At what age did you start working/saving?

[Evans, Marv]

Never got an allowance. Started mowing & watering yards around 10 and selling Cloverleaf Salve & other products door to door. Cleaned local shops (barbershops & ice cream shop [@50 cents/hr. plus all the ice cream I wanted]) after that. Started working in a gas station at 13 on nights & weekends until 15 1/2, then loaded diesel, refrigerated trucks with milk products to be shipped to other towns four nights a week until H.S. graduation. Worked days full time & school at night afterwards. I didn't start saving until my early thirties. Glad I finally got started on that though.

[Ronbo]

Started working in my dad's muffler shop when I turned 13.

[DaveE]

I had both a morning and afternoon paper route when I was in 7th grade I think. Got in trouble with the Monsignor because I was no longer available for daily morning Mass.


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[devodave]

Paper route and mowing lawns starting around 12 till 17 (mandatory 10-25% savings)when I went to work for our church music director who owned a custom clothing shop for men (delivered suits and shirts to his customers). Started drawing survey plots at a local surveying company in my senior year of high school (left school early each day and only spent 1 hour in my daily 3 hour drafting course). Harder to save money at that stage of life (bikes, skateboards, audio equipment, etc.). Always seemed to have plenty of money in my pocket when a paper boy!

Fast forward 40 years. Make a comfortable salary as a federal employee, but still try to save as much as we can. Wife does not work, so only my income with a 17 year old and a 13 year old and their associated costs. Relied on financial planners in the past to assist with managing moved 401K/Thrift Savings Plan (TSP started back in 1987) funds as well as Roths, but probably lost over a million dollar potential since 2000. Decided to take full control of all my funds this past year and moved all external accounts to the TSP where I manage it. Should have done that years ago as it appears to be the soundest decision I have made.

In retrospect, my grandfather retired from the federal government (GS-12) at age 55 and my grandparents appeared to live a comfortable life until he passed away at 94. My dad retired from the federal government (GS-12) at age 64 but passed away at 72. My mom struggles with the loss of the full income they had expected to have for some time. At 56, I am still years away from retirement (need to get the kids through college and on their own) and worry about whether there will be enough.

[fintstone]

Worked since I was 6 or 7 after school. My father had a lawn service and I swept up (before leaf blowers), pulled weeds, fetched stuff, and helped carry the tools to the site (he did not drive or have anything to drive) so we had to push the mower, carry brooms, rakes, shears, gas for miles to arrive at the lawn we were mowing. I was not paid. The only money I made was walking along the railroad tracks near our house and picking up soda bottles that people threw out the train windows. You had to take them home and wash them...and then you could return them to a store for the deposit. The deposit was 2 cents and I saved every penny. On a real good day, I could make 20 cents...but usually between 2 and 6 cents.

We moved back to the rural area where my father's family was from when I was about 9 or 10 and we worked in the fields, fenced, cleared land/plowed, cut wood, took care of pigs and cows. The work was all day and it was never ending. Pulled weeds and worked in the fields for others for pay now and then...sometimes made 10 cents an hour...sometimes 25 cents. Saved every penny. Also was able to dig certain types of roots in the woods that I washed, dried and sold to a company in the city. It paid a couple dollars for a week's work. Worked in hay and tobacco for neighbors as a teen (hoeing tobacco all day in the hot sun is not for wimps). Sometimes for free (what rural neighbors do)...but now and then for a dollar or two. You were pushed really hard...no breaks, no rest. They brought the water to you so that you only stopped long enough to drink. Saved all that money too. Tried selling newspapers, magazines, etc...but area was so poor that no one would buy. Few people even had grass to mow...and they had their own kids mow it. First real job was at about 14. Worked at a summer camp where I cleared brush, mowed grass, painted, etc. Collected money at a pool. I think it paid around $1 hr. Had to walk about 3 miles each way (sometimes got a ride). Saved almost every penny except my parents made me start buying my own food (packed my lunch) and shoes which I wore out fast. Job ended with summer. Went back to working in fields. At 16, was old enough to work fast food. Made $1.60 hr. Worked full time during most of school year. Saved every penny not consumed by uniform costs and transportation (not much was left). Met my wife and spent money on a few dates. Graduated from high school, got married. Got a better fast food job. Saved almost nothing as living expenses (rent, food, insurance) consumed all of the approx. $4K I made per year. Enlisted in the Air Force and made a little more money. After 4 or 5 years, and several promotions, saved up enough (along with my almost $2K of childhood savings) to go to college. The military is a great deal for poor folks.

I bought a small house in my early 20s. Although I was in the AF and worked all day and went to college full time (night school), I was able to purchase the home because I had 2 part time jobs (worked 12 hours on Saturday and on Sunday...plus on all my vacation days). I kept the house when I was transferred and it became a rental. Even though I actually lost money on it every month, it became a "forced" savings That is where I began accumulating wealth (other than increasing salary). The next time I was stationed in the United States, I did the same thing until I had several rentals. Like most folks...eventually in my late 30's, I made enough to start investing in the market/401k, etc. Been saving/investing like crazy ever since. Of course, I always considered my military retirement to be somewhat of an investment as well. The pay was low (so low that it was hard to save much), but I assumed the retirement made up for a lack of money to invest.

