When the student is ready the teacher will appear

[Hula Hoop]

Another thread reminded me of something I've been thinking about since discovering MMM less than a year ago.  While I've always been frugal and lived below my means, it's only now that I'm in my mid-40s that it really clicks.   I encountered mustachian ideas a couple of times when younger but wasn't ready for the message at that stage of life and just brushed it off.

Many years ago, I worked in a highly paid job with a woman whose plan was to work 10-15 years at this highly paid but kind of miserable job and then retire to a foreign country.  She kept talking about it but I just waved it off as unrealistic and not something that was really doable.  Also, I had no interest in suffering in that job for that long.  Anyway, lo and behold, she did it and good for her.

We're a long way from retiring having started so late but I feel like when I was younger I had a more 'careerist' view of life and so the message fell on deaf ears.  Anyone else feel like this?

[pachnik]

I learned about living below my means, investing etc. in my early 30's (mid-50's now).   At the time, a financial services company had a slogan "Freedom 55".  I remember investigating it and to succeed I would have had to save about a third of my income.  Seemed too hard and I was afraid of what my life would look like with all the wasteful spending gone.  So I didn't even try.  I didn't think I could do it.

Then 5 years ago I found this website by chance.  I was saving 10-15% of my income, had no credit card debt but was still worried about money.   So I started applying some of the techniques: tracking spending, investigating my spending, working up to a higher savings rate, letting go of some stuff etc.  And it was and is fine. 

Also, in my 30's I was interested in having a career and maybe moving up to something more challenging.  However, a mental illness got the better of me and having more responsibility would not have worked for me.