When I got my 1st job after college four years ago, I wanted to know more about how to manage my money from the get-go. Amongst the hundreds of personal finance books, yours stood out: “Smart Women Finish Rich”. “Sounds perfect!” I thought. “This is the right book for me!” When my (now) husband and I moved in together, we read “Smart Couples Finish Rich” together to learn how to manage finances as a unit. We implemented everything: the filing system, the goal and value setting, 5-year plan, I didn’t have a coffee or latte for 3 years, etc. Here’s a quick summary of our savings (we started with just about nothing after college):

401(k)s: $60,232
IRAs: $38,046
Mutual Funds and Cash (non-retirement): $45,037
Stocks: $6,871
Approx Total: $149,918

We have no debt, have had no financial help from parents (other than my living at home for 2 years in order to speed up goal-reaching), and owned no real estate during this time.

We just made an offer on our first house in Oregon, which we will use as either a rental or a vacation home.

Your words have made a tremendous difference in our growing sense of financial security and our confidence in our abilities to follow-through.
We are thrilled with the choices this savings affords us.