Great question. We lived in a "Rich Mom/Poor Mom area for a while and it was eye opening. The lady across the street from us - Rich Retired Mom. You would never know from the street that she had multi-millions. She (now a widow) lived in a models house that looked like a track house from the street. When her garage door would open, she would pull out in the nicest jag - she claimed was her and her late husbands one luxury (today's Tesla for me ;). She was a school teacher, grew up very poor and always had the mind set to be extremely frugal. She married an engineer, they had 1 child. The saved and invested every free dime. Went on 1 vacation every year with dividends but that was their only big spend pants besides owning one nice car at a time, bought used, paid in cash, took great care of it and owned it for many years. They bought a fixer upper in cash, renovated it themselves with the help of some contractors. They lived a no-nonsense life that allowed them to retire together, she at 48, he at 50. They had many years together until he died. She is still living a wonderful and full life and still very frugal.
Then there was another widow the lived on the same street. She had her own successful flowershop - featured in "Instyle" magazine at one time, so my wife tells me. She married a well to do trust fund husband. Together, they went on lavish vacations, bought overpriced houses, saved very very little, and kept borrowing against the assets they did have. Then he got Cancer, burned through the remainder of his money. She had to sell the business to pay off final debts and then he died. There was nothing left in the will for her to live on. He had let the life insurance lapse and the house they had was mortgaged to the gills. She lost the house, no longer had the business, and learned the hard way that as a business owner, she had not paid into SS enough to collect any more than 600 per month at age 65. This is one of the saddest stories I have ever witnessed for poor planning. She had to go back to work, looking for any retail shop that would take her, now in failing health and scrambling month to month to live. She gets her food from a food bank but there is no other help...no family, nothing. Share this story with all your friends.