what is your "aha" moment?

[clarkfan1979]

Do you have a moment in your life that solidified your decisions for a frugal lifestyle? For me it was actually before MMM, but MMM surely helped me ramp up my efforts.

My moment was 5 years ago. I was driving from the south suburbs of Denver to the mountains around 7:00 a.m. You take C-470 NW up to I-70. Then I-70 splits into two directions. You take I-70 east toward the city (jobs) or I-70 west toward the mountains (fun). I have done this drive many times in the past but really hadn't paid attention to the other drivers.

One on particular day I noticed that I was the only one going west. It was kind of struggle to get in the lane to exit going west because there was a mini-traffic jam exiting to go east. I couldn't believe the traffic and struggle people were experiencing to try to get to work. When I got onto I-70 going west I couldn't help but notice only 3-5 other cars on the road ahead of me. Why weren't there more people like me going snowboarding on a Friday?

I don't want to be judgmental of the cars going east. I don't know their story. Maybe they love their jobs. However, most of them drove fancy cars and I did not. I looked at them and I looked at myself and I was totally at peace. I realized that I was sacrificing fancy stuff for a lifestyle that I really wanted. At that point I felt as though I had figured it out.

[Indio]

My aha moment happened when my ex husband had a health crisis.  At the time, i had an 18 month old, was working full time, had 2 car payments and a mortgage, and his exwife needed to be bailed out of jail for child endangerment. The police called me just as he was getting out of surgery. The health crisis continued for  6 months after getting out of the hospital. I realized that i came very close to being a widow and being solely responsible for my child and his 3 from the previous marriage.
I had always saved in my 401k but ramped it up big time.

[TheBreeze]

No question: I googled "student loan depression" to see if it was a thing or not, landed on a forum that mentioned MMM, then I read...and read....and read.

[arebelspy]

There's been a few threads on this exact question, some of them quite long, so if you search the forum you'll get a bunch more replies to this.

No question: I googled "student loan depression" to see if it was a thing or not, landed on a forum that mentioned MMM, then I read...and read....and read.

Seeing as you joined the forum 8 months ago, so it's been awhile since that happened, how has that impacted your life?

[Lian]

My “aha” moment came almost 7 years ago.  The company I worked for had been purchased by an international megacorp, and after sticking it out for a couple of years I realized I wanted control over my future, and I wanted out of the corporate world; and that FI was the way to do it. At that time, I had plenty of debt and very little savings in a 401k – a negative net worth.  I focused intensely on frugal living for a few years until I got debt-free. I’m now focused on the savings/investments. I figure the whole process – from the first steps of paying down the debt to FI in a few years (and including a long-term layoff) – will take about ten years. Once I discovered MMM, I spent a little time regretting the financial foolishness of my youth, but that’s water under the bridge. It’s never too late to change, and I’ve gained some valuable insight from MMM.

I do enjoy learning about other people's "aha" moments.

[Zaga]

I had a few, each with their own benefits.

The first one was in my first job out of college I was watching a Little House on the Prairie episode where the one woman gets really pissed off at her husband for taking out a mortgage to buy a house.  By the end of the episode she had made him promise to never borrow money again.  I remember being sad that living like that wasn't possible in modern times.

Then a few jobs later a coworker loaned me a Dave Ramsey book, and I was amazed to discover that it WAS possible to live without debt!  Also learned a lot about the mechanics of investing like what a 401-K was and an IRA.  Made a plan at that time to be able to retire comfortably when DH got to retirement age.

A few years after that someone mentioned MMM (I don't remember who) and I was super stoked.  We aren't doing a great job of following what he did, but at least I do see the possibilities of retiring early now.  Though at this point I'd like to figure it so DH can retire before his regular retirement age, I may keep working longer since I'm younger.

[TheBreeze]

Arebelspy: MMM gave me hope and confidence where there was none. That's been the biggest and most important impact over the last year.

[StacheinTX]

For me it was the moment I started hating a job that I had previously loved. All the politics and BS pushed me to start learning how to invest my money. MMM sure pushed me to lower my bills with no cable/satellite and Republic Wireless.

[vern]

I remember watching a talk show when I was a young lad back in the mid 70's.  The subject was money and one of the guests said...

"Your life would be twenty percent cheaper if you never used credit cards."

That quote has always stuck with me.  Apart from the mortgage and two vehicles (all paid off years ago) I've never been in debt.

[BuildingFrugalHabits]

Do you have a moment in your life that solidified your decisions for a frugal lifestyle? For me it was actually before MMM, but MMM surely helped me ramp up my efforts.

My moment was 5 years ago. I was driving from the south suburbs of Denver to the mountains around 7:00 a.m. You take C-470 NW up to I-70. Then I-70 splits into two directions. You take I-70 east toward the city (jobs) or I-70 west toward the mountains (fun). I have done this drive many times in the past but really hadn't paid attention to the other drivers.

One on particular day I noticed that I was the only one going west. It was kind of struggle to get in the lane to exit going west because there was a mini-traffic jam exiting to go east. I couldn't believe the traffic and struggle people were experiencing to try to get to work. When I got onto I-70 going west I couldn't help but notice only 3-5 other cars on the road ahead of me. Why weren't there more people like me going snowboarding on a Friday?

