I really wanted to share a handful of success stories I’ve accumulated over the past few months. My own story is I started a new job 2 years ago and wondered if I was putting enough away for retirement. After a few internet searches, I found MMM and have been pretty much hooked ever since. This site was so helpful to me that I’ve been preaching these various ideas to anyone who would listen. Pretty often I get a thousand-yard-stare, but on occasion, I’ve had someone really engage and it absolutely thrills me.
#1 – Summer Intern and former schoolmate of my younger brother
On his last day of work and stopped by his office and offered some unsolicited advice that he should put whatever money he earned this summer in a Roth IRA fund. I quickly explained what that was and he confided that he’s actually had a hobby for a few years of studying and buying stocks. I told him how the tax-free structure of the account could enable him to trade his stocks without generating taxes. He seemed genuinely interested.
Fast forward to this summer, he’s back and I asked him if he followed up on the Roth and he had! He scheduled a meeting at his bank to get their advice on whether it’s legit (because let’s face it, for a young worker Roth’s really do seem too good to be true). The bank told him it was a great idea and now he has an account he is funding for his future. He also added that one of his electives included a day of personal finance lessons and they brought up retirement accounts in there as well, but by then he was already ahead of the class. So proud for him.
#2 – My graduate school sister
For a while I’d been happily declaring our own progress with our finances. Just like the intern, I was trying to talk her into saving early and often, especially since she’ll be going to work with such a strong start. She’s even asked me before “so what exactly do these Early Retirees do?” “Anything they want,” I say. I assumed she was mostly being polite by conversing about my interests.
Eventually though she sent me an email asking about what fancy online tracking software I used. It was Mint.com. Turns out she had an epiphany and realized soon she’ll be truly independent (she had a scholarship to gradschool, but was still semi-supported by our parents), so she needed to really start keep track of exactly where her money was going. This is much better than my strategy at that age of “check and make sure I have a little more money in the bank than last month”. I think she’s going to do the best of all of us.
#3 – My college graduated younger brother
Not long ago, I went to visit my brother for his undergrad graduation. At one point, the two of us were walking alone and I started in on how great it was that he would be supporting himself completely with his new job but he needed to remember to start saving early. Our parents had always emphasized living below your means but their advice really stopped there, so I wasn’t surprised when he said “yeah, yeah, I know, I’m budgeting for that.”
“No, I mean you need to start saving for retirement right away, not just for things like a new car.” This actually grabbed his attention right away, “Really? But how do I do that?” He says he’s heard the words Roth IRA and 401k before but honestly has no idea how they work. So on our walk I start explaining the difference between the tax-deferred and tax-free accounts and that most likely he wants the later. Before I can really dive into it though, we meet one of friends and then arrive at our destination.
At first I thought that would be the end of the discussion, but much to my surprise, he starts it up again after we’ve settled down at a party no less. He even acknowledged he didn’t know what the difference was between a checking account and a savings account. I tell you, he’s such a smart guy, but these colleges are really setting these students up for mediocrity. I explain the basics of checking vs. savings but emphasize the first thing he needs to concentrate on is collecting $1000 to put in a Vanguard account. My plan at the end of the year is to check in again and if he’s not there yet, gift him the remaining funds to get this started.
Through all these cases, I’ve learned that nobody actually hears you the first time. Sometimes hearing it from you isn’t enough, but when they hear it again from a different source, it starts to click. So keep spreading the word and maybe you can really change a life.
Now I want to hear your successful conversion stories.
