Author Topic: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself  (Read 3315986 times)

Diniecita

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2800 on: June 13, 2016, 08:45:34 AM »
Hi. I'm a bit new to forums like this. I live in rural Minnesota and we are working on biking more places. Hubby's job is about  30 mins away in the car. We love where we are, and don't plan to move. We want to retire on this property. No debt, working on paying of mortgage and then we might buy another house in the city (not THE cities, just one closer to everything.) I ride bikes with the dogs down our dirt road access. Since we have a half husky he needs the run. We've only tried to go a few places on the bikes so far. We're working on getting into good enough shape to do it more. Also, I'm currently riding a mountain bike. I'm looking at road bikes to get places faster, but they are so expensive! Anyways, that's our struggles right now. But, I feel like we're doing well. Also, I'm reading through all the old MMM blog posts right now, I'm up to mid 2012 now. I should be done by the end of the year! HA HA.
I look forward to growing an awesome mustache.

Bicycle_B

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2801 on: June 14, 2016, 05:07:49 PM »
hi all,

i'm 22 and just started my first job this year. my parents are very MMM-oriented: both immigrants, very frugal (in their late twenties, they were saving money from their graduate school stipends to send home to their parents), and have quietly invested in property for the past 2 decades. in contrast, i've been pretty profligate with spending. in high school i had a part-time job and in college i was working every summer, but i was spending most of my money on music festivals, bougie restaurants, designer fashion.

i'm not really proud of that and i want to be more responsible about my spending. i found MMM some time back but never really took it seriously. i sat down this weekend and read through the archives, and i really want to commit to this. i'm making more money now than i ever have and i don't want my lifestyle to inflate, and to get used to a casual luxury here, a casual luxury there, and start blowing all my paychecks on things that won't matter to me in a few years.

my goal for 2016 is to save ~70% of my take-home pay. lurking the forums has already been super encouraging, and i'm looking forward to reading more thoughts and wisdom from the people here

Good for you!  You have chosen a great habit to develop for your new adventures in adult living. 

Next, I dare you to find ways to add joy to your living experiments without significant expense.  Stretch goal:  within a year, be having more fun than during your spendy period, but on less then 10% of the discretionary expense.

marion10

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2802 on: June 15, 2016, 08:32:41 PM »
I'm Marion and enjoying the blog- married and just became eligible to retire age 56-long time civil servant.  Two kids- in their 20s- who are on their own.  They both got BAs with no debt- thanks to our savings- an they seem grateful. Not sure how much longer I will keep working-we live in a high cost of living area-our property taxes are around $10,000 a year. Always been pretty frugal.

Annette

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2803 on: June 15, 2016, 08:40:59 PM »
Hi All,

My name is Annette. I am a teacher and I have 2 kids, I'm not in debt but would love to learn how to be safe financially.Looking forward to meet you all. :):)

Fresh Bread

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2804 on: June 16, 2016, 09:07:08 PM »
Hi everyone, I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I was led to MMM via other frugal websites/ and an interest in downshifting - we've been living a low expense life basically forever. We had already paid off our mortgage before finding MMM so that I could downshift (ie leave my horrible corporate job) and get to do something that didn't pay as well but that I enjoyed. That worked out well at first but then a couple of years later I made the mistake of starting a business that now has me tied to working about 35-40hrs M-F, whoops. Hubby has continued to work a high paid job because he doesn't mind it but has switched to contracts.

We live in Sydney with our dog. We find ourselves in a fortunate situation in this HCOL city. Our home by the beach is paid off but is now (due to nothing more than good luck on our part) worth a small fortune after a crazy period in the property market. We also now have an almost paid off investment property, the income from which covers our essential expenses (about $25k including unnecessary private health) but no more. If we wanted to truly retire right now we could sell our house, move somewhere cheaper (out of Sydney) and invest the rest. Or we could stay here forever and pay for our fun stuff by working part time jobs. But hubby right now is having trouble finding a contract after taking a 5 month break, and to be honest, that scares me a bit, we both thought it would be more of a reliable income stream that we could turn on and off as we wanted. Which makes me think: maybe now is the time to cash in and leave.

But.... I do like our place, it's got a lovely feel about it. We'd also miss our friends (but we'd only be an hour or two away somewhere like Kiama). There's no real rush to decide, we make enough from the investment property and my business to live on and we can redraw from the almost paid off investment mortgage if there is an emergency. And as much as would like to retire, I worry that I would stay in bed all day!! 

PS Literally just got one of those phonecalls from a real estate agent asking if we want to sell up as I was typing...!

adamR18

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2805 on: June 16, 2016, 10:24:19 PM »
Hey there! Adam here.

I'm a teacher located near St. Louis, Missouri.

I pay my credit cards in full weekly, and don't have a car loan. Unfortunately, I do have a rather large student loan burden.

Started to use YNAB a year ago, and somehow wound up here.

I'm paying extra every month on my student loan, hoping to get it paid off ASAP!

Boo

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2806 on: June 17, 2016, 09:57:27 PM »
Hi. 

Mid 40's M in Ohio.  Recently divorced and split custody of 2 tween kids.

Before divorce we had no debt other than a mortgage, stellar credit, and some (not great) progress toward retirement savings.