I don't want to be judgmental of the cars going east. I don't know their story. Maybe they love their jobs. However, most of them drove fancy cars and I did not. I looked at them and I looked at myself and I was totally at peace. I realized that I was sacrificing fancy stuff for a lifestyle that I really wanted. At that point I felt as though I had figured it out.

Yup, I know that spot you're talking about.  Thanks for the story.  How is Florida treating you now?  Hopefully you've found some great pursuits to enjoy down there. 

I would say that my epiphany come during the transition between grad school and full time work.  Going from a piddly stipend to full blown salary would allow me to purchase lots more stuff! But wait, I was already pretty content with my lifestyle of biking, hiking, skiing and of course, the pursuit of knowledge.  It was easy to see that there isn't necessarily a linear relationship  between spending and happiness.  At that point, I resolved to weigh any lifestyle inflation very carefully keeping in mind that any budget increases are essentially froth with diminishing returns.  I enjoy reading inspirational stories of others who have had the same revelation.  MMM is more articulate and entertaining when he conveys this message and that is what keeps me coming back. 

[Jon_Snow]

Three particular "aha" moments come to mind. All of them occured at work - after these events, I felt a renewed cold, angry determination to reach FIRE so that I would no longer have to suffer these events.

One workplace incident was one of extreme humiliation - have mentioned it before on this forum, don't feel like rehashing it. The other two were near fatal accidents - one in which a piece of heavy equipment (bulldozer) I was running slid into the ocean - they teach you to stay in your machine during such events, but I managed to jump out before I ended up down at the seabed, 70ft down. I was injured somewhat when I jumped out of the machine, but had I not, I would most assuredly be dead.

Another time I fell into a vat of wet concrete, was completely submerged, and only the quick actions of others saved me. There have been a myriad of other close calls over the years.

The only positive thing I can say of my career that I was extremely well paid, so the job itself provided me the means not to have to do it anymore. 2 months into ER, it all seems like a bad dream now, with the details getting harder and harder to recall - which is just fine by me. :)

[jprince7827]

For me, it is one of the reasons I believe in God:

I had just began my first salaried job 2.5 years ago, and I was saving 100$/mo out of my 55k salary living in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. I hated working, and the hours, and I was perusing Hacker News in one of the later hours of the working day.

There was this link:

From Zero to Hero: How to Retire Rich in 10 years or less

Or something along those lines. You all know the article. At the time when I clicked that link, my net worth was hovering around 5 or 10k, can't remember which. Most of that was the 4.2k-in-value Pontiac 2004 Grand Am my father had given me for my 16th birthday 10 years ago.

It changed my life. Within three weeks, I had got my savings rate from <3% up to 15% by dropping my expensive gym, and cutting other useless things I did not need(as well as maxing out 401k). I found a new job, and used it as leverage to get a 10,000$ raise as well as 10,000$ more equity vesting, and then a year after that, started my own consulting firm on the side. I moved to the South Side of Chicago to save some 300$/mo on rent, and then my consulting firm started bringing in enough income to match, and then exceed my salary. I eventually used the excess savings to purchase a Condo in Oak Park so I could live in a safer neighborhood. At the time, I was saving 68% of my income after taxes in the South Side and 53% after I moved to Oak Park.

Then, about 9 months ago, I quit my job to go do a startup, and closed up shop on my freelancing. Startup's not doing so hot right now, but my net worth is hovering around 115k, including all assets and vested equity in a 500mm real estate firm, which is quite a shift from 5k 2.5 years ago. I'm on the hunt for a new job now, and I've got enough liquidity(about 3 months worth) and enough employment time left(the startup has 6 months till they can't afford me) that I can land that next good opportunity with plenty of time to spare.

MMM has given me the power and confidence to do this, and now that I'm kicking my side firm back up it will extend my runway even farther.

[clarkfan1979]

Do you have a moment in your life that solidified your decisions for a frugal lifestyle? For me it was actually before MMM, but MMM surely helped me ramp up my efforts.

My moment was 5 years ago. I was driving from the south suburbs of Denver to the mountains around 7:00 a.m. You take C-470 NW up to I-70. Then I-70 splits into two directions. You take I-70 east toward the city (jobs) or I-70 west toward the mountains (fun). I have done this drive many times in the past but really hadn't paid attention to the other drivers.

One on particular day I noticed that I was the only one going west. It was kind of struggle to get in the lane to exit going west because there was a mini-traffic jam exiting to go east. I couldn't believe the traffic and struggle people were experiencing to try to get to work. When I got onto I-70 going west I couldn't help but notice only 3-5 other cars on the road ahead of me. Why weren't there more people like me going snowboarding on a Friday?

I don't want to be judgmental of the cars going east. I don't know their story. Maybe they love their jobs. However, most of them drove fancy cars and I did not. I looked at them and I looked at myself and I was totally at peace. I realized that I was sacrificing fancy stuff for a lifestyle that I really wanted. At that point I felt as though I had figured it out.

Yup, I know that spot you're talking about.  Thanks for the story.  How is Florida treating you now?  Hopefully you've found some great pursuits to enjoy down there. 

