Author Topic: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself  (Read 3315977 times)

MntnFIRE

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2850 on: August 09, 2016, 12:15:17 PM »
Hi,

Another long time lurker here. I've been reading MMM since almost the beginning of the blog. I've always been adverse to debt and spending on status symbols - cars, cloths, etc. I was fortunate to read "Your Money or Your Life" at the beginning of my career which helped clarify ideas. I FIRED about 2 years ago but am still in the process of fully transitioning to a non-working life (moving to LCOL area, etc.). I'm primarily interesting in investing and withdrawal strategies, paying for health care, emotional/psychological adaptation to not working, etc.

Mustache -March-ing

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2851 on: August 10, 2016, 06:02:20 AM »
Hi!

I'm Ryan and am new to the idea of FI. Make plenty of $$ but can't seem to ever save any.

No degree and married to a hard working full-timer for both school and work.

Washington DC is home for now until USAF decides otherwise, which I can't wait for.

Any help or advice on getting started here is appreciated, right now just excited to browse through everything,

Mustache -March-ing

runningthroughFIRE

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2852 on: August 10, 2016, 09:24:55 AM »
Hi!

I'm Ryan and am new to the idea of FI. Make plenty of $$ but can't seem to ever save any.

No degree and married to a hard working full-timer for both school and work.

Washington DC is home for now until USAF decides otherwise, which I can't wait for.

Any help or advice on getting started here is appreciated, right now just excited to browse through everything,

Mustache -March-ing
If you're willing, the best way to get advice is to post a case study in the Ask A Mustachian section of the forums.  There's a list of suggestions to include stickied at the top, but here's a link for the lazy.

It might seem like it's a lot of personal detail, but we're pretty open about this stuff here.  The best tip for anyone starting out is to track your expenses using Mint, YNAB, or similar (and reading the main MMM blog).  It'll help you fill out a case study, too.

Waterbug

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2853 on: August 10, 2016, 12:15:51 PM »
Hi everyone!

I am in my mid 30s, my husband is in his mid 40s, and we have an adorable toddler. We are happily living in the beautiful state of Oregon.

I learned about MMM through a coworker when he told me his plans to save 60% of his income and sent me a link to the 'Shockingly Simple Math behind Early Retirement'. I was intrigued and started reading through the site and found the article 'Your Debt is an Emergency'. That is still my favorite article because it helped me convince my husband that our debt (in the form of credit cards and car loans) was an emergency. I can happily say that now it is all gone!

I am now ready to move on to the next chapter of planning our financial future and look forward to learning from and with you all.  Here we go!

Maenad

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2854 on: August 10, 2016, 04:41:04 PM »
I've been lurking for a while, but figured I should at least post an intro. I'm 41, spouse is 40, we're both engineers just about at the peak of our careers, and so far planning on retiring in ~3.5 years. We both make plenty of money, have just a small mortgage with about a year left of payments, and we're saving 50% of our gross without breaking a sweat. We're not nearly as Mustachian as a lot of folks here, but I really enjoy the discussions and thought-provoking ideas.

MoneyRatRace

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2855 on: August 10, 2016, 11:11:13 PM »
Hey all the awesome mustachians.

35 years old, 3 kids, 2 cars, 1 house, no debt. No "rainy days" fund as well :( , but working on it.

Entrepreneur by spirit, trying to kick off a side-business.

It's a pleasure to meet you all.

thoughtfullymark

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2856 on: August 11, 2016, 10:21:18 AM »
After reading through three full years of posts I figured it was time to spice things up and join the forum.

I'm Mark. I am a recent college graduate working as an engineer. I have a savings rate of about 75% and look forward to learning tons of tips and tricks here on the forum to increase that.

I'm looking forward to meeting and interacting with all of you!

Fearthebait

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2857 on: August 13, 2016, 03:50:39 AM »
Hello friends,
   I just stumbled upon this site from REDDIT after following their investing advice for a few months. I am so bummed I didn't know about this site for the last 5 years as it has been eye opening.

Anyway...26yrs old, no family, no debt since March, loving the Army life. VERY excited to keep up with this community and maybe meet some of you in the future.

Spog

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2858 on: August 14, 2016, 10:20:43 AM »
Hi all,

I was referred by a friend who is also quite interested in FI. I have been reading through all the posts from the beginning and have already made some changes, including, most excitingly, getting a free bike today. However, I have an unavoidable 87 mile round-trip commute for the next 10 months, which, although I do get 45p to the mile travel expenses to make the journey, does lead to 'wussy' spending decisions on treats/easy meals and the like as I feel I deserve them (especially on days that I get back late) which is why the net worth is £0 and the waistline has expanded.

I'm looking forward to changing that, however!

