Author Topic: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself  (Read 3316027 times)

MoneyLifeandMore

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #700 on: July 08, 2013, 04:10:49 PM »
Hi I'm Lance! I'm a mid twenties almost married guy (get married in less than 2 weeks). Just thought I'd drop into the forums after reading MMM for a while!

rocklebock

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #701 on: July 08, 2013, 08:47:10 PM »
Hi - I'm one of the zillions of people who were introduced to MMM via the Washington Post, and I've been reading the forums for about a month.

I'm a 37-year-old female and have a job in academia with a decent salary. I've always been pretty responsible with money and have never done anything spectacularly stupid with it. I've also had a mildly anti-consumerist streak all my life. However, I was never particularly aggressive or ambitious about money - I figured if I was paying my bills, saving a bit for emergencies and retirement, and spending the rest on whatever I wanted, I was in great shape. I also just assumed - like a lot of people my age - that I was going to be able to retire at 65 only if I was lucky, and that was just the way life was.

Then I had a bit of an eye-opener last year when I had a Tenant from Hell in a property I co-own with my ex-boyfriend (We bought it to live in, then broke up a few years later - it was amicable - and now rent it out). I lost thousands of dollars to legal fees and rent we couldn't recover. The scary thing was that scaling down my expenses to stay within my means was not painful at all. Which begs the question of what the hell I was blowing all that money on before. This was the first step in seeing that my lifestyle - which many would think was quite frugal - was in fact ridiculously bloated. Discovering MMM was the final face-punch I needed.

AugsburgMustache

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #702 on: July 09, 2013, 02:44:30 AM »
Hi to all the fellow savers,

I found out about The Way of the Mustache about a month ago and since then read through almost all the articles. Very inspiring! It was a real eye opener for me. I always thought to myself that there had to be another way than working for 40+ years of your life. The answer was quite obvious once I read through some of the articles of MMM and I have to admit I felt a bit dumb not noticing it by myself. I am 26 now and living in southern Germany (Augsburg for those who know it).

I started my professional life about 2 years ago after finishing my business degree. No debts going out of university thanks to the low tuition in Germany and working throughout my college years. The salary of my first job was decent enough to afford a very unmustachian sports car and since I was living in hotels due to the job, my other expenses were quite low. But the car sucked most of the spare money out of my account. It is baffling to me how I didn’t notice what was going wrong at that point.

Changed jobs last year with a nice raise of almost 25% and I thought to myself “that shiny car is now even more affordable since I earn more” and I started eating out with friends a lot, since I didn’t have to travel during the weeks anymore. Spending most of my take-home pay on useless crap, I lived on and thought about the next 40 years of my life. Working 5 days a week for another 2000 weeks? Getting up, work, get home, eat, sleep, rinse and repeat? That didn’t sound quite right to me. Thankfully, MMM opened my eyes for the alternative route.

Anyways, I turned around my spending habits and started to think like a mustachian. I recognize the patterns that would have kept me working my whole life everyday now. Decided to sell the expensive sports car about a week after that and sold it just last week. Since I noticed the true money-sucking nature of that fine piece of machinery it felt more like a burden than a privilege to own that thing. It really felt like a heavy weight was lifted from my shoulders once the contract with the new buyer was signed and I held the cash in my hand. I still feel a little sad from time to time when I see similar sports cars on the road. But I just remind myself that those things will keep me in the office for countless years instead of enjoying life and nature as a free person. As you can see, my transformation to a true mustachian isn’t at all complete.  But recognizing my habits helps a huge deal in controlling my the urges until it becomes second nature to be frugal and not be aroused by shiny metal curves and screaming engines.
Additionally, I drastically cut down my eating out spending. I can already feel that my urge to buy new gadgets gets less every day. My old thinking "I have the cash for it, I'll just buy it" now seems ridiculous to me.

I was fortunate enough that I was brought up by two fairly frugal parents (except for the obsession with sports cars of my Dad, which I unfortunately inherited) so I have no debt. I started to save aggressively now and I am currently at a 50% savings rate from my take-home pay. Right now I can’t make the bike-for-car exchange since I am working 50 miles from home. Moving closer to work is not an option right now, since my girlfriend is currently in the process of finishing her PhD in the city we live in. After that is finished, we will both look for jobs in the same town. But rest assured, the commuting car is a 9 year old reliable diesel car that consumes about 4,7l/100km (58.81 mpg for our imperialistic friends) and so far requires minimum maintenance. It’s not the perfect situation for early retirement but in a couple of years this issue should be resolved.