I would say that my epiphany come during the transition between grad school and full time work.  Going from a piddly stipend to full blown salary would allow me to purchase lots more stuff! But wait, I was already pretty content with my lifestyle of biking, hiking, skiing and of course, the pursuit of knowledge.  It was easy to see that there isn't necessarily a linear relationship  between spending and happiness.  At that point, I resolved to weigh any lifestyle inflation very carefully keeping in mind that any budget increases are essentially froth with diminishing returns.  I enjoy reading inspirational stories of others who have had the same revelation.  MMM is more articulate and entertaining when he conveys this message and that is what keeps me coming back.

Florida is good. The winters are awesome. The summers are really hot and humid. My wife and I are trying to live at her sisters house in the summer in Erie, CO. This was something that never really occurred to us before, but seasonal residency seems like it could be a really good fit for us. We hope to live in CO May 1- August 15th. This means that we would only get 1 month of hot and humid in FL instead of 4 months. I will probably post something as it gets closer.

I am also thankful of learning how to live off of a $15,000 stipend in grad school and making it work. However, I did average about 4,000/year in loans because of health insurance ($2500/year) and student fees ($1500/year). I also took out a little more to fund a home purchase, but I pretty much lived on $15,000 in expenses. Once I got my first job making around $45,000, I thought I had struck gold. I could get a corporate job and make twice as much but I like being a prof and only working 8 months out of the year.

I was renting a room in CA when in my MA program from a super nice guy. He was recently divorced and was renting me a room for $550/month including utilities. I was a friend of a friend and it worked. I was living on about $18,000/year. I had a 12,000 stipend and 6,000 in loans for those 2 years. He was making about 80K-100K but wasn't happy because CA is expensive. He told me that I have to make about 150K/year to be happy in CA. It was kind of weird when he told me this because I was living off of $18,000/year and very happy at the time.   

[ltt]

I don't know if I have had an "aha" moment, but more like a few "aha" years, especially as I'm over 50 now, and am beginning to hate the winters.  I used to love those first snowfalls of the season, but anymore I just wish they would go away--either that, or I need to go away--to someplace warmer.  It won't happen, because my husband is still working.  He wants to see what insurance will look like for us in a few years, and then I hope to goodness that he decides to retire.  We still have children in high school, middle school, and elementary school--two will graduate in the next few years, and then we can reassess. Life's too short.

[benjenn]

In May 2012, we were $711,000 in debt after being married 4 years.  This included 2 houses (one was being rented after not being able to sell it), a vacation home on the beach, a HELOC,  a 401K loan, and a really cool electric car (Nissan Leaf). 

Sitting on the balcony of our beach place that summer, it suddenly dawned on us that we would love to retire there and we set 6 years as our goal (June 2018). 

Since then, we have sold both houses, the car, paid off the HELOC and the 401K loan, increased hubby's 401K contributions and have made great strides in paying off the beach condo.  Today, just 2 1/2 years later, we are now $58,000 in debt - only the mortgage on the beach condo remains.  We plan to have it paid off by July 2015 and now we've moved our retirement plans up to the end of next year - December 30, 2015.  At that point, we will have 2 pensions that will clear $48,000 per year after taxes and we will be 51 and 52 years old. 

Since discovering MMM, we are certain we can live on way less than that and be more than fine.  We expect our net worth to increase each year after retiring - and that's before we do anything to bring in money by working on whatever we decide we want to work on.  :)  Happy doesn't even begin to describe the feeling.

[MsRichLife]

Mine came when I was 22 in my first year out of Uni. I had spent the weekend at work, working unpaid overtime. I was young, in charge of a small team and had no mentoring, leadership or guidance from above because the bosses kept being replaced. I was trying my best, but really had little idea of what I was doing. Anyway, I can't remember the exact details but I received some not very nice feedback on how I was doing. It was at that moment that I realised I need FU money so I set out to become FI.

[CabinetGuy]

Yesr and a half ago.  Self-employed, was damn near broke 2k in savings)and bid a job so low just so I could get it.  Ended up making very little per hour on a very small cabinet job.  I was not in A Position of Strength, and it cost me thousands just on this single job.  Think of the money I would leave on the table if I kept this up.

I was sitting in a shitty rental, miserable, fighting with my SO daily and was broke.   I googled "how to be a better man."  Led me to the Art of Manliness, which led me to MMM.

Fast forward, I have over 35k in bank, and paid off 25k in debt.  Can bid jobs with confidence and go for the jobs that I want, not the ones I feel I need "just to keep the lights on."  I've more than doubled my gross yearly income!!!  I'm less stressed, work less (somehow!), and I'm happier.

It can only get better.

Jon

[jprince7827]

It can only get better.

Jon

Inspiring story, thanks for sharing Jon!

[Datastache]

I was a 7-year-old with a Lego obsession. There was a big set I really, really, really wanted. Cost about $80-$90 at the time, as I recall. So I saved up all my allowance, birthday/holiday gifts, and so forth for a while until I had perhaps $95. Then I bought the thing. It was great for about 15 minutes...then I realized I didn't have the skill required to build it, and the parts I had already built kept falling apart. I ended up with a bunch of Lego blocks and about $5 to my name.