[BE911SC]

I was 13 years old and got a paper route that a buddy was giving up and then I got the adjoining paper route and did them both after school and on Saturday. 60-70 bucks a month in 1975 was tall cotton for a junior high school kid. Then went to pumping gas at 16 after school and then added a Burger King job to go to after I pumped gas all afternoon. Closed BK at 11:30 or 12? That was 11th and 12th grades. Worked in a family-owned Ace Hardware and put myself through state college. Granted, college was MUCH cheaper in the early 1980s. Had help from mom and dad too.

[Brian 162]

I started at 13 years old working at a gas station pumping gas for $1 per hour. I didn't start saving until my mid 20's. I lucked out at a good company that paid well with benefits. I was able to retire with a pension at 55. I haven't worked nor do I have to since March 2015.

[Alan A]

14.
Saving. Yeah - heard of that once. Not sure it'll catch on...

[Bill Douglas]

I lived on a farm so "sort of" paid work from 8. Had very well paid holiday jobs in a bacon factory at ages 11 and 12. Holiday jobs all the way through my school years.

I have never saved - cash in the bank style. Luckily the investments I have bought (mainly properties) have turned out to be very good. But I'm more of a spender than a saver.

[drcoastline]

As early as possible and a lesson to teach how to manage money. Not just buy everything you want and at retail. I should also add teach to work smarter not harder. Nothing wrong with good hard work but work smart.

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by drcoastline

As early as possible and a lesson to teach how to manage money. Not just buy everything you want and at retail. I should also add teach to work smarter not harder. Nothing wrong with good hard work but work smart.

No big deal really. Even though I was only 13 when I started it seemed natural at the time.

By the time I was 18 I was running a bar at a soccer stadium. I did most of the work myself but my mum helped when she could.
I still remember the first time I tapped a keg. I was 16!

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

No big deal really. Even though I was only 13 when I started it seemed natural at the time....:

What seems to come naturally to some of us is a totally foreign concept to others...my sister and I could not be from the same parents

[VincentVega]

Originally Posted by KC911

What seems to come naturally to some of us is a totally foreign concept to others...my sister and I could not be from the same parents

same here, no idea how we are so different

paper route, mowing lawns, helper/yard rat for a guy with a few horse (loved that job).. moved to landscaping labor then drove the tuck for a few summers... UPS at nights in college, worked the grill at a dinner/pizza shop... maintain a few cars for friends of friends

I always had a saving account and thank my folks for teaching me. I started reading Money magazine in highschool and was buying into mutual funds at 18. Sure, small potatoes but looking back I'm glad I did it.

[GH85Carrera]

I was mowing yards for money when I was 13. Not much money, but enough to start a coin collection that I still have. We moved to Hawaii shortly after that and mowing yards on base at Hickam AFB was a year round money maker. My brother had a schedule on the calendar on who got the mower on which day.

By the time I was 16 I had saved up enough cash to make a down payment on my first car. My dad financed it for me at 0% interest but I had to pay for 100% of everything except the insurance.

When we lived in Hawaii I developed (pun intended) a major interest in photography. We moved to Montgomery, Alabama after Hawaii.

I took away a lot of the business a local professional photographer had with the high school. He offered me a job while I was sitting in math class. I saw him after school and was hired when I was 16.

I carried a Hasselblad and several lenses and backs to high school. That school had a piece of junk 35 mm camera for the year book. I was the yearbook photographer and shot the majority of the photos in the yearbook for two years.

The company I was working for had contracts with AP and UPI, and one state newspaper. I had several photos published in Time magazine.

By age 19 I had enough money to order a 1974 914 2.0.

In 1978 I asked for a raise and the company I worked for said no. I gave my two weeks noticed and moved to Oklahoma. I was only unemployed for 4 business days. Since I was 16 I have only been unemployed for those same 4 days.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by drcoastline

As early as possible and a lesson to teach how to manage money.

I never paid my son for doing his chores around the house. He was taught that he is part of the family, and as such he has family responsibilities just like the rest of us. He got an allowance that was based on his age because I thought it was a good tool to learn to manage money. He did a good job of taking care of home chores, managing his allowance, and earning money mowing lawns in the 'hood and tossing papers.

[Hugh R]

Paper route at 14, pizza shop at 16, USMC at 17-19, first full time job at 24 after getting my bachelor's degree, started a 401K at 26. No real savings before then.

[Don Ro]

In 1955 I was 10...took our push mower around the neighborhood and mowed front lawns for 10 - 15 cents each...sometimes a quarter.
Shoveled sidewalks of same neighbors in the winter for about the same price.
One old lady would give me a quarter for only the walkway from her front steps to the main sidewalk - about 10' or so.
But then before she would pay me I had to come into her house as she would give me a cookie and some hot chocolate.
I hated that because her house stunk.
I had to do all of this if I wanted to buy firecrackers and go on rides at the July 4th carnival in town.
Never got an allowance as a kid. Glad I didn't, now.
Midwest work ethic worked well for me my entire life.