I am currently in the process of convincing my (soon-to-be) fiancée to jump on the same train and the goal is a 70-75% savings rate. But I think I will need one or two raises in salary to achieve this. The taxes in Germany make it hard to achieve high savings rates, but the healthcare system allows for cheaper insurance once I quit my job.

I am also looking into real estate investments but the market is ridiculous right now. Apartment prices are at about 27 times the yearly rent in Augsburg (where I live). I am guessing that in the next 5-7 years the prices will drop significantly. Interest rates will go up (I mean, they can’t go down any further) and most buyers here only fix their rates for 10 years. Since this enormous bull market lasted for about 5-8 years now, this 10 year fixing of interest rates will be gone in a couple of years for most owners. When interest rates go up, some of them won’t be able to pay their mortgages and the selling pressure will correct the prices. Or so I hope…until then, my investments will be purely equity/bond mixes.

Thanks for reading and I am looking forward to some great discussions with mustachians around the world!
« Last Edit: July 12, 2013, 02:28:32 AM by AugsburgMustache »

TeddyG

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #703 on: July 10, 2013, 11:28:00 AM »
Hi there, I'm Ted from Victoria, BC in Canada. I love the MMM blog and have started to implement some of the great ideas I've read about. First thing I did was sell my F150 truck and tune up my neglected bicycle. Now I'm looking for a replacement vehicle, probably a sweet little Pontiac Vibe that's on my sister's car lot, she sells to me at cost. I'm looking forward to doing some reading on this forum and straightening out my dismal financial situation. Cheers!

steveo

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #704 on: July 10, 2013, 05:34:27 PM »
Hi everyone,

I'm Steve from Sydney Australia. I'm turning 40 this month and want to be financially independent by 50.

I have $211k in mortgage debt with about $400 in equity within the house. I want to pay this off a.s.a.p. A normal time period for myself and my wife is 5 years which is really good compared to most people but definitely not frugal. I'd like to push for 3 years. I've just started reading a bunch of these early retirement/financial independent blogs and want to go from someone who is reasonably frugal to someone who really maximises my income. I also have 3 kids of 11, 9, and 2 (2 boys and one girl).

I want to get up to a saving rate of 80% a.s.a.p. as well but I figure this will take years especially because I'm not going to consider paying the mortgage down as savings even though it really is in my opinion.

At some point the goal is to work 4 days per week with one day per week at home and take 8 weeks holiday per year. I'd like to be what I consider FI prior to taking all of these steps. I already work from home one day per week and sometimes get to do it twice per week. My goal of FI is to be able to live without working and that doesn't mean travelling or spending money on restaurants or anything like that. Basically as soon as I get to bare minimum FI I intend to work less and slowly but surely move towards retirement assuming I am not enjoying my job.

After paying off the home loan I intend to save probably in either a Vanguard cash or stock index account. I really don't want an investment property because I can't be bothered with the hassle. At the same time I will look to maximise my retirement accounts. I figure I can become more frugal and maybe earn more money and that this is a realistic goal.

I'll like to update this say once per year and see how it goes.



« Last Edit: July 10, 2013, 08:57:44 PM by steveo »

Fine Line

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #705 on: July 11, 2013, 09:54:05 AM »
Hello everyone!

I'm Frank and I just began reading these boards recently. Great people, good ideas, and lots to think about. I'm unlikely to retire early but you never know.

I'm definitely still in the rat race and from here, anyway, I don't see any safe exits ahead of me. Maybe, just maybe, I'll achieve FI using some of the good ideas here. I guess I'm being pessimistic but I just can't shake the feeling that another financial crisis is already on the way. I figure my best defense is to achieve as much FI as possible before the next round of BS from Wall St.

