Financial Independence My experience of FIRE five years in. |
- My experience of FIRE five years in.
- What unorthodox things have you done to ensure that you reach FI/RE at a quicker pace?
- Milestone 1M hit!
- Hit FI ($2 mil.) - Do I now take money "off the table"?
- Daily FI discussion thread - November 29, 2017
- Working towards F.I and R.E in Hong Kong or Canada. A comparison.
- Newbie but on my way
- Weekly Self-Promotion Thread - November 29, 2017
- How does everyone calculate their expected FIRE date?
- People who FIREd, what was your networth at the time?
- salary cut dilemma
- Is there an FI name for this? (shower thought)
- 22[M] Positioning for FI when I will be unemployed for a few years
- Am I crazy to be ok with making the jump with a 50.1% FireCalc success rate?
- FI Path: Alone or Together?
- Rental mortgage
- Anyone move after reaching FI? What were your reasons?
- Is it possible to retire early if I'm already 24 and don't expect to get a real job until 25 or 26?
| My experience of FIRE five years in. Posted: 29 Nov 2017 12:54 PM PST I posted this in because I hope it will be of some use to those of you who are on the road to FI and because I am interested in the perspective of others. I am in my 40's, live in a large US city. Never married, no kids. I stopped working about 5 years ago. The experience has been largely good, but mixed. The good: —If, 15 years ago, someone had asked me to design the ideal life, I would have described the life I am now living. I spend my time indulging in my passions and other healthy pursuits, I have traveled the world extensively, I have done most of the things that I always wanted to do and I am continually thinking up new ideas. —Living an authentic life. Some people think I am a bit of an oddball (middle aged, never married, no kids). So be it — I am not struggling to fit into someone else's mold. For years I was faking it so that I would be well regarded by some boss/girlfriend/professional community, etc. No more. Employers want you to be one thing, your girlfriend wants you to be something else. So does your church. So does the community into which you were born. They all want you to be something—often they nudge you to become what they mistakenly believe will make you happy. Sometimes they just want to live their lives through you. Regardless, when I was employed I was somewhat pressured by my employer to live a life that was not entirely authentic. FI means I am as free as I choose to be—I am not beholden to, or dependent upon, any person or entity. —Finantial peace of mind. I have virtually no financial restraints. I don't have unlimited money but I have much more than enough to do whatever I want. I love having steady income (bond yields, dividends, rental income) without having to work. The securities are easy, the RE has a manager. I probably have to put about ten hours of work per month into making decisions, signing documents, talking on the phone, etc. Almost everything can be done with a laptop, a phone and the occasional visit to a notary. —The clarity that came with financial independence, including the freedom from the delusion that more money would solve everything. I used to think that my life would radically improve if only I had more money. I now have much more than I need, and while FI has improved my life in some areas it has also helped to clarify the degree to which money has a very limited impact on the things that matter most to me. Including: The bad —Deceit. About half of the people in my life don't know that I am FI or how much I travel. I may be gone for a month but they just assume that I have been in town and they just have not seen me in a while, or that I was traveling for work. I am effectively deceiving/lying to them. When they ask about work, I am vague and circumspect. Why? I am a private person. I am wary of envy, animosity, judgment etc.. No good comes from people knowing that I am rich. Most of my life long friends know. A few recent friends know, but very few. Some suspect but we don't discuss it. The deception is stressful for me. I am looking for a way to resolve this and live more honestly with everyone. —Loneliness. Traveling the world and doing whatever I want to do whenever I choose to do it can be lonely. My friends usually cannot join me on my adventures due to various limiting factors (family, job, finances, health). So I go alone.-sometimes for months at a time. I am sometimes lonely when I am away. And when I am home I am often lonely as well—I don't work and that means I don't have the regular day to day interaction with my old colleagues. Most of my friends are now married and have children so even on weekends it is hart to get together. I seek human interaction through my pursuits, volunteering, travel, etc, but its not the same as regular contact with a group of people who have known each other for years. —Lack of structure or goals. I work very hard at imposing structure on myself because the lack of structure that FI facilitates can be disorienting. I plan trips, take classes and engage in lots of exercise. I go out of my way to initiate social activities with friends. But creating structure takes a lot of effort