James

smallpeachfuzz

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2859 on: August 16, 2016, 02:57:56 PM »
Hi everyone,

I got introduced to MMM a couple of weeks ago and now I'm trying to get through all the posts from 2011. I'll be starting undergrad soon and am specifically looking for ways to reduce my potential debt and work towards FIRE at the same time. I did not apply for scholarships or get a side-hustle to pay for college because parents told me not to worry, but I'm raring to take charge of my own finances. I'm just glad I was able to find this blog and forum so early.

littlelykke

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2860 on: August 17, 2016, 12:56:39 PM »
Hi!

I'm Lykke, 25-year old girl from the Netherlands. My boyfriend and I have just bought a house and have started living together. So now it's time to get our finances on track to be financially independent in some time. We have just started and are still calculating a lot. What is realistic for our situation, etc. etc.
Hope to learn a lot here!

Lykke

Charlie Foxtrot

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2861 on: August 17, 2016, 01:04:35 PM »
Hello new best friends!

I'm Charlie. Im 41 and live in NE Ohio with wife and two little girls. Glad I had the second before I read that I should only have one kid! Shooting for FIRE class of 2017!

NghtSkyyStarz

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2862 on: August 18, 2016, 10:17:03 AM »
I guess I should intro myself. I'm a 33YO F, married with 1 child + 1 on the way. I've spend some time stumbling around the forum, read many of MMM posts online after finding his site from a Pinterest post. I like what I have read but I don't have much experience with financial planning and investing. I've read a couple of books, like Dave Ramsey's Money Makeover and Alan Haft's You Can Never Be Too Rich. I recently realized that I've been surviving on half of my annual gross earnings for my salary and my husband's salary (about half that of mine) which is left after all our deductions come out and we get our take home Net Pay. For while now I've been trying to figure out why I'm so broke every week, but it's all starting to clique. Last year we bought a brand new SUV and a $400k+ house and it's really been a challenge to stay afloat with medical bills and whatnot. I always thought I was a reasonable responsible person with my finances having only a handful of debt besides the house and car but now I'm starting to rethink that. So I'm here to see what other snippets I can pick up on things I'm doing wrong and how to be more successful.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2016, 10:19:20 AM by NghtSkyyStarz »

shini

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2863 on: August 18, 2016, 09:29:25 PM »
Hi there!

I'm 30 this year and I'm from pretty far away in Singapore!

I have never been good at the money stuff. Throughout my twenties I was a dreamer (in many ways I still am) and was always looking for a passion and something that would give me freedom - in all senses of the word. I never had much money in the bank, and whenever I had some I'd spend them all away. I'm not very interested in status symbols, but I love food and books and travel and cameras and other hobby-related toys, so much of my money was spent on these stuff, lots and lots of stuff.

(I also didn't have a good core mindset about money. I thought money was there to be spent, to buy experiences and stuff I like. But I have since realised that money buys freedom, and that is what I yearn for the most.)

About 3 years ago I began working as a freelance photographer. I'd finally found something I was good at and that I loved to do. Over time my career picked up and I began to earn money - more than I have ever earned in my life previously! Sometimes I'd earn up to SGD$20,000 in 2 days for an advertising shoot. Over the last 3 years I think I have earned about at least $200,000 of clean profit from my work as a photographer, but at the end of each year I'd never have more than $10k-$15k in my bank left. Most of the money earned was squandered away. I simply didn't know how to keep my money. And to help give you some perspective, I don't have to feed anyone else other than myself!

Months ago, near the beginning of the year, I began to wake up from this horrible financial nightmare. I swore to start saving properly. I was sick of earning money and then throwing them away at... God knows what. It was around this time that I found the financial independence blogging community. It really opened my eyes. My heart was beating so fast reading all of the inspiring accounts. I began to make some changes in my lifestyle, but it wasn't until I found Mr Money Mustache that I really got spurred into feverish action!

Since then I have accumulated about $30,000 in liquid assets, the most I have ever had in my life. The good thing is I have no debt at all (my one good financial saving grace!). Every month I am putting away at least $3,000 in my savings account - hoping to increase that amount drastically over time.

I have since:
- cut off all my internet subscriptions (still trying to wean myself off Netflix though)
- stopped eating at expensive restaurants every other meal;
- stopped buying brand new books and started borrowing them from the library instead;
- stopped traveling so voraciously (I have already been to more than 10 cities across the world this year alone, from Japan to Europe to the US);
- stopped buying random big ticket items like foldable bikes, original art works (this happened during my I-want-to-be-an-art-collector phase), the newest iPad / kindle, etc;
- stopped shopping and buying things in general (unless I really need it, like the external hard drive I just bought to replace my old used-up one);
- started taking public transport instead of driving the car I share with my friend or cabbing everywhere;
- started tracking my expenses religiously (and now I have a much better idea of what I spend on every month!)

