Author Topic: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself  (Read 3315968 times)

laterbloomer

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1400 on: June 12, 2014, 12:42:22 PM »
Hi, I live in Canada, I'm 48 and like my nic says, I'm a laterbloomer on this money management stuff. I just found this site last week and am really enjoying it. I'm single with 2 teenage foster daughters. I need to enhance my retirement plans. I'm past the RE stage but I don't mind that so much, I love my job. Anyway, that's all I can think of right now.

skellig

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 16
  • Location: MN
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1401 on: June 13, 2014, 10:14:52 AM »
Hi there. I live in MN, USA and am a long-time lurker.

I've been a saver, but not always frugal. When I got a full time position, I wanted to pay down my college debt ASAP. My priorities have definitely changed and I am glad of it.

I might post a case study and ask for feedback from other mustachians as to how I can continuously improve.

I want to go back to school and have a large 'stach of rent money to live off of. I'm focused right now on building that up by working an additional two part-time jobs to build it much quicker.

Heta

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1402 on: June 13, 2014, 08:12:09 PM »
Hi.  I'm Heta.  I live in Alberta, Canada.  I was a debt-free home owner with two infants by age 36.  Things went a bit sideways after that, but now that kids are adults, and we have careers we love (self-employed) we're looking at semi-retiring in 2 years.  Meaning, we'll work minimal hours to keep ourselves entertained and to fund our foolish spending.

AndThen

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 59
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1403 on: June 13, 2014, 09:37:08 PM »
Hello all. Started off reading the ERE blog in 2011. Then MMM once Jacob stopped posting new articles. I'm 27, male, live near NYC, and will be FI to a bare bone budget by the end of this year. I plan to keep working for another year or two then figure out what's next. Still haven't settled on my "and then" yet. Full time RV, motorcycle camping, or traveling? Time will tell.

princesabeiby

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1404 on: June 14, 2014, 11:33:53 AM »
Hey there, I'm Denise and became frugal (cheap to my children) following a divorce and being unemployed for two years.  It's amazing what you can get by on money-wise when you have to do it.  I play games with myself pretending I don't have a good job or only have the cash in my wallet to make it through the week now.  People think I'm weird.  But, I now have two homes (one rented), 25 acres of land, an old car, and an RV that we will move into in about a year - woohoo!  Debt-free.  Can't wait to learn more from the people here - I'm scared of Wall Street and tend to see real estate as more tangible and more able to control.  Distorted thinking, I know. Have a great weekend!

tcast5000

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1405 on: June 14, 2014, 11:49:16 PM »
Hi Im Tcast and I just recently found out about Mr. Money Mustache a week ago and I am in love with this blog.  I am still a student at the university studying religious studies.  For a long time I didn't know what to study until I took a philosophy class and fell in love with it.  I've spent a lot of time improving my character and now being $30,000 in debt in student loans later its time to focus on money.  I am almost 30 and had a lot of setbacks along the way in my student career, including dealing with bipolar disorder.  I know I started late, really late in saving money and virtually have no savings and only a job that is on call but I am here to learn, look for more/better paying work, and looking to kill these loans that I have within 2 years.  Then afterwards to start saving like crazy.

After being out of work for 3 years due to my mental illness I found a job that I enjoy and just have been working for about 1 year.  It doesnt pay much just 12 an hour on call working with kids at various elementary schools but it is really rewarding.  I want to work with disabled kids in particular blind kids and am currently looking into different schools that teach how to work with blind people. I dont want to take out any more student loans though. I want my work to be rewarding and something I would do for free even if I got payed a lot of money for it.  I love frugality and always considered that my way in life and felt that it was the best way to live life for me.

 Im in a bind with this 30,000 in debt and I still have one more year of school to go, I dont have to start paying until one year from now. Dont have many major expenses, no kids, not married, own a used car which I dont drive much, had to move back in my parents due to my mental illness, I'm learning how to grow my own food, finding the value in hard work, I dont like to spend money, I dont get coffee at starbucks, dont drink, dont smoke, rides an exercise bike for exercise and occasionally spend money on a movie here or there, and I want freedom.   If there are any suggestions I am open to it. Please help me out.

khatmandu

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1406 on: June 16, 2014, 07:07:10 AM »
Hi you can call me Khat, I've been lurking around the website and forum for a few months. Really great place and some very inspirational stories, thanks for all the tips.

