Author Topic: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself  (Read 3316016 times)

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1050 on: February 01, 2014, 07:01:27 PM »
Hi! I'm a mid-thirties mom of two little kids. I can't afford to work (I do a little part-time work from home... it at least pays for preschool for the tykes!) and my husband's a teacher, so we don't exactly have a "gushing firehose of income." But we've been able to make some positive tweaks since we discovered MMM through the Washington Post interview last year. Current project: trying to sell our fancier car to get out of the loan and free up the equity.

c12mintz

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1051 on: February 02, 2014, 02:40:13 PM »
Hi everyone-- brand new here this morning to the forum and yesterday to the site. I've already brought 3-4 people into the fold though!

I read Rich Dad Poor Dad and The Millionaire Next Door, and love the idea of a free support/community blog to keep it going. I especially enjoy how this site is international and has a broad political spectrum of participants.

I am a part time investment enthusiast and CFA Candidate (testing L2) and very active on Seeking Alpha: http://seekingalpha.com/author/j-mintzmyer

I'll try to hang around the "Investor Alley" section to provide some help where I can.

NW combined with spouse, we're almost to 6-figures, so gotta keep that train rolling. Everyone on here is an inspiration, and I hope I can help others out as well. I'm 23, wife-to-be (next month) is 24.

Ghost of the Wild

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1052 on: February 03, 2014, 11:56:59 AM »
Howdy Y'all!

I've been reading the MMM blog since early last year when I heard about it from Early Retirement Extreme.

The money savings tips and life philosophies have been awesome!

I'm currently on a 6 month mini retirement up in Big Sky, MT so that I can snowboard all season long and work on my own personal projects without a job getting in the way.  I am doing everything on the cheap and I will probably end up spending about as much money as some folks use up on a 2 week vacation

I'm looking forward to participating on this forum and being a part of the MMM community!

Creating a healthy and sustainable ecosystem is one of my biggest concerns for mankind and that is why I love the MMM lifestyle.

Keep up the good work everyone!

homehandymum

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1053 on: February 04, 2014, 01:59:29 AM »
Hi all

I'm a mid-30s female, happily married with 3 kids, living in New Zealand.

We home educate, with me being the primary educator, so as a couple we're already 'semi-retired' in that I haven't earned a thing for 10 years.  On one income we've nearly (nearly!) paid off the mortgage - less than 2 years away from it if we can keep up the frugal motivation.

MMM has been the kick up the pants that I needed. We've been exactly this close to paying off that mortgage for 4 years now.  We're both naturally savers, rather than spenders, but we got lazy, prices went up, salary went down and we had just stopped paying attention.

MMM sure got my attention :)
« Last Edit: February 04, 2014, 02:01:08 AM by homehandymum »

crzycicada

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1054 on: February 04, 2014, 12:14:47 PM »
Hello all, I'm a real estate broker in Texas and am looking at ways to cut costs, increase fundage and retire ASAP!  Basically why everyone else is here...I look forward to all the learning and new friends I'll make!

lordrtype1

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1055 on: February 05, 2014, 05:11:08 AM »
Hi!

I'm Reg.  I've actually started a lot of debt reduction (out of necessity, than want), and since I would prefer to never borrow another dime from anyone again, I've been checking out the best ways to go about this.  I found your blog as a result, and am looking forward to putting some of the great advice found to work.  I will say that many of the recommendations I found, I've actually already done! But, I can see I'm only scratching the surface.

Outside of worrying about my remaining debt, I work in construction again, finally, but I also grew up doing illustration work, even went to school for it (not at college level or credit, though our teachers did teach at local colleges), and I've written two novels.  I'm actually trying to get them published but, as you can tell, I'm in need of a professional proofreader.  But, that is another matter entirely.

Looking forward to reading the rest of the blog, and picking everyone's brain. :)

Mortgage Free Mike

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1056 on: February 05, 2014, 10:52:44 AM »
I'm Mortgage Free Mike, a long-time reader of MMM, but new to the forum. I recently left my full-time job to go part-time after paying off my $86,000 mortgage in 2 years. It has given me the freedom to live the life I've always wanted while continuing to be career-focused. I also re-launched a blog, Save on Almost Everything. I am here because MMM's readers are some of the best and brightest. I want to see how everyone saves!