I'll keep reading...

nedwin

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #706 on: July 11, 2013, 10:00:35 AM »
Hi everyone,

I'm Ned.  I live in northern Colorado with my wife and two children (2 and 1).  I've been lurking for a while, but have jumped off the fence and joined!

tpozywio

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #707 on: July 11, 2013, 03:01:15 PM »
I'm Tom.  I love taking naps and playing board games

Bigote

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #708 on: July 12, 2013, 02:21:30 AM »

 (Augsburg for this who know it).


Yes, nice town!  I have a friend from there, he lives in Donauworth now.  I visited Augsburg for his wedding some years back.

Welcome to the forum!

AugsburgMustache

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #709 on: July 12, 2013, 02:31:01 AM »
Yes, nice town!  I have a friend from there, he lives in Donauworth now.  I visited Augsburg for his wedding some years back.

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the welcome. It is a nice town indeed, but not the cheapest place to live. With the real estate market here I don't think I will be able to pull the same strategy as MMM with his real estate "ventures". Stock indexing will probably my go-to strategy to FI for the next years at least.

0cean23

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #710 on: July 12, 2013, 05:34:46 PM »
Hi, I'm William and married with our first child.  Can't wait to contribute and absorb some useful knowledge here on this forum. 

Ms Betterhome

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #711 on: July 12, 2013, 05:42:08 PM »
Hi, I'm Kath, I'm 46, and live in Sydney, Australia, with my 42 year old partner, and our dog. We have no debts other than mortgages (our home, plus two IPs), but we owe nearly $900k on those. We bought our home nearly 3 years ago, and have paid nearly $100k off the principle, as well as doing some necessary repairs, setting up a veggie garden, and installing solar panels & rainwater tanks. We have a good combined household income (about $160k pre tax), and most of it goes towards paying the mortgages, though I contribute an extra $250 each pay cycle to my superannuation fund.

Currently I commute to my job via public transport, and my guy runs a business from a home office. Our goal is to pay down the mortgages, and move out of the city, but still work part-time ( I really love my job, and it pays well, but I need more balance in my life).

Broke NCO

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #712 on: July 13, 2013, 09:15:37 PM »
Hello all,
I've been browsing for a couple of days and figured I should go ahead and register as I attempt to get my 'stache grown.  As far as demo goes I am 32 in the military, married with the first kid on the way.  Needless to say, the realization of the pending arrival of the future member of the Broke NCO household has served as a good first punch to face and has made me sit down and think about what I want out of life.  This little self reflection session ultimately led me the door step of Mr. Money Mustache where I hope to get several good punches to the face on my road to growing one sweet 'stache.

Rafaello

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #713 on: July 14, 2013, 09:28:34 AM »
Hello everyone,
after reading every article and pretty much every comment in the blog, I figured I reached mustache padawan status. So, as I go on (now reading the forum), I´d like to introduce myself.
I am 33 years old. I live in the south-west of Germany, with a lovely wife and 2 kids (one aged 4, the other 1/2 year old). Interestingly, I am an engineer myself like so many other readers (and our Chief Mustache himself, of course).
As we continue our path to early retirement (a concept only vaguely known to many Germans, in fact I still haven´t found a fitting term for "Early Retirement" in German), I look forward to learning from (and sharing with) all of your Mustachians worldwide.
Cheers, Rafaello

cdan

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #714 on: July 15, 2013, 11:26:24 AM »
*stands up*

Hi,
My name is Carsten and my net worth is below zero.

But the journey towards FI have begun, with the goal of accomplishing in ten years, around when I'm 45. Together with my wife, we have trawled through hundreds of blog post, lurked in the forum and now even posting!

I'll leave the financial details for the thread in the journal section.

See you around!

MandyM

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #715 on: July 17, 2013, 10:15:48 AM »
Hi, I'm Amanda. I'm a 34 yo civil engineer and living in Lexington, KY. I have been reading MMM for several months now and have been obsessed with early retirement for a few years. I was always great at saving my money and setting goals, but MMM has inspired me to work on my badassity. I used to esimate that I would be FI between the ages of 43-45 (which is pretty awesome), but with the MMM blog, I am convinced I can get there by 40 all while going part time by 37 or 38.

