Life Situation: Single Male, 24, Software Dev in Denver CO
Gross Salary/Wages: 80k
Individual amounts of each Pre-tax deductions: 18k (401k max, no employer match)
Other Ordinary Income: I've just started my job, so I'll wait til things settle down to decide, but I've done math tutoring for HS students, $40 per hour. If I do that, could bring in anywhere from $40 to $200 extra a week once I establish a client base
Adjusted Gross Income: 62-67k, depending on tutoring, I'll assume 0 tutoring to be conservative
Taxes -16614.25:
Federal (including SS & Medicare): $12910.25
State: $3704.00
Take Home Pay 63,385.75:
Current expenses:
Housing, Food and Necessities 860
Rent 540
Utilities (Including Internet) 90
Food 200
Phone 20 (still on family plan, probably about time to get my own, this is based on Republic Wireless w/ 1gb data)
Medical 10 (I think the job offers plans with $0 premiums, but I should definitely check. I almost never go to the doctor)
Auto- 0 so far, not sure if I will get a car. Can bike most places I need to go, and company pays for bus pass
Gym- 0, company pays for gym
Discretionary 465
Projects 200 (I almost always have some kind of project going on. Most recently rebuilding a bike. Spending tends to fall in between 100-300)
Dining Out 70 (This is probably an over estimate. Just moved to a new city so don't want to limit options meeting people)
Fast Food 20
Travel (Chipping in for gas + occasional airfare averaged over 12 months) 150
Misc 25
Total Spending 1325/mo | 15900/yr
Total Saving 3957/mo | 47485/yr
Savings Rate 75%
Assets:
11.5k in Vanguard Healthcare Fund Roth IRA, maxed out past two years. All future contributions will be to SP500 index fund
9.4k in emergency fund with 2.5% monthly interest rate that allows 2 withdrawals per calendar year
6.0k in checking account
Liabilities: No debt. Insanely fortunate and thankful to my parents for paying for 90% of college
I pay CC off in full at the end of every month
Specific Question(s):
Basically, I enjoy software development, but I'm not ready to give up long stints of wilderness or wilderness-ish travel. The past two summers I've been lucky enough to spend in Alaska and along one of the nations National Scenic Trails. I want to do more of that in the future for sure, but I also eventually want to retire. 30 probably isn't realistic, but I don't think I could wait until 65 either. I'd also like to eventually have a family and help any potential kids with college.
I know this is a lot, and there's no one right answer, but I'd love to hear anyone's creative input on how I could maximize travel while I'm young while still retiring early?
Misc Notes:
I can travel for about 500/mo for long wilderness trips. Biggest cost is the opportunity cost: lost wages and not advancing/getting raises at the same rate as I potentially could otherwise
I'm gonna try to hold off any long trips for at least 3 years so I have some continuity on my resume
I'm considering, once I become more senior, getting a remote job and working out of a converted cargo van while traveling the US and visiting friends and family across the country
I've had decent success (with an admittedly very short sample size) as a dev, so I'm hoping to increase salary quickly. Continuously taking time off will hold me back though