Gin1984

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1057 on: February 07, 2014, 07:48:45 AM »
Hi, I am new and excited to join.  My husband and I are both grad students, with a one year old daughter. 

Beridian

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1058 on: February 07, 2014, 01:55:05 PM »
I have been following MMM for about a month, I am 54.   I have been using MMM principles for quite some time, but I admit to being sloppy and stupid at times, I can and will do better.   I look around my house sometimes at all the junk I have accumulated and it makes me want to weep when I think of where all those dollars might have been better placed (Hooray for Craigslist and Ebay!).   Despite suffering a huge financial setback due to divorce (long story) I have managed to hold on to a bit of a nest egg.  I have about 200K in retirement accounts plus I have 28 years with a large company and I am expecting a modest pension, the company retirement should also help with health care worries since that is part of the package.

MMM has motivated me.  I have a 5-year plan, by the time I am 59 I want to increase my savings to 500K (or more) and pay my mortgage down to under 50K (currently at 90K).  It may seem ambitious but I think I can pretty easily max out my 401K and Roth IRA each year (around 30K annually), and once the alimony is paid off (2 years) I can double up or even triple my mortgage payments (I have a 15 year loan).  With a little help from a favorable stock market and all the great advice I get from MMM I think I can reach this goal.  Not counting the alimony, I am keeping my monthly expenses down to $2500, so I think the 500K and the pension will be enough for me to consider myself financially independent.

And that is what I really really really crave…financial independence.   I may or may not want to retire at 59, but I want the choice to be mine.   I currently work in telecom and live under the constant very real threat of being downsized.   Consequently I jump through a lot of hoops and kiss a lot of butt at work in the name of keeping my job.   I don’t love my job, but I don’t hate it either, it is a good working situation and the money is great, I don’t think I could do better elsewhere.  Sometimes I feel like the guy who performs by spinning plates on sticks.  I look forward to the day when I can ignore the plates and let them crash to the ground and be my own master.   

My financial plan is set, now all I have to do is wait, watch, and hope.   What I do need to improve on is learning to be happy right here and right now.   Life really is this present moment.   I tend to focus too much on how happy I think I will be at some future date.  Maybe some of you have some advice.

If you are interested you can read my rant about divorce and alimony here (sorry if I sound a bit angry, but I am):

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/things-you-wish-that-you-knew-when-you-were-40/msg214712/#new

rpm1200

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1059 on: February 07, 2014, 03:17:35 PM »
Hi everyone!

I found MMM last fall through J.D. Roth / GRS, been enjoying it a lot. I have to admit I'm one of those guys who thought that I needed a car to get to work. But I plugged my route into Google Maps and there was a really straightforward cycling route, so I started riding in to work - so much better than commuting by car! My employer has an indoor bike rack and shower, making it easier. It's about 20 minutes by car, 55 minutes by bike.

Once the snow started falling I stopped riding because I only had a road bike with skinny tires, but I picked up a hybrid off Craigslist last month and have been fixing it up to use as a cold-weather bike. Now I just have to get used to riding again (plus I'd like to increase my cadence, I have only been doing 60-70 RPM).

My wife and I made some bad decisions and ran up a lot of debt in the early years of our marriage, and we have been slowly climbing out for a few years now. We don't have much of a 'stache yet, but having had to spend so much of our earnings on debt service showed us how little we truly needed to live on. Now all of the high-interest debt is gone and we are working on principal reduction. We are being careful not to inflate our lifestyle while chipping away at our monthly costs.

Within the last couple of years we switched our car insurance, energy provider and cell phone company, also refinancing the mortgage and a car loan, resulting in savings every month. We still need to work on being more careful and deliberate with meal planning/grocery shopping, eating out as little as possible and cutting out fast food entirely.

Anyway, looking forward to hanging out here and learning from everyone!

Engineer_Erik

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1060 on: February 08, 2014, 09:46:19 PM »
Hi!  I'm Erik, a 33 yr old engineer from the Bay Area of California working towards FI.

