Financial Independence I'm free! FI/REd on Monday |
- I'm free! FI/REd on Monday
- Early Retired two years ago today
- Do a lot of you feel like your life hasn't started yet?
- Anyone else ambitious in your career but feeling stagnant?
- Daily FI discussion thread - May 02, 2018
- Separating yourself from your wealth
- Bullet Journal/GTD and FI
- Weekly Self-Promotion Thread - May 02, 2018
- This guy FIREs: WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum leaves company to work on cars and play ultimate frisbee
- Need HSA advice: use funds for expenses, or save for retirement?
- How can I turn 8k per year and 300k invested into a sustainable lifestyle?
- 21 and just landed a job!
- How much of my take home should I allocate to savings, expenses, and fun?
- Would buying a home interfere with FIRE?
- Did anyone take off on their travels when their kids flew the nest?
- Financial Advisor wants to change us away from bonds to more hedge funds
| Posted: 02 May 2018 05:43 AM PDT ...and it feels weird. Last day at work was Monday, and yesterday felt like a Saturday. I don't think it's sunk in yet. The nature of my work meant constant email-checking and a feckload of Skype meetings, and the "flexible schedule" meant...uh, nothing, because I still had to be accessible to clients/managers during the standard workday and usually beyond. I telecommuted, so my "wake up and put on shorts" routine hasn't changed. Yesterday I didn't know what to do with myself, so I did uh...laundry, and signed up for a Yale Coursera course. (There's a list of much more fun things I'm set to focus on like fiction-writing projects, gardening stuff, we're having houseguests in June and July and there's a trip in August we're planning, but yeah...this feels like a weekend/temporary.) Really hitting me that there were so many years I spent unable to enjoy a holiday or a weekend/vacation because I'd be compelled to look at work email or get a call from someone about something that required attention RIGHT NOW. I need to mentally ditch this low-level-static jumpy hum of constant work responsibility feels. Maybe I need yoga. No. More. TPS. Reports. (!!!) Deets: Age 47 Sector: SaaS (B2B, but client-facing, not engineering) SR while working: 55-60% for last eight years. NO match(!) WR: 3% next year (took advantage of layoffs to call it quits, severance covers remainder of year expenses, spouse retired in 2015.) [link] [comments]  |
| Early Retired two years ago today Posted: 02 May 2018 06:53 AM PDT Two years ago today I FIRE'd. I'm not sure I have any life altering insights or advice for anyone, but I will say there have been no regrets. If I do say so myself, I've been pretty productive. I've completed most of the projects I gave myself at retirement. I've spent more time with my favorite hobbies. I've picked up some new hobbies. I've travelled quite a bit. I've done better at staying in touch with people. I've learned some new skills and accomplished some things I never thought I'd even try. There's no question that I am happier and less stressed. The past 6 months or so have been busy dealing with some severe health issues of family members and pets. I feel blessed to have been able to help out, and have no idea how we would have coped had I still been working. I know FIRE can be a drag sometimes. I know the community can be judgmental, and sometimes there are silly arguments. If I could suggest anything, I'd say don't get caught up in the extremism, but know that the payoff is worth it. Come up with a plan that you can live with, stick to it, and you will be rewarded. It's pretty freaking awesome! [link] [comments]  |
| Do a lot of you feel like your life hasn't started yet? Posted: 02 May 2018 03:13 PM PDT I know it's considered a bad way to think. Being a kid was fun, school was fun, university was fun, but work life is just wasteful. I can't function if 8 hours every day + time for commuting + time for other preparation are taken away from me. I can keep my evenings more productive if I drink coffee, but then I don't get enough sleep and lose some evenings entirely to catch up on sleep. I find it hard to do anything I really want to and when I do it feels rushed because I know there's a deadline. I do a good job of staying focused on the right things mentally, but it still has an impact. For example if I go out drinking with friends, at the end of the might people say "better get home bevause I have to work tomorrow", they don't say "I'm satisfied with my time here". So much time is taken away for worl and for tasks surrounding work that there's just a margin left at the end. A big chunkbof that gets taken by errands. A chunk of what's left is taken away by occasional social obligations. And the rest is at a time when you're fed up with the rest, you're either tired or your body fights you in some other way. The mentality of "life hasn't started yet" can stick with you your whole life and then you can die having wasted it, but I still feel that way as long as I am working a day job. The alternative is to just quit and find a way to live near-homeless. I probably should do that but I don't like the strong social stigma against it, and breaking that to family would betray them and make life difficult. That's a heavy motivation for FIRE for me, that life hasn't started yet, or at least it's on hold until. [link] [comments]  |