Few things about me.
I live in Monaco, possibly the least Mustachian place on this planet. Everything is extremely expensive especially housing.

We are living in a 300 sqft basement apartment with no natural light and it still costs 1650 USD/month... and believe me when I say that this is the cheapest apartment in the area. But one of the positive of Monaco is that there is zero income tax although we still have to pay about 14% social security contributions.

Anyway thought I'd say hi!

acnwtb

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1407 on: June 16, 2014, 09:31:04 AM »
Hi, I'm acnwtb! I need help with my money management skills, but I'm slowing figuring it out. My husband and I are making small changes that will hopefully add up. We're in our late 20's and don't want to work forever!

dmoon

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 9
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1408 on: June 16, 2014, 04:01:59 PM »
Hello.   My name is Darren.  My wife and I are green mustachians and eager learners of 'the many ways'....

carrytrader

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 4
    • ETF Investing
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1409 on: June 16, 2014, 05:53:36 PM »
Hey ya'll.

27 from Boston. Looks to be a great place to hangout and learn to be frugal!

Doomspark

  • Guest
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1410 on: June 17, 2014, 08:37:04 AM »
G'day!

I'm Doomspark and I'm terrible at managing money (that's why I'm here). 

Upstart_Juggler

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1411 on: June 17, 2014, 12:36:24 PM »
Evening all.

I'm 49 and have been mortgage-free for 6 years, and free of any other debt for some time before that. I'm currently managing to save around 55% of my net salary into a company pension and my own SIPP (Self Invested Pension Plan), and I just wish that MMM had existed when I joined my firm's scheme almost 20 years ago, because I might have done things differently.

Anyway, I can't touch the pensions until I'm 55, but if I stay employed and saving at the current rate, and if this government or the next one doesn't cut the pension tax relief for 40% tax payers, then I should just about have enough to be free of work, or at least to have a lot more choice about where I work, and how much.

The reason I started looking at PF websites, and came across MMM, was the recent announcement of the rule change so that pensions will no longer have to be used to buy an annuity, which kind of focuses the mind once you realise how your options are suddenly improved by income drawdown. That may make sense to other UK readers, if not to anyone else.

I shall mostly be lurking!

Upstart Juggler
in Hampshire

malacca

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 267
  • Location: Malaysia!!!
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1412 on: June 17, 2014, 10:21:08 PM »
Hi, I am Dan. I have been sober for 6 months..

Ooops, wrong forum for that.

I am Dan. I have been FI since I turned 40. I worked globally for 20 years. Now have young kids (late starter). Lived all over Asia. Recently returned to the US. Feel like a foreigner as I had been gone so long.

Before the financial crash several of us Expats were living in a lower cost Asian country on the ocean and living off Australian dollar interest (7 to 8% back then). One guy had 2 million in Australia - he spent a lot of time flying around in first class. COL for us was nothing - $1000 for wife and me (living very well). We went to "work" in sandals. Work consisted of going to CPA / accountant / lawyer / online investing or counting our money. Life was great.

After the crash interest rates went to near zero. I had real estate and a couple of companies so it didn't dent my income as much. Others had to readjust their lifestyles until rates came up (or spend principle - a sin in our books).

As I have young kids, I moved back to the US a few years ago. I started in the south flipping foreclosures. That ended and I headed to the midwest for the great schools (but crappy weather).

I bought a bunch of rentals with my cash - most doing 2% net. I have some income assets and companies in Asia that still turn a profit here and there. We are spending about 70% of current investment income - which is high as at one point we spent only 10% when I was still working.

We are bent on heading to SoCal. I may actually work again. I love our lifestyle but feel I should pack away another 500K or so be safer. I would have to work 2 or 3 years.

For SoCal we have 380K cash for a house. Probably have to get a mortgage for a while (I know, a basic sin). I don't want to sell any assets as the returns are so good - and taxes on selling so high.

Any advice on SoCal - San Diego in particular - would be appreciated. My kids are in language immersion so I only have two choices for schools in San Diego - Pacific Beach or Lakeside. Lakeside seems like a dump but the school is good. PB or nearby is so expensive.


