Do you know any Millionaires Next Door/FIREes IRL?

[jengod]

Curious if there are people in your offline life who appear to be Millionaires Next Door or financially indepedent/retired early? What do you know about how they got there? What makes you think they qualify for those descriptors?

(Someone on another thread said there are 10 million millionaire households in the U.S. Which ones do you know? International responses very welcome, too, of course!)

[cerat0n1a]

In the UK, we have around 700 000 millionaires (= ~US$1.5m.) which is about 1 in 65 of the adult population. Significant difference here is that a very large proportion of those people will have got there by buying a house in or near to London a couple of decades ago and succesfully paying the mortgage since then.

I know personally at least couple of dozen people who are "proper" millionaires as in they have a million in assets not counting personal residence - all by fairly conventional means (very senior execs in large corporation, partner in large law firm, founders of tech startups, inherited large property/farmland, retired doctors.)

The small number of people I know who are generally FI/RE in a way that would be recognised on here have done so through selling property in a HCOL area and moving away from England. France & Spain are full of early retired Britons.

[BeanCounter]

My grandparents on both sides are/were millionaires.
Maternal grandfather became an executive for a global company, worked there for 30 years. Company stock was part of his compensation package which he had to sell upon retirement. When my grandmother died 7 years ago we found out that their estate was worth $3.5M. You would never have known it. They own a moderate town home, drive used cars, go to cafe's for dinner when they don't cook at home, buy very little things, never joined a country club or had anything flashy etc.
Paternal grandfather started a corporate farm with about 1,500 acres of corn and soybeans plus a seed business and a few hundred head of cattle. I think the farm, which is still in the family, has annual revenues of about $1M per year on average. Again, not a lot of flashy living there either.
It just shows me that being thrifty is important, but being hardworking and educated is even more important.

[Pooplips]

My MIL grandparents are the millionaire next door type. Very simple living farmers. He told me over the holidays he bought a bunch of McD's stock in the 70's and has never sold it. With the farm land and everything, he's easily worth 4-5 million and you would never know it.

[former player]

There is a popular holiday/retirement town within 5 miles of where I live where the average price of a detached house is over one million pounds.

In any affluent area of an affluent country there are a lot of people with that sort of money, most of whom are not boasting about it.

[TravelJunkyQC]

My parents.
I didn't know until I turned 21 and they named my sister and I executor of their will and thus had to show us where everything was. I was quite surprised and impressed to find the value of their accounts (not counting their mortgage-free house). I knew they always had well-paying jobs, but not the exact amounts. But I also saw them living by Consumer Reports for their purchases, clipping coupons and matching them to the weekly sales at the grocery store, shopping around for any and all purchases, etc. I was also *unfortunately* raised in the most affluent part of Connecticut where most parents work on Wall Street. My parents are both scientists. Surrounded by huge houses, BMW and Mercedes, 16-year-old kids getting their Range Rovers for their birthday.... lets just say our two 5-year-old-at-the-time-Subarus (for 4 drivers) and reasonable Colonial-style house seemed... very middle class. I never wanted for anything, and I realized as an adult why my parents lived the way they lived - I am the way I am because of them.

Thanks to Mustachianism, my parents bought my sister a farm for her to start her cheesemaking business without immediately being forced to go in the red. My mother was able to take a year sabatical from work when she burned out and was too stressed and too unhappy. They afforded the best doctor in the country when my father got cancer (he is fine now). And after having retired last year, they now work almost full-time, for free, on my sister's farm, because it makes them happy. According to my mother, their investments bring in more in a year then they know how to spend (including the year they bought the farm cash and paid off their house... within 6 months). They are my greatest champions, heroes, and epic-Mustachians. Money can buy you shit or it can buy you choices - they are the definition of the latter.

[olivia]

My parents!  They didn't retire early but have always been very responsible with money. My uncle was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer right before he reached retirement age and died within a year of diagnosis (which is actually a long time for pancreatic cancer), and I think that was a big wake up call for my dad. He retired and started to spend money like never before (but still well within their means). My parents have taken me and my siblings on international trips and paid for it all (NEVER saw that coming!), they travel a TON, they've rented a house in warm parts of the country a few winters in a row, etc.

They're the busiest retirees I know-they travel, have a ton of friend and hobbies, volunteer, etc. My dad says he wants his last check to bounce, and I do too.  (Although I do like to tell them to buy me a house first-so far they aren't biting. :P )

[Cromacster]

My Grandfather retired at the age of 50, back in the 1970's.  What's funny is how his views of money changed.  He was a successful corporate Lawyer and my mother would tell us stories that his line he would tell them as kids was "You don't get rich by spending money".  Then my experiences with him in his later years, his line was "We'll either spend it now or you'll spend it when I'm dead, so lets spend it now".

