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MILESTONES MARK the growth of a child as she moves from infancy through school age. In similar fashion, we adults tend to measure our life’s progress with “firsts” or other significant events. Perhaps we remember the feeling of maturity that came with our first kiss or our first job. Milestones help us attach meaning to the course of a life that sometimes seems beyond our control.
Financial milestones often command special significance, like my first “real” job at age 15. My older brother got me hired by a company building a bank. My parents surprised me with unusual lenience by letting me drive myself in a borrowed vehicle, though I was still a few months from having an unrestricted license.
On my first day, my initial task was enlarging the vent hole for the concrete vault with a hammer and chisel. Next came breaking up a sidewalk with a sledge hammer. I thought I was lucky to be called away from that work, but instead found myself hauling heavy landscaping timbers in the rain at the boss’s friend’s beach house. I got back to the jobsite wet and covered with sand. When I pointed out to the foreman that I’d had no lunch, he begrudgingly let me leave with the admonition to “hurry back.” Instead, I hurried to my truck, hurried home and never looked back. I don’t say that with pride, but I have no regrets.
Despite my rough start, followed by a few tough years, my financial journey eventually smoothed out. The milestones began passing by with some regularity for my wife and me. Whether frugal by nature or nurture, our aggressive saving—and lack of troubles—left ample money from each paycheck to ladle into growing retirement accounts. I kept close tabs on the burgeoning balances, excited to see the numbers rising, despite the market plunges that come along every few years.
The first total that truly grabbed my attention was in the low six figures, an amount I suspect is surpassed by the annual income of some folks reading this. It’s many times less than the sum in our current portfolio, but it was huge at the time. While I knew we were still a lengthy trek from retirement, seeing that figure convinced me our spartan living was worth it.
Since then, other milestones once on the distant horizon are now in the rearview mirror. Our daughter’s college tuition is secure. My wife’s retirement is paid for, awaiting her decision to hang up her part-time work. Even my own phased retirement is already in motion, as my boss and I try to sway administration over to our plan for my shift to a part-time position.
All these milestone goals are linked to money, and for good reason: They each demand a truckload of dollars. But one elusive goal with a relatively small cost was snatched from me by nothing more than my own stubbornness.
Some 15 years ago, my wife and I spent some of our savings on new furniture, including a comfy leather chair to replace my inexpensive recliner. I loved my new chair, but it didn’t recline. That was fine for a decade, until I started hankering to own a recliner again. I dreamt of drifting off into an afternoon nap after a post-lunch talk with my wife, without the need to walk the achingly long distance to the bedroom. Trouble was, the purchase seemed such an indulgence that I couldn’t pull the trigger without tying it to a money goal.
Fool that I am, I chose to tag it to our total retirement account balance. The milestone I was aiming for was a big round number. My restless nature was still uneasy with the thought of a special purchase just to be lazy, so the self-denial was comforting. Even so, the destination appeared not too distant in the superheated, post-pandemic stock market. Though I knew better, I thought the market run-up might last long enough to propel me to my target.
Instead, I proved that predicting the market is the path to disappointment. Just as I was preparing to search out New Year’s deals on recliners in January 2022, the market swerved in the other direction, away from my new chair.
My wife suggested I get the chair anyway, that I was silly to suffer when we could afford to part with a bit of savings to buy a lot more comfort. She was right. I had no control over the stock market, and we were well past the “tipping point” where our annual savings might appreciably affect our portfolio’s total balance. Still, my new chair was spinning in the wind of market whim, and I refused to veer from my charted course.
But despite my obstinance, the story has a happy ending. The stock market has never bumped along the bottom forever. Our stocks did recover and, indeed, zoomed past the milestone they’d failed to reach before. True to character, I dragged my feet in ordering my reclining chair, but I’m finishing this article a few days after its delivery.
Are recliner naps a meaningful milestone on the road to a happy life? My afternoons have been busy, so I’ve yet to find out. But I’ll keep you posted.
Ed Marsh is a physical therapist who lives and works in a small community near Atlanta. He likes to spend time with his church, with his family and in his garden thinking about retirement. His favorite question to ask a young person is, “Are you saving for retirement?” Check out Ed’s earlier articles.
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I wish I had time to relax in a recliner during Retirement! At 6:30 AM I’m sitting on our new living room sectional (feet up on the ottoman) having coffee while listening for my granddaughter to wake up (her 2nd birthday today) who is staying with us for a couple days while mom is away on a business trip. Later, after my college class this afternoon, I will pick up my 6 year old grandson and accompany him to his end-of-season Ice Hockey banquet at a local restaurant.
