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[tmeri]

My own story is rather dull, so I suspect it is hardly worth reading. But I'll put it here because I haven't really told it often. There's no sex, mystery, or violence, but there is a lot of money.

I have always been a passionate saver, so I never needed a tip on how to save money and have never done much reading on that subject. However, I was not a good investor when I was younger. My mother is not, either, and my father died when I was 21 and was not there to provide this crucial piece of guidance when I needed it.

The first time I participated in a retirement savings plan, I put all of my money in fixed income investments. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Then I made other dumb mistakes, including spending too much time in school.

Eventually, I landed a pretty good job in the late 1980's. At first it was fun. Fortunately, at this point I had determined to put more in the stock market, so I signed up for the 401(k) plan the day I became eligible and put away the maximum deferral. I put most of it in some of the low-cost index funds available in the plan.

I also bought stock from the company at a discount. I maxed that out, too. Interestingly, many of the older employees were getting out at that time of the ESPP because the company stock had taken a hit like many others in the early 1990's. I backed up the truck to buy as much as I could.

Those were the main decisions that cemented my ability to FIRE. I also made some unfortunate choices that cost me thousands of dollars, chiefly selling company stock to buy a house. But while it was bad financially, the decision had a huge impact on my mental health because the commute, as well as the job, had become unbearable. After buying the new house, only the job was unbearable, and the location is still a joy to this day.

I sold the previous house at a small profit, and the current house has increased in value, though probably not as much as the stock would have. I also owned another piece of undeveloped land for a few years which I sold at a large profit percentage-wise, though the absolute value was small.

The company stock split twice, and my 401(k), except for the international fund, did very well. I stopped contributing to the international fund in the mid 1990's but didn't move the money to one of the domestic funds. The international fund has done well recently, and I'm almost back to where I was on that one. Stopping the contributions was a good decision for many years, though it would have been better if I had also moved the existing money.

Meanwhile, while all of this saving by my own initiative was going on, I became increasingly unhappy with working. The corporate culture didn't permit voicing such unhappiness. I was saving because I was born a saver, and I think I knew that the money would someday make my life easier, but I hadn't really conceived of a plan to quit early.

In the early 1990's when the company started laying off workers, I was actually a little jealous. Some of those first packages were fabulous. They gave older workers the ability to take a leave of absence until they were eligible for early retirement (age 55 at that company), plus they gave them enormous "departing gifts." I think they gave them two weeks of salary for every 6 months of service or some such nonsense. The company also paid for their medical benefits during the leave, paid for retraining and many other benefits, and gave them medical benefits once they reached age 55 and retired with a pension. Many of those that were laid off were incredibly distressed. To me, the package they were offered was too good to be true. I was too young to be eligible for these lay-offs, but I began to wonder if I could get one when I was old enough. One of my greatest worries at that point was that the company would turn around and not want to lay people off.

To be continued....

[tmeri]

...continued from above...

In my unhappiness, I started reading more about investing. Somehow I stumbled across intercst's page. It was a beacon of light in the darkness to me, and I am not exaggerating. I felt an instant connection with intercst. Finally, here was someone who understood how I felt and was not afraid to call the corporate culture BS. I had kept secret my disdain for kissing the corporate butt, but now I had found someone that not only had the same feelings towards work, he was not afraid to announce those. Even better, his site had many articles that brought comfort to me, and also a virtual "how-to" manual.

I started reading more about investing at this time and fortunately stumbled upon a book by Frank Armstrong. It was long and addressed the theory of investing, but in the end, Frank convinced me to invest in low cost index funds. That book mostly confirmed the virtue of the investments in my 401(k).

Finally one day, based on intercst's studies, I figured I had enough money. I wanted to get laid off, but couldn't manage to do that. I even asked my boss if I could be in the lay-off that was taking place at the time. He said no. So I basically rolled my own "lay-off" package. Hee!

All the money I have I got from salary or investment growth. I didn't inherit a single cent. I never won, or even played, the lottery. I say that to encourage others who are trying to do it just by working. It *is* possible. The keys for me were living a frugal life and investing heavily in the stock market.

At the end of every year, I total up all of my investments, excluding my house, to see where I stand. Because I am mostly in index funds and some fixed income investments, I don't feel a need to watch things very closely. I'm not good at market timing, so I don't jump in and out of funds. At the end of the first full year of retirement, in spite of spending some of my savings/investments to live on and not contributing anything to investments, I was financially ahead of where I was the year before. I suspect I will also come out ahead this year, but it is too early to check.

I warned you, I am as dull as they come. If you've read this far, you only have yourself to blame.

[tmeri]

[tmeri]

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[tmeri]