I'd like to thank everyone here for sharing/living the dream. Most of the people that I have shared my plan with think I'm semi crazy or maybe even fooling myself, but honestly, I don't really even think I'm trying that hard. I never liked cable TV or commuting to work or dealing with an oversized house. And I'm not even doing things like my own car or home repairs (yet). 

Jacob F

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German in NC
« Reply #716 on: July 17, 2013, 02:05:58 PM »
Hi everyone,

I'm Jacob, 27 years old and born and raised in the Muensterland, North-West Germany. I've been very frugal since I got out of school and already acquired a quite nice 'stash that would cover about 70% of my current living expenses through dividends. I'm saving about 60-70% of my current income. Before I read about MMM, I only knew one friend besides me that actually believed in attaining FI at a young age through saving and investing. It's nice to see that there are many others as well.

I'm currently living in North Carolina as an Expat, seeing first hand how a rather rich population like the US' population spends their money on oftentimes unnecessary stuff, while at the same time living Paycheck to Paycheck and being unhappy.

I'm trying to convince my Girlfriend that consuming more carefully has great benefits. Although it's an easy idea, it is a tough sell to most people. Telling her that I'm on track to being FI by the age of 33, she still thinks I'm insane and 'selfish'.

As we continue our path to early retirement (a concept only vaguely known to many Germans, in fact I still haven´t found a fitting term for "Early Retirement" in German), I look forward to learning from (and sharing with) all of your Mustachians worldwide.
Cheers, Rafaello

You can either use "Fruehrentner" for an actual retiree, or "Privatier" for somebody who is financially independent. Both common words, but nobody in Germany may believe that this status is still attainable through normal work.

Riceman

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #717 on: July 17, 2013, 03:01:08 PM »
State Department Foreign Service Officer here.

Strange situation for finances.  Here is what my wife and I paid for some expenses at my last assignment:

Net Income, Me: 5300 (~15% effective tax rate AFTER including FICA)
Net Income, Wife: 600 (paid about 5 dollars an hour for professional work; this is the downside of the foreign service, where you're mostly in third-world countries)

Expenses (2 people) Monthly

Health Care: 250
Housing: 0
Electricity/Water: 0
Internet: 25
Cable: 0
Car Insurance: 75
Car Repairs: 25
Gas: 50
Phone: 10 dollars (combined; we had cheap prepaid sim cards)
Netflix: 10 dollars

Groceries were more expensive than in the U.S., and eating out far cheaper, so we went out 2-3 times per week.

Groceries: 400
Dining Out: 200

Travel: tough to calculate as I only started keeping track in December. The past 6 months we traveled more than normal, so my guess is:

Travel: 800?

So our set expenses were 445 per month, and we spent about 1400 per month on food and travel.  Wow!

Rook

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #718 on: July 17, 2013, 04:44:30 PM »
Hi everyone,

Just started reading the mmm blog and looking into the early retirement type thing. Am working my way through all the articles while implementing as many changes as I can.

I'm an electrical engineer in Waikato, New Zealand and my fiancee is a nurse so between us we have a decent household income. Hoping to supplement this with getting boarders/flatmates into our house to help pay the mortgage.

Are there many NZers on this forum?

AlmostIndependent

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #719 on: July 17, 2013, 06:31:10 PM »
Greetings,

I was turned on to the MMM blog a few months ago by a coworker. I've been leading a fairly mustachian life so far (before I even knew that's what I was doing.) With a little more saving and investing I'm hoping to be totally independent in the next 2 years or so.  It's good to be on the forums. I'm looking forward to connecting with other Mustachians.


Yokan

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #720 on: July 17, 2013, 08:06:33 PM »
Hi guys,

I'm a 25 year old CPA. I started reading MMM in 2011 during one of my 80 hour work weeks at around 2:00 am contemplating what the hell I was doing with my life. I'm currently married to a teacher and we will be done paying off our student loans next month, and our house in 3 years.

On the side I own a couple of rental properties, and my wife has a fledgling photography business. I still cannot convince my wife to live the MMM lifestyle completely any help is appreciated.

viverl

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #721 on: July 18, 2013, 08:00:59 AM »
Hello everyone!