In other words, I am a far different person from a few months ago, and I have to thank Mr Money Mustache for this new mindset. I now understand that it's not about how much money I make, but about how much I can save and invest. But of course, I am always working on making more money doing things I like (a strong principle of mine) and I hope to eventually retire / achieve financial independence by age 35.

I know it sounds pretty impossible to most people, but I believe I can do it!

There's still lots I need to learn from MMM and the very inspiring community here.

=)
« Last Edit: August 19, 2016, 10:40:35 AM by shini »

Thinkum

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2864 on: August 18, 2016, 09:43:52 PM »
Welcome Shini and thanks for sharing! Great story and glad to hear you're on your way to gaining true freedom.

luchorpan

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2865 on: August 20, 2016, 09:50:55 AM »
I've lurked for a while and just made my first post. I love this forum and site!

27 with a 30-yr-old spouse. Both in overeducated but low-paying career tracks. FIRE is a ways off, but we demolished our student loans last year and we've always tried to live off one income so we could transition into the kid years with maximum flexibility. This site has helped transform our saver instincts into proper 'stasher instincts.

Teensy-tiny FU story: I quit my old job/grad degree because I was unhappy. Had no job lined up but knew we could get by for a while on just my spouse's grad stipend. I didn't quite understand why a committee member told me I could always work at Starbucks until I found something, until I realized financial stability isn't universal... got a job offer on my very last day. :)
That job unfortunately came with a 30-mile commute, so I got hooked on MMM from the clown commute post. I worked there one year, but just started a new local job that I'm really enjoying, and I plan to try out a bike commute next week.

amnash

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2866 on: August 20, 2016, 09:46:51 PM »
Hello,

How's everyone?  I'm a late 20's nursing student in Central New Jersey (shoot me now at how expensive this state is), originally from bubble-fudge (explicative censored here) Mississippi. Howdy ya'll? I am also a distance runner who enjoys occasional rock climbing, cycling (my newest hobby), and moderate amount of hiking if time allows. 

I love this site, as I tend to lurk a couple times a week for long intervals searching articles. Looking forward to future articles and everyone's experience.

Toodles,
Amnash

FlemSnopes

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2867 on: August 23, 2016, 10:18:44 AM »
Hi!

I'm a 32 year old lawyer.
 I took a trip to my wife's mother's (my mother-in-law) homeland in Central America last year and realized I wanted to:

A) Move there as soon as feasible
B) Retire or semi-retire very early
C) Raise my kid(s) in the more positive, pro-family environment of that country

I had another revelation last summer: that, once I move, I don't want to pay the USA taxes anymore, as I have deep moral disagreements with how much of my money is being used by the government. So I suppose that means renouncing citizenship.

This summer, I realized that there was only one way to do this - making as much money as possible in a short period of time, spending as little money as possible in that time, and acquiring any and all skills needed to make the eventual transition to a foreign country.

My hobbies are cheap: I like reading, playing a number of instruments (haven't bought any new equipment in 8 years), competing in club-level sports, and camping/outdoors.

My wife is mostly onboard. She's an obsessive deal-finder but probably buys too much stuff. I'll likely have to push to convince her to leave the USA but feel confident that I'll be able to.

We have one daughter right now, who is the greatest thing in the world.

I'm in a relatively cheap area and think my mortgage isn't too bad. I make approximately $85/hour gross, $60 net. I try to bill around 9 or 10 hours every day.

The millstone around our neck is the $150,000 in student loan debt we've got.  My biggest financial weakness is spending too much on charity and causes I believe in.

I look forward to meeting all of you!

damnedbee

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2868 on: August 23, 2016, 11:54:34 AM »
Hi, all!

I'm a 40-year-old single female with no kids and a quest to find the world's best beach bar.

I only recently got serious about FIRE. I spent the last few years following Dave Ramsey's plan and successfully got out of debt and built an emergency fund--an amazing feeling. After that, I felt like, what now? I graduated to harder-core MMM principles, and the stars aligned. I spent a month or so obsessively reading every MMM post and running numbers through every calculator out there. Without my even realizing it, my attitude toward money changed from one of dread and stress to one of joy and freedom. I'm feeling a lot more educated about investing in general, and have a good vision of where I need to be. Although I must admit, I've yet to hit the point where my eyes don't glaze over from reading about tax shelters and backdoor Roth conversions.

I'm hoping to FIRE in 10 years (stretch goal) but am confident that it will be within 12. I love my field (publishing) but am burned out from the corporate rat race and have been setting up an LLC to go freelance in the next year. I'm hesitating to make the leap because of how the shift might impact my FIRE goal. I'm also looking to move to a lower COL area to make my FIRE plan work but haven't picked where. The research is fun, though. Because I've only recently embraced a more Mustachian lifestyle, and things are uncertain with my career and relocation plans, I'm having a hard time estimating my future spending for FIRE purposes.