TheDaveLaLonde

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 5
  • Location: Auburn Hills, MI
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1413 on: June 18, 2014, 05:38:53 AM »
Hello,

I'm Dave and I am a minimalist

SurfTeach

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1414 on: June 19, 2014, 03:47:15 PM »
First post after what seems like years lurking. Glad to finally be a part of the community and to start taking my frugality to the next level.

I'm an early 30's surfer living and teaching in Japan. Have about 150K stached at the moment and looking to really ramp that up over the next few years before cutting back to (very) part-time work sometime just after my 35th birthday.

Rent is cheap ($230), car gets good milage (need the car to surf and access 7+ schools each week), no cable, and I do most of my own cooking. Budget items that I plan to cut are booze (probably spend as much as my rent at the moment- not good), and some more out of the food budget. I will also try not to buy anymore surfboards (currently have over a dozen), but no promises....

Welcome to all of the other newbies- let's make this happen!

Mikaelus

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 26
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1415 on: June 19, 2014, 07:33:03 PM »
Hi,

I'm a semi-retired artist in his early thirties.

I've managed to save enough so that 4% of my saving would cover my necessities (around $6K p.a.), but I'd like to increase my saving so I could have a bit more luxury (around $8K - $10K p.a. would be perfect). I continue to work on a part time/freelance basis so I can save a bit more, and because I'm now in a position to only take work that interests me.

I live in a nice house in Footscray (a suburb of Melbourne) in Australia.

I was a long time reader of ERE, but have since been getting into MMM. I'm finding the forums very inspiring.

frugalccino

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1416 on: June 21, 2014, 08:24:17 AM »
Hi!

Nice to meet everyone :)

My husband and I live near philly and have 3 boys ages 5, 3 and 5 months.  We really enjoy this blog and it has opened our eyes as to how seriously we've been mismanaging our money.  I feel really silly now for driving our SUV up to starbucks (which is within easy walking distance) and sitting in the drive thru line to get my daily coffee.  Now I walk up there twice a month and buy a bag of coffee to make my own lattes at home.

We've had to endure a year of self-imposed financial hardship recently.  We moved up to PA wildly optimistic that our house in TN would sell quickly, but it took 9 months.  So it was sitting empty for 9 months while we paid for both that house and our temporary apartment (plus utilities for both, OUCH!).  We pulled in about 100k last year (my husband works full-time and I work as a part-time freelance web designer) but we were barely making ends meet.  Often we had to put groceries on credit.

Now that the house has sold we are getting back on track.  We took a hard look at our debt and we've drawn up a plan to pay it all (30k in student loans, 10k in credit cards, 6k in car loans) in the next 3 years.  I really never realized before how terrible our debt it.  We were making the minimum monthly payments on my student loans but had made barely any progress in 7 years! 

PA overall is a great move for us.   Our family has a farm nearby so we bought a freezer to put meat and produce from the farm in.  Everything where we live is very close, so we don't have to drive very far.  We downsized from 2 cars to 1 and haven't looked back. Our family also has a beach house nearby so vacations only cost a tank of gas.  Lastly, we both work from home so there are no commuting costs.  There may still be hope for us yet! :) We are ready to DESTROY OUR DEBT!

climbingthemountain

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 9
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1417 on: June 21, 2014, 01:17:54 PM »
Hello everyone! My name's Nick. I'm 29 and living in Boston.

I grew up moving around a lot, which I think drove me towards minimalism and a desire for self-sufficiency. I found the Mustachian ethos naturally appealing when I discovered it shortly after finishing college, while I was educating myself on the ins and outs of figuring out my retirement plan. Now I'm aiming for early retirement in hopefully 8-10 years, while also trying to convince my gf of two years to hop on the bandwagon.

NorCal

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1454
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1418 on: June 21, 2014, 08:51:58 PM »
I'm Brian, and I've been a strong believer of frugality and financial independence for years.  We're making good progress towards our goal, but can always do better.

I'm currently a resident of the time-space-money vortex that is Silicon Valley, which creates both interesting money opportunities and challenges.

Lutra

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 13
  • Location: A Small Village in NY
  • Otterly frugal.
    • Classic Ranger Rick
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1419 on: June 22, 2014, 07:29:01 AM »
Good morning to the forum!