I came across MMM in a news article and have been following him for a couple of months. His words about early retirement resonated with me without me even knowing before that this was what I needed to hear. Since then I have started to think about finances for the first time in my life other than >uh-oh, my giro card doesn't work anymore< every other month.
MMM made me realize that I could easily pay up my student credit (~6000€), which I did just last month. It felt great!

Currently I am working my first year in my first job (Trainee in Regulatory Affairs) after university, it doesn't pay much and I am trying to switch jobs thus I don't have to commute 2h everyday and will get a me better pay. It's really not that easy if you have almost no professional experience!

I am 26 year old and live with my boyfriend in Hannover, Lower Saxony in Germany.

I am looking forward in learning a lot more about financial freedom and meeting other frugal people!

Woody

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #722 on: July 18, 2013, 08:27:54 AM »
I am looking forward in learning a lot more about financial freedom and meeting other frugal people!
Welcome!
A good starting point for any kind of quedtions might be this Multi-purpose thread:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/meetups-and-social-events/any-german-mustachians-here/
Best regards
Woody

newlife14

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #723 on: July 18, 2013, 08:51:29 AM »
Hello Mustachians! 

I found this site through Raptitude and am in love with this concept!  Why don't they teach this in elementary school?  I was a follower of Suze Orman (booo!) and felt like I'd never be able to retire.  So much for thinking for myself.  I've read every word of MMM and am 100% on board.  I have very little debt (student loan for my child) and positive net worth.  Hoping to be FI within 6-8 years.  Like everyone else, I have my own individual goals.  I actually enjoy working, so after FI, I hope to work half the year for a few hours a week, travel and do my own thing the rest of the year.  I really want to "give back", so I think building wells in Africa (or whatever) is more my calling than getting the owner of my current company rich.

I'm a woman in my early 40s, youngest child will be graduating from HS in 6 months, so after that, I'm onto my next adventure. Would love to find a fellow mustachian to adventure with....so if you're brave and looking for someone, too, email me!  This could be fun!

Update July 17, 2014:
It's one day shy of a year since my original post and I'd like to thank MMM for inspiring me to take a risk and follow my dreams.  My youngest did graduate from HS this past December and wants to move west, so we'll be packing up and moving in 2 weeks.  Leaving a lucrative job and having none when I arrive in my new destination is scary, but we know we can do it!  My son, luckily, inherited my adventurous gene and has no worries about what the next few months hold for us.  We also have no arrangements for a place to live when we arrive, but we've always been able to see the humor in less than perfect situations in the past.  I'll now have 2 kids living 1600 miles apart and I have every intention of doing what I need to in order to keep them both in my life as they pursue their own dreams and have their own lives, which means working for myself. 

I think I have a unique perspective on life, so I'm starting my own blog to record my crazy adventures along the way.  Thanks to all MMM readers who have done their part in inspiring me as well!
« Last Edit: July 17, 2014, 10:37:42 AM by newlife14 »

aaronpct

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #724 on: July 18, 2013, 12:58:28 PM »
Hello,

I'm Aaron and i'm new to the MMM community.  I currently live in Jacksonville, Florida and i'm looking forward to planning out my own MMM makeover after reading through all of the forums and Blog posts.


Bejni

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #725 on: July 18, 2013, 07:03:46 PM »
Hi there,

I'm Benjamin and I'm a Chilean citizen currently living in the Columbus, OH. After being inadvertely following (with a few mistakes) MMM advices most of my life, I suddently found this website through a friend (Who is from Ohio, and right now is living in Chile)

I'm very excited to find a whole community that share the same values about frugality, and constant optimization for happiness. I'm sure I will learn a lot more from you guys.

It's great to finally meet you all!

Regards,
Benjamin

Russ

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #726 on: July 19, 2013, 06:48:33 AM »
Hi there,

I'm Benjamin and I'm a Chilean citizen currently living in the Columbus, OH. After being inadvertely following (with a few mistakes) MMM advices most of my life, I suddently found this website through a friend (Who is from Ohio, and right now is living in Chile)

I'm very excited to find a whole community that share the same values about frugality, and constant optimization for happiness. I'm sure I will learn a lot more from you guys.

It's great to finally meet you all!

