What got you excited about retirement saving?

[Finance Dave]

Thanks to everyone for the inspiring stories! Wow, some great stories and successes! Even though I still w*rk about 150-200 hours/year, it's work I enjoy, helping only my best customers, and on my terms....so I consider myself FIREd and have for about 7 years now (61 y.o.)

 

[Youngblood]

I've always been a natural saver. I distinctly remember just having wads of cash in my wallet (probably around $300) when I was around 10 or 11. My mom would even call me Ebenezer Scrooge, lol. However, there were times my mom would need borrow money from me to get groceries. She always paid me back, but it helped re-enforce the habit of saving and planning for the future.

 

[homestead]

What got you excited about retirement saving?

Getting our house paid off in 1988 and realizing we had positive cash flow to start saving for retirement. Our property had a high interest rate so paying it off made sense back then.

 

[jurgs01]

I think having no debt and seeing how easy it is to FIRE in a no-debt situation. Saving and FIRE at 45 looks realistic with some good saving the next 2-3yrs.

 

[Newventurer]

37 years in the Hospitality business did me in, was blessed to work for a REIT the last 17 years with excellent benefits, but the travel was hell and the new CEO was the devil, between this website and the bogleheads I discovered the calculators that showed me what was possible. Healthcare was always my big concern and again was blessed that ACA came along as an option for pre-65. Divorce in late 40’s took a toll but another blessing was a professional DW a few years younger who had nearly the assets I transferred to the ex. She also kept working (for insurance) while I retired and moved her closer to her folks and I helped them with things around their home. DW retires at the end of this year and we will be able to manage our income to help with the ACA cost we will incur. My Mom’s passing a few years ago left me an inheritance which allowed us to pay off the mortgage and the remaining car loan. Overall just a lot of blessings, don’t deserve them but appreciate them. We give back to others in many ways and it brings joy to be in a position to do so. I appreciate all the sharing over the years on this forum which has made the whole process less frightening, thanks

 

[Alex The Great]

I did not do anything special to save for retirement: it happened naturally. Also at some point I realized I would not succeed in engineering career looking at older colleagues in their 50+. And actually this fear indeed materialised even sooner than I anticipated.

 

[cyber888]

The first time I lost a job, I wasn't prepared much. So that got me thinking to save a lot for a rainy day.
After that I made sure I had 2 years of savings, and I kept increasing my 401K and IRA contributions after learning about "F U Money". LOL. I thought -- great idea if you don't like your boss, then you can just exit that work. I've always had continuous work since I was 20 - if I lose a job, I could easily get a new job fast. Been good that doing that, until I retired this year at 59.

 

[frayne]

I know I'm stating the obvious here but most know the rat race to an early retirement is a marathon and not a sprint and the sooner you get started the sooner you'll finish.

 

[dknighd]

I worked my way through collage partially in restaurants, then doing labor, construction, and other jobs. I soon learned you need money in the bank, in case you did not have a job that week.

I was never excited about saving for retirement. I guess I just realized it was something I had to do. Sort of like having an "emergency fund."

 

[jebmke]

I got "excited" when I saw an offramp at work and then realized we had more than enough. Before that, tbh, I wasn't paying much attention.

 

[dknighd]

I think all kids should have a crappy job. You learn.

 

[FedRetired50]

I think all kids should have a crappy job. You learn.

Several crappy jobs were certainly an incentive for me.

 

[Car-Guy]

I've been earning money since I was ~10... Lot's of part time (after school work.) So yeah, I had my share of crappy low paying jobs too. After school, I got my first full time real job with high tech Mega Corp #1 and it paid pretty well, but I still wasn't really concerned with saving for retirement. Then I moved over to Mega Corp #2 and the the big bucks started coming in and I started to save in their (401k w/matching). Never really touched the 401k and it grew/compounded almost exponentially over the next 30 years.

So for me it was 401k matching funds (or free money) that got me interested.

 

[GravitySucks]

29 yr old me got a job with mega corp. 100% matching on first 6% put into the 401K. Even young and dumb I wouldn’t pass up free money!

 

[Chuckanut]

Having control over my time was and still is the main advantage of being retired.

I received a big push towards early retirement when in a period of 5 years, I lost several good friends and a very close relative to deadly illnesses. Toss in a few other people who found out that health issues now severely limited their lifestyle and that settled it.

Note: except for one person all of the above people were younger than I was at the time of their demise or onset of their serious illness. Lesson learned.

