Financial Independence Daily FI discussion thread - June 03, 2020 |
- Daily FI discussion thread - June 03, 2020
- The "Freedom Chip" - A Silver Dollar representing $100,000 in accounts.
- Made it to 1M!
- Weekly Self-Promotion Thread - June 03, 2020
- Community for CoastFI
| Daily FI discussion thread - June 03, 2020 Posted: 03 Jun 2020 01:07 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]  |
| The "Freedom Chip" - A Silver Dollar representing $100,000 in accounts. Posted: 03 Jun 2020 02:10 PM PDT What do you like to do to help visualize and commemorate your progress toward FIRE? Some may think this is a silly idea, but the money I've saved is essentially just looking at numbers on a screen displaying dollars at a bank somewhere. Sometimes that feels a bit bland- I wanted a way to commemorate and reward financial progress with something tangible. Compared with chests of jewels, precious metals and tangible wealth centuries ago... a few commas on a screen doesn't have quite the same panache! So, for every $100,000 I've added to my net worth, I purchase a 1oz Fine Silver dollar minted that year. I call it a "Freedom Chip"; a little piece of the freedom I'll have once I collect enough chips. They are relatively cheap ($20-$30) and as a precious metal, are conceptually representative of wealth itself. The goal here is not to actually invest in precious metals, but just to serve as a "souvenir" along the financial journey. They're a big coin, relatively heavy, and satisfying to hold and think of as each representative of $100k. When I hit my FIRE number, I'll get a pure gold coin and make a nice leather pouch to jangle them around in. Cheers [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Jun 2020 03:20 PM PDT Ok I have no one I can really share this with because as most of you know, things get weird in the real world if you share your financial success stories with family and friends. So just wanted to share my path to $1M in hopes of helping someone else succeed in their FIRE goals. Stats: M, 41, engaged, average salary from 2007-2020 about $100k Breakdown of 1M: 30% 401k, 30% stocks & ETFs, 15% CDs, 11% cash, 10% house, 1% Roth, 2% HSA, 1% silver & gold History: I didn't really get going career-wise until I was 27 (2006), before that it was mostly low paying volunteer work. Got a business degree in university but didn't end up using it, when I done with volunteer work I moved to Alaska to try my luck in the oilfield. Starting from the bottom I've worked my way up. Nothing too crazy, but I've found myself in a middle management position that still allows me some physical work, which I enjoy. My salary has fluctuated from 70k to 135k, depending on the health of the industry. When I moved to Alaska at 27, I had around $1000 to my name, which I used to pay for my first month's rent ($500) and an old beater Subaru hatchback ($500). I've been saving aggressively ever since. I got into the stock market in 2007-08, right before it crashed, and lost a lot of steam when I saw some $30,000 evaporate. I went more conservative after that and put much of my savings into a high interest savings account. It was paying 4% at the time. I started a 401(k) as soon as I could, and have been contributing to that. Wasn't maxing it out for a long time but am now. Successful moves: I kept an eye out for undervalued stocks. For example, I read an article in The Economist that mentioned Starbucks was low, I looked into it and decided to buy. Bought $5,000 at 17/sh. It's quite a bit higher now. Same with BAC. Decided it's too big to fail, so I bought $10,000 when it was under $10/sh. Bought BP after the gulf oil spill. Some mistakes along the way: 1) I got caught up in the hype of the markets. For example, when the price of oil went through the roof around 2007, I was chasing USO and bought high. It bottomed out and I was able to buy more in order to salvage my investment. But I fed into the BS that it was going to hit $200/bbl. 2) I got overly discouraged when the market crashed during the great recession. For example, I had $20k in SPDR at $127/sh. It halved, and I was so discouraged, I waited for it to rebound back to $127 and I sold it. Doink. Also, I backed off my 401k and only put in what my company matches. Instead of backing off, I should have maxed it out. Double doink. 3) Divorce. This set me back probably $50k and delayed my FIRE journey. Could be a lot worse and I know there are others that have been wiped out so I'm not complaining too much. But she was financially retarded and I wasn't able to change her mindset and that should've been a red flag since finances is such a cornerstone of a relationship. 4) Percentage of portfolio that is cash. I'm sure some of you will say that it's too high, and you're probably right. But fiscally speaking I'm naturally conservative and I need that for peace of mind. Especially due to growing up poor and also after the 2008 crash. 5) Chasing dividend stocks - After the rates went down to nothing, I started looking for stock that offered a good dividend. Didn't really look at some of the other aspects and some of these ended up being garbage. Misc. points: Lifestyle: not having kids or a wife has obviously made a huge difference for me. I can be cheap without anyone else voting on that, nor do I have the expenses that heads of household do. At the same time, it's not like I've been living on ramen and water for the last 14 years. I travel extensively, but in a manner that is backpacking on a shoestring. In this style I've met others with a similar approach to money and there's much less judgement for being frugal. I eat healthy and exercise regularly and spend nothing on medical. I've found a SO that encompasses the same financial philosophy as me, and also has the same work ethic. What I am doing now for my investments: I don't really buy individual stocks anymore. Instead mostly focus on ETFs. Each year I'll drop $5,000 each into 6 vanguard funds. This year, I did it in late January (dow 29k) and sure as shit, the market tanked a little over a month later. So I doubled down and put another $30k into the funds when the dow was at 21k. Now it's back over 25k and climbing so this is me learning from my past mistakes. End goal is to get to at least $2M and RE. Thing is, I enjoy my job so I'll probably continue to 55 unless things change. Anyway, I don't want to ramble too much, but if anyone has any questions maybe I can help. I know this sub has been helpful for me the past few years and maybe I can return the favor. [link] [comments]  |
| Weekly Self-Promotion Thread - June 03, 2020 Posted: 03 Jun 2020 01:07 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 Jun 2020 06:21 PM PDT I was running some numbers the other day, and despite making a good living it seems like saving a lot after having children requires a decent amount of sacrifice. This has made me realize I'm more likely to be a peruser of Coast FI - but i don't see any large/active communities for the topic. There's r/CoastFI and r/CoastFIRE but those have under 100 members each. Is there another community focused on Coast FI that people know about? If not, i may start posting about it here! [link] [comments]  |
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