and sometimes I get lazy and spend days alone with little to do. Further, living alone with no career makes it hard to envision a future. I don't have any idea where I will be in 20 years. If I had kids I would envision my relationship with them when they were grown and had kids themselves. If I had a career I would look ahead and plan a career path and objectives. I have had several careers, none of which was a true calling. One of my main goals in life was to be completely financially independent. OK, I'm there, and I live the life I have always wanted. But I have no long term goals. Like many people, I need goals, so I set up little goals for myself like exploring Bolivia or Singapore, but I don't have any long term goals. So it has been a mix. My focus now is to increase my social network and interaction and try to develop new long term goals. I encourage everyone on the path to financial independence to maintain and develop passions, hobbies, health and relationships along the way. When you get there, these factors will be as important to you as your FI. I welcome all comments or questions. [link] [comments]  |
| What unorthodox things have you done to ensure that you reach FI/RE at a quicker pace? Posted: 29 Nov 2017 07:20 AM PST For example, I've considered buying a van and either moving to a high COL city or doing travel nursing with it (if you've done this and would like to share details, feel free). [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Nov 2017 09:44 PM PST (temp account) I can't really tell anyone else this so I am telling all you kind folks who have given great advice over the years. I finally hit 1M in combined 401k and stocks, almost a split right down the middle between the two. I have 5 years left on the house mortgage and am so tempted to pay it off early but I will listen to the data driven advice and keep the debt since it is a pretty low rate ( under 3%). I am hoping to retire in about 10 years (which seems a long way away right now) and a goal of 2M which I think I can get to since when I pay the mortgage off it will free up a significant portion of income to invest for the next 5 years. An alternate option would be to buy an investment property when my current house is paid off but unsure if I would rather have that or more cash. Any opinions here? I also have kids who are older (in college) but the wife wants to continue to work when I retire so I am lucky I just wanted to say thank you all for the help and keep plugging away! [link] [comments]  |
| Hit FI ($2 mil.) - Do I now take money "off the table"? Posted: 29 Nov 2017 10:51 AM PST I don't consider this a personal finance question, because for me, it is more about hitting FIRE and then being able to practically maintain that position. I'm 44 years old. I just hit what theoretically should be a safe FIRE number for me ($2 mil. in net worth - I spend around $60,000 per year). A large part of that has come from recent stock market gains (nothing weird - just three basic Vanguard funds, pretty heavily allocated toward Total Stock and Total International - about 80/20 stock to bond funds). I mentioned this to a CFO friend that I trust implicitly (he's not the type to be jealous, and is frankly probably on a parity with me). He knows that I am not working now for non-voluntary reasons (disability). While I'm getting disability payments (from a private insurance company, not the government), those could obviously end at any time if the disability insurer decides to try to cut me off (which I know they have a tendency to try to do). CFO friend said the following: "You've made it. If I were you, I would take my money 'off the table' so too speak." He's making a reference to a casino, where when you get lucky and win big, you stop playing. He's essentially saying at this point, he would do everything possible to avoid what he sees as a huge crash risk in the current market, and move into positions that are much more stable, if at a lower return. I understand this logic, and I do think the market is currently on a high boil. At the same time, I intellectually know (even if I don't emotionally feel it) that the standard play at my age is to maintain a hearty stock/bond ratio, and stay in the market for the higher returns to offset ongoing inflation. What would you all do in this situation? If you would change to a different ratio, what would that be, and what specific funds or holdings? [link] [comments]  |
| Daily FI discussion thread - November 29, 2017 Posted: 29 Nov 2017 03:08 AM PST Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! Have a look at the FAQ for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. [link] [comments]  |
| Working towards F.I and R.E in Hong Kong or Canada. A comparison. Posted: 29 Nov 2017 12:18 AM PST Sometimes I see posts about people wanting to move to Asia from another continent. I have lived and worked in both Hong Kong and Canada. Here is a comparison of my life in my mid to late 20s in both places. Here is a little price comparison of life costs assuming I make around $120,000 a year: Canada big city Cost:
So my after tax disposable income is $49,540 Hong Kong Cost
