I went to school (graduated in 1964) with a guy who just sold insurance for State Farm and he has saved well over $1 million PLUS he pays cash for his cars and put down $150,000 on a $395,000 condo he bought and paid the new condo off when he sold his old one.
How did he do it? He always paid cash for everything or if he charged something he paid the full amount off each month. He wanted to go on a vacation? He saved his money for it and paid for everything in advance. His wife also worked but they lived off of his income and banked hers. They separated and she paid cash for her $300,000+ house so that when the divorce was final both homes were fully paid for.
They lived BELOW their means. Not only that but his father was the same way and when his father died a few years ago he and and his only sister were left hundreds of thousands of dollars (at least) not too mention prime real estate holdings. Saving at least 15% of every paycheck is a darn good idea. I would also suggest saving 15% of ANY money you get; e.g. monetary gifts, tax refunds, lottery winnings (although I don't recommend playing the lottery), whatever. (I know about his finances because we were briefly engaged a few years back).
I have several friends who always lived on only one income and who banked the other. They are all living well today.
$100,000 isn't much when you consider that social security benefits will be lower than what is paid today and you will probably have to be older to collect. Not too mention the fact that lifespans increase. If I live to be 80 I will have been retired for almost 30 years.
I wouldn't even want to know how much I've paid in interest on all the credit cards and loans I've had over the years - I'm sure it would boggle my mind. All wasted money.
Thats very simple. Make a spreadsheet with all of your expenses and monitor what you're spending. Cut out useless expense like that trip to Texas Roadhouse you take every week (example). Chop your cable package down a little etc. and you'll realize how much money you were throwing away each month, then put that saved cash in your bank rather than spending it elsewhere and BAM, if you've lived within or slightly under a comfortable zone you'll come out saving thousands each month.
125 k in his lifetime? Thats awful lol, i would set a higher goal than that, let say you work for 45 years until retirement, so you just have to save 3k a year, thats nothing, and if you invest your savings wisely youll have way more
Raise the bar. Your lifetime savings should be several times that. Have strict definitions of want vs. need, spend less than you earn, and have an investment strategy. I recommend dollar cost averaging.
you do it $1 at a time. Save 15% of every check from today and forever more.
Not all that difficult. Save 10k a year and in 10 years (or less), you have your 100k.
it is not hard to do . just stay focused ... what is a lifetime ? till age 65 ?