Pell mell

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1061 on: February 09, 2014, 07:07:01 AM »
Hi I've been reading for some time and was very excited to find this site. The philosophy resonates very strongly... well, for me it does, anyway.  I read an article or two (not so hard-core, I didn't think) to my fiance and he was, how shall I say, horrified? Appalled? Grossed Out?
Anyway, Case Study to be posted soon. Not generally a masochist but I hope to be Punched Out in the near future.

Eggman111

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1062 on: February 09, 2014, 12:52:39 PM »
Hi everyone!
I started using YNAB in November 2013. While visiting their forums at the beginning of January 2014, I saw a link to MMM and clicked on it. I soon found the simple math behind retirement article, which shattered my previous thoughts about how long I would have to work. I started from the beginning and just finished reading all the posts.

I work as an aerospace engineer near Vancouver, Canada. I'm married (no kids - yet!), and while we're not huge spenders, I've realized that we do spend quite a bit of money on things we don't really need. I bike to work, but our one car is a gas-sucking SUV. We're going to sell it and get something at least twice as fuel-efficient (35 vs 17 mpg). I just switched my cell phone plan from a $65 to $25/mo (I wish we had more options in Canada, but that will hopefully come soon). There are plenty more places to save money, and I'm looking forward to learning more from MMM and this forum.

Cheers!

ontario74

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Hello from Ontario, Canada - small steps so far
« Reply #1063 on: February 09, 2014, 02:10:41 PM »
Hi everyone, Thanks for all of the great stories and tips! I already follow a few myself (waste-free cooking, second hand shopping for clothes, not eating at restaurants).

I'm a single mom and professional living in Ontario, Canada. I make a relatively high salary and decided to pay down my line of credit (car and kid's camp fees) once and for all. I have 8K left on the LOC, good rate (6% I believe) and zero on my credit card. Mortgage still has a ways to go, bought house 7 yrs ago.

I was paying down the LOC at 275$ every payday when the LOC was at 11.5K and it just wasn't going as fast as I would have liked, so...I created a budget, tracked my spending and realized that even with January pay reductions (CPP, etc.) I can pay up to 1500$ per month. It was a shock to see how much extra money I had available.

My magic number is $3400 per month. That's how much I spend including mortgage and the funny thing is, this is the monthly amount that's been projected for my pension. I have 20 years left before I retire, so the amount could rise to $4000 and higher based on salary increases and inflation of course (pension is indexed).

So the plan is: even with pay increases and fluctuations over the year, I will stick to $3400 spending per month (not larger irregular expenses like car repairs, kid's swimming lessons) and sock away the rest. I opened a savings account and I plan to save and pay cash for bigger purchases that people normally put on credit (travel, appliances).

I hate the debt but finally zapping it is wonderful!



RichWard

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1064 on: February 09, 2014, 03:38:24 PM »
Hi everyone!

Today I decided to stop lurking and start participating in the forums.

I am 24 years old and a recent college graduate. I have a decent paying job in public accounting which has allowed me to start paying down my massive amount of student loans and still contribute to my roth, savings, and maintain a decent standard of living.

During my college career, I made several hefty mistakes in regards to money management and student loans. It was not until my final year of college when I received a letter from my primary student loan lender about the deferment period ending, that I had the "oh shit" moment (the opposite of the "ah ha" moment). Since then, I have made progress on my financial situation, which is still poor, but improving.

Each month I review my expenses, explain variances from my budget in writing, and review my personal balance sheet and income statement. I have a girlfriend who is on board with being frugal and paying off her student loans as well. Instead of going out drinking, going to movies/dinner, etc like our friends our age, we cook at home, play cards, read books, and rarely wake up hungover on the weekends (unlike a couple short years ago in college). The next step for us is to find supplemental streams of income in order to support our desires to travel and to become debt free quicker.

I look forward to learning from everyone and contributing to the great discussions I've been reading on MMM.