This was a big eye-opener for me. I learned that just because something looked cool and cost a lot of money didn't necessarily mean it was worth buying. And I realized this was especially true if you were blowing most of your money to do it. Ever since then, I've had an easy time saving my money instead of spending it. I still get the consumerist itch from time to time, and I'll even scratch that itch if I feel very, very confident that I'd rather have the item in question than the money it'd cost. But on the whole, I enjoy spending as little as I can.

[TheThirstyStag]

Mine wasn't really an "Aha" moment, rather it was a slow progression.  It started in grad school when I started perusing slick deals to buy things I only really needed (after all, I was living on a measly stipend).  Then I, too, never felt the need to upgrade my already great lifestyle when a real salary came around.  It just slowly progressed into low level mustachianism, and continues to this day.

[MsRichLife]

I was pretty mustachian as a kid too. I started working odd jobs at 12 and saving my money. Held 3 jobs through high school.  Bought all my clothes at the op shop, even though all my friends were into labels. I bought my own 'fixer-upper' car at 15 ('69 VW beetle) and started investing in the stock market at 16. I really hope my son has the mustachian gene instilled. It's so easy to save when it's what you've always done.

[gooki]

When I signed a $233,000mortgage at 7.5% interest, and calculated that after one year, $15,000 in interest would be paid and only $3000 in principal.

Fuck that was my reaction, so I came up with a plan to repay it in 10-11 years. In the end we paid it back in 5.5 years. Managed to live a great life without spending lavishly during those years. This hatred for debt has in turn allowed us to live of one income for the last four years (while my wife looks after the children), something many of our peers will not have the option to do.

[happy]

Unlike many here I haven't always been frugal, and didn't come up with the idea of FIRE myself.   Also had never been interested much in finances, since rather arrogantly I thought I had a well paid job and didn't need to worry about money, and thats what people kept telling me.

I had several periods of frugality which in my mind was "living like a student",  took a year off and lived overseas twice, and although I didn't have much left over I never carried any debt other than a mortgage. Always paid off the mortgage early but then bought a bigger place. Also had an unformed interest in what I called "simplicity" at the time, which didn't blossom til decades later when I became interested in sustainable living, and simple living.

I had a long period of learned frugality when I became a single parent, but always felt ashamed of not being able to keep up with my peers. 2007 I found blogs and forums and was increasingly pondering how to transition to a "simple lifestyle" and how to generate 30k or so passive income to live off. At the end of 2011 a chance mention of ERE on a simple living forum, led me there and that was my big AHA moment. "Too extreme for me" I thought, "but I can adapt his ideas to suit if I think about it". Then Jacob passed the torch to MMM and I really took off.

[steadierfooting]

Mine was a slow progression as well.  I was putting some money into a 401K, but not paying attention to how little it was.  I was laid off from my first job out of college in 2010, but thankfully had another job offer due to my networking the next day (literally the next day I was in another office signing a contract).

I saw the writing on the wall for the layoff for months before that, but was so stupid with my money.  I was stressed and felt helpless.  It would have been so much better to have 'f-you money' and just walk out without a care.  4 years later I'm still not exactly at that point, because I've been shoving so much money into retirement accounts to catch up, but I'm getting there.

Then I got engaged and started saving for a downpayment for a house, and focused somewhat on cutting frivolous expenses, and started reading PF books and blogs.

It had to have been after Oct 2011 that I became anti-debt, and gained different opinions on finances than my peers and family, because that's when I bought a new car after my old one went bust.  I bought a new expensive SUV (24K car loan @1.99%).  That's how all friends and family bought cars, so I didn't think twice about it, even though I vividly remembered hating to pay my old car loan each month.

So a few months after that I committed to paying off all debt except our mortgage, stopped pissing away money on things that aren't important to us, and directing the money to things that are.

There's still huge rooms of improvement for us, but I think we are on a great path.

[benjenn]

Sitting on the balcony of our beach place that summer, it suddenly dawned on us that we would love to retire there and we set 6 years as our goal (June 2018). 

Similar tale here. We bought a holiday home around 6 years ago. First trip there I realised that was where I wanted to be and working towards that goal was so much easier than a vague plan of retiring early.

That was it... we realized the beach was where we wanted to be all the time and we've worked to make it happen.  Since discovering MMM, I have to say we've made even greater strides toward it happening earlier.  We're already 2 1/2 years earlier than we first thought was possible and we're putting our youngest through college at University of Oklahoma while we're making it happen.

We're fortunate that hubby is retired from the Air Force and we'll have Tri-Care insurance and we'll both received monthly pensions that will more than pay for our living expenses.  We'll have over a year's income in savings by the end of next year after paying off the mortgage on the condo, plus both our 401Ks (that we can't touch without penalties for 7 1/2 years but who cares?).  All we need is enough... and we'll have more than enough.  Plus, we'll be sitting on the 15th floor balcony overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.  Now THAT is something to work toward!  :)

[CabinetGuy]

It can only get better.

Jon

Inspiring story, thanks for sharing Jon!

Welcome, glad it worked out the way it has!

