Financial Independence There are many years between "old" and "very fucking old" |
- There are many years between "old" and "very fucking old"
- Life throws curveballs. Save your money.
- A short list of retirement activities as an alternative to "sitting around being bored"
- A pitch to read Propaganda if you want to FIRE
- So I’ve done ok for myself and my kid’s college tuition is going to set me back years. I need some direction.
- Daily FI discussion thread - April 16, 2019
- Poor 20-something here. What is the best way to invest $1k to begin the journey to financial independence?
- Best Quality of Life purchase for less than $100?
- What is your best FIRE Life Decision?
- Does FIRE using real estate work in other countries?
- Can someone explain the point of a backdoor-Roth? If you make enough money you've already paid taxes on your traditional IRA, why would you then need a Roth?
- can I start a conversion ladder early as an expat?
- Retirement Expenses, what am I missing?
- Investing 100k in the Market, any way to avoid taxable accounts?
- Simple predictive retirement income calculator?
| There are many years between "old" and "very fucking old" Posted: 16 Apr 2019 08:55 AM PDT I'm 35. I just charted out the rest of my life until my expected death at age 82. I consider anything above 50 to be "old", so I've been planning my life as though I have 15 years left to live, in a sense. To state the obvious, there are 32 YEARS between the ages of 50 and 82. That's almost as long as I have lived so far. I didn't fully appreciate it until I had every year laid out in a spreadsheet. I'm already pretty close to FI, so I was looking at a retirement age of 40. But now I'm considering 50 or 55, with a FatFIRE mindset, given just how long I'll statistically have to live after that. [link] [comments]  |
| Life throws curveballs. Save your money. Posted: 15 Apr 2019 09:39 PM PDT I know there's no shortage of posts like this, but I wanted to share my story as I'm the squiggly success chart and not the 4M networth 35y/o engineer (sorry for the stereotypes). Cliff notes on my background: 30 years old, been part of 5 layoffs and laid off in 4 of them, (willingly) took a pay cut at my most recent job for the growth and learning opportunities, live in a HCOL area, and have a decent amount of medical expenses. In the last 3 weeks, there have been so many things that would have sent me panicking just a few years ago or been things I wouldn't have dealt with properly, if at all. Exhibit A: My dog ended up severely injured three weeks ago, to the point that I had to rush him to the emergency vet. X-rays and meds cost $1,000. Didn't bat an eyelash and was just extremely grateful to have my dog alive. Old me would have (embarrasslingly) tried other alternatives before rushing to the vet or asked for other (cheaper) testing. Vet said emergency x-rays, I said go. Exhibit B: Just a few days later, I left for a $1,500 vacation I booked nearly 6mo before that. Old me would have gone to the ends of the earth to cancel that trip to "compensate" for the vet expenses. I went and tried my best to enjoy every second. Exhibit C: My grandma just passed away unexpectedly, and I need to get to middle-of-nowhere Europe in less than a week. Flights are INSANE. I've been stalking them all day and they're just getting down to something reasonable, and by "reasonable" I mean more than double what I've ever spent on them. This is a horrific situation, and I need to be with my family. I'm so grateful that cost is not an issue. I am by no means as rich as some of the folks who post here, but good god am I grateful that I was raised to save my money and spend it thoughtfully. The past few weeks would have gone much differently otherwise, or they wouldn't have but I'd be saddled with debt for the next 5 years. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but regardless of how "bumpy" your journey has been, you're still ahead of the curve if you're paying attention to your finances at all. I don't consider myself wealthy, but in my head I define it as being able to take care of things like this without second thought. This spending would certainly not be sustainable for me long-term, but I'm hoping life lightens up. In the meantime, I'm thankful to have been able to take care of everything that has come my way. My parents did well. (I'm the product of insanely hard-working immigrants and watched the "American dream" growing up. My dad took me to open my first bank account with just a couple bucks before I could see over the counter!) [link] [comments]  |
| A short list of retirement activities as an alternative to "sitting around being bored" Posted: 16 Apr 2019 07:07 AM PDT There are so many posts and comments on this subreddit to the effect of "I could never stop working, I'd be so bored just sitting around on a beach/watching tv/on the porch." It always confuses me that so many people think life is a set of two binary options: 1) work full time at a job or 2) sit around doing nothing and be bored. As if there isn't an entire world of opportunity in between there. I've been keeping a mental list of all the activities I plan to devote my time to once I'm retired, and I thought I'd share it here to give people a little jolt of imagination. Note for the "build the life you want" crowd: I'm already doing (or have done) most of these activities now, it's just that my spouse and I both have demanding corporate jobs and a young child that don't leave us enough time to explore everything we want to do. My push to retire early is not even necessarily that I don't like my job. It's just that my job isn't the only thing I like. There is an entire vast world of other people, places, and activities that I would like to experience as well. So here's just a sample of what we want to retire to, in no particular order: • Family and Friends: Look, you can love your job, but your job is never going to love you back. You know who will? Your friends and family. But one thing that has always frustrated me it how hard it is to find time to get together when we're all working and running errands and shuttling the kids around. We all want to see each other more but are always short on time and energy to make it happen often enough. Retiring would mean I could have extra time for planning and hosting dinners, weekends, and events with friends and family. Those that are still working wouldn't have to worry about doing the heavy lifting of social planning – they just need to show up. • Roadtripping: as an extension of the first point – we've moved several times and have friends and family all over the country (not to mention all the places I just want to visit). It would be great to have all the time we need to travel out to see people and interesting places. • Backpacking: we try to go out a few times a season now, but limited vacation time means we can only go out for long weekends. We would love to be able to take off several months to hike long trails: John Muir, PCT, or AT. I love the idea of researching, planning, gearing up, and taking off into the woods for an extended stretch. • Volunteering: there is always desperate need for people who not only show up, but who actually have time to get things done for local organizations. School boards, community committees, libraries, tutoring, Meals on Wheels, voter drives, helping out at community events, the list is endless. There's a cool group in my community where you volunteer to have coffee with people trying to learn English so they can converse with native speakers. I've served on the Board for several organizations (child's daycare, writer's group, community association) but never have enough time for it all. There are soooo many opportunities to be involved and engaged with your community – we could do entire posts on just this! • Classes: I never want to stop learning and exploring. I've found time to take a dance class here or an art class there – but think of everything out there! Language classes, more dance classes, cooking, astronomy, tennis lessons, pottery. There are always city parks, community art centers, or community colleges offering classes (often cheap or even free!) and I would love to take advantage of as much as possible. • Writing: I've already published a few books and I like to say I still write in my "spare time" which is practically zero lately. I dream of mornings where instead of rushing around to get ready for work and get the kid off to school, I can sit with a cup of coffee on my back deck and let the creative juices flow once more. • Sewing: I love sewing, but only impractical costumes and historical garb. I love researching the history of the clothes, the fabrics and construction methods, and then spending days or weeks (or more) creating big, beautiful, dresses. This is yet another interest that has been pushed aside by the demands of corporate life that I would love to get back to. • DIY house projects: Spouse and I love to work on small projects around the house together. Or find the perfect piece of old, damaged furniture we can restore or revamp. Or design and build a piece ourselves. • Cooking: I'd love to be able to devote time to growing my own herbs and vegetables, to sourcing local meat and food, to more thoughtfully planning meals and cooking them from scratch. We do the best we can, but dinner right now is often another thing we just try to cram in between getting home from work, wrapping up emails, homework, and evening chores. • Adventure travel: we both travel a fair bit for work and pleasure, but I'd love to kick it up a notch with some more exotic trips. Trekking to Mount Everest basecamp. Hiking through Patagonia. Riding horses through the Mongolian steppes. Again, there is a whole wide world out there and I've only seen tiny pieces of it. • Rock Climbing: I love the outdoors, I love mountains, and I love climbing things. I've tried rock climbing once or twice, but I would really like to get more into it. Not with the expectation that I'll be any good at it at this stage in my life, but just for the pure joy of it. • Music: I played cello for many years and have taken lessons on and off. Haven't picked it up in awhile and would love to take lessons again. • RVing: I want to rent an RV for a season and travel to as many National Parks as we can. • Sailing: I crewed a racing sailboat one summer and caught the sailing bug. Would love to get out on the water more. • Sitting around: So yes, I'll admit it. There is actually is a need in my life to just sit around once in awhile. Watch tv. Read a book. Just relax. Drink wine. • Fitness: I try to fit in a few workouts a week, but I'd love to have more time to really work on myself and my fitness. Maybe train for and run a marathon. • And more! Book clubs, discussion groups, gardening clubs…. There is so much more on my ever-expanding list, but I'll stop here. What about you all? What are the things you'll be doing once you retire? Post some ideas we can all add to our mental lists! And, hey, if your answer is that you're one of those people that really does want to keep working, that's cool too! [link] [comments]  |
| A pitch to read Propaganda if you want to FIRE Posted: 16 Apr 2019 02:29 AM PDT I was driving to work yesterday and heard a radio ad about why you deserve new flooring in your house and with tax rebates coming through it might not even cost you anything. Blah blah blah. Most in this sub laugh at those style ads. But after reading Propaganda by Edward Bernays you start to realize how much of people's lives are driven by propaganda. One example is "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." The author explains how it's a contrived tactical propaganda campaign he created and funded by farmers and food producers that specialize in breakfast foods. He paid family doctors to tell their patients this and now it's accepted as fact by a lot of people even though it has no basis. A modern day example is the Fyre Festival documentary where influencers built up a frenzy for a luxury island festival that was complete crap. I laugh at that bec I would never fall for it but in reality I have granite countertops in my kitchen bec... that's just what you do. But why do you that? Social norms? Status? Lasting quality product? Creating an identity? Is it that hard to believe that the major granite manufacturers pay HGTV to include granite countertops in their house hunter episodes my wife and I watched before purchasing and renovating a house? Just look at the Got Milk campaigns. Not that subtle but dairy farmers paying big time athletes to convince us that milk is connected with their success. Once in awhile I see ads for chocolate milk and athletes and think okay Klay Thompson pretty sure you're not drinking a chocolate milk at half time. Pretty much every wealthy service provider or producer of something has lobbyists and behind the scenes puppeteers pulling strings. It's part of the reason I love John Oliver's show so much because it exposes that kind of behavior. Understanding the level of a propaganda you see and hear on a daily basis allows you to put it into a bucket and unplug from the machine. Something I'm still working on but getting better at. For anyone struggling with that I'd suggest reading that book. It's eye opening. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2019 05:09 AM PDT I wrote a long post then deleted it here's the TLDR: Finally got in the right direction for FIRE. Kid got into dream college, I make too much for FAFSA, grants/scolarships been awarded, still owe 32k annually + expenses. Trying to avoid loans and/or stop saving toward FIRE. Smartest way to do this? [link] [comments]  |
| Daily FI discussion thread - April 16, 2019 Posted: 16 Apr 2019 01:08 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: 16 Apr 2019 03:53 PM PDT |
| Best Quality of Life purchase for less than $100? Posted: 15 Apr 2019 08:19 PM PDT Hi everyone, wondering what the best quality of life product/s you have purchased that have drastically made your life better while on the FIRE journey. Got a gift card from my Dad that I've been sitting on and want to use it wisely. Keen to know your thoughts. Location: South Australia (if that makes a difference). [link] [comments]  |
| What is your best FIRE Life Decision? Posted: 15 Apr 2019 05:04 PM PDT Which life choice have you made that saved you thousands and helped you accelerate your path to FIRE? I'm not looking for the obvious and broad pronunciations like "Reduce Expenses, Increase Income". I'm talking about single decisions that were big. For me, one of them was refinancing my house and saving about $80,000 in interest over the life of the loan. [link] [comments]  |
| Does FIRE using real estate work in other countries? Posted: 16 Apr 2019 02:23 PM PDT I am based in germany and building up my income using real estate. I just purchased my 5th object and coming closer to the target each year. Typically my calcualtions look similar to my last one: Purchase Price 300k , down payment 18k. Monthly rent income 2360 - 950 loan - 414 maintenance - 200 administration - 283 taxes = 508 cashflow each month. Does that work in other countries as well? I am only reading about stocks here and I feel like many are missing out on other opportunities. For example I would also be interested in buying properties in other countries or a small running business to diversify a bit more. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2019 09:52 AM PDT I must be missing something here....so I make enough money that my traditional IRA contributions are not pre-tax. So, I make my contribution, I still need to pay tax on that money. After this my gains & withdrawals will be tax-free, since I already paid taxes on the contribution. I assume most people that post here are in a similar situation. So why would you need to backdoor that traditional IRA money into a Roth? The tax-free benefit of the Roth IRA is nullified by you having to pay taxes on the traditional IRA due to your income bracket...what am I missing here? [link] [comments]  |
| can I start a conversion ladder early as an expat? Posted: 16 Apr 2019 11:38 AM PDT I recently moved to the Netherlands with my wife after working in the US for 4 years, and I will likely be staying here for at least a few years. During those 4 years I accumulated some money in an IRA and a 401k. Now that I'm working in the EU I'm looking to roll my 401k from my previous employers program (Fidelity) to my Vanguard IRA, but it occurred to me that I might be able to move it to my Roth IRA instead. Because I'm working abroad my entire income is covered by the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, which means that I have $0 in taxable income in the United States. I was wondering if it would be possible for me to roll over my 401k (and eventually my IRA) into my Roth IRA in increments of $6000/ year to max out my tax free IRA contribution. I think this would allow me to completely avoid paying taxes on the money that I move over. My concern is that the rules for a Roth IRA contributions says that I must have 'Earned Income', and I'm not sure that my income in the EU will count if it is rendered tax-free by the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. It also says that my Roth IRA contribution can't exceed my earned income, so if I have no earned income I don't think I would be able to make that contribution at all... Even if I'm forced to pay some taxes to allow this transfer, it would be well worth it if I could move it all into a Roth IRA at 10% tax, and get to keep the interest that it accrues over the rest of my career. Has anyone tried to do something like this? or know if this is even possible? [link] [comments]  |
| Retirement Expenses, what am I missing? Posted: 16 Apr 2019 04:06 AM PDT My estimates for retirement costs are always no where near the calculated values. My wife and I gross $160,000 annually right now (Both 32 years old) (our joint take home is $107,000 after 401/529/taxes/insurance/healthcare) and the estimated annual costs on most calculators are $190,000/year effective cost of living based on our current salary. Childcare and Mortgage (Principle/Interest/Insurance) make up half of my take home expenses right now, I am just not able to figure out what I could possible be spending money on to spend $190,000/year it seems absurd. Even with inflation, healthcare/housing... (we own our home and plan downsize after retirement), vacations, more vacations... Please tell me I am just completely missing something, Is there a massive gaping hole in my budget that I cannot account for or I am just stuck in the mentality of "broke college student". [link] [comments]  |
| Investing 100k in the Market, any way to avoid taxable accounts? Posted: 16 Apr 2019 11:26 AM PDT I plan on investing on 100k USD repeatedly into the market over the next 10 years, for a total of 1 million USD invested over a 10 year period. Thing is, I am a religious investor, so after long research periods, I am limited to (2) Mutual Funds (AMIGX) and (AMINX), which are Institutional Shares with lower expense ratios, then there Non-Institutional Equivalents (AMAGX) and (AMANX). The Institutional ones are the ones I am going to move forward with. I will obviously max out my Roth IRA, with the (Non-Institutional) versions of these mutual funds (Since the minimum investment for the Institutional Shares is 100k minimum). However, even after maxing out my Roth IRA over a period of 10 years, which will bring my Roth IRA to deposits of about (55k ish) (i.e. 5.5k per year), I will still be left with about 950k USD that I will pretty much be forced to put into taxable accounts (Since the 401k programs at all the jobs I have worked at, don't offer funds that meet my religious requirements, I have to invest this money into the above funds on my own) What would be the most tax-efficient way to invest the remaining 950k in cash, into the market, if I am limited to the above Institutional Funds, have already maxed out my Roth IRA, and cannot use my company's 401k program? Any other "backdoor/loophole" options that I am not aware of, to not pay/minimize tax on the remaining large investment? [link] [comments]  |
| Simple predictive retirement income calculator? Posted: 16 Apr 2019 04:59 AM PDT I have met with two different financial advisors regarding my upcoming retirement (I will be 62.5 years old on my retirement date). I am getting increasingly anxious as we approach the date about whether we have truly saved enough. We have filled out relatively detailed forms about our assets, debts, and current costs as well as those anticipated in retirement. One of the things I wished for in these discussions was sort of the opposite of what was being presented... I wished that we could "simply" produce a prediction of what our annual or monthly income would be after retirement within a -/+ range based on probability so we could thereby plan our spending around that figure. Does such a "simple" calculator exist? I would like a simple chart that plots age and income after retirement against amount saved at the retirement date. I understand that after-retirement costs can be as hard to predict as the performance of my retirement portfolio.... [link] [comments]  |
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