[‎‎Joy‏]

Anyone start later in life?
My life has been a whirlwind of making poor choices, living outside our means, and banging our head a lot.

I’m preparing to file bankruptcy after dealing with 4 layoffs over the past 3 years. There was so much debt that mounted up that I’m afraid if I don’t file, I’ll be sued.

We are financially ok now and have learned some hard lessons in this time. I have a very small 401k (about $11K vested from my last job) and feel a tiny bit hopeless.

I’m 38 and wishing I had my together sooner. Hard lessons.

So I’m hoping for some inspiration from those who haven’t always been smart about money.

[Jule]

My coworker went through a divorce at 46, had some debt, and moved into an apartment to start over.

He focused on paying off what he owed first, and once he was debt-free, he began contributing the maximum to his 401(k) each year—including catch-up contributions once he turned 50.

Later, when our company offered an HSA, he also began saving and investing there, though only for about five years.

Despite the late start, he retired at 65 with $1.6 million.

[Kristin]

I went to nursing school at 38 and got my AA. Before that I lived paycheck to paycheck (though frugal.)

I started putting 20% of my income into my 401k after I graduated and did that for 22 years and could retire now at 63 on the interest and never affect my base amount.

I bought a very small house as a single mom and made $95k when I sold it six months ago.

Once you get a chunk of money in investments it starts increasing fast.

[Michael]

The best time to plant a shade tree was 50 years ago. The second best time is today. 38 is by no means “too late”, particularly considering what the alternatives are.

Concentrate on the fundamentals and what behaviors lead to your current position and what behaviors will get you where you want to be.

[Rogers]

Blindsided by my ex’s secret life in my mid-40’s. I cringe when I see people suggesting one parent stay home with the kids. You hope you are a team and I stayed home after a lay-off.

I found ways to save money for the family and did some flexible contract work. But, now I starting back at entry-level.

I lost years in the workforce.

I got a promotion after one year. I am saying yes to whatever I can to gain skills and experience.

I have no debt. Used the equity from the marital home to buy a townhouse.

My lifestyle has changed drastically to save as much of alimony as I can since I can’t survive off just my income.

It is hard seeing my ex walk off with his high-paying job. I have the kids 100% of the time since he just opted out of being a parenting.

I will be paying for trusting him for the rest of my life.

All you can do is focus on what you can control. At least you are realizing this now and not at an age where you can’t work.

There are women in my support group left after 40 years of marriage and left destitute.

[Anna]

I would use YNAB to help you track your spending. But first watch many, many videos to get a handle on it before signing up for the free trial.

Read The Simple Path to Wealth for the concept.

Read How to Retire before Mom and Dad by Rob Berger for a more comprehensive education.

[Sheila]

Not sure how I feel about declaring bankruptcy and then amassing a small fortune- seems to me then you should pay back your debt that you previously accumulated as people like me that don’t take that route and just buckle down and pay their bills ultimately pay the price for bankruptcies in higher consumer pricing.

[Erica]

You’ve got 25 years until traditional retirement. Assuming you step up to this challenge and stick with it, that’s plenty of time.

1. Have a working, written budget. If you don’t tell your money where to go, it will leak out all over the place and make another mess.

2. What are your goals and how much do you need to meet them? This is your FI number and gives you the target to start working towards. (This may change over the years, so don’t worry about getting it perfect!)

3. Is there room in your current budget to meet your FI number by 2050 (or whatever year you choose)?

If not, what are you willing to change to make that happen?

[John]

I started late as well, but not because I was not smart money, but because I didn’t have the opportunity to save until I was late 30s.

You have plenty of time to make up.

[Nate]

It can be done. Between my wife and I laid off 4 times as well. Over 100k in non-mortgage debt.

Every time we got a better job and paid off all debt. It took 5 years, and we were in our 30s.

It can be done and won’t be easy but you can do it.

[Otte]

You’re still ahead of the game compared to many.
I’m 45 with a college kid and one to go in a few years. Was a SAHP for 17 years as per mutual agreement.

I blindly and unconditionally trusted someone to have our best in mind, incl financial.

It ended up biting me down the line. My fault for not learning more about financial stability on my own and even just a spousal Roth… I am an immigrant, but that’s just my legal status here.

Not the reason why I am where I am financially.

I walked away with less than $10K equity and CS until the youngest is 18 after 25 years…

I’ve been working my way up for the last four years. From $10K income to close to $40K. About to ask for a pay raise. I’m $50K in debt because of the divorce. My credit was shut because of it as well.

I’ve yet to contribute anything to my retirement and my oldest and myself don’t even have health insurance because I can’t afford it. However, I have a plan to pay off my debt and then throw everything I can towards the retirement.

My credit score is already in the middle 700’s now and I’ve only been addressing my debt for nine months.

I kept going back and forth over filing for bankruptcy for months. However, for myself and where I am in life with the ages of my kids, it wasn’t and isn’t a good choice for me.

Get a plan in place, be as frugal as you can, know where every penny is going, and stick with it.

Changing your mindset is the key and don’t repeat the mistakes you’ve made in the past.

[Karen]

Started at 52 after divorce. Don’t have millons, but expect to be comfortable when I retire at 68/69.

[Tyndall]

Yes! You can do it. I kept putting off retirement and since 2022 I’ve been budgeting extra good and putting away as much as I can.

I just hit 200k the other day and I’m 42. Plug away.

It’s never too late

[Andrea]

Check out Catching up to FI. You’ll get a lot of comfort and emotional support from hearing their stories and strategies.

You still have plenty of time to get to FI and still retire early (before 65), if you want.

[Lisa]

If you’re financially ok now, why would you declare bankruptcy? Pull in your spending, pay off your debt using snowball or avalanche method, invest invest invest.

If you have to get a 2nd job, do what you have to do. You need to be in a relationship with someone with the same goals and motivation. Get into a career that doesn’t keep laying off workers.

I met my husband at 31, fresh out of a divorce in his part with 2 & 5 yr old.

He had debt and alimony/child support to pay for many years. We had one child together with invetro-fertilization costing $30k. So, we started late!

My husband’s firm made him max out 401k plus cover his own profits share mandate of 10%. Made it very difficult for me to save into mine, but we looked at both 401ks as joint.

I changed careers at 36, worked 16 yrs to build skills and my way up the ladder. I changed firms 3 yrs ago and doubled my salary.

The older boys are out of the house, the youngest is starting college this fall.

We stopped buying cars every 5 yrs, holding onto the cars we have longer really helps – we banked our payments for cars into our savings and could pay cash with the last ones we bought.

We are putting more and more in savings and investments now, can really feel/see it coming all together. We didn’t take vacations too often.

Very thankful to have a partner that has the same goals as I had.

[Roy]

It’s amazing how quickly things can change if you commit. We only just started when I was 39 and my partner was 42.

We had $130k in debt (not including our home, which we do not plan to pay off) and $0 in retirement.

Today, just five years later, the $130k is paid off, we have $10k in an emergency fund, $250k in equity in our home, and are nearing $100k in our retirement funds.

It’s nowhere near as impressive as many of the stories here and we have a long way to go yet, but it’s miles from where we were just a few years ago.

It seems daunting or even impossible at times, but you can do it!

[Author]

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