Im not going to paint the poor me story of poverty, missed meals, and hardship. I grew up very middle class, possibly lower but I had the same as everyone else did, it was a typical blue collar town.

I worked hard in high school to get a scholarship and ofcourse college. I missed many a party, weekend trip and trip to the bar in my 5 years and graduated with honors. It sucked was a lot of work, and at times I admit I got lazy (3.1 GPA one semester lol) but graduated with my masters. At 23 I was assisting an orthopedic surgeon in surgery as a Physicain Assistant and still do to this day.

Ive also taken on 2 other per diem jobs in an ambitious attempt to be wealthy. My friends and roomate scoff at the thought of 3 jobs while they relax and complain about gas prices and shrinking middle class. At 27 years old I make over 100K per year combinded and work 60+ hours a week. Others in my profession in less demanding fields are comfortable with 50K per year less hours but I wanted more.

Im going to contribute 20,500 to my retirement fund this year which stands currently at roughly 50K. 3 years ago it was $0.00 with my only other contributions being a 3% employer match.

My first two years out of school on a 50K salary I paid off 42,000 in combined debt from car (9K) and student loans (33K). I currently have no credit card debt and a net worth of roughly $115,000. Three years ago it was $-62,000. My friends consider me cheap and laugh when i take their cans that they leave at my appt back to the store. (is it? lol)

The above is no attempt to gloat and as far as Im concerned very good but by no means exceptional. I know others who make more than me (MD’s) in worse financial shape. I have chosen to live WELL within my means and will be financially stable for the rest of my life.

As far as a 10% return I think that is very realstic. There are many good blue chips yeilding 3.5, 4, 4.5% right now with potential to jump signifigantly in the future. Long term dividend growth with consistant good returning stocks bought at opportune times over many years isnt a horribly hard task. All it takes is some dedication and reading, not hot stock tips from CNBC and your buddy at work.

Anyway good luck and some advice to other who feel as if they are disadvantaged or cant do it some tips…live below your means, budget yourself, read, read, and read some more about finance. There is a reason why the rich get richer……

I started with – 250k debt after getting educated and have been able to increase that net worth by 6x in 5 years.

In 10 years you are going to be 10 years older no matter what you do for the next decade as long as you are still alive.
Head-down, hard-work, consistent saving and smart investments can help turn the corner.

At the age of 26 when you get your first job take out a loan for 20K and invest it. There is nothing like the motivation of debt to kick your a$$ into gear to work hard. You don’t need the silver spoon just some guts.

There is opportunity and abundance not obstacles and scarcity.

Sorry if I came across as “scoffing” at people who take responsibility for their financial affairs. My issues with this post were that it reads like all the other stuff I see on the web that makes achieving financial success look so simple. Life does not work that way. I also noted that people who are generally able to manage their finances early in life usually have some strong advantages from the outset, in the form of family support (both in terms of values and financial support), solid education backgrounds, great role models, etc. That is not the majority of people. I think it takes a lifetime for most people to figure which end is up regarding their finances, if they ever wake up at all. And along the way, lots of sh*t happens. I’ve found that success is a lot about how you deal with problems, overcome challenges, and learn from the mistakes.

I was only stating my preference that I’d rather see posts about the way real people manage to create real wealth, overcoming real disadvatages, as opposed to the “hey if you put $20K away when you’re 25, you’ll be a millionaire in 40 years” stuff I can read on Yahoo Finance any day of the week. Yeh, if I had an extra $20k laying around when I was twenty-five, that would have been nice, but…So what. Really, What’s the point?

Maybe I find it really offensive because when I think about being that age and what I was dealing with, it makes me cringe for somebody to suggest that I should have, could have had $20k to invest (or whatever the inflation-adjusted equiv would have been) like it would have been no big deal. So, maybe that’s my own personal issue.

Thanks for the background, and forgive me if this comes off as insensitive or rude, I do not mean it that way, but things are different these days.

