We were on a good path the first few years. Money in the bank, a modest home, college fund for our first born child, 3 retirement accounts started.
Then came the catastrophic medical debt, years of medical bills, a miscarriage, two rounds of cancer, another child, jobs changes. In short..life.
At one point, we had less than 1k in savings and 30k in medical debt.
It was brutal.
Now we are in a great house in a beautiful neighborhood, 50k in savings, 200k in retirement, one halfway through college and another coming up.
We survived by living lean and mean for years. Shopped good will and salvation army, bought gently used cars and drove them till they dropped, learned how to cut my family’s hair to save money, fixed my own house and roof. Took cheap vacations that included museums and national parks. Found free or inexpensive things for the kids to do.
Lived clean and gave to the church, even when we were struggling.
I will never achieve millionaire status and will never retire, but I am proud of how far we have come given everything life threw our way.
+1
Good on ya mate.
Too many of today’s websites are literal children of 27 or so “How we reached $1 million net worth”
and it turns out their parents paid all their way through college, and got them in the door at good company; or they happened to start out at Amazon or similar.
They take it for granted.