My goal is to own (i.e. no mortgage) my first property at 25, and completely financially independent by 30.
Other things I dream of are owning a franchise, owning an apartment complex, taking a trip to space, inventing something useful, building my own house (i.e. pulling out the hammers and saws, not hiring contractors. Never understood why people refer to that as building their own house) I may get married after I achieve the above.
My goal is to own (i.e. no mortgage) my first property at 25, and completely financially independent by 30.
Other things I dream of are owning a franchise, owning an apartment complex, taking a trip to space, inventing something useful, building my own house (i.e. pulling out the hammers and saws, not hiring contractors. Never understood why people refer to that as building their own house) I may get married after I achieve the above.
Wow, your dreams are epic! Good luck with them all!
Gidday Jake D from Perth WA. I missed your location when I posted a few minutes ago. Any other Aussies?
My last intro post disappeared, but it was too long anyway.
I'm John, dba CuencaSolo on this and a few other sites. I'm a single guy of 63, retired in Cuenca in the Andes of Ecuador for nearly two years now. Before that, I maintained ancient mainframe programs at Dallas City Hall. ("Cobol? You mean I get to work on the new stuff?") Only for 13 years, and Texas cities don't allow some of the scams you hear about in places like California or Illinois, but my civil service defined benefit pension would still embarrass a gangster. That was more comfortable back when most big companies had traditional pension plans, so government employees did not stick out. Now I have to blush as I say: Thank you, Dallas property tax payers!
I'm good with crossing cultural boundaries, and pretty good at languages, so it was an easy decision to cut my basic living costs in half by moving to a relatively pleasant Third World country. I won't be getting a car here (walkable small city, usable buses and taxis.) Other than that, I would rate myself low in Badassity and high in WussyPantsitude. I rent in a secured condo building, with weekly visits from a cleaning lady, and call for a repair person if I need anything much more complex than changing a light bulb.
I'd be glad to give details on living costs and ways of doing things if people are interested, but this is an extension of the basic MMM themes. My lifestyle here is an instance of what you do after FI, rather than how to attain it.
Hello John,
I love Cuenca, Ecuador for that matter, and it's a great place to live. I'm going to guess you are paying $300 for that rental?
I would not call it Third World, but I can understand why others might. Here a a few pics from my most recent trip in March for those who may want to look.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9452251@N06/sets/72157630058245337/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9452251@N06/sets/72157630058245337/)
I'm liquidbanana. I live in a horrid but cheap place called Oklahoma. I live with my five year old son and my sexymansoulmate. We've got the frugality thing down, but not the making money part, but we're working on it!
Hi I'm Marty, from Sydney Australia (are there any other Aussies on here?)
Started reading MMM a couple of weeks ago. Start to end, couldn't stop myself reading the lot.
26 now, set myself the goal of being FI in 9 years. Notwithstanding the sky-high housing costs here I reckon I can still do it.
cheers
Now it's time for the next level, especially with a Scrappy Doo on the way!
Hi.
I'm Adam, and I'm in debt up to my eyeballs.
I want to use what I have learned to help people make better - more informed decisions. Thinking of starting "The College Decision Experiment" and sharing the steps of decision analysis with a group of families that might be interested and blogging our journey. My child is a junior in high school, so I would lead the process and include our family as we work on this decision too! Does anyone out there know anyone who might be interested?
If my math is right, I think I can be debt free at 45 and start getting serious about investing and possibly home ownership. I'd like to be financially independent by the time I hit 55 - opinions on feasibility welcome!Welcome, Kyth!
PS: RosettaStoned? Am I correct in assuming you're a fellow Tool fan?
Howdy. I'm 37, hubby is 45. I work in behavior health, he works for the government. Our kids are 25 and 18, neither lives with us. 3 dogs, 2 cats. Just a few years to debt free!
One of my first actions once I decided to ER in the immediate term was to announce to all family members that the Official Bank of The Extended Family everyone thought I was running was closing down for business at the end of 2012. So far, so good and that act alone has saved me around $8K pa of expenses.
Howdy. I'm 37, hubby is 45. I work in behavior health, he works for the government. Our kids are 25 and 18, neither lives with us. 3 dogs, 2 cats. Just a few years to debt free!
Tell me you did not have a kid when you were 12?
My husband's only temptation is eating out, so clearly that's one category where we can get into big trouble.
My husband's only temptation is eating out, so clearly that's one category where we can get into big trouble.
Welcome, Olivia! I can completely relate to the eating out thing. Before my recent and increasing conversion to Mustachianism, I to would eat out for just about every meal except breakfast... and sometimes even that too! Just in the last year, that resulted in about $5000+ in money that I'll never, ever,ever see again. I'm only just now starting to turn that around.
What part of the fashion industry do you work in? Being in the advertising world, I know how easy it can be to get into the habit of just "having" the latest stuff just... because! I'd love to see how you and I both turn careers in these most-unmustachian industries into ones that work better for us both.
