At Age 51, I Made One Financial Decision That Changed Everything
Fifty is not too late
In 2003, life was pretty good for my wife and me. We lived in Wilmington, North Carolina, and had a home that we absolutely loved. I would say that it was the nicest home we had owned during our 21 years in North Carolina.
My wife had not worked since 1992 (other than taking care of me), and we were enjoying life to the fullest. We still made at least one ski trip to Montana every winter. And since we both love eating good food at restaurants, we indulged whenever the mood struck.
In 2003, I completed the treatment for Hepatitis C and was feeling better than I had in 20 years.
While my income was pretty good, we saved very little. When we purchased our home, I chose to buy as much house as I could financially qualify for. In addition, we had two late-model cars, each with a car payment. However, I am happy to say that we had zero credit card or consumer debt by then.
The big decision that changed everything
In 2004, we decided it was time to get serious about retirement. At that time, we still did not track our spending. We would be happy if we could do what we wanted without using credit cards.
