! WTF! Turns out my wife, with help from her experienced brother, had opened an account. I was nervous and didn't know what to think but trusted my wif so we kept the account open.

We're very happy that she opened that account. Over theyears we added to that account, opened others at VG and Mairs & Power and started contributing to IRAs. We use credit cards but pay them off each month. We started paying cash for our cars in 1990 and paid off the mortgage in 13-yrs. Flash forward to today our NW is in the mid-single digit 7-figures all because of my wife, her brother and hanging on to that single 20th Century account. :dance:
 
REWahoo said:
In my early 30's I had a management position designed by Satan and located in Hell. I reported directly to the VP of Micromanagement and Unreasonable Goals...
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Oh wow, we must have been working in exactly the same office and reporting to exactly the same people. To be honest, my goal was never retirement, though it was certainly to become as wealthy as reasonably possible without making too many sacrifices to quality of life.

Some of my growing up was in and around a lot of poverty. That was my motivator. I wanted to become like the seemingly wealthy people I saw on the other side of the railroad tracks. As an adult, I've gained a lot of perspective on that - no longer want to be quite like them. At any rate, it occurred to me that more is not necessarily better and that defining what is "enough" is a very important aspect of seeking contentment.

My other motivator has been seeing the plight of some of the co-workers I've known over the years - guys with big houses, big mortgages, multiple divorces, messed up dependent kids, etc. Basically, guys who will never be able to get off the hamster wheel until they drop dead. What I saw was that the guys (and gals) who needed their jobs the most, were usually in for the worst toxic sadistic workplace abuse (which occurs often when office is located in hell). So, my goal has been to not be that guy. I wanted to be that guy with the F-U money who could call his own shots.

Only recently did it start to dawn on me that FIRE was a worthwhile option to seriously consider.
[EDIT: Only recently did it start to dawn on me that I was already FI and that RE was a worthwhile option I should very seriously consider.]
 
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Losing 1/2 my megar net worth in a California divorce in 1992 got me excited (scared) about thinking about how I was going to raise two teenage daughters on my own in a different state (Texas) and pay for everything going forward.

I really didn't have retirement on my mind until after I paid for their college costs and realized I better get busy building some "wealth" soon (I was about 57 at that time). So I buckled down and started my own company and made enough to buy two houses cash, pay for a wedding, and put away enough to retire on.

Not an early retiree here, but one who made enough in a short time starting late.:)
 
I was assigned to an ROTC unit while in college. One of the mandatory training lectures was on personal finance. I had always been a good saver, but this Marine Major opened my eyes to mutual funds and the world of investing. That talk turned me from a saver into an investor. I wish I could go back and find that person and thank him.

My wife and I were always good savers and investors from the start of our marriage. We had retirement savings in mind, but never thought about retiring early. Then, when we were in our early 50s, about half a dozen friends and family nearly our ages either died or had serious medical issues within a two-year span. Made us start thinking about getting out of the rat race while the getting was good.

The trouble with the rat race, of course, is that even if you win you are still a rat.

I started reading the FIRE blogs, using the calculators, doing the research, and so on. I was pleased and somewhat surprised to learn that our frugal habits had us well positioned to pull the plug.

She disliked her job and retired in 2015. I still liked mine for a while longer but shifted to part time work in 2017, and fully retired in 2020.

Life has been good. : )
 
When I was in the sawmill, there was a log producer who was going to be a millionaire when he was 30, he claimed. I was 25, working there trying to make enough money for food. In late 1981, the mill quit buying logs from him, and they were stacked 20' high waiting for the mill to start buying. In September of 1982, they did, and they made me buy a million board feet(350 tractor trailer loads)of walnut in 5 days in the pouring rain. I couldn't see to measure the logs. I couldn't write the dimensions down. I was cold. I spent $600,000 of their money, never knowing if I was anywhere near correct. I was done!

I had a high school diploma and borrowed money to go to night school to become a programmer. I didn't know if I would like it or not, but it was indoors and dry. I even quit chewing tobacco. Don't laugh. That was hard!

Turns out I was very good at it and did well. My first job was writing assembly code for a stock transfer system's distribution. I had no idea what a stock or a distribution was, but hey, I'm writing code to do it!

