Gabby and I have been looking at houses for a year. We walked through a home( not this specific one) that is valued at 7X the price of the home that we live in right now.

We can easily afford that home OR more with little debt thanks to what we have built over the past 7 years but we will NOT purchase that home or at a price NEAR that figure and here is why.

Take out your note pad.

Millions of people will retire EVERY year with little or NO net worth. You’ll have given 40 + years of your life to your career and sadly have very little to show for it.

You’ll collect some social security….
maybe….
and with the support of your nation you will survive, but most likely you’ll survive counting pennies until your last day.

Is there an alternative?

YES.

If you want the beginning to your solution I suggest you continue reading

Gabby and I put away $53,000 EVERY year in a SEP IRA. We PAY ourselves before we pay ANYBODY else.

But Scottie… what if I don’t have $53,000?

This is why I spent the morning doing this math FOR you

If you saved $1 a day for 55 years you would have $20,000 in savings.

Well if you invested that $30 a month in Bonds at a rate of 5%, after 55 years you would have $101,000.

Still not convinced that you should DELAY your gratification?

Invest your $1 a day at a return of 9% for 55 years and you will have $481,795
(the S&P average has an average return of 12.4% since 1925)

How about this. Save an ENTIRE $3 a day for 55 years and invest it at 9% and you have $1,445,385.

Increase that to $5 a day and you will have $2,408,975.

So here is the problem on why you may end up counting pennies at retirement and not be a millionaire at retirement. 

1. Unwilling to delay instant gratification.
2. the average household credit card debt is $7,000

The battle is NOT between spending and saving like you believe it is.

The BATTLE is between instant gratification and Delayed gratification.

I want to make it VERY clear that wealth or is not what this life is about, but given a choice between wealth or poverty I WILL choose wealth every time and I would highly suggest you do the same.

I’ll end on the same note we started with, “Our ability to delay gratification determines our success in a great many areas of our life.”