Financial Independence I've saved $10,000! |
- I've saved $10,000!
- I made a "death document" for my husband today
- $22,000 worth at 20 years old.
- Why don't governments become "FI"?
- Weekly Self-Promotion Thread - July 04, 2018
- Daily FI discussion thread - July 04, 2018
- What uncommon, unpopular, or just non status-quo things do you do in pursuit of Financial Independence? What have the non-financial effects of these things been?
- Anyone 100% in equities?
- 6 Months = Debt Free, $26k increase in NW, & polishing up my FIRE plans
- Buy a house to rent out or keep savings?
- In Plan Roth Conversion? So confused
- Forbes article that says healthcare cost worries in retirement are overblown
- Advice needed on first big FIRE decision
- Advice on renting out vs selling house
- Am I as far away from FIRE as I think?
- Comparing myself to others social media
- How to deal with uncertainty
| Posted: 04 Jul 2018 07:12 AM PDT Hello /r/financialindependence! I've been lurking this subreddit for about a year and i'm proud to say that i've saved $10,000 at the age of 24! I started really saving at the start of this year. I know it is not actually much money, but it is my first step and it took a few months to get here. I'm eyeing $20,000 now as my next goal and I think I will be easier to hit the next target due to a change in lifestyle! I feel so much better now, not only because I have the buffer but because I never get to the point where my checking account is at $0 anymore. Not too long ago I remember being unable to afford to buy water from a vending machine at work because I had no money even though I was being paid well. At the start of the year (not a new years resolution, it just worked out that way haha) I decided to stop being broke. Since I started college I always thought of myself as frugal since I never made super large purchases or bought expensive cloths or anything like that. What i've realized is that I enjoy food. A lot. Which is strange how much I spent on food since I am skinny. I went out to eat every other day, I bought expensive food just because I thought the cheaper food wouldn't be as good, I bought too much food and wasted some. I ate at work every day for breakfast and lunch, etc. I stopped eating a work, started making my own meals at home and eating breakfast before I went to work, and I also stopped eating out almost all together. I also plan how I shop more, buying the cheaper options when I can and buying things in bulk as much as is reasonable. I also had (actually still have, trying to stop) shopping-while-bored syndrome, and while I would never buy anything very expensive I would always be in thrift shops buying small things that I did not need. Thrift shopping was my hobby. I've tried to stop doing that by taking up other hobbies that can fill my time when I am bored and that do not bleed money. I've taken up running , and i've also taken up fishing which is very low cost for a lot of fun. I want to learn how to clean and eat the fish as well, which would provide even more value. Seeing the money grow is really very motivating, and i'm looking for ways to make it grow faster. I've thought of a number of ideas and finally acted on one just this weekend. I've been running for a while and decided to try dog running. A women in my neighborhood let me run her dog, she and the dog were pleased. I did not charge money for it, but I know she is willing to pay money for a regular service which is exciting. I wouldn't have made any of these transitions had I not been reading this subreddit. I have new goals for myself and can now see myself being someone who can FI instead of someone who sees work as a requirement and can't afford water out of a vending machine. Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| I made a "death document" for my husband today Posted: 04 Jul 2018 12:39 PM PDT I'm the CFO for our family, my husband just doesn't have a whole lot of interest in financial management. Thankfully he's naturally pretty frugal, he's just not interested in the nuts and bolts. We have a variety of accounts and providers and there seem to be more every year. So today I created a "death document" although I titled it "In Case of Emergency". It contains all the financial accounts I could think of: banking, Roth IRAs, 457, pension, credit cards, bonds, HSAs, 529s, life insurance. All the account numbers, online logins and passwords. All in one document which I plan on putting in a brightly colored envelope and hiding someplace safe in the house. I thought about just making it an electronic document but I suspect identity theft is probably a greater threat than the house being broken into and something like this being found. This isn't groundbreaking and I'm sure some of you have something similar. Any suggestions for additional info I should include? I added my email addresses and passwords (I trust him) just in case he'd need to reset a password. Most of our bills are on autopay but I included the cell phone company's login and password. I figure it'd be inconvenient for the phone to get cut off while he's trying to plan my wake. Had the added benefit of me finally tallying everything up and figuring out our net worth, which was a pleasant surprise. Well, more of a surprise for him than for me. I've been meaning to do this for quite a while but just got around to it today. Working on a holiday generally means some downtime. Also the $100 holiday pay. :) [link] [comments]  |