My short-term goals are to bolster emergency savings to cushion my move to freelance and increase my investment savings rate from 30% to 45%.

Saskatchewstachian

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2869 on: August 25, 2016, 11:21:26 AM »
Hello,

Another Canuck joining the MMM party from Saskatchewan. I am 25YO and a mechanical engineer with a mining company married to the greatest wife (Registered Nurse) and no kid, yet. I stumbled onto the April fool's article about MMM spending rising to over $250,000. Because it was my first article I was actually surprised when I got to the end and he was joking. Since then I have read every article ever posted and now have moved onto the forum.

I love spreadsheets and even before finding MMM i have been tracking every cent I have made or spent since my first university internship in 2012 (makes for a very cool graph). Since DW and I are new to MMM we are working on the basics like getting rid of the $100/month/person cell phone plans and other other obvious items that deserve a good face punch.

Don't have a FIRE date set yet but have a great spreadsheet set up (shocker i know) to look at all the different variable including return rates, spending rate, contributions between TFSA's, RRSP's, company matches, tax rates, etc. Thinking maybe around the 45YO mark.

Mrs Brave

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2870 on: August 25, 2016, 04:08:56 PM »
Hello, I am Mrs Brave. Mr Brave and I have been married 31 years and have 3 now adult children.

We have no debts other than a mortgage.

We got started on this a little late, but we are here now.

moneetalks

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2871 on: August 27, 2016, 12:07:12 AM »
Hi, I'm David.  I stumbled upon MMM a couple years ago and binge-read the whole list.  I must confess to only "partial" badassity.  But better than none, right?!  Congrats on a great thing you and your family have got here,  Mrs MM! 

GailNYC

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2872 on: August 27, 2016, 12:03:07 PM »
Hi, I'm Gail. I found this website after reading about MMM in the New Yorker magazine last February or March. Although I am not a badass and probably never will be, MMM has changed my life in several ways. I'm a teacher, and I now own a bike and bike to work 2-3 days a week. I've started line-drying my clothes. I moved my emergency fund to a bond index fund from a savings account and am no longer throwing away money (in that way, anyway). I switched to Cricket from AT&T and am now paying half what I used to for my cellphone plan. MMM and his readers give me a lot to think about, especially about making environmentally conscious choices. So thanks!

GailNYC

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2873 on: August 27, 2016, 08:48:09 PM »
Oh, I should probably add that I'm 51 years old and a high school English teacher living in the Bronx, in New York. So not really your target audience, but I get a lot out of this site anyway.

jordanread

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2874 on: August 27, 2016, 09:23:47 PM »
Oh, I should probably add that I'm 51 years old and a high school English teacher living in the Bronx, in New York. So not really your target audience, but I get a lot out of this site anyway.

Oh, arebelspy (and his wife) were both teachers. Find them.

ketojenn

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2875 on: August 28, 2016, 11:35:22 AM »
Hello, I'm Jenn!  I'm 42 years old, married for 19 years and we have 5 children, 3 still at home.  We live in a very tiny town in the middle of North Dakota.  We could be financially independent by now, but have been rather stupid over the years.  We are just now joining the party, so to speak.  I'm hoping to fix things and be FI when our youngest graduates in 10 years.

We do have one thing going for us, our house is fully paid for.  Unfortunately it's location is less than ideal.  We may move in the next few years.  North Dakota has been good for us.  We moved here 7 years ago with our last dollar and started from scratch.  We paid off the house and have taken several fun trips, but haven't saved anything.  We always had the 'can't take it with you' mindset.  That has to change.  I want to live near recreation and go car free.  Not going to happen here.

I do ride my bike everywhere I can.  No one out here walks or rides a bike, even though the town is only 5 blocks long, and 4 blocks wide.  I get teased.  I don't mind.  I work part time for the USPS, or as I like to think of it, I get paid to hang out a couple hours a day and chat with people.  My commute is less than 5 minutes or 2 1/2 blocks, my husband drives for a major company and parks his semi one block from home.  I also have several side hustles going and plan to put all that income right into investments as soon as I pay off all credit cards and the car loan we never should have gotten. 

The hardest part has been changing our way of thinking.  Now that I see our money differently I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to get started.  So glad to find this forum.

tyler2016

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2876 on: August 28, 2016, 11:40:02 AM »
Hello,

I found mrmoneymustache.com when looking for ways to reduce my utility and grocery bills about a year ago.  I have always been somewhat frugal, saved, avoided debt as much as possible, and invested, but MMM has motivated me to take it further.