After tax disposable income is $67,600 Overall I feel having lived and worked in both countries; I do save more money in Hong Kong. My lifestyle is/was pretty low key in both countries where I tended to cook at home, dine out on weekends and drink beers at happy hour prices. Activity wise, I tend to enjoy outdoor hiking and running so it is quite low cost. Benefits to living in Hong Kong:
Cons to living in Hong Kong:
Benefits to living in major Canadian city:
Cons to living in major Canadian city:
[link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Nov 2017 08:59 PM PST I'm mid 50's with about 2.5m in net worth, married. I worked for a tech company for over 20 years, and because I really didn't understand what I was doing I started early dumping 15% of my gross into a 401k and never really missed it. I never travelled outside my state or country until just a few years ago, first European trip and since then been abroad a few times. At this point I could retire early if I moved to a cheap area of the country, but I wouldn't be able to experience the same lifestyle especially when it comes to travel and financial freedom. I'm wondering how common that feeling is? I'm relatively old in my industry and I know it can end at anytime.... not counting my chickens but could easily be 5 years away from retirement... Anyway, really enjoying this subreddit. [link] [comments]  |
| Weekly Self-Promotion Thread - November 29, 2017 Posted: 29 Nov 2017 03:08 AM PST Self-promotion (ie posting about projects/businesses that you operate and can profit from) is typically a practice that is discouraged in /r/financialindependence, and these posts are removed through moderation. This is a thread where those rules do not apply. However, please do not post referral links in this thread. Use this thread to talk about your blog, talk about your business, ask for feedback, etc. If the self-promotion starts to leak outside of this thread, we will once again return to a time where 100% of self-promotion posts are banned. Please use this space wisely. Link-only posts will be removed. Put some effort into it. [link] [comments]  |
| How does everyone calculate their expected FIRE date? Posted: 29 Nov 2017 04:21 PM PST Just what the title says, what methods are used by this sub to determine what date in the future they might reach FI and be ready to RE. Edit: more specifically a method that calculates the date or shows you the date when you will make it to FIRE, not FIREcalc where you adjust the retirement date till you hit 100%. [link] [comments]  |
| People who FIREd, what was your networth at the time? Posted: 29 Nov 2017 04:05 PM PST |
| Posted: 29 Nov 2017 03:25 PM PST Last year I was working at a position which paid about 64k/yr in. I was really bored and struggling a little bit (but not performance wise) and really needed a break so I left to explore some options over the last few months. I have been working in a completely different field for really low pay just as an investigation into this other field, but now my finances are lower than I planned and I think I will have to leave this plan and return to getting my finances alright again. I am willing to return to my field again but I am confused on how best to do it. I feel that I could have an earning potential around 85k, but I haven't been able to find anything like that in the last 2 months of searching near me. I left my last position in good standing but I am nervous to return because even though I performed well I did not like the environment much and the management was not very good, also the location was a bit rural and non ideal. I guess I just dream of having a job that paid as well but was maybe actually near a real city. Rural is not so good for me right now as a younger person trying to be a part of society... Returning to my field now...hoping to make the right decisions for my financial future. My options are: -Have current offer for 47k from a nice private university in the city near me with pretty cool benefits, tuition waiver maybe worth 95k/2 years for a master. -another current offer for contract position making less, probably nearer 60 and not sure if I'd have consistent work. -Have not looked very far from me geographically, just in my nearest city which is not very tech heavy. I think many many other cities would provide great opportunities for better positions, but I am just not really pulled in any particular direction and the idea of opening my search nation wide seems to overwhelm me a little. But I think I might have to do that to better my financial future. -Return to my previous position. Before I left my last position, they had offered me a promotion and were very interested in keeping me on and I had (boldly) asked for about 35% boost for me to consider staying on. They said they would see what they could do and get back to me and it did feel very promising they were really willing to work with me. but I called it off before they were able to make me an offer. I feel if they do have a spot for me I could probably get it and be at least about 70k. I do think I would be interested in a master's... and I think there could be some great networking opportunities working at a university but I really don't know. The 47k just seems so so low to me and I am so nervous to take a cut and what it would do to my future, but the details of that position seems alright. Is that something worth taking such a large cut for? Should i start looking out of state to keep improving my earning and never go down? What is best to do? [link] [comments]  |
