I'm one of those who think of retirement as difficult or impossible. I have to admit a little 'jealously' while happy that you've been able to pull it off
While I have been judicious in my savings, even aggressive, the cost of living seems to have no end in sight. And as much as I like seeing government slashed to bits, I don't see how corporations are going to change their evil ways and start producing high quality, affordable and repairable goods...this translates to a great vacuum cleaner on the checking, savings, and credit card accounts for us little people.
This, combined with the expense of assisted living and the absolute terror that is Medicaid, I want to hang on as long as possible. Its really troubling to see.
I hate to be negative in my assessment...but the last year has really shown me how horrible our health care system is, especially for elderly. And knowing the baby-boom that is about to hit the health care world head on -- well -- yikes.
Sorry to hear about your outlook on your potential retirement possibilities Sweeney.
I don't know about being able to "pull it off" but will admit that I've been lucky in the timing of some my investment decisions that have paid off, but I wouldn't have been in position to invest without a significant level of financial discipline that I was fortunate to learn pretty early on in life.
When I was 10 yrs old I got my first job as a paperboy. After a couple weeks I was making the collections from my route customers, and found having that money in my pocket to be a little too irresistible, and started spending it on treats for myself and my friends. When it came time to send the money in to the Mpls Star & Tribune, I didn't have enough, so figured that if I waited until the next collection period, I could make up for it. In the meantime I continued to spend, and when the next collection was due to be sent in, I was still short. The paper called and asked where there money was, and my parents were the ones who got that call. My dad ended up loaning me the money needed to make up the difference, and from that point, all the collections I made went to him until he and the paper were paid in full. I was lucky to be able to learn a valuable lesson that early in life, and that was I didn't like owing money to anybody.
From that point on I always paid myself after everything else was paid for, and started putting myself on a bi-weekly allowance based on what I normally needed to spend, with the remainder going into savings. If there was something I wanted that cost more than my allowance allowed, since I didn't have a credit card, or a checking account, I had to go to the bank, which gave me opportunity to re-evaluate whether I really needed it or just wanted it. Way more often than not, I didn't make that trip to the bank.
I always worked at least one, and up to three part time jobs even when going to school full time. I went to school for several different professions before settling into what turned into the best career for me, including auto mechanics, real estate, and respiratory therapy, before becoming a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA).
I worked at HCMC a Level 1 Trauma hospital in Mpls. when I finished my training, and at a neighboring surgery center on my off days, so typically got in 60+hrs a week. A couple years later when we moved to small rural MN town not too far from where I grew up, I was the only anesthesia provider, so was on call 24/7 for 11.5 days, and then off every other weekend from 4pm Fri. until 4am Mon. when out of town fill-in anesthetists would provide coverage.
This was also in the early 80's when mortgage rates were in the 12-13% range, so instead of buying a house, we bought a 13yr old used 10x48 2 bedroom mobile home in good repair for $3500. We lived in that for 5 years at a mobile home park while we saved every penny we could and put it into CDs that earned 10+ %. Reagan was in office, and things started turning around. We found some nice forested lake shore and talked with the owner for a year before he was convinced that we didn't want to just develop it, but wanted the seclusion it provided, like he and his wife valued at their little weekend cabin nearby, but out of our and their sight, and they sold it us, despite being approached by many others prior.
I would go out and work on clearing the trees for a driveway, and the home site after work each day with my call beeper strapped to my cap so I could hear it over my chainsaw. Our big spending splurge would be to go out for pizza on Friday nights, which was often interrupted by a call into the ER, or surgery on the every other Friday evenings that I was on call. Eventually, with me working as the general contractor, and along side the builders, we saved enough to build a modest two bedroom home without taking out a mortgage, and sold the mobile home for what we paid 5 years earlier when we finally moved into the new home.
We continued to save like we had up until that point until we had a 6-12 month emergency fund built up, and then started investing. We also always maxed out our deferred comp investment program at work with automatic deductions each pay period so that we didn't ever miss the money on our pay checks, and that went on for over 31+ years there. When I decided I was getting tired of being called out of bed in the middle of the night for emergencies I started my own independent contractor anesthesia service, and provided services on my own schedule for the next 6 years to finish out my 40 yr career in the field.
Even now, while having a second home in AZ might sound nice, and it is, it is an investment that has been paying for itself. We still live beneath our means, and don't spend lavishly. We more often buy used cars than new, I do most of my own home and auto repairs, and we make most of our meals at home. I learned early on that the people who have money don't get it by paying interest, they get it by earning interest. If I can afford to pay a bank payments, I can afford to make those payments to myself until I have enough to buy what I would have taken a loan for, own whatever it was outright a lot sooner, and for a lot less than if I had taken a loan out.... instant gratification can be quite expensive. Credit cards are always paid in full each month, and I've never paid a dime in credit card interest, or mortgage interest.
So while the luck of timing has often been with us, there has also been a fair amount of hard work, extra shifts, pre-purchase research, and of course we've had to have already saved the money to take advantage of those well timed opportunities when they presented themselves.
While you may say I "pulled it off", I haven't met too many people who have been quite so deliberate in avoiding the use credit for all of their purchases as we have, and used that savings to invest more rather than spend more. Having said all of that I think we have also found a good balance of spending what we need to be happy and enjoy our lives, but not so much as to put our future and retirement in jeopardy. Also to put it into a little more perspective, my starting pay as a CRNA at that rural hospital in 1981 was a little over $13/hr, my wife's as an RN was a little under $7/hr.
Waaaay lot longer than I planned, but I just wanted to put our success at "pulling it off" in perspective, and that's just how long it took.
