Financial Independence Petition to re-sticky "build the life you want, then save for it." |
- Petition to re-sticky "build the life you want, then save for it."
- A life lesson I found out the hard way
- How do people have a savings rate of 60%?
- My list of inexpensive self-care expenditures
- Daily FI discussion thread - August 03, 2018
- Weekly FI Frugal Friday thread - August 03, 2018
- I feel like a total loser at work
- Anyone working towards FI but not insanely cheap?
- FI Bay Area (South Bay) meetup!
- Pay down on the Mortgage and Investing? Am I crazy to want my cake and eat it too?
- Are any of you forecasting to multiple FI numbers?
- What's my best educational payoff at this point in my life?
- At what point should I consider doing away with my disability policy?
- Expat moving to US FIRE
- How are you determining the value of your home?
- Rent or Sell House
- Do we overcomplicate FIRE?
- How do I interest my partner in FI
- Thoughts on all the articles of twenty somethings that have saved a ton quickly
- Building your side business "on the clock"
| Petition to re-sticky "build the life you want, then save for it." Posted: 03 Aug 2018 05:53 AM PDT It seems we now get SEVERAL posts daily about how we shouldn't be miserly, we should ensure we're happy now instead of only in the future, etc. We get a ton of posts from people discovering that allowing themselves to spend a little money now keeps them sane, like it's this giant revelation. Those posts are inundated with a thousand echoes of "yeah, everyone here is so focused on retiring, but you could die before you spend it all!" We used to be able to point to the sticky and say "we know, it's stickies for a reason." I feel like since the sticky came down, we're inundated with this stuff now. Let's get it back up there. The AMAs are infrequent enough that they could easily go in the sidebar. [link] [comments]  | ||
| A life lesson I found out the hard way Posted: 02 Aug 2018 07:33 PM PDT To preface, I am extremely committed to retiring early and being financially independent. And by all means, I have been on this mantra since the day I graduated college. I'm worn out. I have saved and invested roughly over 50% of my paycheck for my entire post-university career so far (3 years) but to be honest? I'm miserable. By all means, I should be proud of my ability to accomplish this feat. I make a modest $50k and live in a large US city. Yet I feel tired and bored all the time. Last Tuesday a colleague asked me to get a drink and bite after work. I couldn't remember the last time I had gone out to a restaurant on a weekday and for a reason I will never know - I said, "sure". In feeling semi self-aware, I thought I should treat myself to a nice dinner. With my belly full, I felt a sense of pride. I had never used my money on a weekday for a mere "fun" time. Since then, I have relatively been treating myself to not always the cheapest menu item when I eat out and heck, I even bought a new pair of shoes! And I feel happy. I am far more relaxed at work, I laugh with my roommate. I feel fortunate to realize being financially independent tomorrow is not worth suffocating your life today. enjoy the present. [link] [comments]  | ||
| How do people have a savings rate of 60%? Posted: 03 Aug 2018 08:30 AM PDT Hi Everyone, I know there are a lot of different ways to get to FI but from blogs, podcasts and here, one theme that always seems to blow my mind is when people talk about their savings rate? How do some people have a savings rate of 50% or more? To me that seems damn near impossible to hit. From my calculations, in my best month I've only been able to hit around 30% but most months I'm in the 10-15% range. How do people calculate their savings rate? Is it based off gross or net income? Is their savings mostly automated so it comes out of their paychecks/bank accounts immediately? Or do people just have a crazy high income where they can save 50% or more and still have a life? For me to hit the 50% mark, depending on whether it's calculated off of gross or net I would have to save an additional $1,100-1,800 more a month. I make $56,000. I have roommates and live in a relatively low cost of living city. I know I probably spend too much on going out/eating out each month and would also save more if I didn't pay for my GF so often (not an argument worth having every time I go out). How do you guys do it? Any suggestions, ideas, or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks [link] [comments]  | ||
| My list of inexpensive self-care expenditures Posted: 03 Aug 2018 02:04 PM PDT A top post today got me thinking, and lately people have been talking about spending a little to break up the monotony. Well here's my list:
My wife and I both work full time jobs and are in grad school, and work a night job that supplies free housing. If we don't take care of ourselves every so often the stress would be too much. This is how we get by while meeting our goals. EDIT: someone is downvoting every comment in this thread. Maybe you need this advice more than you realize. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Daily FI discussion thread - August 03, 2018 Posted: 03 Aug 2018 04:09 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]  | ||