Following retirement he and my grandmother spent 20 years travelling the world.  What's cool is that he was very meticulous about keeping a journal and note taking.  I can look at pictures from from their travels, find out what they ate the day the picture was taken, and what they paid for the meal.

[redcedar]

FIREs? No. Not a one IRL.

MND? A few. Most of my family were FI around the age of 50 and worked to stay busy until they felt they had to or needed to retire which was around 60. A few neighbors over the years that scaled way back to part time work after becoming FI but again in their early 50s.

So I feel that I have a good base or good circle of friends/family from which to draw when it comes to saving money and spending wisely. However, I know that when I RE, I will get odd looks and questions on why I didn't just keep working. Why am I traveling so much. Etc.

[jeromedawg]

My parents - not sure what the exact figures are but my dad was able to take an "early" retirement @ age 55. My mom "retired" about 5 years ago but still does odd side jobs for the school district to keep from losing her mind. They're both in their 70s now. My mom is extremely frugal but she hoards (she'll go shop at stores and won't buy anything unless she can get 80-90% off the normal price - problem is she'll get multiples of everything and end up having extras that she gives away to us and that we don't really want lol). Both my parents are hoarders for that matter. My dad isn't as frugal and will just go buy random electronics which end up often sitting unused and piled up in his "man cave" (a complete mess). I think prior to retirement he was a little more conservative. They had a lot of different savings and investment accounts setup for us growing up and seemed to be more frugal while we were younger (to the point that they were able to put me through 4 years of college in the UC system). Now I suppose they're "reaping the rewards"

I think they built their wealth through a combination of decent saving habits, fairly sound financial investments, and obtaining some real estate along the way. Furthermore, I think my dad (at least) gets a pretty decent pension and possibly my mom too. She has to cap her earnings at $40k per year though to still be considered "retired" however.

They often complain that they have *too much* income and seem to strategize ways in which they can reduce the income they're currently bringing in. It's a very good problem to have.

Just read Olivia's post - sounds very similar to my parents. They also have been traveling a good amount (and not frugal travel but usually via Rick Steves). They've treated all of us (my 2 older brothers and their families, plus my wife and I) to a couple Disney Cruises and an upcoming Alaska Cruise. They definitely would have done more if time permitted but they've been busy with traveling on their own and trying to work with our schedules as well. I'm fairly certain, if everyone were able to make it, they'd treat us to a Disney Cruise every year at the rate they've been going.

[Cookie78]

Possibly my aunt and uncle. I don't know the details, but he built and sold a company maybe 10 years ago (in their late 40s) and to my knowledge they haven't worked since, except some fun side-gigs that they enjoy. I don't know any of their financial details, I just see them relaxing, enjoying their hobbies, and living rather frugally as far as I can tell.

[saijoe]

I was a Millionaire Next Door for the last 6 weeks of 2015.  Then I got kicked out of the club with the stock market downturn.  I could probably be FI if I wanted but best to do some more accumulation. 

[jeromedawg]

Oh yea, I almost forgot. I think all my aunts and uncles on my mom's side are probably there. And likely several of my cousins.

All live in Texas - one aunt/uncle are a pharmacist/anesthesiologist couple and have kids who are both MDs and married to MDs. The force runs strong in their family....LOL
One of the aunts/uncles (teacher/biochemist) more recently retired and have always been frugal with their spendings - I'm pretty certain they're millionaires. Their oldest is a dentist and his wife an actuary - pretty sure they're in the millions.
Another aunt/uncle (SAHM/dentist) are pretty frugal as well and he still runs his practice it's pretty low-key. I think they work to keep sane - I'm pretty sure they could have retired by now if they wanted to.
And the youngest aunt/uncle (director of audit/pharmacist) I think were both recently retired but am pretty sure they're into their million too - their oldest is a anesthesiologist like our uncle and has always had a good business sense (aka he has always looked for side-hustles to pull more money in). I'd really be surprised if he's not already a millionaire - I'm pretty certain he fully funded med school himself with little to no debt likely from his prior job as an electrical engineer + all his side-hustles.

In comparison to my mom's side of the family, I feel like we're on the lower side of the totem pole LOL

[Frankies Girl]

My dad was definitely.

Well over 1 mil, retired early (held out for a super retirement package they were offering to get high paid employees to leave).