From hot mess to hot shit in no time. :)

[Gone Fishing]

Growing up, my parents used to come home and complain about work nearly everyday.  Fortunately, they were doing something about it, as they saved around 50% of their income and when my dad's job became truly intolerable, he exercised his FU option and took a 25%+ pay cut for a better job.  They were FI by their late 40's.  Dad retired, went to grad school, and started a second career (will retire again next year at 61).  Mom retired and stayed retired at 50 or so. 

I didn't really do much differently, I just did it younger and faster, primarily because mom and dad did not have as clear of a road map when they started out.  But, I knew at a young age that I didn't want to work for someone else any longer than I had to.       

[Jessa]

The "Shockingly Simple Math" Post. I still don't quite believe it, but I'm saving as if I do.

[TonyPlush]

I can pinpoint a few distinct "aha" moments which set me on my course towards early financial independence:

1) When I was 10 years old I read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. It sent a powerful message to my impressionable young mind that your money can work for you. I realized that a consumer lifestyle would be a lifelong net worth drain, but I still thought I needed to hit it huge with a lucky business or investment to avoid the rat race.

2) When I was in 8th grade, my algebra professor had a one day special lesson on the power of compounding interest. He showed how you can become a millionaire with normal savings and normal market returns. This was when I realized the true power of saving money.

3) When I was 15 years old I learned my grandfather, who worked a middle class job while raising 5 children with a very modest lifestyle, was a millionaire. Through a 401K and savings, he used a 5 figure salary to save his way to $1.2 million at age 60. This made me realize wealth for ordinary people really was possible.

4) When I was 22 years old, I picked up the book Early Retirement Extreme, and I realized not only was wealth possible, it was possible far earlier than I ever imagined.

[MoneyCat]

My "aha" moment came when I was in a tough spot and I was trying to sell a collection of vintage collectables I had spent a lot of money accumulating over the years.  When I looked up the selling prices for the items on eBay, I realized that I had wasted thousands of dollars on what turned out to be complete junk.  All that stuff was worth maybe 5% of what I had paid for it.  That made me reevaluate my life entirely.  I realized that I was constantly wasting my money when that money could buy me my freedom.  Then, I read an article about MMM on Yahoo and that started me on my journey.

[arebelspy]

I can pinpoint a few distinct "aha" moments which set me on my course towards early financial independence:

1) When I was 10 years old I read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. It sent a powerful message to my impressionable young mind that your money can work for you. I realized that a consumer lifestyle would be a lifelong net worth drain, but I still thought I needed to hit it huge with a lucky business or investment to avoid the rat race.

2) When I was in 8th grade, my algebra professor had a one day special lesson on the power of compounding interest. He showed how you can become a millionaire with normal savings and normal market returns. This was when I realized the true power of saving money.

3) When I was 15 years old I learned my grandfather, who worked a middle class job while raising 5 children with a very modest lifestyle, was a millionaire. Through a 401K and savings, he used a 5 figure salary to save his way to $1.2 million at age 60. This made me realize wealth for ordinary people really was possible.

4) When I was 22 years old, I picked up the book Early Retirement Extreme, and I realized not only was wealth possible, it was possible far earlier than I ever imagined.

Damn.  With that sort of start you'll hit FI ridiculously quickly.

[Terrestrial]

I never really had one in terms of encouraging frugality...I grew up with parents that were not 'extreme savers' but who grew up dirt poor, worked hard to become successful, and definitely valued saving money, fixing your own car/house etc.  Financial soundness, avoiding debt, saving for retirement were always kind of engrained in me and for that I'm quite thankful. 

My 'aha' moment was more right before I started reading FI blogs when it started to occur to me that maybe I didn't 'have' to work until my 60s like 'normal'.  I was always good about saving and investing but had it stuck in my head somewhat irrationally that there was no way I could retire early because the size of the stash it would take to replicate our household income would be quite large, on the order of $4M+.  So my 'aha' moment was more coming to the realization that I only needed to replace my spending...a much more doable task.

The thing that really opened my eyes was looking at the chart on either this website or one of the similar ones and finally putting it together in my mind that while saving 20-25% is good, you are still working 3-4 years to fund 1 of retirement (simplified math without counting investing/compounding).  When you can save 50% now every dollar saved funds one in retirement....1:1 sounds much much better to me.  It's such a simple concept but one that I had never really thought of.

[aneel]

My biggest aha moment along the way was realizing that once my e-fund was up to snuff, all that savings went "to my future self".  Mind = Blown. 

[TonyPlush]

I can pinpoint a few distinct "aha" moments which set me on my course towards early financial independence:

1) When I was 10 years old I read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. It sent a powerful message to my impressionable young mind that your money can work for you. I realized that a consumer lifestyle would be a lifelong net worth drain, but I still thought I needed to hit it huge with a lucky business or investment to avoid the rat race.

2) When I was in 8th grade, my algebra professor had a one day special lesson on the power of compounding interest. He showed how you can become a millionaire with normal savings and normal market returns. This was when I realized the true power of saving money.

3) When I was 15 years old I learned my grandfather, who worked a middle class job while raising 5 children with a very modest lifestyle, was a millionaire. Through a 401K and savings, he used a 5 figure salary to save his way to $1.2 million at age 60. This made me realize wealth for ordinary people really was possible.