I'll be 30 in a couple of months, live in a small community in upstate NY, who generally lives and comes in under budget every year on a teacher salary.  My goal is simply to never spend more than I make, and keep a smile on my face all the while. :)

Peregrin

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1420 on: June 23, 2014, 02:52:49 PM »
Hey there!  I've been reading MMM for a while now and wanted to perhaps get some feedback on my own situation.  I'll post the details in the "Ask a Mustachian" forum, but here's the gist of it:  I'm 41, divorced, single mother of four including one with special needs (the youngest) who is unlikely to be able to live independently as an adult.  I read MMM and think, "boy, that'd be nice, but how on earth could I make it happen?????"  :)

canuckie

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 9
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1421 on: June 23, 2014, 04:09:33 PM »
Hi, I'm canuckie from Canada. I'm 25 and I've always been fairly frugal. My journey to MMM started when I began perusing PF blogs with the goal of finding advice and motivation to help my partner pay off his student loans. With a lot of hard work from him and encouragement from me, he paid off the whole $30k in 8 months.

His debt has been paid off for months now, but I continued to go down the rabbit hole of PF blogs and eventually came upon MMM. I have found my tribe.

Also, after 3 years of being to scared to ride in traffic, I am officially a bicycle commuter. MMM gave me the little push I needed!

so.mpls

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 83
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1422 on: June 24, 2014, 08:55:28 AM »
Hi all!  I recently found MMM and am excited to be a part of the forum! 

I'm 25, recently married, and living in the paradise that is Minneapolis, MN.  My wife and I recently paid off our student loans, opened a Vanguard account and will be maxing out our Roths for the first time this year, which is a great feeling!!! 

germaine

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Location: IC,IA
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1423 on: June 24, 2014, 06:17:24 PM »
Greetings! Very (very, very) new to this world. This forum was linked from a Dave Ramsey forum.  On my own in the Midwest.  I look forward to learning a lot!

JodyGirl

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 13
  • Location: Southwest Minnesota
  • FindingFinancialFitness
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1424 on: June 24, 2014, 08:19:34 PM »
Thanks.  We are having fun with the bikes and I will track my eating out spending!

OptimizeOptimism

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 19
  • Location: Broomfield, CO
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1425 on: June 25, 2014, 05:29:49 PM »
Hi all! I've been reading MMM for a little over a month now (made it through the backlog! Woo!). I feel like without even knowing that there were communities out there like this I still had an eye toward the FI goal for a while. My dad actually retired in his late 40s (not so early around here but earlier than anyone else I knew) and I've spent the last few years joking that I wanted to grow up to be just like him. It was a joke because at the time I thought that he just had some magic brain thing that made him good with money. This blog has taught me that that "magic thing" is really having a frugal, optimistic and optimizing mindset... all 3 of which I seem to have picked up on. Turns out, I really am growing up to be my dad!

So, I'm excited to continue learning new tricks from everyone. I've never really been a forum contributer before but I'm going to try to do more than just lurk here. lol

In other news, today was Bike to Work day and I took it as a sign that I needed to finally take the plunge into bicycle commuting. I have to admit that I probably spent more time looking up tips to beginning cyclists today (to make my ride back a little better) than actually working and my sitbones are sore from the ride in but I'm excited about tackling my ride home and developing a new good habit!

neighbor

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 34
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1426 on: June 26, 2014, 04:21:36 AM »
Hi!
I'm neighbor, though I doubt I'm your neighbor as I'm currently living in Germany. Heading to California soon and in preparation for crazy transition spending I've been over-dosing on MMM and the YNAB forum in an attempt to make the best of the situation.

I work from home part time and need to practice better focusing skills so I'll try to limit my browsing/posting - so, in advance, thanks for all the advice and suggestions and input made available for those of us trying to better our lives. I really appreciate it!

ProfWinkie

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 87
  • Location: Midwest and around the world for work
  • What just happened?
    • CACI International
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1427 on: June 26, 2014, 05:50:31 AM »
HEY GUYS:

I teach and specialize in computer security. Just got hired to a new job and moving.

Looking forward to learning more Mustachian ways.

See you around.

b1gm1ke11

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 17
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1428 on: June 29, 2014, 12:35:48 AM »
Hello I'm Mike, 32, from Houston!