Megacorp had a profit sharing plan, and they contributed ~10% yearly and paid 10% less. I was still hungry, thinking of moving somewhere for 10% more. One day, an old timer did a presentation on the profit sharing plan. It could make you a millionaire in 20 years based on prior performance. Hey, that plan, this place sounded better. I was starting to understand investments more, and Megacorp kept me learning a whole lot more about investments. I was given the opportunity to be involved in different aspects of many different companies, large financial institutions and learned a lot. I was not hungry for long.

I had planned on being at Megacorp for 30 years, things changed, and I ran away at 29.
 
I started to save right after my active-duty hitch in the Navy once I started my new civilian job. The reason I started saving way back in 1987 was I didn't want to be like my grandpa and his friends that only had SSI to live on as they never believed in saving or the stock market, and I remember many old timers back in the day thought when the new 401K plans started that they were created as just another way for the Government to take your money. I'd be retired already if I wouldn't have lost 1/2 Of everything when I got divorced back in 2015 but I'm getting closer to my numbers to call it a day.
 
After 10+ years out of college with a degree in a field I had abandoned, I was moving into the sweet spot of my skills and interests. It was only then that I realized the truth of "if you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"

At that point I understood I had been living at the limit of my income. Read the Millionaire Next Door (this was the mid-90's) and got a few ideas. Also came to understand the financial habits I had acquired from my family. Don't know why my wife, who grew up with better money sense, hadn't shot me by then.

Turned the corner on saving and wasteful spending. Investing experience took some lessons over the next 10 years, but got it together in time to be banking money and investing smarter ahead of the 2007-09 debacle. Still reaping the benefits of that timing:).

As good as that was for me, my kids learned enough to bypass my wasteful years and jumped to the "put it away and let it ride" phase while in their early 20's.
 
I never thought about saving for FIRE until I realized I could FIRE :).

In other words, FIRE was not my primary motivation for saving. I loved my career and my job. But, from a young age, my parents taught me the value of saving. I also saw what happened to people that did not save. I saw those bad things and had a "that could happen to me" mindset. My primary focus on saving was to provide my own (and then for my family) safety net, as well as to not be dependent on others.

I certainly had incidents that kept me from falling off along the path, which I have mentioned in other similar threads. Misusing my first credit card, and being publicly shamed for doing so, but realizing that I had only myself to blame for the situation. Overhearing a co-worker who had worked 5 years for Megacorp saying they only had $500 to their name. Other co-workers "pestering" for a year to start contributing to a 401k when Megacorp first made it available, when my initial thought was "that is too far off in the future, I'll worry about it later". And seeing people who I never thought who fall into financial trouble end up in extremely desperate straits, and in a few cases ended up doing desperate things.

When I saw Megacorp change my pension benefit in the late 90s so that it was reduced by close to a third, and seeing people at other Megacorps Regularcorps, and Minicorps lose their pension, convinced me to ramp up my savings and to move my investment mindset from trying to find hot stocks to investing in index funds for the long term. It helped that at the same time our income hit a rapid growth phase - with a savings discipline already in place it was easier to still enjoy a small part of the raise but to stay LBYM and put the bulk into long term savings and investments.

That foundation allowed me to "wander" into the FIRE concept. I did not think about retiring until I hit Megacorp retirement eligibility in 2009, and I did not seriously think about FIRE until I found this site in 2012, when Megacorp was offering an early retirement package and I was seeking input. At that point the numbers said in theory I could retire, but my mindset was to have enough to retire so that neither DW nor I would be forced to work at all, and that our planned generous FIRE lifestyle would not be impacted by the swings of the market. That is when I deliberately saved for FIRE, and worked long enough to build a "buffer" to support those retirement desires.
 
I've read so many things in these stories that sparked memories about my path in life. Ignoring many of those points, the "simple" version of my story is my parents (and grandparents on my mom's side) showed the benefits of college degrees, LBYM, investing, etc. My father's mother showed the benefits of a federal career. Also a family friend inherited millions and retired in his 30s, so I saw the benefits of FIRE early-on. He also made bad investments and lost a lot of that money, so I also learned not to make certain mistakes. So I had a good base to work from, and then I made additional decisions that reinforced my desire to save, and then several fortunate events lead me to FIRE.