4) When I was 22 years old, I picked up the book Early Retirement Extreme, and I realized not only was wealth possible, it was possible far earlier than I ever imagined.

Damn.  With that sort of start you'll hit FI ridiculously quickly.

Thanks! I'm working on it. I'm not as frugal as many on here, but I've set age 45 as a conservative goal. 35-40 is possible. Next year I'll be 25 years old and should have a net worth around $100K, thanks to a combination of a good job, no student loans, and investing dating back to my teenage years.

I have a ways to go, but I feel like I've already reached a point where I'm content with my lifestyle, and I can see the beginning of the snowball effect in my investments. I'm really excited for what the future will bring.

[Punchingat50]

Mine came after a lengthy divorce. I never thought about how much money we spent on STUPID sh!t. I made a goal to never be dependent on anyone else ever againy. First step was to set up TSP (fully funded). Looked for recommendation on how to invest and how much would I need when retired. That's when I found MMM....Paid off my credit card debt, killing the student loan fast as possible, and my net worth has increased $65k in the last eight months. I should be able to fully retire in 10-15 years.

MMM is awesome.

[Beric01]

For me it was when I did the math and realized I could retire at age 35. The concept was utterly shocking to me. I've since readjusted my math and savings rate and pulled in that date to age 32, and I have the potential of making that age 30-31 if I can get a raise/promotion in the meantime.

I'd consider myself a very lazy person, so it feels awesome to be seriously working hard towards a goal. It's helping me make improvements in the rest of my life as well.

[Greenroller]

Do you have a moment in your life that solidified your decisions for a frugal lifestyle? For me it was actually before MMM, but MMM surely helped me ramp up my efforts.

My moment was 5 years ago. I was driving from the south suburbs of Denver to the mountains around 7:00 a.m. You take C-470 NW up to I-70. Then I-70 splits into two directions. You take I-70 east toward the city (jobs) or I-70 west toward the mountains (fun). I have done this drive many times in the past but really hadn't paid attention to the other drivers.

One on particular day I noticed that I was the only one going west. It was kind of struggle to get in the lane to exit going west because there was a mini-traffic jam exiting to go east. I couldn't believe the traffic and struggle people were experiencing to try to get to work. When I got onto I-70 going west I couldn't help but notice only 3-5 other cars on the road ahead of me. Why weren't there more people like me going snowboarding on a Friday?

I don't want to be judgmental of the cars going east. I don't know their story. Maybe they love their jobs. However, most of them drove fancy cars and I did not. I looked at them and I looked at myself and I was totally at peace. I realized that I was sacrificing fancy stuff for a lifestyle that I really wanted. At that point I felt as though I had figured it out.

     I take it you no longer live in CO? Nowadays its bumper to bumper traffic in both directions. I miss the Colorado you described of several years ago.......

     

[Adventine]

My "aha" moment came a few years ago, when I was reaching the point of burnout from an exhausting 3-hour daily commute to work. Then I stumbled upon "The True Cost of Commuting" article and got hooked on MMM.  I'd always been frugal (50% savings rate ever since I got a job) but suddenly I found new meaning and purpose in saving. "Financial security" went from being a nebulous dream in the far-off future to a concrete plan achievable in a few years.

[Adventine]

My "aha" moment came a few years ago, when I was reaching the point of burnout from an exhausting 3-hour daily commute to work. Then I stumbled upon "The True Cost of Commuting" article and got hooked on MMM.  I'd always been frugal (50% savings rate ever since I got a job) but suddenly I found new meaning and purpose in saving. "Financial independence" went from being a nebulous dream in the far-off future to a concrete plan achievable in a definite number of years.

[countdown]

1st at 17, when I realized that I desperately didn't want to work in an office, but that that choice would involve the least effort of any of the careers that I considered. Ugh.

2nd, at 26, when I ran across the concept of mini-retirements and started saving 20% of gross to take longer trips between jobs.

3rd, at 33, while preggers with kid2, when I realized, per ERE and MMM, that I could live off investment earnings as opposed to burning savings if I just saved a higher percentage for a longer time.

Only at a 45% savings rate, but up to $125k liquid net worth and a $1400/mth pension at 55. FI is still a ways off though and the office job is as predicted at 17, so I'm considering another mini-break in 2017. We'll see!

[Ozstache]

Bought a fancy car using a loan in my late teens. The car was stolen, but fortunately it was recovered, albeit in pretty bad shape. The car sat for six months in the parking lot while I saved enough money to get it fixed, while still paying off my car loan. I was broke, car-less and miserable.

During this time, I read Noel Whittaker's book "Making Money Made Simple" and had my first "aha" moment. Once I paid off my car loan, I fixed my car and sold it for a more practical one, lived within my means and started saving and investing. Never again would I be in debt for a depreciating asset.

25 years later, I stumbled across MMM's website and had my second "aha" moment when I discovered that I was "accidentally" FI. A year later I was RE and a year after that (being now) I have absolutely no regrets. Thanks Noel and MMM!