SCBMMM

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1065 on: February 09, 2014, 04:12:00 PM »
Hello all,
really enjoy the stories and tips on this site..  I have no kids of my own but have turned my nephews ages 22 and 24 on to this site..
they are getting inspired and we discuss some of the topics on here often.. Really happy they are receptive to the information and its a fun way for us to stay connected..
wish I had this info when I was their age...
Thanks and happy to be here

pastelfish

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1066 on: February 10, 2014, 09:10:36 AM »
Good morning all the mustacharinos and mustacharinas! This is an awesome collection of people and knowledge. Thanks to the primary MMM family for making this happen.

I live in the midwest, and have a fondness for atypical thinking, skills and especially am fond of measuring outcomes.

Thanks to all, hoping to accelerate FI and match you all. See you there, then

TropicNebraska

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1067 on: February 10, 2014, 07:30:18 PM »
Hi! I'm Nick, 28. I work as a firefighter/paramedic. Workin' hard to achieve FI everyday.

serhomeslice

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1068 on: February 11, 2014, 11:01:43 AM »
Hi everybody,

My name is serhomeslice, and I've been a spender for 43 years. 

Since starting to read this blog 2 weeks ago, I fired DirectTv (now have 2 antennas), paid off my vehicles, drive my wife's Civic instead of my truck to work, and I've quit going out to eat lunch, but I've got a long way to go.  I have a decent job, but along with it, I have a 21 mile commute(bummer - avg 45 mins both ways).

I am on the road to mustachianism.  I've included a mustache on my avatar, not because I've attained mustachianism, but because mustaches are cool.  I've actually got one of those look at me I'm 15 and cool 3 hair mustaches, but I'm on my way to a fu manchu - hopefully. 

Just wanted Mrs. and Mr. Money Mustache to know how much I appreciate the blog.  Have learned a ton and hope to contribute in the future. 

serhomeslice




lexie2000

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1069 on: February 11, 2014, 02:51:06 PM »
Hi!!

I'm lexie.  Hopin' I like this community.

Bateaux

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1070 on: February 11, 2014, 07:42:33 PM »
Hey I'm new to MMM but not new to the quest to retire early.  I'm 45, married and have two boys in college. 
We have our mortage paid off and have a little over 1 million saved in retirement accounts. 
My goal is to retire before 50, which I reach in 2018.
Being debt free is wonderful.   Get it done.

Tacosrocket

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1071 on: February 12, 2014, 03:55:30 AM »
Hi, I'm Tobi.

I haven't gone to college because I'm scared of being in debt!

Deev

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1072 on: February 12, 2014, 12:17:22 PM »
Greetings from Southeast Louisiana!

I'm a software engineer who found MMM about 4 or 5 months ago, and it has changed my life completely. I was already a saver, but I had no idea how much some habits would cost me, so within the past few months I:

Moved into my house (started a mortgage, but cost of living down here in Louisiana is low, low low, so I put down 20% pretty easily)
Traded a premium-gas guzzling sports sedan (Nissan Maxima) for a hybrid (Prius), lowering my cost-per-mile by about 2/3.
Upgraded to a smartphone (on Republic wireless)
Started my investment accounts (in addition to a 401k and an individual IRA that I already had)
Decided not to pay for cable TV in my house (savings of $70 a month)


But - my dear fiancee has a crushing amount of student debt, and a pisspoor job with which to pay it off... :(

But, with the tenets of Mustachianism, I am able to pay almost entirely for both of our living expenses, AND have a bunch leftover for investing!

Overall, life is getting better :)



anisotropy

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1073 on: February 12, 2014, 03:06:02 PM »
Hi, been reading the blogs for about 4 months or so. We just turned 30 and live in Canada, where things in general are more expensive than the great US of A.

I think we are at FI already but still working to build more margin of safety. We both have OK jobs and plan to work for another 10 years....maybe. A day will come when we decide to call it quits, until then just keep hoarding the stash.

baseballhum

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1074 on: February 12, 2014, 06:37:55 PM »
I discovered MMM a few months ago and have posted a few times. I'm 24 in a Midwestern city, engaged to a grad student. Fiance has student loans (hair on fire! haha) but once he makes more than 10k a year with his pitiful grad student salary, it should not take long to pay off at all.

I have learned so much from MMM and these forums. I want to say thank you to everyone for all your advice and help!! I feel very lucky that I found this site so early in my life. I may not be close to FI, but I now have the tools to get there faster!