| Weekly FI Frugal Friday thread - August 03, 2018 Posted: 03 Aug 2018 04:09 AM PDT Please use this thread to discuss how amazingly cheap you are. How do you keep your costs low? How do become frugal without taking it to the extremes of frupidity? What costs have you realized could be cut from your life without pain? Use this weekly post to discuss Frugality in general. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are more relaxed here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! 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]  | ||
| I feel like a total loser at work Posted: 03 Aug 2018 01:41 PM PDT I'm in my mid 30s. 5-6 years ago the economy was in worse shape and I was out of a job, so I took the first job I could find. I was undoubtedly overqualified and probably underpaid. I am still at this job, undoubtedly overqualified and still probably underpaid. The work is boring, I'm not learning any new or transferrable skills. I do get good benefits, telecommuting options, and decent enough (though quite antisocial for my taste) coworkers. There are often days I think "I feel like such a loser, what am I doing here". But due to a fairly high savings rate and my wife's higher income, we are on pace to hit our FIRE number in about 5 years. We'll probably keep adding to that as I don't want to fully retire until age 45, and my wife actually doesn't want to RE at all. But we'll hit our solid FIRE number in just 5 years. So despite the nature of my job, I find it really hard to leave. The thought of just coasting for 5 years and being able to hit my number has made me quite risk adverse. I have thought of coasting for the next 5 years, hitting that number, THEN looking for another job/career. But then again I'd be 40 without having learned substantial transferrable skills, so not sure how realistic that would be. And I would want to work at least another 5 years. So I'm not too sure what to do here. Do I just stick it out at least until I hit my FIRE number? Should I throw caution to the wind and start looking for other jobs and take some risks? [link] [comments]  | ||
| Anyone working towards FI but not insanely cheap? Posted: 03 Aug 2018 08:33 AM PDT I'm curious, do you guys ever think of working on the income side of the equation more than the expenses side? I completely get living within your means and saving as much as possible... but not at the expense of being miserable for most of your adult life. Was reading a recent thread by a guy that finally treated himself to a couple of drinks after saving 50% of his income for 3 years. A couple of drinks!! I was horrible with money when I was younger... did not have good role models when it came to saving or managing finances. Then started a business and you can imagine how that worked out. After getting deep in consumer and business debt, and clawing our way out of it over a few tough years, I vowed to live within our means and save aggressively while working toward FI, but not at the expense of having a life. Instead of scrutinizing every small expense, I worked (and still work) on the income side. I work hard to grow our business that provides for our family and allows us to save pretty aggressively. I also do consulting which brings in a substantial side income, and use that for additional savings, charitable giving, and play money (like building a wine cellar in my basement and outfitting my woodworking shop). I don't think twice about taking my wife out to an expensive restaurant or buying nice clothes (though I make sure they're on sale because I know the markup being in the apparel industry). At this point I've pissed millions of dollars in long-term gains down the drain anyway from my mistakes in my early years, I'm not going to eat ramen noodles now so I can have an extra few bucks when I'm 55 or 60. I want financial independence not because I want to quit working, but so I can decide what I want to do and when without ever worrying about the financial ramifications. I love what I do (entrepreneur) and will probably work until the day I die, so maybe that's the difference? I'm curious what you guys think about this - anyone else not super frugal but working toward FI? Anyone else rather work their butt of increasing their income than scrutinizing every penny that goes out month to month? [link] [comments]  | ||
| FI Bay Area (South Bay) meetup! Posted: 03 Aug 2018 04:46 PM PDT Hey guys, I looked around in the meetups here and could not find anything dedicated to FI so I created a meetup! You can find the inaugural event here (Wed 8/15 @ 7p): https://www.meetup.com/Bay-Area-Financial-Independence-Meetup/events/253468612/ (It will be in Palo Alto very close to the Caltrain station.) If you're local and interested in FI, please stop by! [link] [comments]  | ||