[mancityfan]

Summer of 2007, after several months of not feeling well, I was sitting in a doctors office and informed that I had Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, and had a 50% chance of survival. Married with 3 kids (ages 8,10, and 13 at the time), I had an overwhelming of failing my kids/family. I got better over the next year after chemo and multiple surgeries. I had a lot of thinking time. Got my act together in many aspects of my life including financially. I had mustachian leanings from this point, and discovered this site a couple of years ago, and it has served as a touchstone ever since.

[lpep]

WOW this thread is inspirational!

Mine's recent, and kinda still happening - I discovered the concept of ER in May through MMM, and since then, I've been devouring different ideas and strategies to make it happen. And spreadsheeting like it's my job. Every time I do the math, I just cannot believe how soon I can make things happen. It's constantly astounding me - before discovering this, I thought retiring was something you do when you're somewhere above 60. It's really neat to see that some of the frugal habits I've inherited and cultivated can really pay off, especially since I'm still so young.

The other night, my BF was talking about getting an MBA, and I ran the math and found out he would actually reach FI later than if he just kept working at a $35k/yr job. Pretty amazing.

[maisee]

Yes - great thread!

Mine wasn't so much a moment, but a slow build-up of things going on in my life. I found MMM in April or May of 2013, but I only very slowly started making changes. Baby steps on a small salary. I had a new job with an okay salary and benefits, and I started saving a lot more of my income. Took on some student loan debt to get a certificate, but quickly regretted it. Then, in April of this year, my dog died. The following day, amid severe pangs of sorrow and guilt I kept thinking like, "my time with the people/animals I care about is wayyyyy more important than time at work." Not like I'm a crazy workaholic or anything, but why spend so much time working at jobs we barely tolerate to amass a small fortune over a lifetime instead of just valuing time in the present?

Even though I'm nowhere near FI, I constantly weigh the pros and cons of making money vs. free time to spend with friends and family.

[Threshkin]

Mine was more of an OMG moment....

I have been fairly good at saving since my early 20.  Nothing like starting out poor to instill a recognition of the power of having money saved.  I maxed out my 401k contributions as soon as the program was available to me.  I would stock up extra cash in the bank.

But I had no real goal in mind.  I was not thinking about retirement other than in a vague way.  "When I have a million dollars I will retire!"  I had no plan to get there or any thoughts about what to do after.

The first OMG shock was when my wife asked for divorce in 2008 after 23 years.  I was completely blindsided.  To make a long story short we had an amicable separation and are still on good terms.  Buy we split our net worth, as is appropriate in these circumstances.  After all was said and done I had about $400K of illiquid assets to my name and no other assets other than my job.  I realized that I had a lot of rebuilding to do to reach my retirement targets, nebulous as they were.

I resumed my saving regimen and started rebuilding my assets.  I made a few "I am free" purchases but nothing too damaging.  In hindsight I wasted about $5K on "stuff".  I also bought a house about 2/3 of the way into the housing crash thinking the bottom had already happened.  The house was a major money pit but I was able to sell it a few years later and almost break even.

During this time I met my new wife to be.  She and I share similar attitudes towards the value of saving.  She has helped me a lot in finding and eliminating wasteful spending.  We bought a significantly less expensive house and then ten months later used the proceeds from my old house and almost all of our combined liquid assets to pay off the mortgage.

Around this time I also discovered Mint and started tracking our assets and expenses.  I was surprised to see how much we really had and how little we were actually spending.  We still had no plans for retirement though.

Then a major OMG moment hit.  We learned that my dad had inoperable cancer and was fading fast.  Luckily was had the money to drop everything and travel to spend time with him.  It was a huge relief to not have to worry about money during this time.

My dad passed one year ago tomorrow (Nov 19, 2013).  He was 89.  The passing was peaceful and he was ready to go.  This really got me thinking about my own mortality and questioning my path in life.

My wife left a few months later for a planned visit with her mom that turned into another OMG when mom had a heart attack and wound up in the hospital.  After this second shock I started seriously reconsidering my life.

Then i saw an article on MoneyWatch titled How to Retire 35 years Early.  This lead me to MMM.  I guess this was my AHA moment because I discovered that there was more to life than just working and saving money.  We could actually SPEND the money we had saved!

Like many new cult followers I jumped became overly excited and wanted to retied now, right NOW.  I proposed this to my wife while she was still reeling from the stress of her mom's heart attack.  Needless to say, this did not go so well.  She was willing to listen but asked me to wait six months until she finished her master program.  I spent this time putting together a plan. 

I ran innumerable projections on every retirement calculator i could find.  A read many many blogs, articles, and books on retiring and financial independence.  I created a detailed asset projection spreadsheet and prepared a multi-page vision of our life after retirement.

Shortly after graduation, I presented this plan to my wife.  She had her own AHA moment and agreed that my crazy vision was possible.  Now it was only a question of "when?"  We are both conservative regarding major decisions and wanted a plan that would give use a chance to back out if necessary.  After a few false starts we decided that I would go on vacation on January 05, 2015 and then transition to a 3-month leave of absence from work.  This will give us a four month trial run.  If we don't like it I have until April to go back to work.

Seven weeks to go!  I am excited and nervous at the same time.

[oinkette]

It's been tingling at the back of my mind now that I'm in my second job in a career that I once loved.  Like the first job I LOVED it when I started working here.  Then little by little, personel changes made it less and less enjoyable.