Since separation and now divorce have made some head way getting the decrees settled (e.g. payout equity to ex-wife with re-fi) and my life and kids life going.

Refi will have a higher balance amount but a lower monthly payment due to lower rate which will help somewhat with cashflow. 

Have a car loan on a used car that I may be able to sale to pay off the loan or loose a bit.  Looking to get a used car that is more dependable and fits needs better.  Will probably be about the same monthly payment as what I have now but will be more dependable.

Have credit card debt that has mounted to 10K.  Drives me nuts since I always use to pay it off but attorney fees and other expenses have driven it up.

Child support and alimony are really hurting but taking it one step at a time.  One thing I've done in the interim is cut back on my 401K so I have cashflow so debt is not increasing as much.  I'm at 80% loan to value so I cannot put debt on home equity line to get the tax break.  Not sure if I should put the debt on a low intro rate credit card of 1.9% for 18 months and see how far I can get. 

Really trying to figure what to do now.  Scratching my head with the finances while trying to stabilize the kids, home, life, etc.

Thanks


SouleroXT

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2807 on: June 20, 2016, 09:46:43 AM »
So yeah, just found this place of reddit, and was curious about a few things: (BTW, live in South Carolina)

1. How badly screwed am I (19, no debt, only have 190 USD saved for a car fund) I plan on going to a local community college, and possibly snagging a business degree as I was told CA degrees are crap early on, and a business degree would help teach me how to learn to run a kitchen. (although if you guys have better ideas, I'm open to them.)

2. Should I try and work towards a 3 month emergency fund, then slowly build it up from there instead of rushing a 6 month emergency fund?

3. After the emergency fund goal is reached, do you guys have any ideas on how to best boost my income as much as possible? (keep in mind I will most likely be making meh wages due to a starting position in the restaurant biz, so any tips on stretching my dollar is appreciated!)

4. Anyone know what would be considered a decent living wage in SC? Dad makes about 45K~ or so a year, and it keeps food on the table/plus being able to eat out now and again with another person (thats me.) Anyhow, assuming I made that much, would I be able to use it more efficiently? I plan on having no kids + living in a small apartment once I move out.

Anatidae V

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2808 on: June 22, 2016, 04:14:06 AM »
SpuleroXT, you seem to be in a fine position for a 19yo! Might be worthwhile posting in Ask A Mustachians for tailored help :)

Sydneystache

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2809 on: June 22, 2016, 05:04:24 AM »
Hi everyone, I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I was led to MMM via other frugal websites/ and an interest in downshifting - we've been living a low expense life basically forever. We had already paid off our mortgage before finding MMM so that I could downshift (ie leave my horrible corporate job) and get to do something that didn't pay as well but that I enjoyed. That worked out well at first but then a couple of years later I made the mistake of starting a business that now has me tied to working about 35-40hrs M-F, whoops. Hubby has continued to work a high paid job because he doesn't mind it but has switched to contracts.

We live in Sydney with our dog. We find ourselves in a fortunate situation in this HCOL city. Our home by the beach is paid off but is now (due to nothing more than good luck on our part) worth a small fortune after a crazy period in the property market. We also now have an almost paid off investment property, the income from which covers our essential expenses (about $25k including unnecessary private health) but no more. If we wanted to truly retire right now we could sell our house, move somewhere cheaper (out of Sydney) and invest the rest. Or we could stay here forever and pay for our fun stuff by working part time jobs. But hubby right now is having trouble finding a contract after taking a 5 month break, and to be honest, that scares me a bit, we both thought it would be more of a reliable income stream that we could turn on and off as we wanted. Which makes me think: maybe now is the time to cash in and leave.

But.... I do like our place, it's got a lovely feel about it. We'd also miss our friends (but we'd only be an hour or two away somewhere like Kiama). There's no real rush to decide, we make enough from the investment property and my business to live on and we can redraw from the almost paid off investment mortgage if there is an emergency. And as much as would like to retire, I worry that I would stay in bed all day!! 

PS Literally just got one of those phonecalls from a real estate agent asking if we want to sell up as I was typing...!

Welcome fellow Sydneysider!

Don't sell your Sydney pad, keep it. If you want to move to Kiama, buy a second home and see if Kiama suits you. Use it as a weekender. The last thing you want to do is sell your Sydney place and not be able to buy back in. We have a second home/weekender on the north coast and my neighbours (mostly Sydneysiders) have a Sydney pied a terre to come to eg medical, education, family, friends etc.

The seachangers who are unhappy have sold off all their Sydney assets and given the prices now, are pretty much stuck on the coast and the not so pleasant aspects of it: unemployment, lower wages, drugs, bikies etc. the seachangers who have adjusted well have largely involved themselves in the community which we hope to emulate down the track.

The NBN is now in the process of being rolled in the north coast but won't count on it until say 10 years down the track to see if it is really viable income wise.

You seem to have good plans but at least keep a Sydney option eg downsize and build your dream home in the south.

Best of luck! It is good to have options living in this traffic rage roid city! Our north coast home is our weekend escape :-)

MousyMo

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2810 on: June 22, 2016, 10:24:23 AM »
Hi!
Longtime Lurker here!

I don't remember how I wandered on this site. Glad I did.

Love reading posts on financial ah-ha moments! Love reading life stories/work stories.