What I mean by that is that the way the world runs is changing and anyone, and I mean ANYONE who wants to get in on it can. Certainly not only be investing.

If someone doesn’t have many skills than what better place to get into than an industry that hasn’t been around long? Technology will forever change the face of the way things operate.

I just don’t buy the “I don’t have anything/time/skills/money to get ahead” these days.

You implied that you spent more than 10 years sewing your oats. Yet you scoffed at those who took responsibility earlier in life and began making long term plans.

Can’t afford college (or need to take out lots of loans to do it)? Libraries are free. Granted, that method of learning may not suit your style but if money is tight and its your only option own up and get it done.

I grew up in a single-parent household, attended public schools, lived in and near housing projects, dodged drug dealers on the way to elementary school, and basically spent a good part of my childhood at poverty-level. Admittedly, I did not learn much about saving until much later in adulthood when I met my wife and in-laws. I did not have very good early role models on that score – most of the people of my community lived hand to mouth, and if they got a little money, they loaned it to friends who had fallen behind, and so on.

In general, what I found was that due to having to overcome a lot of early hurdles, it was quite impossible for me to make much headway financially until I was in my mid-30′s. By that time, I had gotten all the craziness of youth out of my system, settled down to start a family, and was well established in a career.

Growing up poor, ignorant of all things financial, and without a safety net meant that early on, a disproportionate part of my attention and earnings got absorbed by the school of hard knocks, basically by a lot of instability in my life, and by making lots of dumb mistakes. Coming of age in the 80′s recession did not help much either.

I may be wrong about this, but it seems to me that most people with a good handle on their financial issues at a young age come from stable, hard working, salt of the earth families. Maybe not exactly rich, but with resources, both financial, educational, and cultural. I don’t think most 20-something y.o.’s have the benefit of this kind of background. That’s what I meant by saying the post was unrealistic. But, hey, if you’ve got the money mindset at that age, then more power to you. Just remember to have some fun too, and that it is possible to play a mean game of catch-up later in life. There are many ways to reach the millionaire goal.

I realize there are those who can’t (particularly those who have few skills and who already have children to care for). But if you are a single, childless 20-something – especially one who can live for free or for very cheap somewhere – then it is perfectly reasonable to save upwards of 50% of your pay. Which for many 20 somethings would be more than $10,000 a year.

It sounds far fetched, but I know many who do it, and I know many more who could but choose not to. Miguel, you asked for specifics:

1 – An acquaintance of mine just graduated from college and is about to start a job making about $48,000 a year in a relatively expensive metro area. She’s rented a modest apartment and elected to max out her 401k.

2 – Several friends of mine in their early 20′s make around $40,000 a year and could easily afford to save $5K a year (they have no debt, their parents still help them out, etc). Instead they splurge on electronics and designer clothes and eat out all the time.

3 – One guy in his late 20′s I know well makes $30,000 a year. He has a big car payment and credit card debt, but he lives for very cheap by bouncing from his mom’s to his dad’s to a girlfriend’s and so on and saves several hundred dollars a month.

4 – One very young 20-something couple I know just got married. Their combined income is around $80K. They’ve decided to save half of that (part in retirement accounts, part in cash for a down payment down the road) and plan to delay having kids for at least 5 years in order to really build up a nest egg.

So inspiring! I feel like I need to go increase my 401k contribution now…

I agree that the 10% annual return is very optimistic, but it’s certainly not impossible. People have very short memories when it comes to returns; right now people want to project 6% from here on out, but just 5 years ago it was very common to project 12% and no one batted an eye.

Booms and busts will come, sure, but if your portfolio is made of diverse equity holdings including a sizeable chunk in international stocks, then you might just end up with a 10%+ return.

Who knows? We may be about to enter a decade long period of extreme global development and growth at 20% a year – which will naturally be followed by a severe decline which will scare everybody senseless.