Planning to reach FI in about 10 years. 

ketziah

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1429 on: June 30, 2014, 06:33:20 AM »
Hi all! I'm 32 and live in the Midwest. I'm currently in the process of reducing my student loan debt emergency.

Handsome Matt

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1430 on: June 30, 2014, 07:30:11 AM »
Hi,

My name's Matt. A friend said that the home improvement stories on the Mr Money Mustache blog reminded her of my fiance and I. Read the blog, liked what was being said, didn't like the lack of specifics so I thought I'd join and see what other people are doing.

Looking forward to financial independence.

-Matt

Wanderlusting

  • Guest
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1431 on: July 01, 2014, 06:14:11 AM »
Hey Everyone!

I'm a 25 year old currently working on attacking my student loan debt emergency. I'm working to be debt free in a couple years by aggressive savings, stoicism, and a side hustle here and there. I love travel and travel writing, and I plan on doing a lot of traveling once I become FI in about 10 years I hope!

Magclaw

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 33
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1432 on: July 01, 2014, 11:53:16 AM »
Hi,
Posted this in the wrong place but moved my post here now.

Long time reader, new poster. I have been trying to grow my mustache and have utilized alot of info on here, so I thought I would introduce myself and become a more active participant.
I have been heavily trying to recruit my friends into this blog but have had limited success.

The biggest two things I have utilized from this blog besides spending less, is contributing to my 401k (which I had never contributed to before), and 2nd, reducing my $1200/month grocery bill to about $640/month (2 adults/1 baby, diapers and baby food is a killer plus wife is on a gluten free diet)

I have begun tracking my assets on excel and realize I am worth alot less than I would like. We are two working adults with a baby in daycare, but besides daycare we spend very little outside of our grocery bill & mortgage.

Anyways I am very glad to join this community.

Magclaw

Ynari

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 558
  • Age: 31
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1433 on: July 01, 2014, 02:49:02 PM »
I AM SO EXCITE!

I found MMM just a few months ago.  Previously I was a pretty mathy person and occasionally read Get Rich Slowly but I'm finding MMM SO much more my speed.  I love it. 

21 in Chicago with a relatively well-paying cubicle internship (to turn into a job next January - graduating early to save money and also because school isn't my thing.)  I live cheaply (for the city - my individual monthly food and rent budget is under $750, and I bike everywhere) but without compromise (circus classes aren't exactly cheap...  but I consider them a personal investment).  MMM is more about preventing me from accumulating bad habits than healing past wounds, as I have been lucky enough to graduate virtually debt free thanks to my father and grandparents.

Without lifestyle changes, I would be able to hit FI in 7-8 years.  With planned changes, it'll be closer to 5.  The boy and I are already planning our tiny house!

PineapplePrincess

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1434 on: July 02, 2014, 04:53:46 AM »
Hey everyone!

I'm 22 and live in the Chicagoland area. I've always been fairly smart with my money and I had a couple thousand dollars saved up in my bank account. A couple of months ago, I quit my job and have since been unemployed. I live across the street from a mall so I cured my boredom by going shopping nearly everyday. Most of my money is now gone. For what? Purses and shoes and clothes. I'm not happy with myself at all. I'm always so good about not spending unless I need it or at least waiting for sales/clearance/whatever. I really can't believe I blew my money like that. I'm so upset with myself. Thankfully I'm still in a position where I live rent-free and virtually bill-free. I have no debt, good credit so far. I want to build up my bank account to what it was, keep saving and building, learn to be even more frugal with my money, and just create better habits in general that will stick for my future self. :)

Gomo

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 15
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1435 on: July 02, 2014, 09:51:38 AM »
Hi everyone,

I have been reading MMM for a little over a year now. It was refreshing to find someone that thought the same way I did. I am 39 and DW is 36, we are a couple of DINK's living in Ohio. We are debt free still living in our starter home that we bought in 1999 and paid off in 2007. We always were and are quite frugal, we lived on my DW's check and used mine for vacations, taxes and invested the rest. Our savings rate was about 70%, easier to do without payments of any kind. Most people thought we were crazy because we invest so much, they always said you need to buy some stuff. I always replied, "We are buying stuff, we are buying our freedom."