As for me, DINK couple, Scientist/Engineer, great health, frugal enough-ish, comfortable living.

Itching to get out of the comfort zone. Just don't know how yet.

Still searching.

~ MousyMo

MoneyGoneRogue

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2811 on: June 23, 2016, 04:04:17 AM »
Hey there,

Long time reader - first time writer! Come from Australia - learnt a lot from the site, very inspiring.

mynewchoice

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2812 on: June 24, 2016, 09:38:06 PM »
Greetings everyone!

Thought I would jump in here with a little introduction as well.  Our family consists of myself (40) and my wife (I know better) and our two boys who are in high school--they will be a senior and sophmore this coming school year.  When I graduated college I had plenty of student loans and credit card debt, which I paid off as I became an avid reader of The Motley Fool.  Once the debt had been eliminated, I had my first introduction to the concept of FIRE (and had even started a blog about it, too bad I never did as well with at as MMM otherwise my story would be quite different) but I didn't truly adopt that lifestyle to get there.

Since that time, I have had the thought that we were doing okay.  We could be doing better but we were saving and chugging along.  I read a thread here on the forums and someone wrote something that really struck home with me.  It was a line that said this person thought they were doing okay because they didn't have any credit card debt and everything was paid off every month.  That has been the exact mentality that I have had for too long now.  As I have put together my new path to FI spreadsheet, courtesy of the amazing template shared by IndyPendent and WeinerDog, it was a facepunch moment as I realized how much better we could be doing.

I am working on introducing MMM concepts into our family slowly as I know there will be some resistance in certain areas, but full support in other areas.  Today I returned our cable modem to Comcast as I finally bought one of my own--talk about a foolish monthly expense when you can be in the green after 6-12 months with your own modem.  We are close to pulling the plug on DirecTV, although I would like to get an antennae before I do so I can get the local channels reliably for when football season arrives.  I have a motorcycle, antique car, and an old car that was my grandma's that I am planning to put into storage (i.e. post on CraigsList) and start to declutter.

It is so encouraging to be among so many like-minded people on this journey, and I look forward to learning from and sharing with so many of you in the future.

Thanks,
mnc

Simple _Socrates

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2813 on: June 27, 2016, 04:46:59 AM »
Hi everyone, signed up a few days ago, got here via a "art of manliness" archive pod cast. Love the site and the idea of frugality. I started on the path to debt freedom a few months ago after struggling to pay down debts left over from a failed business I owned. I'm going to use the ideas here to accelerate the process. If there are any Uk/Ireland posters that have journals can you point me to them please.

Rickardo

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2814 on: June 28, 2016, 04:58:01 AM »
Hi all. I am really happy to be here :) I used to be in a lot of debts before but not anymore.I have cleared all that out.But still I would like to be safe.Looking forward to read a lot of great posts and ideas :)

ptobest

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2815 on: July 17, 2016, 09:24:52 PM »
Hello!

I stumbled across this site a couple days ago when I was doing a skim of financial sites. Been trying for awhile to find a retirement calculator that didn't assume you will always spend a certain % of your salary, and this website finally gave me answers on that subject. Been crushing through all the blog posts this weekend, and figured I would give the forums a try.

Anyhow, I'm 36, in a relationship with a man who is frugal, I have no debt, and have the start (but still a ways to go) of decent savings. I've always been pretty good with money, but past bouts of underemployment and spendthrift exes have kept me from being where I'd like to be. High hopes for the future though - I've finally worked my way into a decent situation in the tech world, and will be relocating from the Bay Area to Denver, which will make my wallet much happier!

I've got some decent frugal habits - really like to cook, prefer shopping for clothes at thrift stores, like to walk and bike places instead of drive if I can - but I've got some weaknesses as well (online shopping as a mood lifter, an addiction to sushi) that I need to work on. Also need to work on better understanding the stock market, index funds, what to keep in savings verses invest, etc. I love the idea of financial independence - I am a creative person and would love the time to focus on art and writing without the 40 hour a week job sucking the energy out of me - I just need to work on the best path to get there for myself. Looking forward to learning more great tips on here!

KayoticSully

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2816 on: July 18, 2016, 11:14:26 AM »
Hello Everyone!

I found MMM about a year and a half ago, and have been lurking on the forums a bit. It is overdue that I say hi and introduce myself!

I'm a 26 year old software engineer and just married the love of my life two months ago!  Due to where we both grew up our wedding was quite expensive... However, it was this crazy event and trying to afford it that drove me to seek out MMM.  I am very grateful for everything this site and forum has introduced me to, from the idea of FI to Stoicism.  The past year and a half has been quite a journey and I can't believe the progress I have made.  Even my own mental shift and how I view money now vs then has surprised me.  That said I (we) have a LONG way to go. I'm sure I will eventually convert my wife over to the MMM way of thinking.  Shes actually pretty frugal already, but does have some expensive tastes, haha.

I'll see everyone around!