Regards,
Benjamin

Welcome to the 'bus! Check out our meetup thread; there are a few of us around town and we love meeting new folks.

froo gal

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #727 on: July 19, 2013, 09:10:46 AM »
Hello,

I’m froo gal in Ottawa, Ontario.  I found the MMM blog about a year ago after a spot on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) radio and have been following ever since.  I love the attitude and philosophy of the blog. 

At renewal time my husband and I (both aged 34) increased the mortgage on our house (rate of 2.95%) to purchase 100 acres of land near Ottawa.  This was a life dream/goal for both of us and it feels great to have accomplished it.  Besides the mortgage we are otherwise debt free and prepay on our mortgage each month in addition to the regular bi-weekly mortgage payments.  We plan to have the mortgage paid off in five years.

I read “Your money or your life” a little while back which really changed my perspective. We already try to be frugal – no cable/TV, low utilities, minimal restaurant meals except special occasions, no travel, no cell phone for me (husband has one for carpentry business), I walk to work.  Our hobby and focus is our land especially growing our own food and doing free activities in the surrounding area (hiking, canoeing).  However, I think we still have a lot to learn, especially about investing.  Also, we are expecting our first child in the fall which change our focus somewhat…

We have quite a ways to go in terms of achieving financial independence but it will be much easier to invest large sums of money after we are mortgage-free. I'm already investing in Canadian mutual funds, RRSP and I have a very generous pension plan with my employer but we're thinking in terms of rental property in the near future.  I'm afraid of the stock market which is a definite weakness...

Joe Collins

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #728 on: July 19, 2013, 10:48:29 AM »
Hi everyone,

I am a 23 year old living in Florida; Like most people, I was under the impression that you 'have to' work for the rest of your life until you get old, and it just didn't feel right that life should be that way.  I stumbled onto MMM searching for grocery prices of all things, and my mind was blown.  Of course in hindsight it seems like 'duh,' just stop spending so much and you can retire quickly.  I have always been frugal-centric, yet I never considered the possibility of FI.  I guess that goes to show how powerful the influence is when everyone around you is doing the opposite.  Anyway, I am completely on board with early retirement.  And my eyes have been completely opened to the wonders of bicycles.

livetogive

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #729 on: July 19, 2013, 11:30:09 AM »
Hi, I'm Matt.

I live in Northern California and am new to MMM but love it.  I work in financial services and tinker with vehicles and electronics on the side, so I'm hoping to learn a few new tips from other posters as well as share some of my own!

MissMimi

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #730 on: July 20, 2013, 04:22:19 PM »
Hi all, I'm Jen.  I've been reading MMM since almost the beginning and am trying to give up my bad habit of lurking.  I'm 42, single, living in the Boston area and have some serious making up for lost time to do.  My only debt now is my mortgage, but this comes after years of bad financial decisions (two bachelors degrees leading to student loan debt and delayed start of my career; maxed out credit cards; a car lease, etc.).  Career-wise I have a great, well-paying job with good security and benefits, but I could get a new job pretty easily if that ever went away (I'm an RN in the long term care field).  I'm way too late for ER but hope to become FI someday so that my twilight years as a crazy cat lady are comfortable...OK, I only have two cats so my "cat ratio" is still within normal limits. :-)
I'm so glad to become a part of this great community-hopefully I'll have something useful to contribute!

Iteration

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #731 on: July 20, 2013, 08:25:04 PM »
Hi Everybody,

I'm a 23 year old male living and working in Detroit, MI. I've been planning for early retirement for most of my college career and the path doesn't look too bad.
I'm currently making $65k per year before taxes and will likely be able to save around $38k this year (which is 80% of my after tax income).

In the field I'm working in, I expect my salary to increase by about 10% per year for the next few years. While keeping my cost of living down, I calculate that I should be able to become financially independent in 5-6 years, and I will be retiring in 10.

cluelessnnc

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #732 on: July 21, 2013, 12:19:58 PM »
Hello,

I'm a 34 y.o. living in Durham, NC.  My husband and I have two kids, a dog, and a cat.  We're a completely modern family on the brink of leaving the world of employment and venturing out on our own (I left my job 6 months ago and my dh will leave his in December). We'll see how well we do without a paycheck or employer subsidized health care. 

