The Softest Cushion to Fall Back on is One Filled With Hard Cash: How I Managed to Retire at 46 Against All Odds...

By Nike R. Nickel

This book is part auto-biography and part tips and tricks on how to save money and handle finances for success!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: Oct 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662930836

Book preview

This book was greatly inspired and completed due to my late grandfather, Russell John Nickel.

Gramps was a tremendous inspiration in my childhood and continues to be so even in my adult life, despite the fact that he is no longer here. I miss him greatly, and wish he could see the successes that I’ve achieved today - successes that were due in large part to his mentoring over the years.

Being born in 1919 and living through the Great Depression, Grandpa was a frugal, yet practical man. While he didn’t overspend on anything, he didn’t skimp on necessities and we never went without. He was both balanced and wise, and now in my later years I fully understand how he wanted to influence me in the most positive manner possible. I owe so much to Gramps…

I lived with my paternal grandparents for several years during my adolescence - arguably the most difficult time in the upbringing of a child’s life. Our opinions clashed on various issues, especially when it came to handling finances and spending money. But Grandpa never gave up, and would always strive to instill beneficial principles in me that would positively impact my life - both then and in the future.

Among the tenets he instilled in me were hard work, hard work, and hard work. No, that’s not a typo. Grandpa believed in working hard. He used to constantly say Work builds character. He was right.

He believed in being a good steward of other resources as well, even food. I remember on many occasions when he would refuse to throw away leftovers and state how lucky we were to live in a country that had abundance - that children in other nations around the world would sometimes go hungry or even starve. At times he would recount how when he served overseas in World War II he would see children digging through the garbage just to find something to eat.

Of all the principles he taught me, however, one stood out and would become indelibly etched in my mind, and I’ve never heard or seen the phrase anywhere else:

"The softest cushion to fall back on is one

filled with hard cash."

For you, Grandpa…

My parents divorced when I was very young - maybe only four years old. My father gained custody, remarried, and for many of my early childhood years I lived with him and my stepmother. Then they had a son, my half-brother.

When I reached my adolescence I was somewhat rebellious, as teens often are. And life at home wasn’t exactly perfect, either, so I ended up moving in with my paternal grandparents about two hours away.

As mentioned in the preface, my grandfather imparted a tremendous positive influence on my life. He did everything to encourage and support me, but within the confines of his life experience, understanding, and wisdom.

But as most of you are aware, teens know everything - at least they think they do. Grandpa and I clashed on a number of issues, but how I spent my money was by far the most significant. I wanted to purchase everything from expensive TVs, video games, and bikes to clothes, shoes, watches, and more. Grandpa, on the other hand, rightfully recognized that even though I wanted these things, I didn’t need them. Instead of allowing me to spend recklessly, he encouraged me to save, exercise patience, and wait for sales before making an occasional purchase.

Moving ahead several more years, I was finally 18 years old, but instead of celebrating my graduation into adulthood I was actually choking back tears. It was only a few days after my birthday, and I was literally standing in line to apply for food stamps.

It was unquestionably the most embarrassing and humiliating experience of my life. I was literally looking over my shoulder, hoping that no one would recognize me - especially no one from high school since I was still in my senior year. At the time I was also living in a homeless shelter, partly due to my own obstinacy and partly due to circumstances beyond my control. Nonetheless, I was there.

Because of the emotional stress, anguish, and pure frustration of being broke and penniless, it was at that moment I vowed to never allow anything like that to ever happen again. I hated being so impoverished and dependent on others.

This, of course, is only a brief snapshot of my childhood and adolescence, and is by no means divulged to make anyone feel sorry for me; on the contrary, it has helped forge me into a much stronger and wiser man. Life has not always been easy. There have been countless struggles along the way. And as someone once wisely said, Anything in life of value is hard to attain. But with perseverance, hard work, and help from God, I went from living in a homeless shelter at age 18 to being on the verge of retirement at age 47, and I’d like to share a bit of my history as well as a few helpful tips with you.

On a final note, I want to genuinely thank you - the reader - for taking interest in my book and allowing me to share some of my life experiences. Just please be aware that because this book is part auto-biography and also part tips on how to lower expenses, I didn’t want to pay for an editor. Accordingly, if you find any typos, misspellings, or grammatical errors, please forgive me. After all, it’s all about saving money…

The three pillars.

There are three main rules for achieving financial independence: get out of debt, eliminate your expenses, and save money. Although these are general rules, we’ll discuss many intricacies and I’ll share a few tips that have helped me cut costs tremendously over the years.

The material we’ll discuss will cover a wide range of topics, from lowering your water bills to saving on insurance and many topics in between. It’s critical to keep in mind that not everyone will find every tip useful. In fact, some of my tips may only apply to a select group of individuals while other tips may apply to nearly everyone. Hence, some will read this book for informational purposes and use many tips while others will read this book purely for entertainment. The beauty of it all is that the choice is yours. You may implement all, some, or even none of my tips.

One caveat, however: if you do choose to exercise any of the tips contained in this book you do so at your own risk. I cannot be held responsible if you sustain a financial loss, but in most cases you’ll end up saving considerable money in both the short and long terms.

Get out of debt.

You can’t save money if you owe money. First and foremost, analyze what you owe and figure out ways to pay off that debt. If you can manage to reduce or even eliminate many expenses you can leverage that savings to pay off your debt - especially high interest debt. In many cases paying off debt and eliminating expenses will require a certain amount of discipline.

Sit down and write out a list of your monthly expenses - every one of them. Next, ask yourself: is this expense a necessity, or a luxury? Then calculate how much each luxury will cost every month and every year and write those numbers down. Then imagine other expenses that you could apply that savings toward - especially debt elimination. Most Americans are literally drowning in debt. If you really want to do something about it, do something about it.

Cable TV, internet, and streaming.

Although the market has changed drastically in recent years, cable has long been a high-expense utility that can be replaced at little or no cost. Obviously, many people are now subscribed to pay services such as Netflix, Hulu, etc., but even those inexpensive options can add up fast. Personally, I’ve used the internet to my advantage and have cut cable altogether.

YouTube, for example, offers a multitude of episodes of a wide variety of content at no cost. There are also websites that allow you to stream (not download) many movies for free. I’ve even been able to stream live news on multiple sites at