« Last Edit: July 18, 2016, 11:15:57 AM by KayoticSully »

Investmenthunting

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2817 on: July 18, 2016, 04:06:48 PM »
Hi everyone,

I'm Nathan. Long-time reader of MMM. I finally joined the forum today. I'm a 40 something who lives in the SF Bay Area. I have two teenage children, 18 and 15. I look forward to interacting with this forum. I also blog about my own personal finance journey over at Investment Hunting. http://www.investmenthunting.com/. You can learn more about me and my journey here http://www.investmenthunting.com/about/, if your interested.

dignam

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2818 on: July 19, 2016, 08:03:33 AM »
Hi all - my first post!  I've been lurking for a while and figured it was time to join the fray.

Background: 30 year old guy, not married, no kids, work in the IT sector.  I have probably one of the most expensive hobbies possible: I'm a pilot.  That will be something I continue to wrestle with since I love aviation, but I also want to be FI soon (I think I used the acronym correctly ;) ).  Counting home equity from my rental property, my NW is around the $75k range.

I have one really stupid debt (car loan @ 3%).  That is my current target for paydown.  Besides that, a little over $10k in student loans, and my mortgage.  I rent, but am a landlord and lease my house to a family (rental income covers mortgage payment).

I've never paid a cent in credit card interest and will never ever do it.  Credit is excellent (just shy of 800).  I'm at the point now where I need to start slashing the spending: the big one is food/drink.  No more daily $5-$10 runs to the cafe.  Eat out less, cook at home more.  I'm about 6 miles from work and my car is fuel efficient so not much to gain there.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2016, 09:57:04 AM by dignam »

CGSLI

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2819 on: July 20, 2016, 12:55:32 PM »
Hi all,

My first post! From the Netherlands, so a new Dutch Mustachian over here. Have read a lot on the blog and thought it was time to register over here. Am working currently in the Netherlands, but plans are to work across the border, so maybe i'm joining the Americans in a few years, since the company i'm working for is based in the Boston area.

Have a girlfriend, who has the same mindset as I have. We are renting a nice apartment over here. Net worth now about € 10k, but planning to double that in the next months and save more every month. I'm going far to save some extra, some examples of what i did / what i plan to do:
- Showering cold -> main reason was my health
- Selling my motor and buying a cheaper one which is more reliable -> this one gives lot of concerns with maintenance and every month unexpected costs
- Already denounced a lot of unneccesary subscriptions and insurances

I'm already biking to work, since it's only 3 km's from my apartment. Hope to end this year with a savingsrate of around 55% from March on, since that's my starting date for getting Mustachian. When my girlfriend finally get's her self-employed business running I hope that this can increase to around 65% and that I'm able to start my own business, next to my daily job.

Net income every month for myself only is € 2600 :)

bajabound

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2820 on: July 20, 2016, 01:35:20 PM »
Greetings!  We are Mr. and Mrs. Seeks - aka Bajabound.  We are Idahoans but are temporarily living in Washington making some serious moola.  We are in our mid 60's and will retire in three years, actually 2 years, 11 months, 7 days, 11 hours and 59 minutes, but we aren't counting.

We have two grown children and thanks to them we have three beautiful granddaughters; 19, 14 and 4. 

We own a house in Idaho, a house in Washington and a casita in Baja, Mexico.  Our plan is to sell the house in Washington and buy another house in Idaho when we retire.  We will be able to pay cash for the house (it is our mother's house.) When we retire we will be debt free.  We plan to live six months in Idaho and six months in Baja.  We own an acre of sand and cactus on the Sea of Cortez near the bottom of the Baja.  It is paradise and cheap to live there.

We are using the snowball plan to pay off our bills.  Here is how that works if you don't know:
First, you have to have an extra amount of money you can put as an "accelerator amount (AA)."  Say that AA is $500.00.  You take your AA and add it to the payment for one of your debts.  So if my debt payment (DP) is $300.00, I now make a payment of $800.00 a month (AA+DP).  It will pay off fast.  Once that is paid off, you take the AA ($500.00) and the DB you aren't paying anymore ($300.00) and you apply that amount ($800.00) to the next debt; say your payment is $200.00, so now your new AA is 800.00.  So your payment on the debt is the AA+200.00= $1000.00 per month on that debt.  You do the same thing over and over until everything is paid off.  It's a great way to pay off houses, cars, boats, campers, everything.

I hope this information will help someone.

I wanted to say thank you to Mr. and Mrs. MMM for sharing your life and such great ideas.  We plan to glean as much as we can.

God bless ~ Mrs. Seeks

pwcfan

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2821 on: July 20, 2016, 04:39:16 PM »
Noob here..........interesting topics & responses here.
The wife and I are in our late 50's, and cannot wait to retire.
We learned as youngsters that we had NO rich relatives and have saved a bunch since our early 20's.
We own our home, est value $600k, have $1.3M in 401k's and prox $200k in other assets.  No other debt.
We feel like we are getting close......
We live within our means.  We have 2 5-10 year old cars, max our our 401k's, old clothes.........we enjoy saving $$.  I commute via bike.
You all make me jealous !!
We will keep coming back here to see what you all are discussing and try and figure out how close we are to FIRE.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2016, 05:02:01 PM by pwcfan »

AdaBeansonFire

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2822 on: July 24, 2016, 10:16:46 AM »
Hi! I'm Mary. Found MMM about 9 months ago and am hooked. Started getting serious this month and am aiming for FIRE by 2019. Husband is on board now too.

