Like Spartana, older, no job now, long history of saving on modest and medium income jobs. No military in my case.
Relatable elements in 30 years of working, saving, and sometimes in my case not working despite being working age:
-Early jobs were dishwasher, prep cook, biscuit maker, sandwich maker in numerous restaurants. I suck at restaurants, those were my hardest jobs ever. Respect in the highest to all food service workers.
-My first "good" job was managing a sandwich shop. I didn't own a car, took all the money to the bank on my bike. It was fun. I made $350/week (think 1990, was like $600/week now. HUGE money!), kept my lifestyle the same (rented room in house of 4 roommates) and saved about half my pay. Restaurant owners were crooked, job ended after 6 months. :(
-Many crappy "temp" jobs for a while, just above minimum wage. With savings from the sandwich shop, bought a small used 12 year old sedan for cash. It ran 9 more years. Minimum then was $3.35/hr, I made $4 to $5.25 for several years. Any time I had a job, I saved. Grocery food (which has never changed), usually rented rooms. Moved from small town to the big city; chose a place with lots of jobs and, at that time, low cost of living.
-Telemarketed. A new kind of crappy job! First one was $5.25/hour, with bonuses of, well, about 50 cents an hour. Bars at night, pretty ladies, stylish friend who stole my TV. One drink per night. Bank account slowly rising.
-Big break: telemarketing job with fat bonuses! Averaged $2,000/mo for four years. Kept same lifestyle, then bought the house where I was renting a room. I still live in that house. Rented out all the extra bedrooms, maxed out 401k (limits were lower then), bank account grew muscles. Started using this new internet thing. It's the mid-1990s.
-Blew a quarter of my savings ($4000) on a friend's harebrained business scheme, which failed.
-Quit job to start a business. It failed, due to my own lack of guts and effort.
-Next business, same thing. Thank God, my businesses didn't need much capital investment.
-Did lots of volunteering and dance lessons for fun until the money ran out. 3 years.
-Out of money (bank account $1000, no debt but mortgage, 401k untouched), back to crappy temp jobs.
-From volunteering, got an entry level job in a politician's office. High status, low money.
-Politician lost office
-Got full time job as government office worker. Wow, steady benefits and no hassling people over the phone! $11 to $13/hour. Bank account grew. People are using cell phones now.
-Started taking school classes to prepare for higher govt jobs. Spent too much money on the "best" night school, should have used community college classes. Hindsight 20/20. No savings during this period due to tuition. Property tax rising faster than rents, still had renters in my spare bedrooms though. Have driven old used cars all this time, a new-to-me one every 6 to 9 years.
-Doubled down on the education by seeking master's degree in full time program. No income, planned the finances poorly, ran out of money. Predictable, I just didn't predict it. Borrowed against the house after running up credit cards, my first debt fiasco in 20 years. Credit rating fell, but mortgage payments were steady. Graduated.
-Got fancy govt job thanks to the new degree! 45k, just before the crash of 2008. I'm over forty by this point.
-Poured all spare cash into 401k. Good move. TARP, bailout, stock market bounces back.
-I blow it via lifestyle inflation. 2010. Car manufacturers are desperate. If I'm ever going to buy a new car, it's now. Meant to research wise Japanese sedans, compared with VW Jetta, got sidetracked by low end luxury vehicle. Midlife crisis car. $30k down the drain. Had 25k gone into stocks and 5k into another used car, would have been 50k. Hindsight 20/20 again. Stayed unmarried anyway. People like riding in the car, though.
-Bored, I fail to replace renters. Now I'm living in my house all alone. Peaceful, high status. Pleasant, but not ecstatic. Not much better than living with good roomies, just more expensive.
-A couple of poorly researched international vacations.
-Crap, I'm making 55k now but not saving anything. At all. I had made my post-crash 401k contributions as one-offs, setting only a very low default level. Hindsight says, automate high contributions when you can!
-Grudgingly, I add a couple roommates back in, restart the savings habit.
-Oops, got fired from stable govt job. Shit.
-Discover MMM. Procrastinate a lot, implement a few suggestions. Sell some stock, but remaining stock goes up. House value goes up. Family concerned about my joblessness. On my paper my net worth is rising, but... not enough to make it sustainable.
-Dad has Alzheimer's, I become his guardian. He has his own money to pay for care, thank God (neither of us could 24/7 of me taking care of him). I take him to the doctor, monitor the assisted living facility, with much help from my sister. We all grow closer. Dad dies. Estate is still resolving, but I gradually inherit another $100k or so.
-I add a third renter, notice my expenses keep getting a little lower.
-Combining the inheritance with my now-inflated previous investments, plus 3 roomies, in theory I'm at FI just barely. Subtract 10% for vacancy, I need maybe $2000/year more. If Obamacare goes up, I need to cover that too. I really should get a job.
-I have been training for some techie jobs and and interviewing, but not getting in so far. Maybe one day I will join the Fancy Techies despite being 50+. Wish me luck.