To look at him, you'd think he was one step away from living in under a bridge tho. He was a full on hoarder, with a house that was in horrible disrepair (and filled to the brim with junk/rotting food/broken things) and driving cars that looked okay for a few years and then like junkers because anything that broke, he would not fix unless it affected the operation of said vehicle.

He never traveled, never bought anything that wasn't on clearance or deeply discounted, rarely ate out or spent money on anything. He used to say he was quite happy puttering around in his junk and hitting yard sales for fun.

He was not frugal. He was flat out cheap. To the point where he damaged family relationships due to his hoarding and lack of generosity (except when it came to trying to give you total crap he picked up - he thought he was being generous, but it was only an excuse for him to feed his shopping addiction and hoarding nature).

He may have amassed a small fortune, but he hurt some many people including himself due to the way he valued money and things more than his own family. He wasn't a bad man; just a deeply flawed one. Still love him, but very angry/sad much of the time thinking about what might have been.

[renata ricotta]

When I first saw the headline, I immediately thought "nope." But then I realized I do know a millionaire next door, and the whole reason they didn't immediately spring to mind is because they live their lives so modestly. My husband's grandfather retired from the military with a full pension, and then went into civil service for another 25 years, so he has two reliable government pensions. In the meantime, they were exceedingly frugal/conservative (even while raising a LOT of children), and have accumulated probably a dozen rental properties. They live in a tiny house in a LCOL area, packed to the rafters with canned goods/clipped coupons/homemade items (ahem, they might also be hoarders). They are in such a comfortable position due to living this way for decades, that when we were in the market for a mortgage, they offered to wire us $125,000 the next day, and said they would match the best interest rate we could find from a bank.* They've done that with several of their grandchildren/great-grandchildren (they have an unreasonably large progeny at this point). I also suspect they may be directly supporting several families, or giving them free rent in one of their properties.

*In general, I'd think such a plan ill-advised, but they are such logical and reasonable people (and, if I say so myself, so are we), that it has been treated like a truly arms-length business transaction. We got a better deal than we could have from a bank (with the added peace of mind that in a true emergency, their foreclosure process would be much more compassionate than a bank's). They got a better return on what their money was currently doing (sitting in a CD). It's been a win-win for over 7 years.

[Gen Y Finance Journey]

Add another "my parents" to the list. They seem mighty similar to TravelJunkyQC's parents, just on the other side of the Sound. My dad always made good money as a college professor, and my mom was able to go back to school and pursue an incredibly low paying career that she loved. My dad had his coupon box that he took to the store with him every week, my mom studied Consumer Reports for the best quality products at reasonable prices. We never went on extravagant vacations, had expensive cars/electronics/furniture/appliances, or shopped in pricey stores, but they paid for all four of their kids to go to top tier universities. Now they're happily retired, spending their time pursuing their passions. They're pretty much my idols.

[Rural]

My parents, who started in true poverty, including real, extended hunger in my dad's case at least. There was still a little of that when I was small,for that matter,though I didn't know until I was older (because they sheltered me and I always ate first).


I know all this MMM stuff works because I watched it. Now they're doing everything they dreamed of, traveling all over, and can't spend it as fast as it builds up because they spent over fifty years doing it right.

[RootofGood]

Parents, aunt, 2 uncles.  My next door neighbor (millionaire next door lol).  Former landlord.  Probably others that I just didn't know about.

[SwordGuy]

MNDs?

My uncle, most definitely.  Has at least 30 rental properties, all of which I expect are fully paid for.  Plus farmland, lives in the same house he's lived in for the last 60+ years, etc.

My mom, if you count the value of her farmland by the 4% rule for the income it produces.

My first business partner (who wasn't my wife).   Owned several businesses and was very frugal.  I learned a lot about the frugal operation of a business from him.   

Wouldn't surprise me if my uncle's oldest daughter is one, or my uncle's son.   They are both smart enough, hard working enough, and savvy enough to have pulled it off.

My wife and I.   I was re-reading the MND book two weeks ago and was astounded at how much it fit me.

And a few other folks I've worked with here and there around the country.

People wouldn't know it from how we've all lived.

FIREs?

Next door neighbor at our old house.   I know he has a pension (probably military).   I think he's about my age and he's been retired for at least 15 years (as long as I've known him).    Wouldn't surprise me if he's an MND also.

I'll be FI by age 58.  (Would have been age 60 or 61 if I hadn't inherited when my mom died.)

I didn't have a decent paying job until I was over 30.   That's when our income actually reached median family income. 
Before that we were at about 1/3rd median family income.   My wife didn't make decent money until she was 53.   