JohnRL

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2823 on: July 24, 2016, 05:21:35 PM »
Hi-

I'm John, I live in Staten Island NYC and work in heavy construction in manhattan.
300k+ NW and no debts besides a small car loan. (worst car i've owned so far but love to drive)
Been reading since december. Finally joined the forum to respond to a topic and help a member, have a lot of questions and hope to ask them in the relevent areas in the coming weeks.
Ive been thinking about early retirement for years but always thought it was 10+ years out and not 1-3! (could've been sooner had a not waisted a lot of money over the years)

Guess I'll be sticking around awhile.

kiva822

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2824 on: July 27, 2016, 02:03:33 AM »
Hi

New here and introducing before really diving in.  Wife and I in our early/mid 40's but with twin 5 year olds (we got started late).  This situation gives life / the concept of FI a unique twist, to say the least.

We found YNAB about a year ago and sooooo bummed we didn't have something like that before.  Trying to decide where we fit into the MMM 'model'; i am more frugal than the Mrs., so that's always an item of discussion...

Current situation is no 'bad' debt (e.g. revolving or credit card). Bought a new family car late last year (which we will drive until the wheels fall off) which was financed for 5, but should be paid off within 2 years.  I have a student loan that has $17k and 9 years left.  Mortgage on primary house as well as rental.  Rental is self-sustaining / pays it's own maintenance and I want to start investing the profits. 

I think I will first start looking around here for investment advice, as our 403b of 100k is with American Funds and we just started a Roth IRA as well as another Roth (only about $5k each now). 529's for the kids.   I think our investment strategy may be a bit off / could be more efficient, so I'm looking to read more there. 

I guess that's it for now....will be interesting to see what we learn / take on here...

MrRealEstate

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2825 on: July 27, 2016, 02:35:37 AM »
Modesto, CA resident. 25YO. Engaged.

Real Estate Agent
Production Supervisor for KraftHeinz
Landlord
Production Supervisor/Equipment Operator for family's hay harvesting company

Kraft Heinz job is by far the least favorite, but it's the most consistent paycheck. I had a family friend who works as a manager here and is close to retiring but couldn't find anyone to take care of the computer work so I'm helping out. It's interesting to learn how the processing of food occurs so it's a nice job, but the most time intensive.

Living off 45% of the Kraft Heinz salary and a little rental income. Real Estate income helps buy new rental properties and pay down stupid debt(bout a house with 10% down, but the net cost of my PITI is $61 since it has a rental on the property, and a truck loan I got when I graduated 3 years ago( double face punch, but the truck is typically loaded down with a diesel tank, air compressor, and tool box over the summer for the hay harvesting company.) Also paid off my fiance's scion TC loan to set us up well for our marriage in a few months.

I can definitely feel the freedom of FI since I could survive if something happens to the Kraft Heinz jobs. My coworkers always get worried about performance reviews, but they also have new mercedes and corvettes.

celine31

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2826 on: July 27, 2016, 09:34:52 AM »
Well hi everyone!
I'm Céline, 31 year old and I currently live in Ireland.
I've been following the blog and board for a while but finally decided I'd like to join you guys and participate.
I've recently moved from London(after 8 years) to Cork which I think is the biggest financial decision of my life. I did love London but everything was just too expensive and I ended up spending way more of my savings than I wanted, even though I was working freelance.
I now work for Apple here in work and I'm planning to save up to half my salary and possibly buy a house in a couple of years if I can manage to save enough for a deposit.
I also downloaded a program to keep track on my spendings and it has proving to be very efficient, I guess there's something that happens in your brain when you see all your spendings in a big pizza shape circle with different colours, it allows you to see things very clearly I guess.
Anyway, I'm happy to be here and looking forward to participate in your discussions!

Channel-Z

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2827 on: July 27, 2016, 09:57:16 AM »
I've lurked for a while. So, I might as well introduce myself.

I live in the Kansas City area, which is like having an economic cheat code. Skilled people can find good-paying jobs here and the cost of living is still reasonable. I turn 40 this year, no wife, no kids, just a rickety car.

I've never made a lot of money, so I've been living the saver/less-is-more lifestyle for a long time. The result is about $170,000 in cash and an extremely small retirement fund (never had much to put away in the early years). It's unlikely I'll ever be able to retire. But I hope to learn a few tricks to simplify my life as much as possible.

moof

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2828 on: July 27, 2016, 05:28:08 PM »
Moof here.  Been lurking a bit. Thought I was doing pretty good, and I am by comparison to the average american, but feel I have been remiss now that I have seen how far a little more discipline goes.

Currently 39, wife, kid.  3 cars, but just $2k total car debt.  No credit card balances in years.  I was targeting mid 50's to retire, which seemed great till I realized I could possibly pull that in before I hit 50.  Currently sitting on $0.5 M in retirement accounts.  My own number is about $1.3M to feel comfortable cutting myself loose.

Currently I am saving a little more than 25% of my gross each year.  I am struggling to benchmark that properly given taxes and such.  Even doing my homework I struggle with properly weighting those effects between 401k's, Roth's, etc.