| Anyone else ambitious in your career but feeling stagnant? Posted: 02 May 2018 08:50 AM PDT I'm a 29 year old engineer. I've always been an overachiever, but lately I feel like my career is getting stagnant. I don't particularly like what I do, but I get paid well. There are opportunities within my company that I would really enjoy, and have been trying hard to pursue, but I have not had much luck breaking in. I feel that these opps that interest me are mainly reserved for high-flyers. I think I do good work, but I don't think the company sees me as a high-flyer - which is fine, I just want to do interesting, individual-contributor work. I have no desire to be CEO or anything, I just don't see myself retiring early and want to do work I enjoy. I'm wondering if I should just come to terms with the fact that I'm not a chosen one and just go with the flow. On the flip side, I hate the idea of giving up and having this victim mentality. A couple other things to consider are that: 1) I'm well on the FI-track, which gives me another reason to care less and say fuck it. 2) I don't have a close community outside of work and attach a lot of my identity to my job. Any older folks have similar experiences / learnings? [link] [comments]  |
| Daily FI discussion thread - May 02, 2018 Posted: 02 May 2018 04:08 AM PDT 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]  |
| Separating yourself from your wealth Posted: 02 May 2018 07:29 AM PDT Hello to-be-FIRErs! I know of three people who retired early, and then lost all their wealth and had to start from scratch. One example, was on r/fatFIRE, a surgeon posted he lost everything to a malpractice lawsuit. The other example I know is a rich family member who had one business deal go south, and lost everything he built for 50 years to creditors. Lastly, I know of a doctor, whose spouse got very ill and they slowly lost everything to medical bills and long term care. There are also (mostly hearsay) stories of people getting sued for their teenage son getting into a road accident, or an uninsured worker getting hurt on your someones property resulting in a million dollar settlement. Now, I always carry umbrella insurance. But I am also thinking of separating all my FIRE money into a irrevocable trust, that I only get monthly dividends from. Does this make sense or is it overkill. I couldn't bare to live a frugal life, get to an early retirement, and then lose it all for some reason, and have to bag groceries in my old age. What other strategies do people here use to separate themselves from their wealth? [Note I will be cross posting to r/fatFIRE] [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2018 03:47 PM PDT Just got into bullet journaling this year and (after seeing it recommended all over the place) I have been carefully reading Getting Things Done by David Allen over the last few weeks. I was wondering if any other FIRE aspirants out there are into these productivity methods and if/how they are helping you on your journey to FI. [link] [comments]  |
| Weekly Self-Promotion Thread - May 02, 2018 Posted: 02 May 2018 04:09 AM PDT 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]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2018 12:37 PM PDT Just in case anybody here needed inspiration as they pursue FIRE: https://www.cnet.com/news/whatsapp-founder-jan-koum-to-leave-company-facebook-to-play-ultimate-frisbee/ [link] [comments]  |
| Need HSA advice: use funds for expenses, or save for retirement? Posted: 02 May 2018 02:34 PM PDT Hello all, I'm posting this here since I feel like a good number of you have a good understanding of the tax benefits, etc of HSA and other 'retirement vehicle' accounts, but if this is not a good place, I can find another subreddit to ask this question. Question: Which is better: use HSA funds for yearly expenses, or pay out of pocket and save the pre-taxed gains for retirement? Some background: My employer just switched us to a high deductible plan, which opens me up to enrolling in an HSA. This is the first time I've had access to an HSA account, and I'm trying to understand which is a better way to use the account money myself and my employer are contributing (between the 2 of us, its currently maxed out). First I should say that I have type 1 diabetes (just diagnosed last year) and so I do have a decent amount of recurring expenses throughout the year. I'm trying to figure out if I should pay for my diabetes supplies and dr. visits out of pocket and let my HSA funds grow with pre-taxed interest, or if I should use the funds to pay off my expenses throughout the year. I should also follow this up with: I can pay for expenses out of pocket, I'm not living paycheck to paycheck and so i can afford to pay an extra $2,500 throughout the year until my high deductible is met and my insurance starts covering their 80% of my bills prescriptions, etc. So, what do you think is the right option? Thanks! -cylon1 [link] [comments]  |
