Question... knowing Amway (and other MLMs) are scams - how did that experience and what you learned about yourself help you retire "early"? Certainly you didn't make any money with Amway. What did you gain from that experience that helped? Hoping this doesn't come across rude, but.... was it learning that losing money doesn't allow you to save money? I'm genuinely interested in knowing how Amway allowed you to retire "early".
Fair enough questions and I fully expected these kind of MMM perspectives. I'm not here to defend the MLM systems, but instead to provide my perspective on how I consider or 'rational' a positive from our experience. And I readily acknowledge that my experience may not match others.
If there was only one road to finding the path to FIRE or happiness, then sadly most of use would be truly screwed. I look at our Amway business period as one of many possible roads that I happened upon and chose to travel. The Amway support system was a learning environment which was lacking in my life. My AS, BS and MS with a Thesis certainly didn't teach me what I needed to do to reach FIRE. 8 years in nuclear submarines certainly didn't. So lets talk about the experience and learning's that helped me.
It's true, financially we didn't get rich. But we also didn't go broke or become desperate. We had a great support system (up-line) who always put our needs before the business. We 'learned' to budget and control our costs to allow us to participate in the program. We had a great time going places, meeting new people, expanding our awareness of life around us and what was possible. We 'learned' how to use the tax system work to our advantage and this in turn helped us to reduce our overall costs. My records show that over our 9 year active Amway period, we spent ~$14,800 and brought in ~$4,000. Hence a 'loss' of $10,800 over 9 yrs, or ~$1,200 yr. And this was before any tax write offs. To account for this loss, we adjusted vacation $$ to the business (and still got to travel), cut out cable extras, and 'learned' that we didn't need a new car every few years. To our surprise, despite the business not making us millionaires overnight, our year to year finances were slowly improving.
And while 'learning' during these 9 years, we were encouraged by our support group (up-line) to ramp up our savings, both in retirement and non-retirement accounts. This forced me to really 'learn' about my 401K plan, quickly realizing I was leaving money on the table, and that my investment selections were not optimal for our goals. A vast amount of the funds we saved during these 9 yrs went a long way to our FIRE in 2015.
One very important thing we 'learned' from the Amway business was about ourselves. I'll be honest, we were not in a good stable relationship. Couples therapy was just one long drawn out agony, not to mention the cost (which was more that $1,200 a year sometimes). And yes, it was tough trying to do the business and having marital issues. Slowly we started seeing changes in ourselves, and how we valued each others support and input. The time we spent together highlighted our faults but magnified our strengths and blessings. We included our kids as much as possible in the business trips, and they grew and strengthened as we got our relationship shit together. We recognized that we were blessed and worked hard to keep the positive improvements moving forward. Bumps in the road (even now) are cushioned by what we 'learned' in the system. The Amway support system came at the right time for us and we truly believe that without it, we would have divorced in a few short years. Divorce can ruin many chances of FIRE, and I know of many divorced friends, family and co-workers who have to post-pone their retirement goals due to the financial impact that it creates. Or as my wife likes to kid me now: I was too cheap to get divorced!
Shortly after 9/11, our Amway business suffered, we lost some great up-line (support), and our heart just wasn't in it anymore. We let the business limp on till around 2004 when we dropped out for good. We actively took what we had 'learned' about life, finances, dreams, and each other; and set new and exciting goals for ourselves. The Amway business/support system was our School of Hard Knocks, and it only cost us $10,800 for both of us. Compare that to a college degree these days. So from 2002 until FIRE in 2015 (4 years ahead of schedule), we became mini-mustaches without even knowing about MMM (until later).
In retrospect, from 1982 (married) to 1995 (joined Amway), we wasted/lost so much money from frequent bad new auto purchases, bad stock buys (get rich quick $5K Alaskan Apollo Gold Mines), over the top vacations, unnecessary luxury's (indoor hot tub), and poor retirement planning to name a few. Easily $4-6K yr. From 1995-2002 (active Amway period), we cut our expenses and only spent $1,400 yr investing in ourselves. We also improved our savings, saved our marriage and despite the struggle, can look back fondly on the good times we had. From 2002-2015, we became a lean mean saving machine. And we still made time and $$ for fun things to build upon. My wife was able to pursue her spiritual passion and became a pastor. She attributes the Amway experience to giving her the belief in herself and strength to complete the process. In 2015, the stars aligned and we went for it. All the pre-planning paid off, and here we are 4 years later, still financially secure, healthy and enjoying our retirement and all that it offers. It only took $10,800 of 'learning', 20 years of delayed gratification, and a lot of hard work.
Again, this was my path, my road to FIRE. Your mileage and experiences may vary. Would I do it again? Knowing what I know now, no. But how does one get to where they know what they know now without not knowing what they didn't know then?
I hope this reflection upon how I Amway'd, survived, and still FIRE'd provides the insight the dis-believers are seeking. Please stay classy with your comments and rebukes. And if you can't, at least include an emoji. Either way, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
And to add fire to the FIRE, my darling wife and I will be celebrating our 37th anniversary this Oct at Walt Disney World (our happy place) using our DVC timeshare (oh the horror...) at Bay Lake Towers and our Annual Pass (women and children passing out)!! But.... before you flame me for such an anti-MMM frivolous spending behavior, I at least booked the lowest cost studio (very MMM) and the Annual Pass was bought 8 yrs ago (part of the plan) and has appreciated in value 79% so far (extreme MMM), which will make each park visit for our 30 days of visits at Disney only ~$14.40 per person (mind blown MMM).
PS - be sure to see the POMS movie with Diane Keaton this Mother's Day weekend. It was filmed in the 55+ community where we live now in Georgia. If the water volleyball footage makes it into the movie, I'm the one looking all buff and sexy! (and bald).