I like what I do, but really hate having a full time job. I feel like I am missing seeing my children grow up.  I have FU money, but still have a ways to go before I am FI. I hate being dependent on having a job, and that any of a small handful of people could cause serious damage to my finances if they decide they want to get rid of me. Whats worse, they are good people now, but what about in five years. My boss or his boss could leave and be replaced by some sociopath.  I hate thinking that I am spending 40% of my waking hours working, commuting, or preparing for work.  This dependency on a job, and the amount of time it eats up, is my biggest cause of stress.

Since I found MMM, I have been aggressively paying down debt and investing, and buying nothing for myself. I'd rather have time to do things then more stuff. I started a website (the one attached to my profile) to turn my professional skills into passive income (suggestions welcomed).



TexasEric

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2877 on: August 28, 2016, 08:07:01 PM »
I am Eric from the Houston area, and I am 34. My wife and I have a 2 year old and we are seriously thinking of having another. We both have decent jobs. We actually used MMM's advice to payoff my wife's student loans, our car notes, and save for our daughters birth. Since then we have sold our house and moved MUCH closer to our jobs and daycare.
After she was born then we have relapsed into financial insanity. Buying a shiny red Jeep, and no longer tracking our expenses.
Our FU money is gone, but have a fully funded emergency fund that could be put toward a house new house account we are saving for.

I am taking responsibility and getting us completely back on the right path.

Regular Guy

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2878 on: August 30, 2016, 10:49:44 AM »
Hi all,
I'm an Army officer currently enjoying a year long all expenses paid vacation in beautiful Afghanistan.  I was recently turned on to this site and have been devouring MMM posts over the last few days.  I've even shared this blog with some of my fellow Soldiers.

Looking forward to try to adopt some of these practices once I get back home to the states, my house, my wife, and my two teenage daughters.  The hard part will be convincing the rest of the people in my household to join in the frugal fun.

catan

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2879 on: August 30, 2016, 07:02:28 PM »
Hi all! I'm a single mother of two young kids. Very excited to have stumbled onto MMM blog and forum. I've always considered myself frugal and lived within my means, but have done nothing towards investments or saving for retirement, only cash in the bank due to major changes in the past 8 years (moves, marriage, kids, divorce). Living abroad now and looking to return to the US in the next 6 months.

kapnfriday

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2880 on: August 31, 2016, 07:06:01 PM »
Hello fellow mustachians.  I'm 46 and recently discovered the MMM blog and have been making a lot of changes - cut cable and dish, reduced my auto and home owners policies by about $400/year, increased my 403b contribution, cut my own hair, started biking to work again - at least once or twice a week.  My wife is 44 and can retire in 10 years from the state of NC with 30 years of service.  This realization got me thinking, "hey, I want to retire in 10 years too."  We aren't starting from scratch, so that helps, but there are some hurdles we'll have to overcome to get there.  I've very much enjoyed reading these forums - very inspiring.

Nemesis.

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2881 on: August 31, 2016, 09:00:34 PM »
Hello all you wonderful mustachians!
I'm a 44 year old single architect living in Houston.
I stumbled upon MMM about a month ago and it was like the heavens parted and the sun shone down!
I've been pretty frugal most of my life and really wanted to retire early but didn't think it was possible. Those traditional calculators are awful for potential mustachians!
Anyway, I've spent the last two years trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life because I was not happy and I knew it.
I finally have my path forward and it feels amazing! I have between 6-10 years to FI depending on a number of variables but have already gone from a 25% savings rate to about 51%.
So glad to have such a supportive community to make this journey with!

kelo11

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2882 on: September 01, 2016, 08:05:00 AM »
Hi all,

28yo here, living in the DC Metro area. High COL and High lifestyle inflation around here. Found MMM about 2 years ago, but have always been naturally frugal thanks to parents that helped me learn to value the money I earned. Made some mistakes in the past, didn't invest as much as I should have after college, but am on the right course now. Paid off $40K in student loans 2 years ago (5 years early), paid off my car note 2 years early, use credit card for everyday expenses (rewards) and pay off in full each month. Do everything myself that I can, no use paying someone else for convenience. Cut cable, saving about 60% of take home pay, and maxing 401K, Roth IRA and HSA annually. No debt.

Live with the beautiful soon-to-be Mrs. Kelo in a basic no frills one bedroom apt. Recently got her into the MMM lifestyle, bought her a bike, use public transit more, buy food in bulk (costco) and sold off her unnecessary gas guzzling wrangler she was paying $500 a month to rent from the stealership, so she can start attacking the rest of her student loans (Approx. $35K). Now looking to get her something older, smaller, more reliable and longer lasting. Also teaching her more about saving for retirement/investment and padding our stache as much as we can.

Rubyvroom

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2883 on: September 01, 2016, 08:46:21 AM »
Hello!

I've been lurking a few months now and catching up on old MMM blog posts, but wanted to officially join and introduce myself.