I’m not complaining but this typical schedule and staying busy in retirement has been a blessing (if not exhausting) and I hope it stays this way for as long as we are fit to keep up with the pace.
Ed, I enjoyed this and congrats on your new recliner. I admire your discipline in sticking with the program and waiting for the market, and your portfolio, to rebound before taking the plunge.
And I bet that recliner is just a tad more comfortable for you now, knowing you kept your pledge and “earned” it according to your own rules.
Thanks Andrew. Yes, in my mind, I “earned” it. I also earned a couple of eye rolls from my wife, who grew tired of reminding me that my target had been reached, yet I still hadn’t ordered the chair. She has also stopped reminding me that my portfolio target for retirement is also passed! But I’m coming around to the idea.
I think your wife and my wife would have a lot to talk about….
First, your “ladle” imagery was spot on, props for the perfect word choice. Now I’m also hungry for either soup or gravy.
And financial milestones have been key to me, since childhood. I would use a ruler to draw lines on a piece of paper, then note the date and my total cash, Christmas Club, and savings account funds. This preteen was thrilled when four figures were finally inscribed on the ledger! Babysitting, odd jobs, and waitressing turbocharged my efforts from sixteen onto twenty-one.
With marriage and professional work in my degreed area, this ritual became more fun and easy with Quicken, (especially with my husband’s always higher salary.) Some milestones have been clawed to, while others have seemingly flown by.
…and for those counting, I’m not yet in a recliner. My first hour it’s me and social media, still cozy in bed– another perk, (of many!) that retirement affords.
Thanks for the compliment. Go for soup. Our family has about a dozen favorite recipes that help us brave the cold months.
When we bought our new condo in 2019, we took some of the profit from the sale of our previous home and furnished it from scratch, including a pricey (for us) leather sectional sofa with power recliners on each end. Barely two years later, “my” power recliner stopped working, and I was never able to find someone who could fix it. The options are to replace that piece of the sectional ($$$), buy an ottoman that would allow me to put my feet up while watching TV, eventually get a whole new couch ($$$$), or just do without, as I have been for more than three years now.
[I should mention that putting my feet up became a more salient issue when I developed a foot issue (a neuroma) last year that I manage in part by icing and elevating it a couple of times a day.]
At the moment, I’m reading HD while sitting in my husband’s swivel chair with the matching ottoman and drinking coffee. He won’t be up for another hour yet.
I think I’m going to order the ottoman. Thanks for the inspiration!
Dana, in case this is useful: I developed a Morton’s neuroma in the 1990s. A podiatrist prescribed a metatarsal orthotic; it did not work for me. The only thing that did was shoes or shoe inserts that had a toe bar, i.e., Birkenstocks. Something about the way the toes grip the toe bar took the pressure off the nerve. As long as I had them on, no pain. And after a couple decades, I didn’t need them anymore.
You’re welcome! Make the purchase–it sounds like you’ve paid the price of delayed gratification. I wish you the best with your painful diagnosis.
Ed, enjoyed your introspective article very much, especially your description of the various feelings we experience at different stages in our lives.
About self denial—There always seemed to be a family member whose need was greater than mine. With my first baby sitting money I bought socks for my younger brother. In order to accomplish some good, we deny ourselves something we night find pleasure in.
Marjorie, I’m not surprised to hear of your youthful generosity. Thank you for your compliment and your thoughts.
Ed, as you approach retirement and the eventual loss of two incomes remember the reason you saved for retirement was to be able to spend the money for a comfortable retirement. People in my extended family have been rather shocked at my spending in retirement, as they always saw me as the frugal guy, but that was the point of being frugal all those years.
Now that being said, I calculated our withdrawal percentage from our assets last year, and determined it was 5%. That does sound high compared to the “rule” of a 4% safe withdrawal rate, but our invest balance increased slightly due to an 11% return.
I’m fine though as we are “buying” our higher Social Security “annuity” payments.
David, thanks for the encouragement to begin loosening the purse strings. I have begun a bit, but in little ways that don’t hurt too much.
I, too, enjoyed your article while having my coffee in the quiet of the morning before my husband and pup get up. The phrase “the self denial was comforting” made me pause to think of times that was true for me (and others in my life) and why that might be so. Thank you for an entertaining and thought provoking start to my day.
There were at least three of us enjoying coffee and HD in our recliners this morning.
Ed, I enjoyed your article in my blue leather recliner. it’s in our sunroom where I get to have my morning coffee while watching the sunrise and reading HD. Your article made the morning a bit brighter.
One other benefit of the recliner. It is big enough to share with a 2 and 5 year old while reading a story. Now that’s a good ROI.
Thanks, Rick. Grandchildren…that’s a milestone to look forward to!