Financial Independence (BBC News) FI social worker leaves 11M to various charities and nonprofits after dying, everyone surprised. |
- (BBC News) FI social worker leaves 11M to various charities and nonprofits after dying, everyone surprised.
- Do you have hobbies that preserve (or create) value, other than investing?
- Debt free in three years of serious hustle
- I began my journey 1 year ago, want some feedback on how i'm doing!
- Why it's important to FIRE: Don't live paycheck to paycheck
- My ~10 year retrospective
- Daily FI discussion thread - December 28, 2018
- To accumulate in HCOL or LCOL
- Weekly FI Frugal Friday thread - December 28, 2018
- Is FIRE in early 40s w/kids possible for us? Anyone else take a similar journey and have wisdom to share?
- Not FI yet, but maybe it's time to start winding things down... You tell me.
- What's the #1 way to create financial independence?
- A song about FIRE
- Assets that will help with FI down the road
- Early retirement is an eclectic concept
| Posted: 28 Dec 2018 01:04 PM PST https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46706015 I read this one this morning and it brought me a smile. I have an immense amount of respect for what this guy did. I love this bit; he clearly practiced stealth wealth as a normal facet of life, spent his days doing good in a role that was important to him, and left the world a better place than he found it. "The frugal social worker bought his clothes at Costco, cut coupons and liked to take thrifty road trips for his holidays... Soon after being diagnosed with cancer, he told her that he would donate everything he had to charity upon his death."People will be surprised at the amount," she recalls him saying." [link] [comments]  |
| Do you have hobbies that preserve (or create) value, other than investing? Posted: 28 Dec 2018 06:21 AM PST I've been browsing a few ideas for hobbies today, where the money you spend is not entirely lost. Most examples I found are about collecting, either art, comics, gemstones, coins, etc. Do you have any other examples of hobbies where the value is retained? Of course there's also value creating hobbies, things like craftsmanship. I'm happy to hear examples in this area too. [link] [comments]  |
| Debt free in three years of serious hustle Posted: 27 Dec 2018 07:48 PM PST Very excited, I have only shared this with close family members. My wife and I are completely debt free. I did this mostly by working my butt off starting a marketing agency three years ago. I doubled my income each year and hope to do it again. Our debt was: $175k house loan (live in duplex so we get rental income) $45k student loans $15k Medical bills from having child two years deductibles wife + kid (deductible reset during complicated pregnancy) Other major expenses Cars we bought with cash $6k each We just limited our spending and threw all our income at our debt. Mostly free or used items for child, except car seat. Some serious hustling, 70 hour weeks first year and a half. Now I can get away with 50 hours. Got employees now. My wife works part time. [link] [comments]  |
| I began my journey 1 year ago, want some feedback on how i'm doing! Posted: 28 Dec 2018 09:26 AM PST I thought this was a little too big for the daily questions thread, so i made a post instead. Mods let me know if i should move this. 1 year ago I was fresh out of college. At the time my finances looked like this:
I just turned 24, which means it was time to get my own insurance and also begin looking for a job after college. I was lucky enough to know some people in the field, and found a job after 6 months of working as a maintenance guy in an apartment to hold me over (just barely) on my bills. Now after 1 year here's where i am at:
Next year I'm expecting to take home $65,000. My expenses will be the following:
This makes my COL about 17,000 a year roughly. My plan, in this order: 1) Max out Roth IRA with Vanguard 2) bump emergency fund to 10k to cover all insurance maximum out of pocket's and cover living expenses for a 3~4 months in case I am unexpectedly injured 3) Max out my 401K from work. Still no match, and meh investment opportunities but it's at least tax sheltered. (Employer match may be coming in 2020 according to boss.) That should put me at about $52,000 for the year, leaving ~$13,000 left over if everything goes according to plan. What should I be looking at doing next? Is there anything i'm missing? Where do i put this extra cash to reap the most benefits if i max out both IRA and 401K? I think i'm on the right track, but wanted to get some opinions from people a bit more experienced. I haven't quite figured out my target date yet, or when i can/want to retire. I figure i'll get the savings ball rolling as early as possible, and can figure out the retirement math in the next few months now that i'm out of debt and able to save a significant amount. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Why it's important to FIRE: Don't live paycheck to paycheck Posted: 28 Dec 2018 12:28 PM PST |
| Posted: 28 Dec 2018 12:38 PM PST I wanted to share part of my journey to FI, possibly RE. I'm not there yet, but I liked reading about your lives and journeys. Hope that this helps out some of you starting out. Anyway, happy to answer questions, but won't go into specifics since I want to keep some privacy. TL;DR - doing well in the Bay Area, renting. Did not go to a prestigious university nor am I a software engineer. I feel grateful and lucky. Background: I started University at age 18, but didn't graduate until I was 24 (and a half). Before graduation, I took 1 year off, accumulated credit card debt from traveling and wanted to GTFO so I graduated. I was fortunate to be able to live at home, but I paid for my in state University education. As background I was a Computer Science major, but in my 4th year I took time off and switched to Humanities, mostly to just be done with school. I paid my way through school. Worked all 5.5 years of it with part time jobs. I was lucky to get a relativity high paying job as a student as an intern, then a research intern, then an IT job on campus. I should note that I was fortunate to also have parents that allowed me to stay at home rent free. That was huge. If not for that I would definitely have been in more debt. After graduation I was lucky enough to be converted to permanent, full time in my IT job in the Government. This was approximately 2005 and I was making $45,000 per year with full Government benefits. I worked there for almost 2 years between my last couple quarters of University and when I left to another for a position as a Systems Analyst (Another Government position) at a rate of $65,000 per year. At this point I have been out on my own for a couple years in an apartment, first a studio then a 2 bedroom with a roommate. I didn't have a 401k (or 403b for public employees) set up as I was focused on buying my new car (which I financed). It was during this time I read furiously about personal finance - I read blogs after I was done with work everyday and tried to get myself familiar with what I should do - I read books and planned what I should do. I did start a Roth IRA at this point with ~$2,000. I was definitely living paycheck to paycheck and probably in debt. I applied for a job in the Northern California Bay Area at one of the prestigious tech companies (FANG) and to my shock, I was actually offered an entry level help desk type job - base salary was a $20,000 pay cut - $45,000 per year, but this included a 15% bonus and stock grants. This was the end of 2006. I accepted the offer in early 2007 and negotiated the start date to be in a few months later so I could pack up my life. Luck, networking, friends - they all contributed to helping me land something amazing. The next decade - I worked like crazy, saved well, started to live a little and actually got married. I think I've done well so far. I've gotten promoted a bunch. I'm solidly in the mid-level, mid-career point. I'm the working class in the Valley. Doing well enough to afford things if I wanted or save, but probably not both. In early 2018 we decided to sell the condo I purchased when I thought I was going to live alone forever (things change and it's a small 2 bed / 1 bath). We got super lucky and doubled our purchase price. We purchased in Southern California where my family lives. It's in a good school district and we upgraded to a 4 bed / 2 bath home that's more than double the square footage. I make more money now than I ever thought possible. Silicon Valley is a crazy place (and crazy expensive). Yes, I'm one of those tech people, but I'm probably on the average here or just below. I know people that have done far better. Friends and coworkers that I know made out like bandits. I'm happy with what I've done realive to where I came from. I didn't go to a prestigious school like many of my coworkers. I don't have a list of patents, nor am I a software engineer. I'm in one of the PM tracks. Oh and it helped to catch the wave of one of the longest bull runs in history as well as catch the peak of the housing boom here in the Bay Area. 2006
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| Daily FI discussion thread - December 28, 2018 Posted: 28 Dec 2018 03:09 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]  |
| Posted: 28 Dec 2018 03:18 PM PST I've been trying to determine which is better, hcol or lcol locations for accumulation phase? If I had to plan it all out... Or give an idea to younger people, I'm not sure which would be best. Expenses can be very low in lcol, so savings rates can be very high. Less traffic, less people, but also less mates and networking. There's risk with lcol typically not having a strong job market. The opposite can be said for hcol but I think the hcol is crowded, which is why it is hcol since there's so much demand. Which would be optimum? Less risk? does it even matter that much? [link] [comments]  |
| Weekly FI Frugal Friday thread - December 28, 2018 Posted: 28 Dec 2018 03:09 AM PST 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]  |
| Posted: 28 Dec 2018 02:00 PM PST My husband (29M) and I (28F) are relatively new to the FIRE community, but are coming to realize that early retirement is likely within reach for us. We're seeking advice from this community on when we can retire, how having a child might change that date, and whether adding more real estate to our portfolio is worth it given our incomes, or if we should consider putting everything into mutual funds. We currently live in a relatively HCOL area, but we save and live pretty modestly — we get what we need and we travel pretty regularly, but don't go out and spend $100+ regularly on meals, drinks, etc. Here's our $$ rundown:
We realize how lucky we are to be in this position financially, but are just starting to make sense of what our future could look like in terms of options. By 30, we will likely have $1 million in total assets between real estate, savings, and 401K. We're planning to try for a kid in the next year or so, but if it didn't work for us, we'd both be OK living childfree lifestyles, too. If a kid comes into the picture, we would probably be aiming for a 450k -500k home in a close suburb of the city we currently live in, but would be ok living under our means otherwise for the most part. If we were to retire with that child, our goal would be to travel and possibly live for stretches of time abroad (likely a less expensive city in Europe). Obviously, we'd want a cushion of savings and investments to draw on for expenses. I think my main question is around real estate vs. mutual funds investing as options for us to meet that goal. We know the economy is due for a hit of some kind around 2020 (seems to have started already…), but we know that trying to time the market is useless. We like the idea that we can generate relatively passive income (not completely, though) through real estate that would give us the freedom to have a little financial cushion and some income for our expenses if we retired early. TL;DR: My husband and I will have about $1 million in assets in next two years. Assuming we can continue to save at about the same the rate as we do and have 1 child, would retiring at say, 43 or so, be within our means? Or are we dramatically underestimating the cost of raising a child? And is real estate the best vehicle to accomplish our goals? Would love to hear from folks who are following a similar path! [link] [comments]  |
| Not FI yet, but maybe it's time to start winding things down... You tell me. Posted: 27 Dec 2018 05:41 PM PST I've been reading this thread for almost two years and have been on the journey to financial independence for almost ten years. Below is going to be a question I pose to fellow readers and contributors. I have posted one question two years ago on whether or not to sell our house to downsize to a residence closer to work and dramatically reduce our commuting time. We pulled the trigger almost a year ago and have been so much happier than before, even happier than we anticipated in ways we didn't foresee. Now, there's another issue that may result even further I performed well enough in my job that I was rewarded with a management opportunity about eight years ago. I've always been a solid individual contributor. I've also been a glutton for punishment and worked a lot of overtime to develop the skills to get that opportunity. When it was offered, I initially wasn't interested because I just didn't want to manage people. I eventually gave in to the promise of more money and decided to go for the promotion. I wasn't sure when the next offer to move up the corporate ladder would come up. Plus, I always kept the idea alive that I could demote myself back into my old role if I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy. Sure, I learned quite a bit during the past years, but I often found myself not only busy during expected deadlines, but also a never-ending series of special projects would come up. Three years into that promotion and I was beyond burnt out. After trying out the same role at a couple other companies, my burn out wasn't cured, but has gone dormant. My current position requires even more time managing and less time performing actual job duties. Notably, my satisfaction at work has diminished further. I spend a lot of time on activities I don't feel worthwhile and have to greatly rely on my staff to understand the issues in detail. I wish for more time to better understand things, but my role requires me to comprehend "an inch deep and a mile wide." Sadly, or not, I'm still perceived, as far as I can tell, as a top performer. I've managed to internalize most of my dissatisfaction and keep it covered up. I've even been able, knowing that we have no debt and a significant net worth, to bring up issues no one else would dare bring up and push for some action in making things better. As part of my New Year's resolutions, I want to bring up with my boss the possibility of me moving into a different and preferable department while taking a step down in rank. After seven years in a management role in a role with numerous deadlines, I realize that I will not become happier doing this work and am hoping to return to a role that, although also challenging, was more satisfying. I also believe this move would provide for less stress. My wife and I are hoping to start our family this year after many delays, all within our control, and I believe my focus should be with my family and not with trying to maintain or climb the corporate ladder. So, I wanted to put a little financial independence math together below to show what the differences would be in taking the reduced role now versus later, or never. The Math: With a reduced role and income, we are on target for an early retirement date of 50 years old. If I were to gut out this management role for another three years, and then take the reduced role, we would be on target to retire at age 46. If I were to gut out this management role until financial independence, we would be on target to retire at age 44. I am very conservative in all of my calculations, assuming a gross rate of return on investments at 7%, inflation at 3% and assuming only inflationary salary increases. The Reasons Not To Step Down: With starting a family, I'm unsure if my wife may want to take extended time off to be with our future children. She enjoys working for now and doesn't have any stated desire to stay at home, but I would want her to have that option. If she were to stay home, we could potentially reduce certain expenses and delay retirement by another couple of years at stay on track for retirement around 52 or 53. The Explanation: If I go forward with this to my boss, how should I explain my intentions to go the opposite way on the corporate ladder? How could this be justified in my boss's eyes? I understand that it shouldn't matter, but sometimes honesty, especially in Corporate America, is not the best policy. Reddit, what advice would you give? I am happy to clarify anything and everything. I think I am living the classic example of one more year syndrome. It's a real thing. [link] [comments]  |
| What's the #1 way to create financial independence? Posted: 28 Dec 2018 03:06 PM PST Is owning real estate the best way to create long term financial independence? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Dec 2018 08:17 AM PST So today I found myself cycling past the place I used to work & by the time I got home I'd made up a song about it. Tune: "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore", from the musical "Gigi" How lovely to sit here on the bike And do what the hell I damn well like I'm glad I don't work anymore The office where once I used to grind I smile as I leave it far behind I'm glad I don't work anymore No staff appraisal No scoring points in some pointless file From now, my days'll Be spent in something much more worthwhile And even if shares go through the floor It's simply a chance to buy some more For ev'rything is cheaper than before I'm so glad I don't work Anymore. Extra points if you do it in a Maurice Chevalier voice and then pedal away, whistling blithely as you go [link] [comments]  |
| Assets that will help with FI down the road Posted: 27 Dec 2018 09:25 PM PST So, I've been reading quite a bit lately. Books like The Richest Man in Babylon, Think and Grow Rich, and rereading with intent, Rich Dad Poor Dad. I've been brainstorming over the last few days trying to think of how to grow my asset column with not a lot of savings (under 1,000) and a combined income of approx. 120k before taxes. Our expenses in total come to around 70k a year and we can certainly clean that up once we have cleared up approx. 1200/month in consumer debt. This includes 2 credit cards, 2 401k loans( low interest rate and unfortunately not able to pay more than monthly amount per loan restriction, but only the monthly payment or in full), as well as a two car loans that total 20k. I'm aware that once this debt is cleared up we can certainly begin in earnest to work toward FI. However, I'm of a mind that why not acquire assets that cash flow with debt if they are smart assets. This would likely accelerate payoff of "bad" debt and increase my savings at the same time. Examples of course are cheap rental properties (under 100k), dividend stocks ( not feeling that one given the recent swings), buying cash flowing businesses and I'm sure likely other ideas that escape me. Has anyone out there come up with different, out of the box assets where they are seeing a respectable cash flow from that might not be the traditional tried and true? This is mainly a thought exercise as I am sure the collective wisdom of this sub has had these thoughts and likely acted on them. Thanks for reading. TLDR: What assets are you pursuing to bring in cash flow that might be out of the ordinary to others? [link] [comments]  |
| Early retirement is an eclectic concept Posted: 28 Dec 2018 02:05 AM PST Hello everyone, Here are a few thoughts about FIRE. Even if I am glad I discovered the concept of early retirement, I understood recently that it's not a unified concept. It applies very differently to people, depending on their hopes and lifestyles. In my example, being frugal is extremely difficult and not exactly desirable. I'll explain why below:
- Here, work is a bit different than in North America. The typical contract an executive gets is 220 days a year of work, no more. So in the end, it's easier to be not entirely focused on work when you get that much vacation.
- going to the restaurant: the offer is incredibly large
And i don't want to wait for retirement to travel. I enjoy my French vacations to do it every year, when I am still young and I am very happy with it. Those points explained, I am still on this thread, talking about early retirement. Here is what the concept brought me:
Thanks for reading me. [link] [comments]  |
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