Our goal has never been to be wealthy but instead to do more with less.  Smart and ecologically sound living while still enjoying a few expensive pursuits such as travel.  I'm not an exact fit here but I'm here to learn and cause as little trouble as possible so hopefully that won't be a problem.  :) 

MelodysMustache

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #733 on: July 21, 2013, 01:51:15 PM »
Hi!

I am a 45 year old empty nester single mom.  I am also a computer engineer so MMM is a kindred soul.  I am at a point in my life where I am really looking to improve my saving and investing, and I am sadly realizing that I let too many years of consumerism slip past.  I want to go from a place of having a reasonably comfortable normal age retirement, to retiring at 60 (or possibly earlier if I can manage it).

bonjourliz

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #734 on: July 22, 2013, 11:39:09 AM »
Hi!  I'm Liz, mom of 2 young kids - DS is almost 4 and DD is 17months.  I discovered MMM a few weeks ago, around the same time we switched from my husband's homemade budget worksheets to YNAB.  This sure has been eye-opening! 

My husband and I both work full time.  We have been careful with our money for several years now, but have really buckled down in the last month or so -- since finding MMM. 

Glad to be here!

Jerod

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #735 on: July 22, 2013, 12:00:12 PM »
Hello, I'm Jerod, I'm 24 live north of Boston, work further north of Boston, and I am about a week away from paying off my student loans.  I had been paying them off aggressively by the standards of everyone I knew for a while, but then I started reading MMM and I decided that I wanted them gone.  I've never owned a car and am trying my best not to (unless I decide to live in one for a while).  My plan as of right now is to save money for the next couple years at my 62k/year engineering type job and then quit and try joining a circus or becoming a climbing guide or maybe going for a long bike ride.  This had all been the plan before I started reading MMM, but this site has really helped me refine my goals and understand that I was wasting both time and money doing certain things (ERE helped too, though I started here).

So thanks for the insights, I look forward to getting involved in the community and learning/doing even more.

curler

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #736 on: July 23, 2013, 10:04:15 AM »
Hi!  I've been reading the blog for a while, and just joined the forum.  I'm 23, and single. I live in the metro DC area.  Just trying to learn all I can.
-Eric

FormFillingVexesMe

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #737 on: July 23, 2013, 11:36:24 AM »
My real name is Richard, but filling out forms really does vex me. I started using Lastpass recently and it is quite good at filling out forms, but not perfect. Web designers all think they have to be original.

I joined this forum because I want to retrofit my 40 year old ranch house in Arizona and bring it to net zero energy. So many improvements could be made, but the problem is knowing how to maximize expenditures. I have a list of 20 things I could spend money money on. I did make the leap to solar a few years ago and that is paying off.

What I really need is the "mother of all spreadsheets" where I could list all the parameters of each possible  expenditure and then play "what if". I'll bet such a decision matrix exists somewhere, but so far I have had no luck finding it. Perhaps if it does not exist, members of this forum could create what we all need.

calskin

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #738 on: July 23, 2013, 06:04:42 PM »
Hey everyone,

I've been reading for a while now.  I started at the beginning and I'm up to "Dude, where’s my 7% Investment Return?" (I'm a very slow reader.)

I'm from Alberta Canada which is a VERY materialistic area because of all the oil.  I'm 30, and I'm working on changing my thinking patterns around to be more frugal so I can get out of debt and start saving.  From what I'm reading, I'm getting a later start than a lot of people on here, but I figure, I'm better off starting now than never.

Looking forward to getting to know some of you.

Cal

rob in cal

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #739 on: July 24, 2013, 09:15:12 AM »
Hi, I'm Rob from California. We are big savers, have been for all my married life of 20 years.  I love to hear other peoples stories and successes.

RonSwanstache

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #740 on: July 24, 2013, 09:21:04 AM »
Hi everyone,

I'm Ben and a 41 year old guy from Ontario. I have a wonderful wife and three beagles. I'm semi-retired because of the real estate investments I've made (they pull in a modest income and cover about 1/3 of our total expenses), but my big goal is to implement mustachian principles so that both my wife (a teacher making $90,000) and I can reach true financial independence in the next five years.

