Financial Independence Daily FI discussion thread - Tuesday, August 03, 2021 |
- Daily FI discussion thread - Tuesday, August 03, 2021
- The financial independence journey and mindset progression
- 180k @ 25 years old on a more modest salary
| Daily FI discussion thread - Tuesday, August 03, 2021 Posted: 03 Aug 2021 02:02 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 financial independence journey and mindset progression Posted: 03 Aug 2021 02:49 PM PDT Just curious on the progression some of you have had on your FI mindset over time. I started off finding this sub on a lunch break after a bad week at my first job out of college trying to find a way out. I noticed over time I've been going through different FI phases that may be relatable to many of you. For example I went from save every penny until I can hit leanfire -> let me chill out a bit and enjoy my life while I still try and be frugal -> don't really think about money much, but am aware of where my money is going (still trying to be a strong saver) and focus more on doing things that I'd be doing anyways if I retired. Shifted from a retirement focus to a safety net focus. Probably the most common one I've seen: live frugally -> finally hit FI -> quit job and travel for 6months -> thought that all they wanted to do was travel and go through their bucket list -> tired of being on road and just want to stay home -> get depressed and realized they could have done bucket list stuff in free time while working, and realize a big part of their purpose previously was based on their job which they now quit-> self realization and realize FI wasn't the complete answer to all their problems but can't ever see themselves working again [link] [comments]  |
| 180k @ 25 years old on a more modest salary Posted: 02 Aug 2021 08:04 PM PDT Lots of higher net worth stories are being shared, which naturally include a lot higher, seemingly "out of reach" salaries for those who aren't long-time trade workers or in the finance/comp sci/equivalent industries. But I feel like my situation and savings are a pretty good story for some other people who are not in as fortunate situations as others. Background
During college, I worked about 20 hours a week at Panda Express, making $12.50 an hour which funded my expenses such as rent ($500/month), utilities (~$50/month), public transport (~50/month) and food (~$200/month). I had maybe $200-250 leftover per month, which simply sat in my checking account since I did not know what a Roth IRA was at the time. I learned a lot, quickly, while living alone away from my parents, who were strict but fair. They told me that I would be on my own for money once I graduated, but I would be allowed to return home to live rent-free if I even ran into hard times. This reality check is probably what really inspired me to start actually working to save money, since I didn't want to "freeload" anymore, I already did for 20 years. [2018] After graduating with the aforementioned 20k in student loans, I got my first (and only) job at a mid-sized company making $41,500/year. Since the company was located relatively close to my studio apartment I had at college, I simply decided to stay there and commute via public transportation 25 minutes each way instead of paying $800 for an apartment within walking distance. I also learned what a Roth IRA was, and mistakenly(?) put in all $5,500 at the time the moment I learned of it… in the end, it worked out though, since it was like I never had that money to spend in the first place. I maintained my living expenses of ~$750 a month that I had in college, and gave myself an extra $100 as free spending money, which was often spent at gatherings with friends. This meant that out of my ~$2,800 in take home pay per month, I really only spent about $1,000. I paid off all $20,000 of the student loans by the end of 2018, and my Christmas and celebration present to myself was $1,200 in PC Parts, monitor, and peripherals for my desktop PC I still use today. [2019] In 2019 after my annual review, I got a raise to $49,000, but lived essentially the same as 2018. The only increases in my budget were improving my internet connection (50->75/month) and adding $50 a month to my food budget. I was putting $250 into my checking account every month, $450 into my Roth IRA, and this is when I learned about Vanguard's VTSAX and VTTSX. All of my extra money was going into these two funds, 60% into VTSAX and 40% into VTTSX. By the end of 2019, my estimated net worth was about $36,600.
[2020] In 2020, I decided to move closer to work to cut down on transportation and save time, so I moved out of my $500/month apartment into the city and picked up a studio apartment for $900/month. The only reason I made this decision is because I was able to get another raise to $57,000. My living expenses increased to rent ($900/month), utilities ($100/month), food ($350/month), but my monthly take-home pay also increased to about $3,600. I splurged on a trip to Asia in the summer, setting me back $2,500, but through continued saving and some big market gains, I ended 2020 with a net worth of $84,700
[2021] In 2021, beginning my fourth year with the company, I received a raise to $64,000, my current salary. I purchased a used car from a friend who was moving overseas for $4,000, and that has been my only major expenditure this year so far. I also dabbled a bit in the meme stock market (Dogecoin, GME, AMC) in January and profited about $15,000. I then put that into more "stable" stocks, such as MSFT, AAPL, Current N/W ~$180,000
I know it's rare to see lower salaries at these "higher" numbers, but I want to show that it is possible to save a good amount of money on a "lower" salary. I am aiming to have enough to CoastFIRE by 45! [link] [comments]  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Financial Independence / Retire Early. 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