| Is there an FI name for this? (shower thought) Posted: 28 Nov 2017 11:26 PM PST I was just thinking about FI and how some people post on here about how they reached their FI number, but is there a term/name for when you've reached a number that you can reasonably expect to appreciate to your FI number by your RE date? I feel like that number would be worth celebrating (even with the fact there is always uncertainty). [link] [comments]  |
| 22[M] Positioning for FI when I will be unemployed for a few years Posted: 29 Nov 2017 12:11 PM PST Hi, I'm a 22 yr old in Seattle, just graduated from college, rowed in college, rowing full time now to compete for a spot on the US natl team over the next 3 years. Due to the time commitment to training + staying in one location to remain with my current coach, I'm not planning on pursuing a full time job until I am done attempting to compete at a high level. The being said, I found this community recently and the idea of FIRE is very attractive to me so I would like to do what I can to work towards it. Here are (I think) all the relevant stats for my situation, any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Age: 22 Capital: $146K (Inheritance) Investments: None (Mailed in an application for a Vanguard brokerage account yesterday) Income: $0 Expenses: $1350/mo. for rent, girlfriend will move in within the next few months which will cut that. ~$300-$400/mo. for food. I eat out extremely rarely and got a Costco membership a few weeks ago so I primarily do big shopping trips through there ~$100/mo. on average for rowing fees <$100/mo. for entertainment. Don't go out to bars or anything, just a movie once every 2-3 weeks. The biggest questions I have are 1) How should I be investing the large sum of capital that I do have? 2) Are there part time jobs/other opportunities I can pursue that won't be physically demanding/are flexibly scheduled in the meantime(I realize these conditions would mean very low pay which I realize is the price of convenience)? Degree is in Chemical Engineering and most positions I have looked at require relocation. I have learned a good bit about selling on Amazon but I've not identified any potential products yet. [link] [comments]  |
| Am I crazy to be ok with making the jump with a 50.1% FireCalc success rate? Posted: 29 Nov 2017 03:47 PM PST Short story, when I've seen people talk about the firecalc success rate that they'd be ok with, I typically see numbers upwards of 90%. The success rate that I'd be comfortable with is somewhere around 50%. I'd love to get thoughts from the group. Am I crazy to be ok with a 50-ish percent success rate before making the jump? Is the 90+% success rate really as common a target as my reading would indicate? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Nov 2017 05:30 PM PST Hey! Question for all of you. We do not decide when in life we meet our partners/soulmates/etc. With that being said, at what point in your journey did you meet yours? Do you think it is ideal to reach FI on your own and then meet a partner after? Or do you think it's easier to work together with a partner on achieving FI-related goals? I'm curious to hear your thoughts and experiences! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Nov 2017 08:13 PM PST My question is whether it is advisable to have mortgages on rentals if you don't have to. Is it better to have two rental properties with loans or one fully paid off property? Thanks in advance for your help. [link] [comments]  |
| Anyone move after reaching FI? What were your reasons? Posted: 28 Nov 2017 05:20 PM PST I'm in the NYC metro area, nearing FI goals, and have always preferred the West as I'm naturally more of the laid back type. My head says to stay where I'm at, collect rents on my paid off rentals which I bought at good prices around 2010. My souls says, I'm already in my mid 30's and what's the point of being in an area I don't love until my 70's when I'm older and can't enjoy West Coast's outdoors and [nicer] people, so move now while I'm in my prime. 33 single male $1.4mm, 70% cash, 30% in paid off properties (conservatively using lower cost amount vs market value which has crept up). I know I'm not balling, but I do live frugally. I plan to work part-time (work from home, own my own consulting firm) for about 2-3 days a week hopefully, and don't mind airbnb'ing a portion of my property that I would pick up out West, which I've had success with here East. [link] [comments]  |
| Is it possible to retire early if I'm already 24 and don't expect to get a real job until 25 or 26? Posted: 29 Nov 2017 08:09 AM PST I have no debt so that helps, but I make about 11,000 a year right now and I've been stuck in school since 17. My IRA has 16,000 in it and my 401k has 3,000. [link] [comments]  |
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