We were reasonably frugal (awesomely so by normal American standards) but no where near what we could have been had we only read MMM back in 1988 when I got my first decent paying job.   We could easily have been FIREd 10 or more years ago!   Maybe 15!
Once we had a great plan to follow our progress really started to skyrocket.

[aceyou]

FIRE
My mother-in-law is friends with a married couple that are quintessential MMM.  They are in their 60's now but have been FIRE'ed for decades before FIRE was a word.  They have been traveling the world for decades now and are still loving it and going strong.  He was an engineer and she was a teacher.  They spent a few hours at my house this summer, and I enjoyed talking to the husband a great deal.  He looked over my plans and assured me that my wife and I are just younger versions of himself.  He said that it is inevitable that we will be retired before 50.  It was great to meet someone like him in real life and to have a face to face that is normally confined to this board.  It was also fascinating to pick his brain about how to make the most of that retirement.  It's one thing to have the money to buy the time.  It's another thing to spend that time well, and he and his wife have done that. 



MND -
- Married couple a few houses down.  Drive a very old minivan, very plainly dressed.  They look lower middle class, they never have to work again and enjoy every day.  In their 50's. 

- My uncle (mom's brother).  Worked for General Motors as engineer.  Found a better way to make air filter sensors.  He applied for a patent, started a company in Iowa, and the rest is history.  Sold his business a few years back for millions.  His hobbies are music, making his home energy efficient (it's an energy fortress:), and investing.  His splurge is a new corvette, which was pocket change for him.  Otherwise he's very frugal. 

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

Happy to see a MND / FI guy every morning when I look in the mirror.  Friends and family know I make a good living, but probably have no idea that I could retire anyday and we would be just fine.  I like it that way.

[Bateaux]

My neighbor has a millionaire next door.

[Jacana]

My parents. NW probably around 2M and still living in the 1400 sf ranch they bought 32 years ago in a modest area of town. Mom's retired, dad will in the next 2 years (He is 58). He's holding out for vesting in NY state health insurance for life, otherwise he would have retired a few years ago.

[MsPeacock]

My grandparents were frugal, but my grandfather did not retire early. They had over a million dollars when he retired in 1985 or so.

I would guess that some of my neighbors are millionaires - high COL area, high education on average, and in the neighborhood houses start at about 500k.

I don't know, have never know, anyone who retired early. I have relatives who have the financial means to do so, but love their work, and are still working into their 70s.

[stlbrah]

Nope, never knew any. If I did, I probably  would have had my eyes opened and started my journey much earlier than a couple years ago at Age: 26, when I stumbled across the forum.

[CindyBS]

I have a relative that became disabled in a workplace accident when he was 18.  There was some sort of lawsuit or worker's comp type payout and he lives off the interest it makes. 

He has never worked to support himself (disability is mild), and is honestly the laziest person I know.  Which wouldn't matter except he has kids and has no problem putting his kids in programs that depend on parent volunteers and then he doesn't volunteer (like at soccer, he would never take a turn doing field set up even though 95% of the other parents volunteer to come early at least 1 day of the season and set things up.)

He also recently got upset about my DH and I posting on FB all the places we've travelled . . . .  Pretty ironic from the guy who was in the best position to travel (no job, lots of money) of anyone we know. 

[thedayisbrave]

My mom.  Considering she put two kids (my brother & I) through expensive private school for 7 years and is still where she is now... that fact astounds me.

She has plenty to retire on, and her expenses are low.  But she has OMY syndrome to the max.  I manage her investment accounts and I always tell her that she can retire whenever she wants, but she's only 56 and likes staying active/busy.  She doesn't have many hobbies and so I'm trying to be more encouraging about retirement rather than having it be some big hairy thing that means you are officially old.  Whenever I mention she can retire, she says: "But what would I do?!" I say: "Do more gardening, travel, live at the beach, volunteer at your temple, etc." but she doesn't bite.  Maybe if I said: "start a business"!?

Funny thing is, she has wanted a Mercedes for as long as I've known her.  When the time came for a new car, she went out and bought a Honda Insight when she could have paid cash for a Mercedes and not even noticed :-P

[Retire-Canada]

Curious if there are people in your offline life who appear to be Millionaires Next Door or financially indepedent/retired early? What do you know about how they got there? What makes you think they qualify for those descriptors?

(Someone on another thread said there are 10 million millionaire households in the U.S. Which ones do you know? International responses very welcome, too, of course!)

I met one travelling in the Baja. German fellow who made millions due to his work on a very popular product that was patented. He worked for 6yrs or so all told.