I started my own lawn mowing biz at 14 which grew through high school, and as a result I always had piles of cash. I saved some - blew a lot more - was given some ATT stock from a family friend, and all of that ended up paying for flight lessons my first 2 years of college. Lesson learned: having money gives you options. I started saving in a 401k at 22, started learning about investments pre and post-tax (had a 40% year in my post-tax account one year), finally graduated Summa Cum Laude as a programmer, and was recruited into the US gov't at 27 into the same agency that my grandmother worked for. That lead me to a 6-figure income for 2/3 of my career and a great work-life balance. Family and friends wondered why I didn't take a 6-figure job with a dot-com company, but then the dot-com bubble hit and they all lost their jobs or took massive pay cuts, and their 70-hour weeks became longer. My situation was better all-around. Lesson learned: my instinct to follow the longer but more-stable path was the right one.

I continued saving in the TSP (gov't 401k) and for a very long time I expected my retirement date would be June 29, 2029 after 30 years. I could recite that date in my sleep. I was on track to have more money at age 57 than I would know what to do with, with several spreadsheets to prove it. Then a divorce at 45, the covid lockdown at 48, and a ton of job stress started to change my perspective on what I really wanted. On what I really needed. Plus I had a lot of silver linings that all lined up at once. I won the divorce lottery, with an amicable separation where I kept my own savings, house, camper and kids. The low rates in 2020 let me refinance my house at 2.625% which improved my cash flow considerably (I assumed full responsibility for a 2nd mortgage in the divorce and I got rid of this). Losing my spendthrift wife let me kick my savings into higher gear and get back into post-tax investments (I had always saved at least 10% + match in 401k/TSP before this). I had heard of FIRE several times in the past, and that realignment of my actual needs kept percolating in my mind...

And then my agency offered an early-out when I was 50. That would let me keep cheap healthcare for life and give me an immediate pension, which would increase about 65% at age 57. Plus I found out about SEPP/72T, so I could tap into those 28 years of savings. Those last 3 points ensured my basics were all covered with some room to spare. Plus I had my post-tax Vanguard account for fun money, and with continued good fortune it would let me pay off the mortgage in the nearer future (but at 2.625% I'll probably get a recast and let it ride). Suddenly June 29, 2029 became July 30, 2022 and I was FIREd. My boss convinced me to come back for a while; less stress with my full salary for 6 more months was a good incentive, and I could just quit if it didn't make sense. So after 37 years of working, slower and steady won the race and money gave me options.
 
I first heard the term, "Financial Independence" from a friend of mine back in late 1986 when I was about a year out of college and working FT (my friend was a year behind me and out of college only a few months). I liked the sound of it but knew I was far away from reaching that point of living off my investments and not having to work.

A few years later, my Megacorp gave out to every employee a binder with a diskette (DOS program!) about retirement planning. It had an assumption of needing 90% of your income in retirement, something I quickly figured out was way too high. I tried reducing that percentage and the program figured out I could retire at 50, about 20 years away. Looking good, I thought.

It was around that time (early 1990s) that MCorp raised its 401k matching rate to 75% of contributions (up from 50%) although our standard work week was raised by 30 minutes per day. I had also around that time refinanced the mortgage on my apartment so I was paying $200 less per month, a significant reduction.

When I was able to pay off my mortgage in 1998 (at age 35), after only 9 years, I began seeing a FIRE happening well before age 50. I was still working FT but beginning to suffer from burnout, mostly due the dang commute. MCorp had just introduced its ESOP program but we didn't know how well that was going to work out.

With my expenses reduced and burnout on the rise, I was able to negotiate a part-time, mostly WFH deal in 2001. I realized this could delay my FIRE plans but I had to get out from under the dang commute which was wrecking me. I could still cover my expenses easily on the ~half pay, there wasn't as much left over for me to save and invest.

But the ESOP was exploding in the early 2000s, and after learning I could cash it out using NUA to reduce the tax bite, I began creating my own spreadsheet to see if I could FIRE within the next few years. I wasn't part of this forum at the time but I eventually showed my figures to my Fidelity Account Executive (AE) who ran it through Fido's RIP program. She gave me the green light to FIRE.

