At what age did you start planning for retirement?

Future look bleak when disposable income was $400 :/

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But at age 24 was introduced to yur neighborhood bank is ripping u off and rich dad poor dad book. Started financial journey to be able to retire by 40. That time 2008, did not heard abt fire. I think I heard abt fire Ard 2018 or 2019. So minimalism or frugalism wasnt very mainstream news to me. Already living it. With only $400 a mth to spend, not much choice

This year at 19 y/o! I realised I didn't want to end up like my parents in their 50s-60s still worrying about finishing paying off their housing loan and providing for their children who are still studying.

Of course, I still want to enjoy my youth very much so I'm still learning and trying to balance what works for me. Planning is a process and I know my priorities and goals will change throughout my life and I would have to adjust accordingly, but I know if I start early without sacrificing my well-being, I would not regret it.

I started planning for my retirement at the age of 21!!! But I believe starting earlier is better hehe, you can save more $$$, invest for a longer period, longer period to accumulate wealth & compounding interest 👍🏻

I sauntered into my 40s this year. So I thought I would answer this question so that when I look back years from now, I would have a record of my thought processes and motivations governing my actions.

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In my 20s and even 30s, the fintech scene was not as vibrant and dynamic as it is now. Back then, there were no roboadvisors, no website called Seedly that helped us crowdsource for investing wisdomw, certainly no new ways of spending and acquiring money like Buy Now Pay Later plaforms and cryptocurrencies. If youth wished to invest, it seemed that they could either buy endowment plans or save up a substantial sum of capital to invest in unit trusts offered by traditional banks.

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But I look back at my financial naviety with fondness. Back then, I bitterly wished to travel around the world. And this I accomplished to a certain extent. I participated actively in overseas community involvement projects. I found a job that allowed me to travel as I chaperoned students on overseas immersion trips and leadership camps. I even took on a job that enabled me to live in Japan for two years and visit more than 30 of its wonderful prefectures.

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Suffice it to say that planning for retirement was not high up on my list of priorities. Travelling the world on a shoestring budget was. And I am not suffering from sour grapes when I say this. I observe that today's youth seem to be obsessed not only with growing their net worth, but also with attaining specific financial milestones by a certain age (hopefully beating their peers by a wide margin) and can't help but conclude that I don't envy them. Where is the space to simply be and find yourself?

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And then I got married. You would think that I buckled down and got to retirement planning. But actually nope. I was engrossed in paying off my housing loan as soon as possible. Yes, I understand that the conventional wisdom is that mortgage is "good debt" and I should stretch the payment of the housing loan for a long period so that I can divert my money into investments. However, I was free-spirited and still harbouring dreams of another overseas work stint (preferred destination: Thailand). Should I get to venture overseas again, I would rather not be bogged down by the mortgage.

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The life event that got me thinking about retirement was being a father. Suddenly, with an extra month to feed, I felt that I needed to be more proactive in securing my finances so that I didn't inadvertently drag my boy to suffer with me. With a good stroke of luck, I finished paying off my housing loan during this period of my life. So at the ripe old age of 39, I started to pay for my retirement. Engrossed myself in the daddy hustle and tried my hand at writing to earn an extra buck or two.

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