| Pay down on the Mortgage and Investing? Am I crazy to want my cake and eat it too? Posted: 03 Aug 2018 04:31 PM PDT I am closing a deal that will give me a decent amount of cash. I could A) Pay off our mortgage B) Invest the money I have read both sides of the pay off your mortgage early vs investing that money debate and both sides have some good points. I am the type of guy that is always chasing an option C. So my question is what are your thoughts on doing a bit of both? If I pay off 1/2 the mortgage it cuts my 30 year down to 13 and most of the mortgage payment is equity instead of interest. That helps these payments turn into a forced savings account instead of lost money. It would also leave me with a good chuck of change to keep investing with. The only down side that I can see is I don't get rid of the monthly mortgage payment. Anything I am missing. Am I crazy and should I stick with A or B? [link] [comments]  | ||
| Are any of you forecasting to multiple FI numbers? Posted: 03 Aug 2018 04:28 PM PDT My awareness of FIRE developed slowly over the past 3 years so I have only really been tracking my savings rate and forecasting my FI date for the past 12 months. Because I am a bit older than some on this sub I feel confident that social security will pay out at least 80% of what it currently does so that is what goes into my assumptions. I am 50 and my wife is 3 years younger than me. We both plan to start collecting SS at age 67. One of my many spreadsheets is a forecast sheet with 1 row per year and with various assumptions on inflation, market returns, savings, living expenses etc. Looking at the numbers over and over I felt like saving up 25x my forecasted expenses before I retired was way too conservative but couldn't figure out how to model something else. Today I realized that because I am older, I don't need my initial savings to last me for 30+ years. Part of it needs to last until I can start drawing on my IRA, part of it needs to last until I start collecting SS, part of it needs to last until my wife starts collecting SS, and the rest needs to last for ~20 years beyond that. So now I have 3 numbers: There is no guarantee that both of us will live until 67 and I don't want one of us dying to mess up the other one's financial future. If I fail to reach FIRE#1 by 2022, that amount reduces to 20.5x because I don't need the money to last as long now! Feel free to point out any flaws you see in my logic. I haven't heard this explicitly addressed here before or in the blogs I read etc. so I am interested to know what you think. [link] [comments]  | ||
| What's my best educational payoff at this point in my life? Posted: 03 Aug 2018 04:02 PM PDT
 | ||
| At what point should I consider doing away with my disability policy? Posted: 03 Aug 2018 01:43 PM PDT I am a high income earner ($300K/year) in a career that is physically demanding and emotionally draining as well. It is a field where I need to have all of my faculties physically in order to be able to perform my job. As a result I have a disability policy that is rather expensive ($4,300/year) which would pay $8,500/month if I were to be physically unable to do my job. I plan to renew for the following year but I am wondering if next year might be too soon to stop paying for this policy. Other details: 41 years old Married with one child, no plans for more Wife is working only a few days a month but will increase her hours somewhat starting next month. She will still only be making $1,500/month and 1/3 of that goes to retirement account NW $1.45M Daughter's 529 already has $37K in it and should be $40K by year's end We spend about $10K in a typical month but this could easily be cut back to $8K if necessary. Not much wiggle room beyond that unless we were to downsize to a smaller/less expensive home [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 03 Aug 2018 04:10 AM PDT Hey guys, I'm a Brit, 26, moving to Silicon Valley soon. My salary will be 200k. Interested in FIRE. Just looking for some advice. I love America and might stay, but it's impossible to know for sure obviously. I have no house, but do have a "Lifetime ISA" in the UK which is basically money you're only allowed to use to buy a house (in the UK) or retirement. I have some index funds in the UK (Vanguard, Fidelity, low OCF). I guess I'm just looking for the following advice: How to continue FIRE as an expat in tech? I'll read the Personal Finance flowchart, think about Roth, backdoor Roth, 401(k) etc.Any advice on index funds? I think 60/40 allocation of VTSAX and VTIAX Admiral Shares is generally all I need? Thanks for any help! [link] [comments]  | ||