I grew up frugal (single parent, welfare, etc), but let things slide as I saw big paychecks come in.  I never questioned the save 10% mantra, wishing now I had kept it at 20% all along.  Luckily I have never racked up any real debt.  I used to freak out my girlfriend (now wife) by always carrying a few hundred in cash.  She never had that much spare, but it helped me stay disciplined.  I have let a lot of little things slide under the mantra of a happy wife is still cheaper than a divorce.  I need to work on getting us both on the same page better for not wasting so much money (or not being so damn cheap as she would counter).  Good times.

Pituga

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2829 on: July 28, 2016, 06:48:37 AM »
I engineer stuff and I'm at the point where I need to grow my mustache even bigger!

Hubert

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2830 on: July 28, 2016, 06:56:26 AM »
Hello everyone.

My name is André, I'm 29 years old and I work for a design agency, but i'm now leaving my job to start my own business.

I have no debt and i never had a lot of problems managing my expenses, but i always felt i could do better,
This why i started looking for tips and advices, and why i'm joining this message board.

I hope i'm going to learn lot of things here, that we'll help me live a more frugal life.
See you all around.

CarrieWillard

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2831 on: July 30, 2016, 02:14:38 PM »
Hi all,

I started following MMM a year ago but recently decided to dig in and read all the posts since the beginning of time. Awesome stuff, and hubby and I are intending on reaching that level of BadAssity in a few. Background:

I'm a 41 year old mom of 7, my husband and I are self-employed, him as a craftsman who owns a thriving business, me as a writer and blogger and homemaker/homeschooling mama. Second marriages for both, LSS we had very different money situations when we married. He came into the marriage with 100K in debt (he was worth it) but with a big income, and I was a single mama of 4 but debt free even on a low income.

With my encouragement and Dave Ramsey FPU classes I convinced my hubby he earned way too much to be in so much debt. Since the benefit of marriage to me :-) his business keeps growing, we added 3 "ours" babies (total of 7 in case you missed it) and got rid of all the debt - him by busting tail earning and me with my cheapskate homemaking skills.

So I'm glad to be here and will be asking questions about home ownership.  Our big money goal at the moment is to save 20% down for our first home.

Waving Hi from metro Atlanta, GA.

Dancing Fool

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2832 on: July 30, 2016, 03:06:34 PM »
Hi y'all! Made a couple posts but haven't introduced myself here yet.

Here's the deets:
  • Dallas metro area now, Chicago born and raised
  • 25 years old, single, no dependents. Luckily, no debt either as I was the beneficiary of incredibly generous merit and need-based financial aid for college, coupled with generous parental contributions and my own summer work earnings to fully cover college costs. Additionally, never have had a car loan as I was able to buy a new-ish, fuel-efficient one off my parents at trade-in value.
  • Parents have lived below their means my whole lifetime and saved up pretty well (paid off house, work pensions, large IRA's, etc.). My dad lost his job right when I was starting college and stayed unemployed for 2 years; while it definitely caused my parents a great deal of stress, I also saw how much they were helped by their savings/frugality in that they were able to live off my dad's unemployment insurance while they both hunted for work the next 2 years (my mom had quit her job when I was young both for her health and to be available for medical treatments I needed at the time). I suspect that this experience was more formative than I realized in making financial well-being an important part of my life.
  • Started reading MMM a few months ago, plowed through pretty much every post; had already lived somewhat frugally but felt inspired to kick it up several notches (i.e. max out 401(k) and Roth IRA, always line dry clothes, bike >10 miles to work as often as practical and generally be more mindful of restaurant and entertainment spending).
  • Mechanical Engineering degree, but do lots of strategic analysis for a bank. Current role is leveraging that skillset to identify breakdown areas in our loan servicing operations where we violate one or more laws - it's cool because I'm able to identify problems using data queries that wouldn't be found easily with just random sampling (industry standard for compliance testing). [/nerd]
  • Outside of work, my passion project is competitive ballroom dancing. It's a pretty spendy sport (flights and lodging for competitions are required to go up against competitive fields), but my competitive partner and I do a good job keeping ourselves on the less-ridiculous end of it. I've also started teaching some youth classes for my coach and might try to start teaching some 1-on-1 lessons on the side as well; definitely will be considering teaching dance as a post-FIRE project/creative outlet.
  • My goal is to take a relatively slow, enjoyable trek to a FIRE lifestyle - I like the type of problem-solving I get to do at work, and I'm not willing to give up my passion / hobby just to get to FIRE faster.

Long story short, I've been blessed by my situation in life and I'm looking to leverage that into a FI or at least FU amount of money at a relatively young age.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2016, 03:23:31 PM by Dancing Fool »

duckling

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2833 on: July 31, 2016, 06:04:17 PM »
Hi. I'm new.

I started paying attention to finances when my husband and I got our first "real" jobs immediately out of professional school, made giant incomes, and felt like we were drowning in debt even though we didn't have a balance on a single credit card. We got our act together, paid off $340K in student loans, and suddenly found ourselves swimming in an abundance of excess cash that we had to figure out how to manage. (Mr. Duckling is happy to live Mustachian-Style, as long as he doesn't have to do any of the budgeting work.)

The goal is FI within 5 years, with another 5 years of semi-retirement to build up a safety margin, and then...whatever we want.

I spent the last 2 weeks reading the archives, deciding to ditch my second car (I work from home, for crying out loud) in favor of a bike, and going through our budget which has gotten ridiculously flabby over the last 2 years of excess income and lining out the things that don't make us happy. Thanks for the excellent resource, and looking forward to Mustaching it up.

