Moemg
Gone but not forgotten
D - I was 33 and divorced with two young kids who I wanted to be able to put through college so I started saving and never stopped.Plus I'm on the frugal side .The trappings of wealth don't interest me.
Martha said:Greg is LBYMs and I think he was born that way, with some influence from his frugal father. Without him I am pretty sure I would not be FIRE'd now...
Somehow I ended up in college. It took a couple of tries before I finished. I met Greg....
But despite these stupid moves we (mostly Greg) did a number of things right...
Greg watched the dollars and somehow I didn't spend all of them....
So, I guess this is a public thank you to my husband for being the planner.
A, B, and E for me.JustCurious said:Those of us who LBYM are in the minority. We do so despite strong influences from society to spend everything we have, and then spend some more using credit. So why do we do it? Here are some reasons that I have come up with:
A) You were raised or lived in another country, and are somewhat innoculated from the consumerism influence in America.
B) You either grew up poor, and you know the meaning of a dollar, or, you did not grow up poor, but your parents lived below their means.
C) When you were an adult, you suffered some financially catastrophic event (ie loss of job, health issue, loss of family member, etc) that caused you to re-evaluate your lifestyle and adopt an LBYM lifestyle.
D) At some point during your adult life (usually middle age) you realized that if you kept spending every dollar that you made, you would not get ahead and you would never be able to retire comfortably, so you got religion and started LBYM.
E) You were born frugal, and it's just the way you are.
Which one of the above is it for you? Is it some combination? Is it something else?
For me, it's a combination of A and E.