My parents were teachers ... public school teachers ... you know, as in "maximum salary at retirement after 31 years of teaching of $41K/year".  And they raised three kids, put us all through college, and retired at age 55 and were financially independent.  How did they do this?  They lived below their means and they had a good, competent financial planner.  That's a powerful lesson I learned from them.  I own a nice house thats only what I need, not was I could actually have afforded.  I bought a new car only when my old one finally was falling apart and unsafe.  And I have a competent, certified financial planner managing my money, and I'm doing very well for a person who is 44 years old.  Apparently I have more money saved for retirement than 95% of people my age.  I'll retire to the bland boonies to land I'll inherit (free!).  But I still feel it isn't enough, so I keep at it.  ... The people in this article didn't plan to fail, they failed to plan.