ETA: In late 2003, MCorp ended the WFH part of my PT deal. I could still work PT, just no more WFH. I knew this would be my ultimate undoing, as I ramped up my FIRE plans. The WFH part ended on 10/31/2003.

In 2008, I was nearing my Magic Number for the ESOP value so I could FIRE and cash it out. Despite the markets beginning to crash, the ESOP held nearly all of its value, so at the end of September, I gave my notice to leave on 10/31/2008, 15 years ago yesterday, and cashed it out. I did a direct rollover of the IRA, cashing out the small, after-tax contributions I had made for a short time in the mid-1990s (both non-taxable events)

The seed planted in 1986 had finally become a full-grown tree in late 2008 - I FIREd, exactly 5 years after the WFH weal ended, a lovely not-exactly-a-coincidence.
 
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REWahoo said:
My stress level was off the chart. My predecessor was fired for drinking on the job and I fully understood why. I was working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and not a very good father or husband. I was miserable.
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Glad you got out early REW. It sounds as if that job could have put you in an early grave had you kept working it for the next 30+ years.

There are some great stories in this thread.
 
The Mr Money Mustache blog about saving for retirement and the Early Retirement Extreme Blog
 
^^^^^ I’d been saving in my 403b for two decades but a couple of difficult bosses plus discovering MMM circa 2012 got me focused. The JL Collins blog and other related ones. I got so into it all I spent a week with MMM and JL Collins, et al at a Chautauqua in Ecuador. Jim just published his second book this week.
 
aja8888 said:
Losing 1/2 my megar net worth in a California divorce in 1992 got me excited (scared) about thinking about how I was going to raise two teenage daughters on my own in a different state (Texas) and pay for everything going forward.

I really didn't have retirement on my mind until after I paid for their college costs and realized I better get busy building some "wealth" soon (I was about 57 at that time). So I buckled down and started my own company and made enough to buy two houses cash, pay for a wedding, and put away enough to retire on.

Not an early retiree here, but one who made enough in a short time starting late.:)
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That is an impressive story!

I wasn't really a saver, but didn't spend my meager dollars on "stuff" either. More a dreamer. Thought it'd be cool to be able to drive and spend the night in a house I owned anywhere in the western states; you know, a place every 5-600 miles or so. Didn't do that. Thought it would be great to own a grand old super run down Harvey house rail hotel. Didn't do that either. Dreaming big and desiring made me invest in what I could afford - worn old beauties that needed a bunch of effort and/or money to shine again. Did do that.

Early retirement never crossed my mind. Just kept pushing any money we didn't really need to survive at property loans that were charging us 9% or more. Figured that was a really good safe investment. Ended up having all the places paid for, at which point the cash started really piling up, so we started making hard money loans, which caused yet more cash to roll in. Probably hit the first million twenty years or so ago but have felt financially independent since about the age of thirty. Just now realizing there really isn't much point just stacking it up - not really able to put the physical energy into playing with a new property, so the fun isn't there. About to be 74 and guess I'll just peddle the remaining two places and move money around for entertainment.
 
Had to buckle down and save every dime, starting later than i should have.

Because I trusted the wrong people & lost...a lot of money.

My net worth today would likely be double had I not done the above.
 
Definitely a gradual thing. Grew up in a broken home and meager funds. Fast forward to 26, married and saved the bigger of 2 salaries. Paid off house and maxing out 401ks in mid-2000s (Dave Ramsey influence period).

Moving to LA was my first calculation of our 4 year plan (1st million). Took 3 years off & got a taste of the good life. Came back to the job and as the company failed, I was recruited to another place and found a FIRE podcast and was finally hooked. Left the company after 4 months (didn't look promising) and started my CoastFI biz. 5 years later & just waiting for DW to jump ship.
 
I would have to say the #1 thing that got me excited about retirement was this forum. I knew I had a pension coming but wasn't sure how it would work out. Thanks to info and replies in here, I became more excited than scared. It has also affected our preparing for the DW's pending retirement.
 
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