My First $1 Million: Retired High School Teacher, 55, Midland County, Michigan
"It wasn't like there was some surprise when we hit $1 million — we slowly and steadily saw it coming."
Welcome to Kiplinger's My First $1 Million series, in which we hear from people who have made $1 million.
They're sharing how they did it and what they're doing with it. This time, we hear from a married and retired 55-year-old public high school teacher in Midland County, Michigan. He reports his annual salary when he began teaching was $30,000. At retirement in 2020, it was $68,000.
See our earlier profiles, including a writer in New England, a literacy interventionist in Colorado, a semiretired entrepreneur in Nashville and an events industry CEO in Northern New Jersey. (See all of the profiles here.)
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Each profile features one person or couple, who will always be completely anonymous to readers, answering questions to help our readers learn from their experience.
These features are intended to provide a window into how different people build their savings — they're not intended to provide financial advice.
To learn what these millionaires have taught us, check out the articles 5 Key Insights We Learned From 50 Millionaires and 5 Things 50 Millionaires Wish They'd Known Before They Retired.
And to hear more about My First $1 Million, you can check out this podcast with bestselling author and tax attorney Toby Mathis:
The Basics
How did you make your first $1 million?
My wife and I hit our first million in our early 40s. In my mind, we owe a lot to a few people:
- One was a fellow teacher who, when I was a rookie, recommended a financial planner she used
- Another was a different teacher who told me to make sure I earned a master's degree
- The third was Clark Howard, whom I discovered by accident when his radio show followed a.m. radio Tigers games. Clark taught me tons in every one-hour show.
While I earned the degree and credits to "move to the right" on our school pay scale (it's an education thing), my wife worked in several different jobs, remaining in them until she either became bored/restless or saw another opportunity.
She eventually ended up at a giant chemical company in Midland for the last 17 years of her career.
What are you doing with the money?
We didn't do anything unusual. We did travel a bit on my summer breaks. We never upsized our house (paid $93,500 in 1997), never had kids (I like to say that, as a teacher, I raised other people's kids), and we drive our cars well over a decade. (Clark Howard once said that people who buy a new car every year or so end up working two years longer.)
The Fun Stuff
Did you do anything to celebrate?
Nope. Maybe a dinner out? I don't recall.
What is the best part of making $1 million?
I want to share both sides. The good is that sense of accomplishment. We both grew up in modest families: Our parents were blue-collar all the way.
It sure was nice learning that we didn't have to be "worried" about money. When our financial planner told us we could easily "self-fund" long-term care, I was shocked.
On a negative side, sometimes when I see people struggling, I do feel some guilt. If I had a different family or had gotten sick and so on, I could easily be in their shoes.
Did your life change?
I don't feel like it did in a big way, but you have to realize that we got the financial planner when we were in our mid-20s: Becoming financially secure was "part of the plan," so each year, we had a meeting with the financial planner, and we followed our progress together.
It wasn't like there was some surprise when we hit $1 million — we slowly and steadily saw it coming.
Does anyone know you're a millionaire?
No one knows for sure. I've been retired for five years (at 50), and I had a good handful of students asking me how I could be retiring before the other teachers.
I did lessons about saving and investing and being frugal and showed them spreadsheets with progressions, and the ones paying attention, I'm sure, knew or could guess.
Did you retire early?
At 50. Wife is still working, half-time, mostly for fun. She did retire from the chemical company a few years ago, but got recruited by former workmates to work for a different large agricultural/chemical company from home.
I think she's going to quit for real at 59½, which is a couple of years off.
She does something she calls "e-business." I'd try to explain it, but I don't get it.
Looking Back
Anything you would do differently?
No.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Be open to people, usually older than yourself, who have potentially good advice. Watch out, though. How do you spot the bad advice?
Did you read any books that helped you on your journey?
No books. A few websites. But really, listening to Clark Howard for years allowed me to absorb more than I'd have gotten from most books.
Did you work with a financial adviser?
They recently changed their name to Rise Financial, in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. They've been incredibly important.
Did anyone help you early on?
It had to be the econ teacher I student-taught under (more about that later). He showed me how to trade stocks and connected me with a discount broker.
Yes, it did lead to my Enron loss (more on that later, too), but those experiences were extremely valuable.
Looking Ahead
Plans for your next $1 million?
None. After we hit $1 million, I honestly stopped paying attention. We might be past $2 million now; I don't know.
I do recall our financial planner showing me an extrapolation predicting we'd max out around $7 million in our late 60s, early 70s.
Will that become reality? No idea.
Having two pensions helps.
Any advice for others trying to make their first $1 million?
Slow and steady is the way. I remember during student teaching, I worked under an econ teacher who was a millionaire. He was an inspiration.
I wanted to invest in an environmentally positive company (this was before my first teaching contract and before having a financial planner), and I put about $500 into Enron. Yeah.
Anyway, let a pro manage your money. Yes, they take a slice, but it sure was nice not having to worry about stuff on my own.
When the market went down, that simply meant there were bargains out there.
Just for fun, a few years ago, I also put $500 into Canoo (electric vehicle startup). I had the chance to get out with $2,000-plus, but I hung around and watched it also disappear.
Do you have an estate plan?
We currently have a will set up, where 100% goes to three charities when we die.
We do give minor amounts annually to several animal charities, but we made the decision to save most everything, then leave it.
I've seen the "die with zero" stuff lately, but I don't know how I feel about that yet.
People don't think it'll happen to them, but things like accidents or cancer can wipe out nest eggs of many sizes. Quick, knock on wood.
What do you wish you'd known …
When you first started saving? How do you "pick" how much to save? Do you get to "pick," or is it just a matter of saving what is left over every month?
I know people who make tons more than we ever did and could easily save, but from their point of view, they don't believe they have anything "left over."
We aimed for saving 15%, and that worked out.
When you first started investing? My lesson with Enron taught me plenty. Diversify. Let a full-timer worry about it.
Before you retired? I had read many examples of folks retiring and losing their social contacts from work, so I tried to be prepared for that and have been moderately successful.
I keep socially busy enough for my liking, but I do miss a few friends still teaching.
When you first started working with a financial professional? Right away, I made peace with the amount they shaved off the top. Yes, it amounted to five figures, but I kept my eyes on the bigger picture.
Anything you'd like to add?
I never obsessed over money, but it's easy to imagine going to a dark place. … I feel like while my wife and I did work for what we have, chance was involved: We stayed healthy, never had a serious car accident, etc.
If you have made $1 million or more and would like to be anonymously featured in a future My First $1 Million profile, please fill out and submit this Google Form or send an email to MyFirstMillion@futurenet.com to receive the questions. We welcome all stories that add up to $1 million or more in your accounts, although we will use discretion in which stories we choose to publish, to ensure we share a diversity of experiences. We also might want to verify that you really do have $1 million. Your answers may be edited for clarity.
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