I have been retired for two years now, my goal was to call it a day when our dividends were twice our expenses, that did not happen as planned. I was an engineer for 17 years before being downsized in July 2012. I thought , "well s**t, a little over a year away from my goal then this happens." But then a funny thing happened, my expenses started going down:
Lunches - $120 Mo
Gym Membership through work - $32.5 Mo
Fuel - $180 Mo
City Tax - $83 ( I worked in a different city than I live in and my local does not give credit for tax paid for other cities)
Fed Est Tax Payments - $370 Mo ( For dividends ) Since I don't work anymore we dropped to the 15% bracket and qualified div's are taxed at 0% there. I did not realize this until I met with our accountant the following week, he made me quite happy! MMM should write an article called "The true cost of working". Not sure if he already has or not.

So, right there dropped our monthly expenses $785 per month and with a couple dividend raises in August we met our goal of 2X coverage the following month. I know we were already FI, but I like a little safety factor.

I was not aware of the ways to access money from the 401K, so I put in up to the match and the majority in our brokerage account. All I knew at the time is that I wanted complete control of our investments. We are currently at an 85/15 split. I paid a butt load in taxes along the way. Looking back I probably would have done things differently, but I can't complain how things have worked out.

DW plans on working 3 more years, that would give her 20 years and you get a couple of pretty good perks after the 20 mark. I tell her that we are pretty well set and she can stop anytime she would like, but she has her mind made up.

Well that's our story, glad to be here.



wiggam007

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 10
  • Age: 39
  • Location: Nebraska
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1436 on: July 02, 2014, 10:10:48 AM »
Hello!

I have been an off and on reader of MMM for a couple of years.  As far as cults go, I am much more in the J.Money camp!  But I decided to sign up because I am definitely going to be having some difficult times ahead.  A few years ago I had gotten out of college with a pretty much worthless degree and some decent student debt, around $25k.  This was right around 2008 and with the degree I got and what I wanted to do I couldn't get a job anywhere.  I started working at a Subway to pay the bills and pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck.  During this time I was pretty frugal, although not as much as I could have been.  I managed to pay all the bills, including the payments on my debt, while renting out a single room.  Well, after four years of doing this I thought I would like to do something different and better with my life so I decided to apply to law school.  I got in and moved to go there.  I am just starting my third year now and graduation/employment is on the horizon.  However, I have accumulated a massive debt now, about to roll into 6 figures and have no for sure employment after graduation.  I am working a part time job right now, but I am anticipating the face punch this debt is about to throw me as soon as I get out of school and so I need to start planning and trying to be frugal now to save me some money as well as increasing my working time so that I can decrease my loans this last year.  I also need to start planning for after school and what I am going to do.

Anyway, that is my story.  I mainly joined the forum after seeing the challenges section so expect to see me hanging out there a lot!

Doneanddone14

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1437 on: July 02, 2014, 04:09:35 PM »
Hi Guys,

My name is Steve and I live in South Florida.

I must admit that I just found this forum a few days ago. I follow a few forums during the days and I followed a link to this site. What a great find.


jordanread

  • Guest
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1438 on: July 02, 2014, 05:35:50 PM »
Hi Guys,

My name is Steve and I live in South Florida.

I must admit that I just found this forum a few days ago. I follow a few forums during the days and I followed a link to this site. What a great find.

Welcome!! This will be a journey for sure. It might just even change your life. Where'd you get linked from?

Hello!

I have been an off and on reader of MMM for a couple of years.  As far as cults go, I am much more in the J.Money camp!  But I decided to sign up because I am definitely going to be having some difficult times ahead.  A few years ago I had gotten out of college with a pretty much worthless degree and some decent student debt, around $25k.  This was right around 2008 and with the degree I got and what I wanted to do I couldn't get a job anywhere.  I started working at a Subway to pay the bills and pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck.  During this time I was pretty frugal, although not as much as I could have been.  I managed to pay all the bills, including the payments on my debt, while renting out a single room.  Well, after four years of doing this I thought I would like to do something different and better with my life so I decided to apply to law school.  I got in and moved to go there.  I am just starting my third year now and graduation/employment is on the horizon.  However, I have accumulated a massive debt now, about to roll into 6 figures and have no for sure employment after graduation.  I am working a part time job right now, but I am anticipating the face punch this debt is about to throw me as soon as I get out of school and so I need to start planning and trying to be frugal now to save me some money as well as increasing my working time so that I can decrease my loans this last year.  I also need to start planning for after school and what I am going to do.