My husband and I live in Minnesota and are hopefully on our way to FIRE in the 2020-2022 time frame. I literally just did my monthly tally of where we landed at the end of August, and we're up $55K from the beginning of the year in terms of net worth. Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'" is now stuck in my head after seeing how well we're doing. :)

It doesn't seem that long ago that we were in worse financial shape. Maybe because it was only 2013... we still had student debt, car debt, and our home mortgage was at a ~6% rate. 2013 was the year we finally got our adult lives together as I like to say, although it took us till our early 30s to figure that out. We refinanced our mortgage (3.25%), paid off the student debt and car debt, and have had nothing but a mortgage outstanding since. We never had credit card debt, thankfully.

This will be the first year we max out our 401ks, max out our HSA, and have an ample emergency fund available. I've also been tracking and making small changes to reduce our expenses all year. I believe we're approaching a 50% saving rate.

I would say the area I'm struggling the most with is feeling comfortable diving into taxable investments when I know we want to buy land and build an Earthship with cash in 4-6 years (p.s. if there are any other Earthship fanatics out there, I'd love to talk more about this). I'm reading/learning more about investing though and I'll get there. It's purely a psychological block I have to get past.

Anyway... I've already found a ton of good info here, so thanks for the informative posts. I'm glad to have found this blog and forum community!

frugalmaybe

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2884 on: September 01, 2016, 07:03:26 PM »
Hi,

Just found this site today. Read the first few posts, and it resonated a bit as I'm in my 40s now, have maxed out my 401k and have a lot of disposable income, but I spend too much and have only just started thinking about investing strategies.

Some facts about me, that are probably relevant(but nonetheless will be organized randomly here):
- I live in a very, very expensive part of a very, very expensive city. I.e. my rent is just under 3k/month for a one bedroom. But it's extremely important to me to have a comfortable apartment (and this one's close to work).
- I'm planning to move out of this area within a year or two
- I am relatively frugal compared to my coworkers and friends in the same profession in this city, but i still spend 2k a year on clothes, probably 5-7k on food per year, and my passion is travel so I spend about 10k-ish a year on that. I generally don't care about "prestige" when I buy things, but I do care about style with clothes, so I shop at h&m and buy timex watches, and value, with other consumer goods. When I owned a car it was a subaru and my laptops are always wintel.
- My salary is well above the median for my profession, but other than the 401k i'm not really saving money.
- When i moved to this apartment my salary was 60k a year lower (gross) and my rent was 500/month lower. I don't remember how much I was putting into 401k then, but say i wasn't saving any, then my salary was like 42k lower gross. Which is like 28k net. which is a little over 2.3k a month. So I could be saving at least 1800/month after taxes, but somehow i'm not :)
- I chose a very practical career, and it has always felt like the wrong "calling" but I've tried to make the best of it and when I like my coworkers and my work environment I like my job, despite not loving the work.

I have a lot of personal goals, some of which have nothing to do with money, and some that do. But some of the big ones have a huge opportunity cost as I am definitely planning to go back to school. So I'm trying to figure out how to make non-disastrous financial decisions without ignoring my "heart".

The education would take three years so the opportunity cost is high, given my current salary (and savings potential), but the income potential for the other profession is essentially identical (based on bls.gov salary data), though  i'd be starting over from entry level, so there is an opportunity cost with the lost seniority. And the cost for the degree is 50k + 3 years of living expenses.

In the near term, I'm beginning to look at after-tax investing...
« Last Edit: September 01, 2016, 07:07:09 PM by ennemkay »

cooperadyk

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2885 on: September 04, 2016, 07:57:37 AM »
Hello all,

I discovered this site a couple of years ago, and really wish I had discovered it back when I started my PhD program instead of when I started to fail out of it. For the past two years I've been working as many odd academia-related jobs I could and living frugally, and managed to buy my first house this year! (I try not to think about the fact that if I had done this four years ago, the house I could have bought then would be worth twice as much now...) I actually call myself "semi-retired" now, since between my 10hr/wk job, tutoring gigs, collecting rent on my two larger bedrooms, and teaching one class in the summer, I can live (frugally) without eating into my savings.

I'm getting into coding, and thinking of doing some sort of startup or walking into a nice 6-figure  job for a year or two so that I can properly retire. But for now, I am just starting to bike and am picking up skills DIYing repairs around my house. Life's pretty grand, now that I think about it. But it's been hard to find other people in my situation, and it would be nice to!

Hotrod

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2886 on: September 05, 2016, 03:34:54 PM »
Hi. My name is Hotrod and I am trying to embark on spending less money. I am an electrical specialist with a large oil and gas company. My amazing frugal wife and I have 5 awesome kids. She has an education degree and has home schooled all of them until high school age. We have basically lived off my income the whole time. We lived on an amazing 10 acre acreage in a large house, renting it and renting out the basement suite. Lots of great memories, building a ice rink every year, a bobsled track,motorbiketrack and golf driving range. Unfortunately the owner sold his acreage so we moved into the city. We bought a $500,000 dollar house so now have a big mortgage. Trying to chip away at a 30k line of credit debt. I need to help my wife but still want to enjoy life and live every day like it is my last with no regrets. Any tips? If anyone needs electrical help feel free to ask me.
"Keep it real"

Yorch

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2887 on: September 05, 2016, 11:32:33 PM »
Hi everyone!