The BIG aha moment was when I found out I was being paid $15,000 less than less qualified co-workers, and doing more work! It wasn't even the discrepancy that bothered me...it was what happened when I asked for a raise. The long and short of it is, there was a lot of hemming and hawing and promises and discussions and...8 months later I still don't even have a definite "no" (which, let's face it, is what the answer is).  They can't afford to let me go because we are already understaffed and will lose our credentials if one more person leaves (which should tell you something). Oh how I wish I had my FU fund in place right this moment!

But it was when a VP came around and "assured" me that she was still working on getting me that raise "but..." I realized that I was so focused on FIRE that I didn't even care.

[Bateaux]

I've always been a Mustacian.   Before cordless phones, the Internet or even the personal computer.
I grew up working on a farm.  For as long as I can remember I have been able to equate earnings with effort.  Given early lessons in compound interest by wise elders I had knowledge of its power at a young age.  It was in everything we did.  Planting seeds from a small bag would grow hundreds of plants that would yield truckloads of produce.  My pay for working the fields was meager but it built over time.  I only had a passbook savings account but save I did.  Then eventually I learned what a dividend was.  Printed right there in purple ink was free money.  I pulled grass with my bare hands from ornamental flower rows for $2 an hour as a youth.  I remember seeing a $4 dividend one day.  An equivalent of two hours of weeding labor for free.  I was hooked.  I saved more and more.  I calculated my meager net worth almost daily at times and I still do.  Now daily fluctuations in my net worth are often greater than my net worth a couple of decades ago.
I owe my frugality to my family.   They taught me to provide for myself and my family.   All it takes is a few seeds.

[lpep]

I've always been a Mustacian.   Before cordless phones, the Internet or even the personal computer.
I grew up working on a farm.  For as long as I can remember I have been able to equate earnings with effort.  Given early lessons in compound interest by wise elders I had knowledge of its power at a young age.  It was in everything we did.  Planting seeds from a small bag would grow hundreds of plants that would yield truckloads of produce.  My pay for working the fields was meager but it built over time.  I only had a passbook savings account but save I did.  Then eventually I learned what a dividend was.  Printed right there in purple ink was free money.  I pulled grass with my bare hands from ornamental flower rows for $2 an hour as a youth.  I remember seeing a $4 dividend one day.  An equivalent of two hours of weeding labor for free.  I was hooked.  I saved more and more.  I calculated my meager net worth almost daily at times and I still do.  Now daily fluctuations in my net worth are often greater than my net worth a couple of decades ago.
I owe my frugality to my family.   They taught me to provide for myself and my family.   All it takes is a few seeds.

I want to read your autobiography. Thank you for sharing!

"Planting seeds from a small bag would grow hundreds of plants that would yield truckloads of produce" might be the best metaphor for compound interest possible (definitely the most poetic!).

[tofuchampion]

No big moment, but a few smaller ones.  In chronological order:

1.  Dave Ramsey - realized how stupid debt is.
2.  YNAB - found a budgeting system that worked better than the DR pen-on-paper speculation.
3.  MMM - gave a purpose to frugality, a reason and motivation to do better.

Really, it was a series of eye-openers that gave me a completely different way to look at money, spending, debt, etc.  I was raised by parents who barely made it paycheck-to-paycheck, always in debt, no savings, but still found money to go on vacation, eat out every week, have cable tv, etc.  So I basically had to relearn how to handle money, because I had never been taught.  Mr Tofu's parents are the same.  No huge expenses - used cars, etc. - just daily small decisions that added up to a horrible financial life. 

My parents are in their late 50's now and my mom mentioned to me over the summer that they don't always know where the rent money is coming from.  She's told me about really stupid decisions they've made, in casual conversation, as if it's not stupid and this is just normal - because it is for them.  It was smart, she says, to rent the bigger house for $2100/mo instead of the smaller one for $1850/mo, because with the smaller one, they'd have to put some furniture and my dad's boat in storage, and pay hundreds every month for that... and it was everything I could do to not say, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?  Get the smaller place and sell the other stuff; you don't need it!"  I managed to bite my tongue, but I guess that was my AHA moment, because that conversation made me realize where I was going to end up if I didn't seriously buckle down.  It also made me realize that I am absolutely not willing for that to be my future.  They are going to be working forever, they will die with thousands of dollars in debt... no.  No no no no no.  I will cut back on anything and everything to avoid that.  That conversation lit a fire under my ass, as well as opening my eyes to my own stupidity and how I was on track to be in the same place a few decades from now. 

If you can't be a good example, be a horrible warning, right?  I don't want to be the horrible warning for my kids.

[DrowsyBee]

I was always good at saving for goals and living frugally. I even saved for months and months so that I could live an entire year overseas without having to work.

Then, when my money had almost run out...I found MMM.

This made me realise I could go home, work really really hard and keep doing what I had always done...and eventually live this amazing life of leisure that I created for myself.

I got home almost three months ago after experiencing some amazing times, now I'm ready to do it all again for the long run instead of the short run. The short run is all about the FU Money right now, but soon enough I'll be on track to get achieve FIRE.