Anyway, that is my story.  I mainly joined the forum after seeing the challenges section so expect to see me hanging out there a lot!

Sorry to hear about the debt. At least you found us. Look forward to seeing you in the Gauntlet!!! I handle the monthly biking challenges, along with a couple of other fun stuff. It's gonna be fun.

PatrickJ

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1439 on: July 03, 2014, 11:35:10 AM »
Hi I'm Patrick. I have been reading MMM and just discovered the forum. I love in the suburbs of Baltimore MD with my wife and 6 month old daughter

laurievan

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1440 on: July 03, 2014, 06:41:31 PM »
Hi I'm Laurie from Saskatchewan (SK), Canada.  The last couple days I have been reading MMM's blog every spare minute I have.  So thankful I came across his blog in a google search. 

My husband and I plan on semi-retiring in 5 years time.  Live 6 months in Mexico like a local and 6 months in SK and work full-time when in SK. 

Our mortgage is due to be paid off in 7 years but we are doubling payments and a yearly lump sum to have it paid in 3 years or less.  We are now a one car couple as we were for 23 of 27 years of married life. 

DrJohn

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 83
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1441 on: July 03, 2014, 11:24:00 PM »
Hi,
I'm a Brit/American.  Born in the UK, spent a while in Texas and now in the Middle East as an Expat.  Some nice ideas here- been lurking around and now it's time to join in...
« Last Edit: July 03, 2014, 11:33:13 PM by DrJohn »

zopersel

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1442 on: July 04, 2014, 03:23:36 PM »
Hi, my name is Zoe, I'm 26 and I live in Luxembourg (that tiny country between France, Belgium and Germany for those who don't know).

I discovered MMM about a month ago, after having followed a link from David Cain's blog Raptitude, and was instantly hooked despite years of mindless consumerist conformism. Reading about saving through badassity has resonated on a deep level and made me feel like there is a whole side to life I've been missing. I was already in the middle of turning my life around (taking up running, losing weight, etc.) and this was just the icing on the cake: how to reach my goals much much sooner than anticipated, and freeing myself from the crippling worry of having to do the same job I currently do for an indefinite number of years.

Only two months ago I was trailing miserably behind the "by the time I'm 65, retirement age will have been pushed up to 75" wagon, dragging my feet with a sour taste of having been somewhat cheated by society along the way. Well yes of course, but not in the way I imagined I'd been cheated. And so now I find myself wincing when someone (as one of my colleagues did today) says something like "happy sales weekend!". My brain goes "Sales? Pah. That would be fine if I actually needed something, but why should I go buy something I fundamentally don't need even if it is a bit cheaper."

Sorry about the rant (half British, appologies are second nature), but reading MMM makes me feel very enthusiastic but also very alone sometimes (two colleagues of mine had this kind of reaction when I showed them MMM: "Well I like some of the ideas but it's not very realistic. I don't want to deprive myself of everything...") and so I can't help sharing a bit.

My conclusion is that while it did make me feel horridly uncomfortable for about 10 seconds, I'm glad MMM made me write down the cold hard figures of our household finances and realise that the interest we are paying on my husband's student loan is just ridiculous. I look forward to getting rid of that nonsense in about a year's time, instead of the 10-15 years we'd deluded ourselves into thinking were normal, and then saving up for a house also much earlier than anticipated.

Thanks you Mr Money Mustache, for helping me grow that first bit of money stubble. :-)

Rekon

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 126
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1443 on: July 04, 2014, 05:43:56 PM »
Hi,

My name is Jim.  I've been reading this forum for quite some time and look forward to become part of the community.   I'm 26 and I just got out of debt.  Now it's on to living frugal and investing! 

