Your Survival Guy’s RAGE Gauge is in, and I have Ronald Read on my mind—the epitome of the millionaire next door and someone who reminds me so much of you—because Read, like you, did not look to the Tooth Fairy to make his life better. He was too busy working.

It’s funny how just showing up for work and getting the job done can solve many of life’s problems. Controlling what you can, living within your means, saving ’til it hurts. All easy to write, but if it were easy to do, everyone would be doing it, and as we all know—they are not.

Save Early, Save Often

How did you learn to live this way? Necessity? From your parents or grandparents? From Dick Young’s Intelligence Report? How will you help teach a grandchild how to make it in this world? Explaining how you did it certainly helps, as does showing them that when you start (early) can be more powerful than how much you start with.

Finding your peace of mind and comfort in retirement today is the result of actions you took decades ago to figure out how to save for it. You found your way, and now you want to keep what you have, maintain your purchasing power, and take some trips (here, here, here, and here). You’re not relying on some lottery ticket to make it all come true.

You made your money work for you. You respected it. You knew you had to save because you knew the price of your freedom wasn’t free. You made choices, sometimes hard ones.

Inflation Doesn’t Give You a Choice

But a lot of the challenges that destroy money are out of your control; in other words, you don’t have a choice. Inflation is one of them. It is always, and forever, a monetary event that, once released, can’t easily be put back in the bottle. And when you’re retired, you can’t work more to fight it with a salary.

Which is why investing in retirement requires a different skill set than saving for retirement. You have more to lose. More than you ever imagined you would have. And you don’t have a paycheck coming in to ease the pain of unexpected expenses. It’s scary.

And I write this because I’ve been on the front lines for decades as a retirement investor’s guide, right to the very end, and I know how you’re feeling. I know how Ronald Read felt because I talk with millionaires like him—you—every day.

Action Line: No one said this was going to be easy. But you realized that a long time ago and took action to ease the pain, to make it a good life. I’m glad you did. Want to talk? Email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com.

Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.