I'm approaching 40, and living in Canada. Until early this year I was quite profligate and foolish in money matters, with a cushy job and a comfortable salary that somehow was never enough. I discovered Mr. Money Mustache through the New Yorker profile article, in February. Since then my partner and I:

  • Obsessively read all of his blog posts
  • Obsessively read the literature on passive investment
  • Settled all our debts (car and line of credit)
  • Committed to never be in debt again
  • Reduced our consumption and waste dramatically
  • Started saving about 45% of our take-home income (we were barely breaking even before)
  • Began enjoying a more frugal life
  • Are looking forward to a semi-early retirement (despite having two kids and a late start)


Oh and the New Yorker subscription is not getting renewed: not worth it when I can access all material through my public library :-).

Many, many thanks to the Money Mustache family and community. You've been an inspiration and a life saver.

marty998

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2888 on: September 06, 2016, 01:37:11 AM »
Hi. My name is Hotrod and I am trying to embark on spending less money. I am an electrical specialist with a large oil and gas company. My amazing frugal wife and I have 5 awesome kids. She has an education degree and has home schooled all of them until high school age. We have basically lived off my income the whole time. We lived on an amazing 10 acre acreage in a large house, renting it and renting out the basement suite. Lots of great memories, building a ice rink every year, a bobsled track,motorbiketrack and golf driving range. Unfortunately the owner sold his acreage so we moved into the city. We bought a $500,000 dollar house so now have a big mortgage. Trying to chip away at a 30k line of credit debt. I need to help my wife but still want to enjoy life and live every day like it is my last with no regrets. Any tips? If anyone needs electrical help feel free to ask me.
"Keep it real"

Obvious question... Can you sell the Hotrod to pay off the line of credit?

Of course, I'm assuming you have one based on your username :D

Nick_Miller

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2889 on: September 06, 2016, 06:58:49 AM »
I am Nick Miller, a lovable law school dropout with a crooked nose and questionable hygiene living with 3 (4?)(sometimes 5?) wacky roommates in LA. No wait...that's my screen name's description.

In real life, I am a (still lovable) attorney, 42, married, with two elementary school-aged children. I discovered MMM a few months ago. We've been so stupid over the years, paying ourselves last, which typically resulted in our not paying ourselves at all. We haven't been outrageous, and we've paid off a lot of debt over the years, but we still have big law school debt and smallish investment accounts.

But that is changing! This I pledge, nay, promise!

The goal is for my wife and I to be FI in 10 years and be able to downshift in our careers from my age 52-62 so that we can travel more and work less while we're still relatively youngish and healthy. I would LOVE for my "downshift" to look like this: me tapping away on our home computer writing novels.  I've had one book published thus far - it's doing pretty well, and I'm working on #2 right now.

I really like this site! These people are fountains of information.

Macca

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2890 on: September 06, 2016, 07:53:47 AM »
Hi guys,

I'm 37 years old and based in the UK. I have a very non-mustachian lifestyle and recently have realised that aspects of it are simply wasteful (for example eating out way too much due to laziness) and other aspects of it (buying high end luxury goods) are not particularly fulfilling, certainly when considered in light of the effort that has gone into earning the money. I have a not unsubstantial income stream from my self-employed job as well as other investments but the amount I shred through every month with little to show for it is ridiculous.

There are various other aspects of my life I've become a bit dissatisfied with, which I will go into a bit of detail on later. My initial goal, from starting to get a grip of my finances, is not necessarily super-early retirement or absolute pared-back living but really just to gain a better perspective on myself, what makes me (genuinely) happy, work a bit on those aspects of myself and my life that are dragging me down a bit and see what improvements I can make. I think then I'll be better placed to set goals for where I should be aiming to take my life in future. I think enough of the issues I am looking to deal with are related or can be related to Mustachian living that this would be a decent place to set out my goals and track my progress.

I'll start a journal shortly to provide a bit more background about myself, my situation, my "problems" and my goals. Hopefully it will be successful and provide me and others with some inspiration along the way.

Mac.

MuttIsMyCopilot

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2891 on: September 07, 2016, 01:59:06 PM »
Greetings, y'all!

I stumbled on to the concept of mustachianism a few months ago and have been soaking up all the information I can. Figured it was time to join in. I'm currently married with two dogs and no kids in Arkansas. Growing up my family was fairly well off but never discussed money, so I've made a few significant financial missteps and am working on digging my way back out. I'm sure I'll lurk far more than I post, but am really enjoying the vast and varied knowledge this community has to offer.