I know another couple folks who are millionaires, but not FIRE'd.

I know one person who has an uber frugal lifestyle that works minimally [handful of months a year] to support it.

[JPatch]

My parents for sure.  Both retired and still frugal.

One of my coworkers is.  He maxes out all his retirement accounts, coupons, house paid off, etc.  I'm 99% sure he can retire early if he wants to.

[partgypsy]

Don't know any fired, but some millionaire next doors.
My great grandfather. He did not retire early (was a pharmacist) but lived until 95 and still had plenty of money left over. He bought and held blue chip stocks before the average person was into the stock market. I would say my great aunt, but she was not a millionaire next door; she was a minor celebrity in her day and married someone who was a businessman who became president of a well known bank. One of their former homes was turned into a hotel. 

My uncle. He was in the restaurant business, with 2 of his sons continuing and in one case expanding the family business (so my cousin as well. He could probably fire but he is like my Dad and uncle, workaholic).
A friend. He did not retire early (I think he was 64?) but I'm pretty sure he is a millionaire in at least assets. He worked out of college in IT, bought his first and only house for a really small sum (20-40K) and as a hobby keeps improving it. Single, few wants or needs other than fixing up house and gardening, and visiting family.

[Fishindude]

With midwestern corn belt farm land running $6500 to $10,000 per acre, you won't find too many significant land owners or farmers that aren't millionaires.

[NV Teacher]

My brother is one.  Worked, spent less than he made and started investing early.  Last year he got a new boss at work that was riding him about stupid trivial stuff.  He put in his notice and walked away.  He and his wife have gone on a couple of long road trips with their pop-up trailer.  He built a shop to putter in and is happy as a clam.

[Trimatty471]

I suspect my boss is one.  He is the major breadwinner.  He earns around 200k annually (salary + bonus).   His house has been paid off for 20 years. He still lives in the same house that he bought when he got married around 30 years.  He lives frugally.  He and his wife eat all of their meals at home.  He brings his lunch to work.  They do not take expensive trips.  They buy their cars new but seems to keep them for a long time.  He does his own handy work.  No fancy clothes.  Neat, classic pieces.  Nice shirt, dress pants.  His wife is also frugal.

[lakemom]

With midwestern corn belt farm land running $6500 to $10,000 per acre, you won't find too many significant land owners or farmers that aren't millionaires.

Lol dh and I were discussing that yesterday after a potential client commented that a neighbor owned the 100 acres behind their subdivision to keep it from being developed.  On the way out of the subdivision I commented to dh well there's a cool million as we passed the field.  That led to a conversation about all the million next door types we know. We actually know quite a few and all are our ages (early 50's) or older who owned/own businesses. They are also all people we admire and have emulated in our own lives.

[ooeei]

My boss's boss owned a very successful business he sold out about 10 years ago.  He got tired of retirement, so now works here.  He's a great guy to work for.

[jwright]

My dad started a business in the early 80s; it was very successful, and he sold it 20 years later for eight figures.  I think he was early 50s when he retired.

[Archivist]

FIRE: I only know of one tangentially. My coworkers at my new job talk about someone who used to work in our department who retired at 42 in 2004. Through the little bits and pieces I've heard, it sounds like she and her husband were very mustachian. He had bought up several condo units in the 90s when they were extremely cheap, so they had some rental income. She drove a modest, older car and maxed out her 401k.

Millionaire Next Door: My grandfather. He was a farmer who lived very modestly his whole life and was content with very simple things. He started investing early and did it even when it was hard. He said that earned him more money than farming ever did. Last I heard he was supposed to be worth $2 million, but I really have no idea what it's at now. It's strange, because when I was young, I assumed my grandfather was poor because he seemed to spend so much less than his sibling and other relatives.

[Spork]

My parents and my uncle all grew up in the depression and were very poor.  They all paid their own ways through school and were frugal to the end.  In my parents' case -- mom was a SAHM and dad loved work.  He worked up until he died.

My uncle FIRE'ed at 48 and spent most of his life living frugally on a sailboat in the Caribbean. 

[IllusionNW]

My parents, too. They ran a small business and retired when they were about 50. They live in the same house they bought in 1980 and have always been super frugal. I always thought we were not wealthy since my parents hated spending money, but it turns out they are just frugal people.

Now, despite the fact that they have plenty of retirement savings, they pretty much just live off of social security checks and leave their retirement untouched. And they are busier in retirement than ever before. They really are doing retirement right and are a great inspiration and motivation for me. They always like to rub in how great it is.