| $22,000 worth at 20 years old. Posted: 04 Jul 2018 02:34 PM PDT Yes this is a total humble brag but for the right reasons. I discovered this sub and it sparked a fire in me so Id like to share how it has helped me. I got in a cushy union job (plumber/fitter) at the ripe age of 17. From there on I would empty my bank account everyweek on food, clothes, useless toys, ...weed. .etc. I came acrosd this sub while hitting the random button and Immediately enjoyed what I was reading. I realized holy shit.. Im blowing my pay every week on shit I don't need and all these people are saving. I should be saving too. I paid off the credit card bill, cut my spending, started eating in more and began bargain hunting as well. So keep in mind all these units are in CAD which is nowhere near the U.S. dollar right now. Every pay I would dedicate HALF to a Tax Free Savings Account with a %1.5 interest rate. Lame but its better than nothing. Ontop of that our company has a great pension and they contribute into it every pay. As of now I have $8000 in my TFSA and $14,226 tucked away in a pensioners account. Keep in mind too Ive never had student loans or a considerable amount of debt. Ive caught the FIRE bug and I like where its taking me. [link] [comments]  |
| Why don't governments become "FI"? Posted: 04 Jul 2018 08:31 AM PDT We all know how crucial the power of compounding is when it comes to FI. It got me wondering, why don't governments set up plans to become "FI" themselves? Let's suppose a government sets up a "modest" (in terms of government) fund of $10M today to fully track a world index of stocks. After factoring growth, dividend reinvestments, and reducing for loss via inflation let's assume this grows 6% annually. Beginning in the year 2271 using the 4% rule they could start withdrawing $1 trillion...per year. Individuals don't have time on their side when it comes to compounding, but stable governments do. Why don't we hear about governments trying to do this today? Sure you need to wait a couple hundred years at first but wouldn't this be ideal for future generations? [link] [comments]  |
| Weekly Self-Promotion Thread - July 04, 2018 Posted: 04 Jul 2018 04:08 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]  |
| Daily FI discussion thread - July 04, 2018 Posted: 04 Jul 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]  |
| Posted: 04 Jul 2018 12:17 AM PDT Most of the things that I do in pursuit of FI are not totally conventional. However a lot of these things have had positive effects on other areas of my life. For example: -Living with roommates even though I don't have to: I am 31 and having roommates is viewed by a lot of people as something that you grow out of with age and money. On the other hand there are a lot of positives. I find that I am only alone when I want to be (today one of my flatmates cheered "Yayyy, X is home!" when I walked in the door). I am always growing as a person because I constantly have to compromise or stand up for myself. I also save money in more ways than just paying lower rent, for example my roommates are constantly giving me clothing or food they don't want. -Owning one car between two working people: I walk everywhere, which means that I get at least some exercise every single day. There are also some negative aspects. For example, as a result of my extreme frugality I tend to associate with people who don't have a lot of money. That is all well and good, but sometimes I worry that I am missing out on the networking opportunities that come with rubbing shoulders with the wealthy. On the other hand... none of my friends judge people based on how much money they spend, so they're pretty cool people. I'm curious what other FIers experiences are? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Jul 2018 05:27 PM PDT I'm curious as to who/how many are doing this. I'm 24 and am aiming for FIRE by 35, but remain unsure of my asset allocation. I am currently 90/10, but have been debating whether or not I should just push everything into equities. When I've done research it seems that, above ~80% equities, the odds of a portfolio persisting don't really change, but the earnings continue to improve as more of the portfolio is shifted away from bonds. Opposing this, in my mind, is sequence of return risk, which bonds help protect against in the case of a downturn soon after FIRE. What are your thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| 6 Months = Debt Free, $26k increase in NW, & polishing up my FIRE plans Posted: 04 Jul 2018 12:20 AM PDT I am DEBT FREE! I got a new job in late December 2017 and on 1 January I really buckled down and literally every extra penny I've earned I've been funneling to my debt and investments. My priority was debt, but it's unusual that I qualify to contribute to retirement accounts so I wanted to take advantage and max out my Roth for 2017 while I could. Starting Stats - 1 January
Current Stats - 3 July
My Situation I am a 1099 consultant living outside the USA so I qualify for the FEIE. That means I don't have to pay state or federal taxes. I just have to pay my self employment taxes. I also don't have to pay local taxes because I don't stay in one location long enough to establish tax residency. My job is steady part time work (30h/week, recently increased from 20h/week) which brings in @$80k/year, but I frequently work more hours so it's closer to $85k. My Process
Going Forward Now that I'm out of debt, my focus is on saving and investing. My current plans are:
Based on my projections using a 4% return, a 4% SWR, the minimum hours I will be receiving, and my current savings rate, this shouldn't be a problem and I'll actually likely reach my FIRE goal early. My r/leanfire goal is $300k, exclusive of the condo and boat. This is 25* my current spend. This spend should drop quite a bit with the addition of my condo and boat so $300k should be plenty for my needs. I'll also have the following sources of income:
[link] [comments]  |
| Buy a house to rent out or keep savings? Posted: 04 Jul 2018 02:00 PM PDT This must be a classic question, but I couldn't find a thread with exactly my situation outlined. I don't have crazy savings for now and I've been trying to get better at this (even if I've never been a money waster in general). With my savings I could afford (stretching a bit) to get a mortgage for a small flat to rent out while I'd keep paying rent in the place where I live with my girlfriend. I'm not sure though if I should keep the savings and wait more or start investing already now in an asset as "big" as a flat. The plan is really to extinguish the mortgage as soon as possible (I was planning on 5 years, but more likely in 10) and then go straight to a second asset, maybe this time where I would live with my family. With my salary I should be able to cover the mortgage even if I can't rent out the place, but in a MUCH slower way; and this, I guess, it's what blocking me a bit. Are there better investment that are safer and that eventually would get me FI, even if in more time? Thank you and sorry if something is not clear! [link] [comments]  |
| In Plan Roth Conversion? So confused Posted: 04 Jul 2018 10:59 AM PDT I know this has been discussed before, but I have never really understood. My husband and I work for the same employer, and we max out our 401k's up to the contribution limit of $54K each and then a little more. The amount over the $54K goes into an special account our employer has made available. My husband is 58 and I am 37. We are obviously saving much more than the tax deferred limit. Our employer allows 1 in plan roth conversion per calendar year. Should we be converting some portion of this like the after tax portion to a roth annually? We have only been saving above the tax deferred amount for a year. He has $35k and I have $25k in aftertax in our 401k's. Here is the information overall if it helps: Husband 401k balance: Pre-tax $800k After-tax $35k Employer Match $550k My 401k balance: Pre-tax $300k After-tax $25k Employer Match $190k [link] [comments]  |
| Forbes article that says healthcare cost worries in retirement are overblown Posted: 03 Jul 2018 04:49 PM PDT Lots of talk in this sub about the fear of massive healthcare costs for everyone in retirement, so I figured this merited its own post. "The Journal also hits on health costs in retirement, which are, to be sure, a matter of concern. But rising health costs are a matter of much bigger concern to the states and federal governments, which foot most of the bill for Medicare and Medicaid, than for retirees themselves. Yes, examples of extraordinary health costs can easily be found; we're a country of 300 million people with a highly-flawed healthcare system, so you're going to see some very difficult individual cases. But again, there is no broad crisis. Data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey show that out-of-pocket health costs are about the same percentage of retirees' incomes today as during the 1980s. While health costs have risen, retirees' incomes have risen at least as fast. And, like the CPS, the Consumer Expenditure Survey tends to underestimate retiree's incomes, so it is likely that true health costs have declined as a percentage of retirement incomes over the past several decades. Other research on long-term care costs from economists at the RAND Corporation finds that – in good part to due to Medicaid and Medicare footing the bill – the average retiree household spends only $7,300 on long-term care over its entire retirement. Ninety-five percent of households spend less than $47,000 on total long-term care costs throughout retirement. Long-term care insurance makes sense for many retirees, but the fact that bankruptcies are lower among retirees than among working-age households tells us that truly catastrophic health costs are relatively rare." [link] [comments]  |
| Advice needed on first big FIRE decision Posted: 04 Jul 2018 11:03 AM PDT First post. Question about FIRE decision fork in the road. Background My wife and I live in a HCOL city, work in corporate (nice salaries/bonuses), and are are the same page for a semi-fat FIRE. We bought a 'forever' home several years ago, before we found out about FIRE. House has a very unique 180 degree unobstructed view of the water/mountains. Places closer to the city are valued at 2.5-4x the price. Our place has been skyrocketing in value as the city grows and people move further out. It has nice size, decor is stylish, and area has great schools. Terrible commute that keeps getting worse. Situation We've passively looked for a home in the city to reduce both our mortgage, energy bills, and commute. We found one last week, offered, and surprisingly won with our very modest bid (timing is everything - we were surprised). We move in a month. I love the place and could see it actually being something we retire in. It would also be a terrific rental someday if we decided to move. Very flexible and valuable property. Large lot allows for future expansion. We're currently a 'no' on kids but haven't shut the door completely. We can afford to keep our old home as a rental or sell it in a very hot market. We would likely sell very well and be able to put that money towards the principle on the new place (= super low mortgage), remodel to increase the new home's value (neighborhood supports big remodel), or pump more money into index funds. Maybe a combination of the three. We could also keep the old home as a rental. It would likely cover it's own mortgage but not much more, in year one. The area it's in is still a bit of a secret, so if the market continues to appreciate it could do so rapidly, but that area will be more volatile if the market contracts. Considerations:
I know that in general, r/financialindependence LOVES rentals (that cash flow), but how does it feel about renting a higher end property that will not cash flow immediately? It would be a longer play and we'd be betting more on increase in equity vs cash flowing (for ~5 years). This would be the only rental we'd ever own I think. TL;DR - We bought a new, smaller house in the city. Trying to decide whether to keep our expensive view home as rental or sell it. View home will barely cover it's own mortgage (no cash flow initially). Selling house costs ~65k in commissions and requires that we move ~200k from market into down payment. Sale would allow us to remodel new house (high returns in that neighborhood), significantly lower mortgage, and put more money into index funds. We love the idea of passive income in future, but I'm not excited about being a landlord. Any advice is appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Advice on renting out vs selling house Posted: 04 Jul 2018 09:13 AM PDT We recently went under contract on a really nice house and am trying to decide on whether to rent out or sell our townhouse. If we rent our townhouse, it will basically be break even whereas i we sell our house, we will get about 100k cash back. We will be stretched thin during the transition period between closing and fixing up the current townhouse to rent or sell either way. We bought our townhouse at a really great price during the recession period so I don't think you will be able to get it at that price anymore. It does need to be fixed up a bit but it may increase in value even more in the future because of it's great location and all the future construction planned for the area. My parents have always been of the thought that even if renting the house breaks even, you should still keep the house because that is someone paying off the mortgage for you. I am curious what the people here who own real estate thinks. [link] [comments]  |
| Am I as far away from FIRE as I think? Posted: 04 Jul 2018 06:56 AM PDT Hey all on the FIRE journey! I was hoping I could get some feedback on my own personal road to FIRE. Long story short, I feel like at my age and income level I should feel/be much close to FIRE than I am but I can't help but feel like I'm stuck in neutral. Whenever I seem to get a leg up, a new expense pops up. I see all these other posts of people my age or younger with huge savings and that doesn't feel like where I'm at. I wanted to see from your experience if I'm on the right path, where I could optimize. I really appreciate it!! Thank you so much Background info:
Monthly Expenses
Next Steps (in order) to finish by 2018 end
[link] [comments]  |
| Comparing myself to others social media Posted: 03 Jul 2018 08:06 PM PDT I left a job in the beginning of my career that was low pay with no benefits but allowed me a lot of travel and fun memories. I left because although it was fun, I wanted more money and stability and to be treated well by a company with benefits and an opportunity for growth. That decision has allowed me to drastically increase my net worth and position in my path to fire, but at the price of the 9-5 corporate grind. My job is not terribly interesting and I yearn to travel and have a job that allows me some variance in what I do every days. I feel like I miss and regret the low payung fun job. What bothers me more is going on social media and seeing what my old friends and colleagues are doing and what I'm missing out on. How do you deal with comparing yourself to your peers? How do you convince yourself that the mundane but accelerated path to fire is the better choice? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Jul 2018 07:36 PM PDT I'm trying to grapple with the uncertainty of future expenses. In particular the uncertainty of future advances in medical technology. I'm concerned that we may actually be 'close' (with 20 years) to solving a number of health issues that plague humanity, but that these solutions may be expensive [1]. How do others on the forum deal with this? What's the model? Personal info (although I think it is irrelevant): nearly 50, well into FI, I still work, my job is quite pleasant, but the back of my head says it is 'silly' to continue working other than this nagging doubt[2]. [1] I get that this view is very dystopian and that, historically, we've been great at making advances like this quite accessible to the masses. [2] I also, like to work since I am 'helping' and, like many, I seem to have some of that drive. [3] I've had way too many margaritas, why am I posting? [link] [comments]  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from financial independence / early retirement. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment