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    Financial Independence Daily FI discussion thread - Friday, June 04, 2021

    Financial Independence Daily FI discussion thread - Friday, June 04, 2021


    Daily FI discussion thread - Friday, June 04, 2021

    Posted: 04 Jun 2021 02:00 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.

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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    Future Coast FIRE Job Idea

    Posted: 04 Jun 2021 07:58 AM PDT

    Over the long weekend I was traveling with my wife to New Orleans and got to speak to some of the people who do the tours. Ghost tours, the air boat bayou tours etc. I then had an epiphany that the best Barista/ Coast fire job out there would be to become a tour guide. You get exercise from being out all day walking around. You get the socialization factor that so many people miss out on when no longer working in an office setting. You get tips that can then go towards drinks or eating out. It seems like a fun gig that you can do in any city you could go to as long as there's a decent enough history around the city.

    Wonder what other jobs people have that could be great to do and a bit stress free once they FIRE

    submitted by /u/Realistic0ptimist
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    Weekly FI Frugal Friday thread - June 04, 2021

    Posted: 04 Jun 2021 02:00 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.

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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    FI Journey - Academic Couple, NW 300K, 31Y.O.

    Posted: 04 Jun 2021 02:32 PM PDT

    Hi, I thought I reflect and share a little about my journey toward FI as someone in academia, which is known for bad pay and diminishing job prospects.

    Let me preface by saying this: my wife and I hit the jackpot in Academia in that we both have tenured-track jobs at a top public state school. This is uncommon and should not be taken as the normal path. Yes, we are both lucky. So with that out of the way, here we go.

    First, obligatory NW Chart.

    https://imgur.com/a/tf5h2tj

    2011 (Age - 21, NW ~ 7k) - I graduate with BS in psychology from a state school. I was fortunate to have immigrant parents that worked hard to put me through a school with no debt and I was accepted into a top PhD program of my field with a full ride, which is typically of PhD programs. I also received a modest stipend, of about 16k per year. It was enough to get by living in a very LCOL area (My rent was $400 a month). I didnt' spend lavishly but didn't live like a hermit either. My parents helped here and there.

    2016 (Age = 26, NW ~ 7k) - I was lucky to graduate with no debt and about 5k still in the bank. I came out of 5 years of PhD roughly breaking even. I was offered a tenure-track job immediate (before receiving my PhD) at a state flagship school. Getting a tenure-track job in academia is lucky, no matter how good you are. There are about 500 - 700 jobs for over 8000 graduates each year. My gross salary was 70k plus 5k summer stipend. Raises in academia is pretty abysmal but I was lucky to have had a few merit raises of 2~3% for almost every year until the pandemic. During this time, my then-girlfriend was working on her PhD in a different state. We did long-distance for nearly 4 years. Delay gratification is a very helpful trait to have for building wealth! For the next 4 years, I lived in a decent but not lavish apartment for $1100/month. I maxed out my IRA, 401k, and HSA and saved probably close to 30% of my income (conservative estimate).

    2020/2021 (Age 31, NW ~ 220k). Several things happened during this time. First, I was fortunate to pick up a well-paying consulting gig on the side, which brought in roughly 35k in 2020. Also during 2020, my girlfriend was entering her final year of her PhD program and could work remotely. With the pandemic happening in the midst of everything, she decided to move down early. During this time, we decided to buy a house and get married. We bought a house in July 2020 before the housing market got crazy (300k, 20% down, 3.5% interest). We got married early 2021. She was in the same situation as me throughout graduate school. No debt. Though she was bit better off than me and brought with her about 40k in NW. She teaches as an adjunct for about 10k per semester while finishing her degree. Given the pandemic, we had a 'court-house' wedding that costed us probably $500 total. We each pocketed about 10k in cash from our parents.

    2021 to Now (NW 300k). My wife is now 1 year from graduating and luck would have it, our department has a tenure track position open up and they decided to pursue my wife for the position. The hire was successful and she will start her tenure-track position in the spring of 2022 (~70k). So our combined household income will nearly double to roughly 160k+ when all is considered.

    Reflection - I think one of the biggest reason to be where we are is our shared values toward money and luck... a lot of it. My wife and I are not spenders and almost never disagree on finances. We both were raised in well-off, but very fiscally frugal families, which I'm sure is no coincidence. I'm also constantly amazed at the opportunities I was given and the luck of finding my wife, who shares so many of the same values as me.

    I won't ramble on too much. But I'm happy to answer any questions people have about my journey, academia, science, psychology, etc.

    Rough monthly spending (To be honest, we never actually max out our budget):

    Category Monthly spend
    Mortgage $1300
    Food/Dining $800
    Misc/Fun $400
    Bills/Utility/Sub $300
    Home $500

    We pretty much save the rest for various 'envelopes' we set up for things like pets, house maintanence, etc. We use r/aspirebudget spreadsheet for everything.

    We are both now maxed out on ROTH IRA. Any overflow goes to each of our individual Schwab into a moderately aggressive portfolio.

    Rough distribution of NW (Not including house equity)

    Source
    401k 80k
    Combined ROTH 80k (68k/12k)
    Brokerage 60k (55k/5k)
    HSA 11k
    Cash 70k

    submitted by /u/Bakerstreet710
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