TheAndes

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 2
  • Age: 40
  • Location: Western WA
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1444 on: July 04, 2014, 08:35:18 PM »
I am a long time reader of MMM's blog, and also a long time lurker in the forum. I've decided it's time to contribute to the forum. I work as an optician, and my husband is in marketing. I used to work as a tailor, and have a degree in design. The design degree is actually what lead me here when I realized my $30,000 in student loans were just sitting there, costing me about $4 per day in interest, and I still had to pay the principal on top of that. I started in February 2014 paying down my loans, and they sit at $11,743 today. We have put every spare dollar into this debt emergency, and hope to have them gone by November 2014. We do of course save for retirement through our work and also our own Roth IRAs. After this we will only have mortgage debt, and I feel like that will be when the real fun can begin on our journey to FI. Nice to meet you all!

RenaissanceGal

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1445 on: July 05, 2014, 09:36:33 PM »
Hi all!

I've been reading MMM and lurking on here for quite a while now, so I figured it was well past time for me to actually get on and participate. I'm 26, college grad with an English Lit degree, currently finishing up a 1-year English teaching contract in Taiwan. My big challenge is to balance my desire to pay of student loans and save with my travel/adventure addiction. Teaching abroad is a decent solution for now--I can travel and make/save money (not a lot, but a significant amount). Still, I'll be on the lookout for new ways to increase my badassity!

EarlyRetirementGuy

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 133
    • Early Retirement Guy
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1446 on: July 06, 2014, 10:07:02 AM »
Long time lurker, first time poster. Just started on this journey towards early retirement and hopefully I can share my journey with you all :)

BobToday

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 5
    • BobToday
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1447 on: July 06, 2014, 12:24:43 PM »
Hi, I am Bob from the Netherlands.
Have been following MMM for quite a while now and decided it is time to take more action. 
I live together with my girlfriend and our five months old son. I tried to convince my spouse step by step just as is being explained in mr M's post (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/22/selling-the-dream-how-to-make-your-spouse-love-frugality/)
She likes the idea a lot, so we are looking at ways that bring us forwards in our early retirement ambitions. Currently we are still far from our goal, but rough calculations show that it should be possible before we turn 40. That's 9 years from now.
I am going to follow the forum more to share ideas and I am particularly interested in The Investor Alley, as that is a topic where I have to learn more about.

Looking forward to share ideas with you!

dgadletour

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1448 on: July 06, 2014, 01:25:26 PM »
Hello, my username indicates what kind of bicycle I ride. I just purchased a 1974 Scwhinn Le Tour. Classic baby blue and rides oh so smooth. Anyway, I'm beginning my foray into serious mustachianism after piddling with its tenets for some time now. I just purchased a road bike this month in addition to signing up for Republic and cut Verizon off today. I am also going to be severing the cable line from Comcast (as soon as I am done writing this post) and am planning on getting serious about this whole being financially independent thing. I'm 28, a public elementary school teacher and am married to a beautiful 27 year old public elementary teacher as well. We make our home in a suburb of Atlanta, GA and are a bikeable/walkable distance from everything we like to do (town square arts events and concerts, as well as being a .5 mile from the grocery store). We are privileged to live as if we are retired for 8 weeks every year in the summer. :) A small community of friends of mine have passed around this blog for some time now and we all seem to be committed. Anyway, I hope this online community will help in terms of keeping me and Mrs. Le Tour motivated and to not repeat our sins of consumerism.

Al1961

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 225
  • Age: 62
  • Location: Alberta - B.C.
  • Dad of a husky Husky
Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1449 on: July 06, 2014, 03:51:03 PM »
Hi. I found this community last week after following a link from the Bogleheads forum.

Back in May I decided it was time to take a thorough inventory of where our finances were at and discovered, after adding in the commuted value of my pension, that FIRE was within reach! After double checking my math (about 100 times!) I put in my notice.

I'm retiring at the end of July, age 53. DW asserts that she will continue to work for another 4 years, at which time she will have a fully indexed pension equivalent to 60% of her salary.

We've tried to be fiscally prudent. We're not really all that frugal, but we do live below our means. Our savings rate (including pension plan savings and mortgage principal reduction in the calculation) has averaged 53% of our take-home since at least the beginning of 2011. We buy what we need, and a bits of what we want - but we think about it first.

Since putting in my notice, my whole outlook on life has changed. It's amazing how liberating the realization that you don't have to be a wage slave for another decade or so is.

I'm glad to be joining those of you who have already FIREd, and wish those of you still working on it all the best. Now it's time to work on improving on my badassity.

Al