Tiger Stache

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2834 on: August 01, 2016, 02:51:36 PM »
What up. Married, three mini staches. I am the one that does all the finances, so wanted to join to learn and share tips to get to two commas faster.

Been reading for about a week. Not sure where I first read about this, maybe while lurking at bogleheads. Listen to Ramsey off and on, but mostly for the drama stories.

thehungrycuttlefish

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2835 on: August 01, 2016, 03:08:17 PM »
Well hello! My name is Lindsay and I'm a graphic designer living in Florida.

I'm married and we have 1 child, a son who is almost 9 months old. We also have 3 lovely cats.

I am really struggling financially and through Youtube surfing, the MMM name came up a few times and I decided to take the plunge!

I'm a YNAB user and while we're not overdrafting anymore, we are living paycheck to paycheck with zero savings. Terrifying, I know. 

My issues:
- I have over 6 figures of student loan debt from private art college, though only a small portion of it is federal
- We have 2 cars and 1 really expensive car payment
- We have expensive phones and a phone plan through T-Mobile
- We spend wayyyy too much money on groceries
- Due to a tax exemption issue, I still owe the IRS about $800 from 2015's taxes
- We have zero emergency savings

We have a lot of places we can trim, but I think the hardest thing will be getting my husband on board. I'm hoping to arm myself with as much data as possible to help him/us success.

I look forward to chatting with everyone.

LadyFI

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2836 on: August 02, 2016, 06:57:25 PM »
LadyFI here. I'm a long-time lurker (2 years maybe?) who finally decided to sign up.

DH & I are late 30s/early 40s with one preschool age kiddo.
We are FI - I'm a SAHM and DH plans to RE early next year.
We just moved from an e(xtremely)HCOL area to a regular HCOL one to accelerate FIRE.

Love the forums and am looking forward to participating!

GrumpyPenguin

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2837 on: August 03, 2016, 08:50:01 AM »
Hi folks!

I've been posting throughout the forum, but never did get to introducing myself here. 

I'm early 30s, live in the DC metro area, and love reading FIRE blogs and forums :).  Recently hit FI but haven't retired yet. Nice to meet you all!

CareCPA

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2838 on: August 04, 2016, 09:03:03 AM »
Hi everyone.

The wife and I have been reading the website/forums for about a year now, and finally decided to join in to participate. We are mid-20's CPAs who are fine-tuning our spending optimization. We've hit most of the low-hanging fruit, and we're working out squeezing out any additional amounts we can. We look forward to interacting with everyone here!

cshell

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2839 on: August 04, 2016, 11:04:43 AM »
Hello!

I'm a 22 year old aspiring CPA located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I've been lurking for a few months now and decided it's finally time to contribute!

Growing up, my parents had extremely mismanaged finances. We went dumpster diving, ate the McDonald's dollar menu daily, could never afford to play school sports, etc.. Our family went on two modest vacations growing up--the only two times I ever left the state of Oklahoma until I turned 18. We mostly stayed within a 30 mile radius of our house. I thought I was so neglected growing up, I was so resentful. I wanted nice name-brand clothes and to do and see things that my friends had done. So, naturally, I got a job the week I turned 16 and spent every penny (plus some) from the time I was 16 till about a year and a half ago. I bought expensive clothes, purses, shoes, food, and vacations. Eventually, I realized that having expensive things wouldn't make me any happier and thus begins my journey to FI.

I paid off about $8,000 worth of credit card debt in February working full-time as a bookkeeper (and going to school full-time) with a modest hourly wage. My next financial goal is the $5,000 I have remaining on my car loan. I intend to have that paid off before the end of the year. I just started contributing 3% of my pay (my employer's match) into my 401k. I have a little over $1,000 in an emergency fund. Things are looking up and I'm happier than I've ever been.

I graduate in December with a BS in accounting and $22,000 in student loan debt. After I graduate, I need 15 more hours before I can sit for my CPA exam, so I'll probably be a student for another half year after I graduate. Hoping to have my student loan paid off within two years after I pay off my car loan. Also hoping to land a well-paying job soon!

I currently rent an apartment in Tulsa with my boyfriend and the best dog in the world. My boyfriend grew up more on the opposite end of the spectrum: his parents had a lot of money and were very generous with their spending. That money stopped whenever he turned 18 (long story). His lifestyle, however, didn't decrease when the money stopped. We're now both in pretty much the same financial situation. He is a little more reluctant to be frugal, but we're making progress.

I'm determined to get out of debt and have a significant savings so that I can travel and relocate to a different part of the US with better weather and less natural disasters. (Really sick of the tornadoes and earthquakes.)

I realize now that I was being a spoiled melodramatic brat and I now understand the importance of being frugal.  I had to learn an expensive lesson to get here, but I'm glad I learned my lesson at 22 rather than later down the road when my mistakes will be much harder to fix.

Nice to meet everyone!

cab591

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2840 on: August 04, 2016, 07:28:37 PM »
Long time lurker, made a thread already celebrating a goal, but figured a proper introduction was in order.

Name's Chris. Currently live in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Work for a fortune 500 company, and do military stuff on weekends. Also work occasionally on a racetrack. Just hit a major milestone, am officially out of debt! Can't wait to start growing my net worth.

