I am an engineer by trade but have a degree in Finance and Quantitative business analysis because I like you enjoy managing my money. I had raised a family and now I am in high-gear for early retirement.

Even though I am educated in Finance and have read numerous financial books I learned some valuable lessons from my grandmother who only had a six grade educations. She taught me the following two lessons when I was very young and they have stuck with me:

1. It is not what you make, it is what you save – Obviously you have this one down and you are saving more than 99.9% of all people especially in your age group. WELL DONE!

2. If you watch the pennies the dollars will watch themselves. – You get an A on this one too managing your budget and doing as much as you can yourself!

I have found that I enjoy the simple things in life. Riding a bike, fishing, walking in the woods. I am not driven by all the must have things in modern society. I think that is why most people in your age group have higher debt than ever before. They are easily seduced into buying more than they need.

I wish both of my sons were like you!

Thanks for posting this!
pf101

i have some thoughts for doug. doug may be confusing what living life means to him rather than expectations or other people’s view of what living life means. doug should be thinking about what he has valued up this point. if he didn’t value family and enjoy himself, he wouldn’t have had 8 kids. if family is what doug values/valued, then i see doug, thus far, as having lived life. doug should also think about that if people thought aaron lived life, it may have been a facade as he ran up the credit to pay for the life that others seemed to envy.

living life is highly subjective and individualistic. doug should realize this and not measure his life thus far compared to someone else’s. if he feels that he has not lived life thus far, it is never too late to remedy the situation.

balance, doug, was having a great family, raising them, and seeing them live.