| How can I turn 8k per year and 300k invested into a sustainable lifestyle? Posted: 02 May 2018 02:13 PM PDT I have a net worth of $350k, $50k in cash and $300k in Betterment (90% stock, 10% bond). I also have $30k in a 401k account. I quit my job 3 weeks ago. I also make $8k per year from an inheritance (I own a piece of a farm). I have no dependents, no spouse, no mortgage, etc. Basically, I don't have anything tying me down financially. I'd like to live off of this money, along with a minimal amount of freelance work, without actually cutting into the $300k. Any tips on doing this? For example, one thing I heard is that it can be more profitable to invest in value stocks, which pay dividends, instead of growth stocks, which require you to sell shares to make money. Is that true? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2018 01:41 PM PDT So I am graduating in May and have lined up a position in my field (accounting) making $21/hour for a non-profit organization. Luckily, from the help of my parents and working pretty much full time while in school, I have saved roughly $20k, which about 8k is already invested in a Roth IRA. I am very interested in FIRE but am not really sure where to go. I will be working roughly 40 hours a week and get paid for overtime. They offer a 403(b) plan but do not offer any match. They also offer life insurance which I really do not know anything about. I have been looking at apartments in the area and 1 room apartments go for roughly $900/month. I have always been pretty frugal, and plan to spend probably another $600/month on other expenses. So I guess my question is, can anyone give me some direction as to how I should go about starting FIRE? My plan is to max out a Roth IRA first before I put money into the 403(b). Not really sure what to do following that. All input is appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| How much of my take home should I allocate to savings, expenses, and fun? Posted: 02 May 2018 12:16 PM PDT Life Situation: 26 Years old. Single. No DependentsIRS filing status, number & ages of dependents, and anything else (state/country of residence, age, etc.) you are comfortable sharing. Gross Salary/Wages: Salary: $60K-$65K Yearly Savings Amounts: 9% of my paycheck goes to Employer-sponsored 401(K) retirement plan. They match up to 8%. Current expenses: Mortgage - $2k/month. I have renters so I am only paying about 30% of my mortgage. Student loan - $25K. I pay about $250/month but aggressively paying off debt ASAP if I have extra cash. Liabilities: Student loan and mortage Specific Question(s): My main goal today is paying off my student debt. When I get my debt paid off, I want to look into getting a home closer to the city or possibly getting a second home for RE investing. My other goal is to increase my portfolio amount in my Robinhood account. My question is how much of my take home should I allocate to savings, expenses, and fun? I already contribute 9% to my 401(K). I have my emergency savings fund of up to 6 months. I have been getting into investing in individual stocks using Robinhood. Is it a good idea to get an IRA account with a brokerage when I already have a 401(K) account? [link] [comments]  |
| Would buying a home interfere with FIRE? Posted: 02 May 2018 08:10 AM PDT So I find myself strongly considering purchasing a residence as a first-time buyer in Ottawa, Ontario, something I had not specifically planned for previously. But I've been watching the local market for about two years and the numbers on some of the places I could see myself living in are beginning to make sense, whereas before I had resigned myself to renting, planning on becoming FI eventually and perhaps moving to someplace else. The properties I'm interested in are condos in the 250k to 300k range. My FIRE goal is 800k. Current assets looks like this: 66k in TFSA 36K in RRSP 120K in other investments, mostly equities 13K in bank accounts 2-3k in cryptocurrency 8 years contributed to a defined benefit pension through work. Participating Life Insurance plan (cost: $6.6K/year for 17 more years) $0 debt. No car. I've done the math on some properties, and condo fees+taxes+utilities would be around 9k to 10k a year, which is only a few grand lower than my current housing costs at 11.5k. If I would compare it to a more equivalent rental however (approx. 15-20k a year), as my current place is both smaller and has fewer amenities and appliances, then the difference becomes larger. But this is completely ignoring the mortgage and interest. Rent vs buy calculators I've looked at tell me I need 4.5%+ appreciation per year for the value of the condo to keep up with my current investment strategy. My job is very stable (Federal Government), and I don't see myself leaving until I hit my goals in 6 to 10 years. So would I be significantly pushing back my FIRE date if I decide to become a home owner? What are peoples opinions on the Smith Maneuver? Any and all advice is appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Did anyone take off on their travels when their kids flew the nest? Posted: 02 May 2018 07:01 AM PDT I'm on the grind while my kids are in school, but in the next 15 years, I plan to hit the road and travel the world, living out of my backpack, working online when I have to. But is this realistic? Has anyone else done this? Or were you too old and knackered when the time came? [link] [comments]  |
| Financial Advisor wants to change us away from bonds to more hedge funds Posted: 02 May 2018 07:58 AM PDT Hi, My wife and I have managed assets with a financial advisor who has followed typical 60/40 and 80/20 stocks/bonds allocations. The FA firm is bringing in a new partner and changing banks and as a result they want to adjust their strategy to be less in bonds. They want to put more money into hedge funds. They said "this isn't a good time to own bonds". This makes me a little suspicious because this change in methodology corresponds to a change in their partnership. So, my question to you is: - Is this not a good time to own bonds? - Should we be suspicious? [link] [comments]  |
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