My current project is paying off about $10,000 in consumer debt. Once that's gone, it will be ramping up our savings so that we can funnel more into our RE investing.

As for changes already made as a result of reading this fantastic blog and forum, I've become an avid cyclist and now commute everywhere within our city to run errands, etc. I've also learned how to cut my own hair at home and have started fixing things that I would have normally thrown out and replaced with new. Kijiji and Craigslist are my new best friends, and my next goal is to transfer my leased 2012 Kia (it's sat in our garage untouched for two weeks!) so that we can go down to driving one car – our very mustachian Toyota Echo hatchback!

My wife's not quite on board yet, but I think I can bring her around at least part way! :)

Anyway, glad to be here!

Ben

CA_guy

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #741 on: July 24, 2013, 11:10:40 AM »
Hi Everyone,

I am a 35yr old  from the beautiful CA. I want to thank MMM for putting together a wonderful online community for like minded people. I came to know about MMM thru Yahoo's Financially Fit webcast.

Have a great day everyone.

Thanks,
CA_guy

Tony_SS

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #742 on: July 24, 2013, 12:51:15 PM »
Hello folks, I found the MMM blog from the Yahoo story, and am glad I did.

Kipp

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #743 on: July 24, 2013, 02:43:03 PM »
Hi,

My name is Kipp.

I am 26, looking to buy my first home with my wife and looking to pay off that plus other debts to become FI.

some1

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #744 on: July 25, 2013, 05:50:05 AM »
Hello,

I'm some1. I live in Germany, together with my wife and our little baby son. Found this website about a month ago, and absolutely love it! I've always been an economical person, but MMM really inspired me to plan my finances even more accurately in order to reach financial independence. We're on a good way, but continuously adapting to the changes in life and always finding a good balance between enjoying the present and saving for the future is a true challenge. I'm optimistic, and I think this is most important.

Enjoy your day :-)

 

unibum

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #745 on: July 25, 2013, 07:39:33 AM »
Hey I am from Aus uni student love this site. Thanks

viverl

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #746 on: July 25, 2013, 10:13:39 AM »
@some1: another fellow German! Welcome! We have a thread concerning German MMM followers, why don't you join us? :)

aflacnerd

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #747 on: July 25, 2013, 10:26:52 AM »
Hi,
  Discovered this site yesterday. We are a family of three living in US East coast. We have been carefull with money
but this site has been eye opening. We plan to save more.

MoneyCat

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #748 on: July 26, 2013, 08:20:03 AM »
     Hi, it's nice to meet everybody.  I saw the video on Yahoo's main page and I started reading the blog a couple of days ago.  I'm really impressed by the blog and I think this would be a great community to be involved with.
     Money has been a problem for me in my life, largely because I grew up in poverty and had no role models to teach me to manage it properly.  There were also no classes in personal financial management in high school, so I stuck with the "spend everything now because it may be gone tomorrow" model of life that I learned growing up.  This led to me financing a worthless BA in English and a useful Master's in Teaching at a state university entirely in federal student loans at 5.5% which has left me with over $70k in debt.  My complete ignorance in financial matters led me to default on my student loans after college and destroy my credit.
     When I turned 30, I finally got it together enough to start fixing my issues.  I joined the MyFico message boards and learned to get goodwill adjustments from banks on missed credit card payments, rehabilitated my student loans and let the negative flags age off the accounts.  I started following the advice of Suze Orman and purchased several of her books, which led me to live a much more frugal life living beneath my means with an emergency fund.  I own my car flat-out and it is a very fuel-efficient hybrid.  We shop online using high rewards credit card malls and at warehouse stores to save money.  We're also moving to a more bicycle-friendly area of our city close to the library which should save us a lot as well.
     I am really impressed by MMM's story and I would love to be able to live that kind of life too.  I'm joining the forum to learn more about how to accomplish my goals and hopefully retire early with a happy, prosperous retirement.

scarab007

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #749 on: July 26, 2013, 02:35:08 PM »
Hello everyone and great to start meeting.   I too am a money saving freak and looking for more guidance and knowledge on the subject.  I live in the Bay Area with my wife and it is getting interesting.  Compound interest is showing results! 

Great stuff on here for the articles I have already read. 

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!