Firefly

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1075 on: February 12, 2014, 08:25:21 PM »
Hi there! I've been reading MMM site and this forum for quite some time and finally decided to join. I am in my late 30's. My husband and I both have full-time professional jobs, although lately I have been contemplating cutting down the hours - I have a 6 year old and an 8 mo old baby and feel like the stress of the full-time job and taking care of the kids and the house is wearing down on me, making me suck at all of my jobs :) I know, it doesn't really go well with our goal for an early retirement. Both, my husband and I are "late bloomers" in our professional lives - we both went to college later than most and didn't start making money until relatively recently. Even though we make good money now, we are still playing catch up. Still paying off student loans. Still saving for the downpayment on a house. Been feeling for a while that we are doing something wrong - with all the money we make we should be in a better place than we are now. So I've been looking around for the resources to help us get and stay on the right track. That's how I ended up here and boy am I glad that I did! Glad to meet everyone and looking forward to sharing our experiences!

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1076 on: February 13, 2014, 12:39:55 PM »
Hi all!.  My Mustachian older sister introduced me to the blog, and I wasted way too many hours reading the archive.  That didn't seem to slake my thirst, so here I am in the forum.

I'm 32, married with 5.5 kids, living in the Chicago suburbs.  We're quite a ways from FI, but the only debt we have is on our house, and we live pretty frugally--outside of mortgage/taxes/insurance and charitable contributions, we only spend about $32k/year on our family of 7.

momo5

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1077 on: February 13, 2014, 09:16:21 PM »
hi, I just heard about MMM from one of my friends on fb. very intriguing and I'm excited to learn more.
I'm a sahm of five kids living what I thought was frugally, in NY. I see we have lots of room for improvement in that area :)
I have many many questions and I'm happy to have found this site :)

f33sh

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1078 on: February 13, 2014, 11:09:16 PM »
Hi all, I've been reading through the MMM site over the past couple weeks.  I'm 29 and live in San Francisco working in a well-paid professional job.  I've always been fairly frugal, and despite living in an expensive city, have been able to accumulate some solid net worth so far.

Reading the blog has inspired me to cut back on some recent lifestyle inflation tendencies, and set some goals around reaching Financial Independence in my 30s.  Also interested in learning about real-estate investing in the process.  One of my biggest motivators is not wanting to work a full-time corporate job when I have kids.

NinetyFour

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1079 on: February 14, 2014, 04:42:31 AM »
outside of mortgage/taxes/insurance and charitable contributions, we only spend about $32k/year on our family of 7.

Wow--that's truly impressive!  I'd love to see more about how you accomplish this!

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1080 on: February 14, 2014, 08:16:55 AM »
Wow--that's truly impressive!  I'd love to see more about how you accomplish this!
Well, I can share details, but I don't think this is the right thread to do it in.  Can you point me in the right direction?

NinetyFour

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1081 on: February 14, 2014, 08:28:40 AM »

DanielleS

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1082 on: February 14, 2014, 01:58:20 PM »
Hello, I'm a longtime reader of the blog. My husband and I both retired a few years ago in our early 40's.

We were both quite frugal for years before meeting each other in our mid-30's, and both took some extended time off during our careers. So that all worked out :)

We spend time traveling, we're landlords, and we also are helping his parents during some health issues. My husband plays around with electronics and does lots of projects, and I write, cook healthy food and do projects.

Let me tell you, anyone who is starting out being frugal and finding it difficult, or is slogging through a few mid-career-year doldrums, IT IS WORTH IT! IT IS WORTH IT TO NOT HAVE TO GO TO WORK ANYMORE!!!!!! NEVER GIVE UP!!!!!!!

So a big hello to everyone! I'll post something else in the budget section.

limeandpepper

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1083 on: February 15, 2014, 04:22:09 AM »
Let me tell you, anyone who is starting out being frugal and finding it difficult, or is slogging through a few mid-career-year doldrums, IT IS WORTH IT! IT IS WORTH IT TO NOT HAVE TO GO TO WORK ANYMORE!!!!!! NEVER GIVE UP!!!!!!!