Physicsteacher

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2892 on: September 07, 2016, 03:34:41 PM »
Welcome, MuttIsMyCopilot! I'm a married Arkansan with two cats and no kids.

RichAndMeaningful

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2893 on: September 08, 2016, 10:43:37 AM »
Hello everyone.

Just an early 20s millenial who likes to read and is excited to start working towards financial independence. I start working full-time in October.


My current financial situation is fine, flying to a new city to check out apartments before I sign a lease. Of course I'm using https://www.flyfrontier.com/ to find cheap tickets, and I'm also looking at cheap lodging for the few days that I'll be there.

Currently living at home with my parents. Been entertaining myself frugally with books from the local library, online reading, and practicing Spanish.

Edit: Interested in renting in several locations in the Midwest and Southwest US. Perhaps I'll look into owning rental properties once my finances are in order.

Edit2: I should clarify. My current financial situation isn't that fine, I'm about $26k in student debt, while I have about $4.5k in savings currently. I stay with my parents rent-free...in return I cover groceries now and then, cook major dinners for them 4x a week, and run errands whenever they ask me to. Pay for my own gas, but I don't pay car insurance.

I've got it pretty good with my parents right now.

Not making any money currently. I guess I could walk around my neighborhood and ask people if they need the lawns mowed...but more money isn't necessarily going to bring me more fulfillment!

I'm enjoying this time to just chill at home, learning and how to cook, and learning how to read. Taking mid-afternoon naps in the beautiful Georgia heat is something else!


« Last Edit: September 08, 2016, 10:57:11 AM by RichAndMeaningful »

KLK75

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2894 on: September 08, 2016, 08:42:44 PM »
Hi.  I'm new.  I'm getting my stuff together.  This forum has been very helpful to changing my frame of mind.

Bones81

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2895 on: September 08, 2016, 10:47:07 PM »
Hi All,

35 year old single guy with no wife or kids.  Make good money and only debt is a mortgage and credit card I pay-off every month.  I max out my 401k and IRA contributions and save some additional money on top of this, but I also spend way more than a single guy should on going out, etc.  Looking to cut back on expenses (I've already dropped satellite TV for a cheaper Sling package) and trying to get an idea of what my magic FI number is as I really don't enjoy my career at the moment and figure out what I want to do once I no longer have to work. 

Dividendmentor

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2896 on: September 09, 2016, 10:32:20 AM »
Hi all Mustachians!

Thank you for letting me become a member of this forum. I have been following this site for a while, and thought it was the about time to join.

I am a 30-year-old man, living in Copenhagen in Denmark. Not married, and no kids, at least not yet.

My goal is to achieve financial independence within 10 years. I love freedom!! I want to be choice whether I would like to work or not. I intend to achieve my goal trough savings and dividend growth investing. At the moment I am saving around 30 percent of my net Income.

I have been investing for a couple years, primarily in my local market (Danish equities). I started reading about dividend growth investing about 2-3 years ago, and I believe that it is the best long term investment strategy. Today, I consider myself being a dividend growth investor. I have therefore made a transition of my portfolio into dividend growing stocks within the last year or so. The transition is almost done, ny now.

I am really looking forward to joining this community.

DividendMentor



Heleen

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2897 on: September 10, 2016, 05:31:29 AM »
Hi all!

I'm a 27yo from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. I've discovered this website through my boyfriend, who I met 3 years ago. We happened to have similar spending habits, but for me it started when I was 22 or so because I wanted to care more about the environment (I don't own a car, my gas/electric bills have always been very low, I spend little money on food and clothing etc.) Just now I'm getting interested in the money saving part and gaining FI later on in life, my boyfriend teaches me a lot about what I should be doing with my money.

I'm in lawschool and work parttime. I have a students loan, but in the Netherlands the interest on this dept is lower than the interest on a plain savings account, you only have to pay if you earn above a certain income and if you cannot finish paying in 15 years because you income was too low, you don't have to pay at all anymore. So I guess I will keep working parttime, volunteer a lot and just keep my spending habbits as optimal as possible and I should still manage to save 60% of my income. :)

So far I love the positive energy and great tips on this forum!

Cy

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2898 on: September 10, 2016, 11:27:36 AM »
Hi! I'm Cy, a college student who.. has yet to touch any significant money? And is working on alternate life skills before that.

minimalistgamer

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2899 on: September 10, 2016, 04:25:17 PM »
Greetings. I am from the US of A, from the midwest.

I've been reading MMM for a while now, and I tend to agree with a lot of what is said on the blog (there are others that I disagree quite a bit), but that's life right?

Anyway, see you all around.

-MG.