| How are you determining the value of your home? Posted: 03 Aug 2018 11:27 AM PDT New to the FI world and just created my first net worth spreadsheet. What I'm wondering is how you are determining the value of your home. My first inclination was to go to zillow but I know their Zestimates are notoriously off. I'm looking forward to tracking my journey (love spreadsheets) and the only thing in my life that doesnt have a fixed value that I can confirm is the house. Just wondering what other people are using. Side note: super excited to discover I am ~6k less in debt than I thought (I should never do math in my head). [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 03 Aug 2018 03:00 PM PDT Ok, so I am pretty new to this FI stuff - but I just want to see what you guys think. Bought a house 2 years ago in Parker, CO (south Denver). 3 bed/3bath. Mortage + HOA = $1850. We currently rent out the basement for $900 (about 200 sq feet). When we move, we could rent out to two more students (right next to a med school) for $900 each. So potentially $850 over our mortgage each month. We could sell it (bought for 270k and estimated sell at 290k) and be done with the hassle. For those of you who have rented out - would you do it again? (and we would be moving to another state). [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 03 Aug 2018 09:53 AM PDT I'm curious if people think we over complicate FIRE My wife and I were both fortunate to get started young with IRAs. That early start has really helped us today as we make the final steps to FI. We also kept our investment strategy as simple as possible. Early on we used a financial adviser but quickly realized we were just wasting money so we self managed everything. Never did anything tricky, just stuck to the basics. We had moderate paying jobs, 130K combined, but always made it a priority to max retirement accounts out first. When I talk to my friends kids and the younger generation about saving for retirement I hear the same two things.
When I read through all these chats and various blogs it's apparent that investing has a ton of components to it and can be very complicated. The sky is truly the limit. And I appreciate people that can understand all those things and strive to squeeze out every penny they can. The biggest factor in my wife and I hitting our FI in our early 40's was not some clever high tech investment strategy. Rather it was just getting started early. I think we over complicate finances, especially for the average joe just starting out. It's a shame that a high school kid isn't getting started because it's "overwhelming" or "too complicated." We have done a huge disservice to our kids. Curious what people's thoughts are on this? Thanks [link] [comments]  | ||
| How do I interest my partner in FI Posted: 02 Aug 2018 07:04 PM PDT Have any of you had success convincing your partner to joining you on the FI journey? I've persuaded (read: forced) my girlfriend to listen to multiple podcast, articles, and books (YMOYL), but I don't see to get any traction. I have tried to teach her about compounding interest through investing but she sees it as gambling. She'd rather spend money now to live life. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Thoughts on all the articles of twenty somethings that have saved a ton quickly Posted: 02 Aug 2018 07:41 PM PDT So after some searching I didn't really see any actual real people comments on these types of stories. Eg. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/how-to-invest-early-retire-a-millionaire-2018-7 Basically they can be drastically annoying because they so conviently leave out any highly relevant information such as student loan and other debts. Not to mention a common theme in such articles are that the individual had some or significant assistance from outside sources. The article above for example clearly states his grandfather is a millionaire. I just wanted others thoughts on this because it's generally frustrating when most people don't have the conviene ce of no debt or family, etc. Also yes obviously there are a few that despite difficulty got to where they did, but I don't think I have seen one of those articles yet. Edit: just to clarify my criticism is of the articles themselves not of the individuals they are writing. There is a clear overlooking of highly relavent factors that would complicate the narrative of the pieces. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Building your side business "on the clock" Posted: 03 Aug 2018 09:16 AM PDT I work in an industry where long hours (10–12 hours) are fairly normal even though little gets done. It's all about appearances. You work 2 hours per day if that, but you have to mirror the anxieties and busyness of the people above you. I find goofing around on Facebook or Reddit (and having to hide it) more stressful than actually working. I have a side business that I'd like to start, in order to have something useful to do (rather than fuck off on the web) during the face time. I'm sure that a lot of people have done this. What were your strategies? How'd you avoid getting caught? What worked, and what didn't? Also, what can be taken away IP-wise if you get caught doing it "on company time"? I wouldn't write production code on an employer's resources– in part because offices are a terrible place for deep work anyway– but what about promotional materials, correspondence, etc.? In the outlier event of getting caught, do they ever take that, just to be dicks? [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