 

[Badger]

My parents were frugal out of necessity but my father told me that I should always pay myself first (for the future) then pay my debts, and only if there is any left over have a treat. I also knew his prime motivation was to make sure my mom would be taken care of if anything was to happen to him.
My starting income as a teacher was $7.5k and never went higher than $52k after 40+ yrs later so there wasn't much left over each month in the early years. I figured that I would probably have to work until I died. But I married for a second time when I was 39 and was determined to follow my father's advice and example. Once the mortgage interest on our small home was no longer an advantage to itemize on taxes we doubled our payments until it was paid off and then invested all of my wife's salary for retirement and lived on mine. I was going to make sure my wife would never have to worry about having a place to live or if she could pay for groceries. It has been a challenge for all these years but I think we finally made it to that point a few years ago.

Cheers!

 

[Chuckanut]

My parents were frugal out of necessity but my father told me that I should always pay myself first (for the future) then pay my debts, and only if there is any left over have a treat.

Your comment reminds me of a short book my father gave me in my teens. I think it was called The Richest Man in Babylon. It’s full of silly stereotypes and probably would be offensive to people from that area, but its main message was clear. A part of all I earn is mine to keep. IOW, live below your means. Pay yourself first. Whatever you call it, it’s important to follow through

 

[F.I.R.E User]

That I have limited time on this planet.

 

[Sanstar]

That there would come a time when I physically can’t work.

 

[John Galt III]

Moral dilemma for me. Hated work, stress, responsibility and drudgery, but I knew you were supposed to just put up with it all, without complaining, and be a good soldier, contributing to the well being of your fellow man through greater prosperity for all. Then my minister told me I was also supposed to *like* having the opportunity to participate in the drudgery of earning money. That was it. I have to like it too ? No way. That's when I started looking for the exit (after having enough dough to do so comfortably).

 

[skyking1]

DW is quite frugal, and it has infected me or inoculated me a bit.
I think my union pension statements started to sink in, that we could be better off than our parents were at the end of our careers.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

Confluence of forces...

When I was a kid my parents were both critically ill at the same time, in-and-out of hospitals and treatments. They never made much money and invested nothing. The possibility of early death and financial ruin were our dinner guests for years. (Mom lived, Dad held it together 10 years longer than expected, we kept the house.)

As a result, I understood mortality well at a young age. I also committed early that my kids would never listen to conversations about possible bankruptcy and losing the house.

DW and I married young and were crushed by student loans. LBYM was a necessity as most of our "M" was taken by debt. We were motivated. Layoffs at my megacorp started 6 months after I arrived from college. I was focused.

Finally, very early in my career I got exposure to senior/C-level people in a megacorp. I concluded two things.

1 - These people were not that impressive and I could play in that league

2 - While the first few budget seasons and pitched battles over company decisions were exciting, it was very easy to imagine it wearing thin after the 30th iteration. I knew I wanted freedom.

So, I expected to die young and didn't want to burden my kids with financial fear. I also knew I could make quite a bit of money but wanted the freedom that i didn't HAVE to make that money forever to support a lifestyle.

Add time, insane hard work, investing, a great spouse and some good luck.

Ta-da.

FI now, ER quite soon.

 

[Badger]

Moral dilemma for me. Hated work, stress, responsibility and drudgery, but I knew you were supposed to just put up with it all, without complaining, and be a good soldier, contributing to the well being of your fellow man through greater prosperity for all. Then my minister told me I was also supposed to *like* having the opportunity to participate in the drudgery of earning money. That was it. I have to like it too ? No way. That's when I started looking for the exit (after having enough dough to do so comfortably).

At first I thought you were looking for the church exit to find a new minister.

Cheers!

 

[marko]

I was always fascinated by people with passive income. Grew up with friends, family and schoolmates who were born FI so the whole idea was not a foreign one. The idea of money coming in whether you lived, died, worked, didn't work.

I was about 10 years old and I wanted a new baseball glove for about $6 at the time. Dad drove me to the bank with my passbook and I came back to the car saying that I thought the bank made a mistake: I withdrew $6 but still had almost the same balance. Dad looked at the book and said: "you were paid interest...some people just live on their interest...that's how your grandfather does it". Sixty+ years later I still remember it; an epiphany!

Turns out that I could've RE'd twenty years earlier than I did but had found a job that offered first class international travel, lots of freedom and exceptional pay so I ended up taking a detour until age 52.

 

[GhostofTomJoad]

I did not retire early. Not as early as some folks in here, anyhow. It was a back-door exit strategy for me: I was pushed out, but then I saw what a blessing that was! If I'd known I could have had access to my pension earlier, I'd have grabbed it sooner. And I could not have done it without my wife.

I embrace and enjoy my free time. Even if I'm doing nothing at all that's special. The negative had outweighed the positive at my job since the beginning. Glad to be DONE. No more meetings in order to make decisions about TRIVIA.