FrugalFarmer

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2841 on: August 05, 2016, 11:49:10 AM »
Hi!

I found the MMM blog about two years ago, and since then I've read all the blog posts twice.  I love the articles because they are so aligned with the goals and values I already practice, but at an even higher level of badassity!  For example, I had already been bicycling to the grocery store and for all short errands for years.  But MMM gave me the inspiration to start biking to work full time (9 miles each way) and even in winter!  I have squeezed even more out of my budget thanks to this blog, and I am now buying index funds instead of hiding my money in a savings account.  I'm 4 years from FI at my current calculation, but I'm working hard to cut that down to 2-3 years.  I'm a software engineer / photographer / farmer, and I don't desire to quit pursuing any of those passions.  However, I've always had a deep desire to be able to live life on my own terms, cut out the bullshit, and bring my own ideas to life instead of implementing someone else's idea.  Looking forward to joining the discussion after 2 years of lurking!

LivlongnProsper

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2842 on: August 05, 2016, 04:17:05 PM »
Hello Everyone,

I have been lurking for a while and learned a lot from you all. I have always been frugal and saved but MMM opened my eyes to the possibility of retiring earlier than I thought possible. I am married with three kids and live in Washington. I am a retired Navy nuke, currently working for the federal government. I look forward to continue learning from this community and making some positive contributions as well.

DebtFreeinPhilly

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2843 on: August 06, 2016, 06:17:27 PM »
Hey Everyone!

My name is Brian and I live near Philadelphia. I recently found the MMM blog and now this forum...I'm excited to get my Stache going. I'm 35 and my goal is to retire completely in the next decade.

Looking forward to it all!

Ceichanski

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2844 on: August 06, 2016, 08:46:04 PM »
Howdy! Name is _______and have two young children with my beautiful wife. Decided it was time to learn about savings and investing.

Mulligan

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2845 on: August 07, 2016, 05:01:41 PM »
Greetings Everyone,

I wanted to introduce myself before posting a few questions about leaving the full time workforce.  Here's details:


Mulligan

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2846 on: August 07, 2016, 05:20:02 PM »
I hit that send button before providing my details:

•   I've been living in Texas the last 16 years with my wife and two children
•   Both of my kids are in college, my youngest is a freshmen, oldest a senior
•   My wife and I are in our mid-fifties, and since moving to Texas have been able to save about 40 percent of our take home income
•   I work for a megacorp and the grind is starting to take a toll
•   I’ve been saving in a company sponsored 401k plan for 30 years
•   Really want to bail out of the corporate job and find my niche either working part-time, or maybe seasonally or not at all


brokemillennial

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2847 on: August 07, 2016, 06:04:32 PM »
Been reading the blog for a while, finally getting the nerve to post in the forums!

I am in my late 20's, single/no kids, working in healthcare administration and living in a major US city. No college degree, but $50,000 in student debt (all federal loans, thank god), plus another ~$6500 in credit cards. But I do have around $1300 in a savings account and another $6500 in my 401(k). Currently making around $23,000 after tax and health insurance, which is the most I've ever made. I currently live on about half that, more if you count my debt payments.

Originally, I had been paying around $10/month through income-based repayment, until I realized that my payments were so small that I was effectively adding $250/month in interest to my student loan balance, and I was basically screwing Future Me over. So now my goal is to throw as much as I can towards my credit cards, and then put everything towards my student loans. I should be debt-free in less than six years. I believe in making my goals public for accountability, so I've started a blog to talk about my financial journey and to keep myself on track!

I'm planning to finish my degree since my employer will cover the cost of my tuition, and I should graduate next summer (hopefully). I also am learning web development and wordpress through Treehouse, and I'm trying to come up with another side hustle or two.
« Last Edit: August 15, 2016, 05:25:45 PM by brokemillennial »

Enigma

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2848 on: August 08, 2016, 11:57:37 AM »
I am in my mid 30's, single/no kids, working in computers/IT and living Washington DC. Both a BS in mathematics and a master's degree in IT.  I own almost 1.3M in residential properties in which 75% of that is paid off.  My monthly rental income tends to be around 15k with various expenses.  As for my job I tend to bring in about 6k a month from that.  Overall I live well below my means and have focused on paying off my debt.

I am thinking about FI and have even thought about retiring early.  Especially because I havent enjoyed my job...  Lately though it is starting to grow on me a little better.  The longer I work the faster I am paying off my debt.

MinimalistMark

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2849 on: August 09, 2016, 10:13:52 AM »
Hey Everyone,

Loooong time lurker, finally posting!
Still early on my frugal/FI journey, hoping to further optimize my lifestyle and increase fulfillment by shedding dependence on excess and the corporate craziness I currently endure to fuel it. Part of that challenge is balancing relationships with spendy friends and family who consistently provide distractions and speedbumps on the path to financial responsibility *ugh*
I'm in my late 20s, single/no kids, working in Finance (MBA) in the tri-state area making decent money. In the short term (1yr), I plan to pay off my 15k-ish student debt and start saving for a house downpayment. I currently contribute up to the company match in a work 401k but will increase that once my loan is paid off. Hope to learn from many of you, with the relevant reality checks as needed going forward! Cheers!