I wish my mother had that high of a net worth. Get ready for a good story guys.
I wasn't paying attention when I was younger (obviously) but my mom and stepfather both and good jobs (lawyer and medical administrator) and spent lavishly on large houses, new cars, and fancy vacations. I guess I sort of assumed they had money put away for retirement. I should have seen the warning signs.
1. They were always late paying my tuition bills in college. In fact, after my father died, I was told I was responsible for paying my own way for the last few years of college - fine, I had no problems with that. When I went to pay my next tuition bill, I found out they were about 2 semesters behind. I ended up paying for 65% of my tuition bill with my dad's inheritance. My dad paid another two semesters worth when he was still alive. Basically, my parents only paid one semester out of 8. My father was actually incredibly mustachian, and had saved tons of money living a very simple lifestyle, so his inheritance was more than enough to pay off my tuition (thanks dad). I am not complaining about paying at ALL, just explaining that I should have seen this as a warning that my parents were bad with money.
2. My mom and my step-father "retired" from their good jobs to go charter boats in the caribbean. I got my first phone call a few years later asking for money. I was 24 and stupid and said yes. This was the beginning of what ended up being $50000 worth of "loans". They did pay back $30000 of it, but I will never see the other $20000.
3. My FIL and MIL eventually realize they can't make it chartering boats, and they return to the US. After a few years moving from place to place and job to job, they eventually decide to move back here. They actually asked to move into my house the month before I was due to have my first child. I finally grew a spine and said no, thank God. They moved near us, unfortunately, and the requests for money continued sporadically. I got better at saying no and the requests dropped off.
4. My FIL and MIL's marriage unravelled and they divorced. Now, throughout all of this turbulence listed above, my mother almost always held down a good full time job, some of these jobs were government jobs, so I would assume some good retirement options. She worked at Beth Israel hospital for more than 5 years, and I know they would have had decent retirement plans. So, I guess I just assumed that she would have some money saved up.
5. After divorcing my step father, she bought a small house by herself, a new car and a bunch of new furniture. Again, I didn't pry, I just assumed she had some savings.
6. Then things started to get really dicey. She lost her job, and couldn't find another one (She was in her early 60s at that point). Then she crashed her car and couldn't replace it. She lost her house a few months later. During this time, I asked her about her retirement savings. Nada. I asked about whether she got a settlement from the divorce. Nope. There was no money left. In fact she was supporting him when they filed. The only thing that keeps her from being homeless is her social security disability payments that she filed for after losing her last job. I occasionally send her money when I can.
So whenever I start feeling complainypants, or think that the MMM life is too hard, I remember my mother, and realize that I could end up like this if I am not careful. This is in fact my p[rimary reason for wanting FI, so that I don't end up retiring in poverty.