I retired 22 years ago with no savings plan, but now have $1.3 million. Stressing about retirement isn't worth it.

Business insider ^ | May the 5th, 2025 | Noah Shieldlower

[Cronos]

I never invested in stocks. I've been putting my money in CDs, 4-5%. It just keeps growing without even trying. It's just amazing that I have so much because I didn't plan for it. I have about $750,000 in cash, and my home is worth $600,000.

I'm from El Salvador and moved in 1946. My first long-term job was working in a bowling alley in 1958. I didn't go to college. For 17 years, I worked in the bowling industry.

..My next job of 27 years was as a scale technician, which I trained myself to do because I knew mechanics and I was analytical. I had walked into the office and said that I wanted to take a job. They called me and said to come on down to work for two weeks. And they kept me.

...I've been bowling my whole life, and I bowl three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm slim, and I played soccer and taught it for 27 years. I have a national license from the United States Soccer Federation. I'm healthy because I don't smoke or drink

...I still teach chess and started playing in 1952

...They always say that you need all this money to retire. I didn't plan for retirement. I was frugal, and so was my wife

...I didn't even know I had an IRA at the company. I didn't know I had a 401(k), but as soon as I did, I put 15% into it. They gave me a small IRA when I retired, and I left it in the bank. In 2008, when stocks were going down, I lost $15,000. I took my money, walked over to another bank that was just opening up, and they gave me 5% for putting my money in there.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: retirement

[Diana in Wisconsin]

*BUMP* :)

[Vermont Lt]

While this is possible, I don’t think this approach is advisable.

Everyone is free to chose their own path. But if you don’t even have a “plan” you might find yourself lost.

[Tell It Right]

Link takes me to a 404 not found

[Tell It Right]

Agreed. One thing I find interesting in the excerpt (the link didn't work for me to read the full article) is that there's no mention of the era of high interest rates in savings accounts.

I rather enjoy reading from people older than me about saving for retirement simply by being frugal and putting money aside into a savings account. A great example to live by, but it needs to be tweaked for the modern world of low interest savings accounts and save the money in an investment account. If you want to keep it simple, then put it in a S&P 500 index fund. Or with a hair more complexity use Paul Merriman's "two funds for life" model of half in a small-cap value fund and half in a S&P 500 index fund. I usually encourage 30+ equity mutual funds and each month investing into whichever one has the lowest balance that month (buy low). It takes a few Saturdays of research to wrap your mind around those types of investing styles. But once you do, it's easy breezy to implement like it's a regular "expense" in your budget.

[NautiNurse]

Not only is the destination link a 404 not found, but we also have an author from El Salvador named Noah Shieldflower.

No comprendo. Color me skeptical.

[HereInTheHeartland]

The guy got lucky with a haphazard approach .
Most people who do that end up with nothing

[Eccl 10:2]

BS Business Insider story is BS.

Investing in CDs (and precious metals) will, over time, only get you the rate of inflation.

Sure, you can luck out, and lock in a high rate when inflation is high. But the opposite can happen, too.

For the average passive investor (most of us), stocks and (maybe) real estate is the only way to go to beat inflation in the long run. Buy quality and hold it.

OK, bombard me with your BS stories to the contrary...

[Leaning Right]

> I’ve been putting my money in CDs, 4-5%. <

Well, okay. But after taxes, you might get lucky and just keep up with inflation.

CD’s are good for short-term investments. I’d go with low-cost stock index funds for anything longer. But that’s just me.

[Responsibility2nd]

1.3 million? Imagine what this guy would have if he weren’t a financial moron.

[hinckley buzzard]

Worked all his life and saved his money. Sounds like a plan to me.

[marktwain]

He probably would have over 10 million if he had put the money in an index fund.

[PeterPrinciple]

The guy got lucky with a haphazard approach .
Most people who do that end up with nothing

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I don’t think you understand the whole story.

[quilterdebbie]

I agree. My 401K did well with the mutual funds my company made available to me and on retirement I just rolled them over. I mixed things up among different types of funds and so far, so good! For my annual IRA contributions, I bought mutual funds recommended by my husband.

[Lockbox]

If I have $616,000 in 2020, invest and have a 5% yield each year, this means I have $753,614 in 2024. Oh, this also means I only kept up with inflation, no increase in spending power.

[Resolute Conservative]

Yeah, my take is how the average American has been shafted over the years by telling us everyone needs to invest in the stock market and destroying the proven method of savings accounts that our parents had and that earned a good interest rate instead of this 1.5% crap (why even offer it?). It was all driven by Wall Street tycoons to get their hands on your money.

[BBB333]

Bowling. The only sub-economic sport.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Since the link takes us to a 404 not found, none of us understand the whole story. It would be interesting to see more details of what this guy did

[poinq]

He makes cash money on the side. He lives on SS. And he does not use his savings. Had he left his money in the stock market in 2008 it would have gone back to where it was then tripled. But the simple strategy of leaving savings in the bank and not touching it works well even at 4%. I bet his property taxes are hurting.

[PLMerite]

“... an author from El Salvador named Noah Shieldflower.”

That sounds as made up as Magnolia Thunderp*ssy.