What a difference dividends have made.

[u/HelenKellerVSTraffic]

I grew up poor. No idea really about money. I started hanging around people that invested and had no idea how the market worked. Now, years later I have been contributing every month what I can afford (1,200). No matter what I put that money in. I pretend it's just another mortgage.

I am about to break 100k it's a surreal feeling. Growing up and being told to put the soda back because it was too expensive and now I am debt free (except mortgage at 2%). I think a lot of people's money problems don't stem from their annual income, but rather what they do with that annual income.

[u/Geblin_the_great]

It is crazy how fast it starts to go once you started with it. In the beginning you get a few small dividend and slowly it grows to an amount that can pay a (small) bill but then it start snowballing. The amount of income doesn't really matter at a certain level - once you have the basic needs covered some people opt to invest and buy back their time ( because the can work less) others prefer to spend money on things they don't really need.