Haha love it! Love your enthusiasm! I can feel your joy right there!! And I can totally imagine myself feeling exactly the same way, the moment I don't have to work anymore, ever again!

Moonwaves

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1084 on: February 15, 2014, 12:55:31 PM »
Hi,
I'm Moonwaves (that may not be my real name :) ). Still in debt but very close to debt-free now and trying to make sure I'm on the ball and get going with some good savings as soon as possible after that instead of just taking it easy for a couple of years. The only good thing about my stupid debt situation is that it meant I never did get around to getting a 100% mortgage plus loans for furniture during the Celtic Tiger years, which means I'm not now saddled with a huge mortgage and negative equity.

Found MMM via an Australian blog, declutterer.wordpress.com and am making my way through the archives. Was interested to see that there were German members and, since I live in Germany, thought it would be sensible to join in and maybe figure out how some of the Mustachian principles and ideas can best translate into life here. I was pretty good at maths in school (that's not a typo, I'm Irish and we don't learn "math", we learn "maths" :) ) but not really very interested in it so although I do remember learning about compound interest a very long time ago, I never really connected that to my real life situation. MMM seems to have come along just at the time when it seems to have finally started to percolate to my brain and I've had several lightbulb moments recently - about time!

Look forward to getting to know my way around here in the coming months.

andreab

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1085 on: February 15, 2014, 04:33:43 PM »
Hi, everyone,

I heard about MMM on facebook a few weeks ago and I've been hooked.  I've read just about every blog post and I'm starting to look at ways to reduce my daily budget. FIRST is my electric and heating bill...my house must barely hold itself together based on the bills I get each month. I never knew there was anything wrong with them til I saw MMM's and others' bills.

I have quite a bit saved up in retirement and investment accounts and am hoping to retire in 3 years (I own two small businesses).  I'm 46 and the single mom of an amazing 17-year-old.

Looking forward to reading the posts!

JosephBoyle

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1086 on: February 16, 2014, 08:53:59 AM »
Heyheyhey, I am Joseph from Ireland. I'm glad to be in this community! Have yourselves a nice sunday

wordygirl

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1087 on: February 16, 2014, 02:02:12 PM »
Hi. I discovered this blog about a month ago and have been reading through it ever since.

I'm 46, married with two kids (tween-agers), and live in Western Canada. Husband is an engineer and I'm a stay home mum plus I work part time as an academic/science editor.

Looking forward to meeting people on this forum.

jordanread

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1088 on: February 16, 2014, 05:10:46 PM »
I'd just like to say, to all the new folks out there:
Welcome!! and we hope you have a great time here, and learn a lot.

mlindsey2@elon.edu

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1089 on: February 17, 2014, 01:20:11 PM »
Hello,

I'm Michael.  I'm at 20 year old student from North Carolina (although currently studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain).  I love everything about the philosophy about this website and I am striving to live this type of lifestyle.

I'm an accounting finance double major and I'm planning on getting my CPA out of school and going to work for one of the big four (I received internship offers from all and I'm about to intern with KPMG this summer in Charlotte).  I'm quite excited to begin my career so I can start practicing the ideals all of you express (although I've already started saving-but Barcelona is not being to friendly in that regard).  I love intelligent conversation about literally anything and I'm so excited I stumbled upon this site.

birdman2003

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1090 on: February 17, 2014, 06:21:32 PM »
Hello, my coworker told me about MMM.  We were talking about how so few of our coworkers take advantage of our company's very generous 401k match, and that led into a discussion of the desire to retire early by achieving FI.  The last few months I've been devouring the blog posts (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/all-the-posts-since-the-beginning-of-time/) and have gained much insight about index investing.

Every time I'm tempted to tap into one of my investing accounts to finance some folly, I freak out and tell myself, 'This is unacceptable behavior, you cannot afford to shrink your already tiny stache.'

Now I'm starting to browse the forum, and I'm sure I'll pick up even more good pieces of advice from everyone here.

Matth

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1091 on: February 18, 2014, 09:25:40 AM »
Hi!

My name's Matthew. I'm in my late 20s, married with two kids. We live in Madison, WI, and I left my fairly high paying but very demanding job in October, six weeks after my second child was born. Fortunately, we've been living well below our means and it hasn't been a problem.

