I retired 22 years ago without savings plan, I now have $ 1.3 million

This also told test is based on a conversation with Rich Colorado, 87, which retired at his 65th birthday. Colorado said he had never touched stocks and never Scheduled for his retirementYet it has remained frugal and now has more than $ 1.3 million. The Colorado is still making bowling alike three times a week and teaches failures in its city of California. His words were published for duration and clarity.

I have never invested in actions. I put my money on CD, probably at 4 to 5%. He keeps growing without even trying. It’s just incredible that I have so much because I didn’t plan that. I have about $ 750,000 in cash and my house is worth $ 600,000.

I come from El Salvador and moved in 1946. My first long -term work was to work in a bowling alley in 1958. I did not go to university. For 17 years, I worked in the bowling industry. Then one day, I went to work and the bowling alley was padlocked for omitting to pay taxes, so I had to abandon the post.

I raised four sons with my wife, who worked for 41 years for schools in the city of Santa Rosa.

My next 27 -year work was as a technician on a scale, which I had to do because I knew the mechanics and I was analytical. I entered the office and said I wanted to take a job. They called me and said to go to work for two weeks. And they kept me.

I started working as a Kitchenaid repairer, then I progressed to work on supermarket machines. I found myself as a technician on a scale and I took courses on how to do things by electronic way.

I retired in 2002. My boss called me in the office the day before 65 years. He told me that my work had left because the scales no longer break down much. I went home, I hit a letter of retirement and returned it the next day.

A few years later, one of the employees asked me if I could come back and work one or two days a week in the morning. I said that if they didn’t need me then they don’t need me now – I was not going to leave everything I did.

Stay retired

I have a bowling all my life and I put three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I am thin and I played football and I taught it for 27 years. I have a national license from the Federation of the United States of Football. I am in good health because I do not smoke or drink.

My friends are all old and I am almost the oldest there. A woman who was 96 years ago. When I retired and I entered at 65, I looked at all these people and I said, “Wow, look at all these elderly people.” Now they have all left, and I’m the old one there.

I always teach the failures and I started playing in 1952. I taught chess in the schools of the city of Santa Rosa. I wanted to do it for free, but the schools insisted to pay me. My four boys all know how to play chess. I always teach children at the library every Wednesday.

I also took free courses at the Junior College for retired seniors, like HTML, and I took guitar lessons. I’m taking some lessons right now. I am in a writing class, a cinema lesson, and I took a piano lesson before tripping and I could no longer play.

While I first took lessons, my wife continued to work. We have not traveled much, except to visit San Diego. We have never gone abroad. My wife had dementia and she stayed here in the house and died here. I was there when she took her last breath. I miss my wife. From time to time, I look on the sofa, but it is not there.

I bought this house in 1969 for $ 18,200, and I’ve been here since. In my neighborhood, there are only 200 houses left, and only one or two people remain when I bought it in 1969. I want to die here. People do not plan to die, but I have no choice – I get closer.

Retirement finance management

They always say that you need all this money to retire. I had not planned a retirement. It happened, and I cannot tell anyone exactly how to do it. I was frugal, just like my wife. I did not pay my sons to go to university. They took care of themselves. I tried to pay for one of them, and he said, “I did more than you have ever seen. I’m going to spend your money on vacation.”

They have more money than me when they grew up. We used to use good food to feed us. When we bought this house, my wife said, “We have four children. We cannot rent.” She wanted me to get better jobs elsewhere and send money every month. I wouldn’t do that, and I was ready to choose grapes nearby if I needed it.

We bought her last car in 2003, and she kept this car until she died, which had only 70,000 miles on it. I gave it to one of my granddaughters. My car that I had after my retirement, I bought in cash. It was a 2003 scion. Someone met me who obtained a dui, and I bought another scion, which I still have. There are 60,000 miles.

I didn’t even know that I had an I will go to the business. I did not know that I had a 401 (K), but as soon as I did, I put 15%there. They gave me a little I will go back when I retired and I left it to the bank. In 2008, when the actions dropped, I lost $ 15,000. I took my money, I went to another bank that had just opened, and they gave me 5% to put my money there. I left it there during the recession.

Banks call every few months about new CDs, and I say to them: “It’s a lot of work. Keep it for as long as more than 5%.” I also give some charities, and now I have so many new charities asking me for money and I must say to withdraw from the list.

I now have confidence and I will distribute my money to my grandchildren when I died. I’m going to do this for the seven. My next project that started this month is to rewrite my confidence so that the distribution is easier for people and no one should fight. I know that I can give $ 150,000 each to my children. Someone in the family will have to live with me because taxes are only $ 600 per year.

I don’t really know how to spend my money. No one tells me what to do with it. People say you must have as much money to cover your retirement, but I have enough money, and I don’t even touch it. I now give my grandchildren $ 5,000 each.