In the vestibule at the fork in the road

[FinallyRetired]

1. Avoiding the temptation to go for the home run in the market (and suffering big losses), instead being content with slow but sure accumulation at 6-8%, 10% in good years.

2. Cultivating a serious hobby (sailing), friends, and family relationships that reassured me there was a better life out there to prepare for.

3. Running FIRE and umpteen other retirement calculators, including my own.

 

[Achiever51]

1. Listening (albeit reluctantly at the time) to my father when he insisted that I begin saving 15% of my take home pay...I was 16 and making a whopping $1.37 an hour at the time. Continued saving 15% after tax for remainder of my working life -- and NEVER missed it from my paychecks.
2. Signing up for contributory pension plan and maxing out the 401(k) as soon as I was eligible -- again mostly due to parents' advice (thank you, thank you!) -- and staying the course for 39 years.
3. Getting a good education that enabled me to get higher paying positions than my lesser educated friends/family -- and developing lots of outside interests/hobbies that are engaging my mind now!

 

[Gotadimple]

Three Things

1. Saving 15% of my income every year (tax-sheltered or not)
2. Acknowledging that buying things does not bring happiness -- leading to LBYM.
3. Learning everything about how to invest and spend MY money.

Result: FI now, just planning the RE 'date' -- and still surprised it all worked out.

-- Rita

 

[bbbamI]

Conquering my fear of leaving my home town, family, friends and everything familiar to me for a more prosperous life.

 

[califdreamer]

1. Purchasing my first income property, a fourplex in So Cal, in 1996.
2. Purchasing additional multi-unit income properties in '96-'97.
3. Selling and exchanging first group of properties into larger income properties.
4. In some instances, repeating step 3.

 

[greg]

2. Acknowledging that buying things does not bring happiness -- leading to LBYM.

-- Rita

The real secret of it all.

 

[tightasadrum]

• Marry right
• Do as much travel & crazy stuff as you can before you marry
• Pay yourself first, to wit, 15% of gross; invest for average return for the long haul
• Forget the Jones’s. Make ‘em think you wish YOU could buy the new cars, big house & STUFF. (By the time they figure you out, it’ll by too late for them. Then give them a copy of The Millionaire Next Door.)
• Don’t take vacations (Nah. I don’t recommend anyone do like me on this one)
• Buy first house on GI Bill, nothing down, grow your income producing RE holdings from that for infinite return, if you’re masochistic.
• Get paid more than you are worth
• Marry right

 

[CuppaJoe]

Don’t take vacations (Nah. I don’t recommend anyone do like me on this one)

Perhaps a like-minded soul? I believe in vacations but not in travelling while working; three weeks would not do anyplace justice. I would add: live where you would want to be on vacation.

 

[tightasadrum]

cuppajoe,

That works for me. Of course my problem is that there have always been a lot of places I would like to vacation/live, at least for awhile. Now what will I do with all the pets ...

 

[CuppaJoe]

cuppajoe,

That works for me. Of course my problem is that there have always been a lot of places I would like to vacation/live, at least for awhile. Now what will I do with all the pets ...

Drum, Exactly! Fluffy does not cotton to travel. While standing still I met someone who REed from a long-term career in the Bahamas and set out to travel accross the county living in a few places along the way. I believe she rented an apt. here for a couple of years and then disappeared. That's one way. I wonder how many here have those kinds of plans?

 

[Fred333]

Life it what you make of it. If you don't get out there and live life it will pass you by.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

dragging my mother away from her desk five years before alzheimer's killed her and thinking to myself that could be me in 20 years: i want 20 fun years without working.

finding this forum, learning that my cheap habits are actually a good thing and finally learning about finance should keep me unemployed forever just in case that 20 years turns into 40.

edit: i also like cuppajoe's idea of live where you want to vacation and intend to travel as such into my future. that is also why i did not replace my irreplaceable wolfpuppy. no parents, no kids, no pets, no clients, no boss, someday soon maybe even no home, nothing owed, everything paid: no encumberances. isn't early retirement all about freedom.

 

[Khan]

dragging my mother away from her desk five years before alzheimer's killed her and thinking to myself that could be me in 20 years: i want 20 fun years without working.

finding this forum, learning that my cheap habits are actually a good thing and finally learning about finance should keep me unemployed forever just in case that 20 years turns into 40.

edit: i also like cuppajoe's idea of live where you want to vacation and intend to travel as such into my future. that is also why i did not replace my irreplaceable wolfpuppy. no parents, no kids, no pets, no clients, no boss, someday soon maybe even no home, nothing owed, everything paid: no encumberances. isn't early retirement all about freedom.

I'm moving that way myself. No parents, kids, clients, boss; still have a cat and a house.

 

[Webzter]

>Are there one, two, or three ideas or things you did on your specific path that significantly helped you, changed your experiences for the better?

1. Realizing that a nicer car, bigger house, and more stuff wouldn't make me happier.

2. Going to the ER and getting an EKG after several stressful years of work made me reproritize my work goals. The pay cut hurt a bit, but we could afford it because of #1, and I'm sure I bought quite a few extra years.

3. A short cancer scare made me realize that, if we stuck to our plan, I'd be free before I was 45. Re-evaluating that now, it might be worth working until I'm 55 if i work less and live more in the meantime.