I found Mr. Money Mustache just before leaving my job while researching clothing lines, and it really put into focus a lot of what I've been thinking over the last few years (especially after reading the Millionaire Next Door). We have a relatively small amount of Truly Stupid Debt, and a larger amount of student loan debt, but I'm very excited by the position we find ourselves in. My goal is to be retired by the time my eldest daughter starts high school, which is about 12 years from now.

If you're in the south central Wisconsin area, feel free to reach out. This area seems like a great one for FI.


Drew

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1092 on: February 18, 2014, 01:05:20 PM »
Hi everyone, I'm new here.  I'm 24 years old and have been following Dave Ramsey's advice, but then I found this blog and realized I can reach my goals so much faster if I really tighten up and work at it.  I'm sure I'm going to be asking a lot of questions and looking for a lot of advice from you seasoned Mustachians!

Silvie

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1093 on: February 18, 2014, 01:57:13 PM »
Hello,

I'm Michael.  I'm at 20 year old student from North Carolina (although currently studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain).  I love everything about the philosophy about this website and I am striving to live this type of lifestyle.


Hi Michael, I am also currently living abroad in Barcelona (I'm from Holland). If you have any suggestions for cheap places to eat, hang out, etc. or you would like to meet up, let me know!

CND

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1094 on: February 18, 2014, 04:27:48 PM »
Hi All,
I'm 42 and have been living the MMM lifestyle for some time now with my wife and two kids.  It's nice to find a place where my philosophies are validated.  Sometimes it feels weird to not want a BMW, etc.  Especially when a lot of my peers live pretty high on the horse.  I'm FI, still working 10 hours/week at a business that I enjoy and provides a nice income.  But my passion is bikes.  Road, mountain, cyclocross is where I can be found just about every day.  One of the greatest joys of not blowing money on stupid shit has been the ability to buy bikes for others.  It is one of the best feelings of my life.  Thanks for listening!

nicknageli

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1095 on: February 18, 2014, 04:30:53 PM »
One of the greatest joys of not blowing money on stupid shit has been the ability to buy bikes for others.  It is one of the best feelings of my life.  Thanks for listening!

Pretty cool. 

ThermionicScott

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1096 on: February 18, 2014, 10:34:14 PM »
Howdy, I'm Scott and found my way here via some repostings of the "What do you mean you don't have a bike?" classic on BikeForums.net.  Starting in January, I devoured all of the MMM blog posts (along with most of the comments) and then decided to venture on to the MMM forums. 

The "simple math of..." post really kicked off my enthusiasm for cutting costs and increasing my savings, and it looks like I should be able to achieve FI by 40, and I have a wonderful girlfriend who is more-or-less on board.  :^)

Maybe Later

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1097 on: February 19, 2014, 07:11:47 AM »
Hi,

I've been a reader for some time and am just now joining the forum.  I'm a married father of three in Western Canada and we have been living a financially responsible, if not particularly frugal, lifestyle on a small acreage outside the city.  Personal finance is an interest of mine and I can't recall how I arrived at MMM.  I have a great job that allows me to do things I believe are important to society. So, retiring early interests me less than financial independence that will lead to being open to whatever options life offers in the future.

Badass by 41

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1098 on: February 19, 2014, 11:28:05 PM »
Hi!

Just finished reading the blog archives and punching myself in the face for the last 15 years of being a mindless slave to consumerism.

My wife and I and our 3yo son are ready to "live the dream" and are aggressively changing our ways in the hopes of becoming full-time parents in the next 5-6 years.

Can't wait to dig into the forums and light this fire cracker!

jordanread

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1099 on: February 20, 2014, 09:15:56 AM »
Hi!

Just finished reading the blog archives and punching myself in the face for the last 15 years of being a mindless slave to consumerism.

My wife and I and our 3yo son are ready to "live the dream" and are aggressively changing our ways in the hopes of becoming full-time parents in the next 5-6 years.

Can't wait to dig into the forums and light this fire cracker!

Welcome. Look forward to seeing your progress.

"Never underestimate the efficacy of face punches." - Muhammad Ali

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!