Welcome to the forum!
~ Lord Cashmoney
Basic questions:
1) do I budget an amount for vacation, or spend from my savings...or both..?
2) do I count the principal I pay on mortgage each month into my % saved amount?
3) how do I add back my 401 k contributions in figuring my % saved?
Hi, I'm Jayne. I'm married, working full time, and our only child just graduated college with NO debt. My husband retired 7 years ago, and he would like some company. I saw the WaPo piece, and have to ask: what are you doing for health insurance?
Just found this place a few days ago - about the time my DH got laid off (wah wah). I can't say he was happy in that job, but it sure beat looking for a new one...Could this be the time to downshift and do something else that's entertaining, if you don't need to accumulate any assets and just need health coverage? What about an adjunct professorship at a business school, for example? (Obviously that's dramatically limited by the specifics of the situation, though.)
Thankfully, we've always been frugal and have no debt and a low 7 figure net worth, including about 800k invested, plus our paid off house. I would almost consider us at the FI point, but the sticking part is health insurance. Early 50's and each of us have a history that makes insurance companies quake (we're both quite healthy, but they still don't want us). I'm hoping the next couple years will allow us to get coverage outside of him working.
Interesting thought, but not for him. He's great one on one, but never in front of a group. He's more the "stick me in an office, give me a buggy program, and I'll fix it" type person. Neither of us is good at thinking outside the box, but you're right, there should be something out there, and we do have the freedom to wait for it.Just found this place a few days ago - about the time my DH got laid off (wah wah). I can't say he was happy in that job, but it sure beat looking for a new one...Could this be the time to downshift and do something else that's entertaining, if you don't need to accumulate any assets and just need health coverage? What about an adjunct professorship at a business school, for example? (Obviously that's dramatically limited by the specifics of the situation, though.)
Thankfully, we've always been frugal and have no debt and a low 7 figure net worth, including about 800k invested, plus our paid off house. I would almost consider us at the FI point, but the sticking part is health insurance. Early 50's and each of us have a history that makes insurance companies quake (we're both quite healthy, but they still don't want us). I'm hoping the next couple years will allow us to get coverage outside of him working.
Thanks, limeandpepper! I am loving being retired! I'm really into gardening so I volunteer for an organization that teaches gardening and environmentalism to NYC public school students. I also love sewing and cooking, and spend a lot of time doing both. I take my dogs for lots of long walks and spend time with them in the park. My sister and I write a blog together where we write about frugality and I post a lot of recipes that I make up on the blog, which I enjoy a lot!
I am homeless, but it is not as bad as it sounds. In late May, my long term girlfriend and I quit our jobs, sold our house, bought a truck camper and an F250 (both used, in cash, of course) and will be spending the next year travelling North America.
(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!
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
I am looking forward in learning a lot more about financial freedom and meeting other frugal people!Welcome!
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
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.Have you considered an energy audit? There are several companies in the valley that offer this service and APS/SRP have rebates on the fees.
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.
Hi,
the most common refrain we've heard from these friends and family members is a disdain-filled variation on, "How can you live like that?" ("How can you live in a such a small house?" "How can you live in a place without a Whole Foods?" "How can you live without cable?")
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
My first question: I have read about the 4% rule and am using that to determine what our savings goal should be. When I multiply our current yearly expenses by 25, it gives me a figure. When I multiply that figure by the 4% withdrawal rate, I get exactly my yearly expenses. But that figure will not cover my yearly expenses because we will have to pay taxes on that income which will be a large additional expense. (Most of our retirement money will come from non-retirement savings accounts). So, wouldn't I need more than a 4% withdrawal?
Hey there! Nice to get to know some fellow frugality-minded peeps! I've searched for a blog like this for ages and am so glad that there are other people with the willingness to live cheaply and invest. Cheers to increasing our wealth!!
I'm a 22 year-old guy living in San Diego (originally from Minnesota) with a knack for computers and music.
No one will read this...
But I'm 24, grad student at a big school in a small midwestern town. I've never owned a car because I don't need one yet; I currently get around by bike, bus, and very rarely Zipcar. Working on eating out less and saving more. :)
this thread has been viewed over 45 thousand times.
Hello Everyone,
I'm 28 years old and live in the North of the Netherlands with my girlfriend.
We are renting a house because the real estate bubble is bursting here.
I've been a lurker here for months, Were both saving a good amount but getting FI is very hard in this country.
I am 3 year old female, married to a lovely person and mother to a wonderful 18 month old boy.
it's just that I suck, am SUPER lazy, and a complete complainypants.
Hiya folks. This blog has inspired me to get our asses in gear. Thanks MMM!
My wife and I don't want to work until I'm old and tired. Over the last week, my wife and I have paid off our last student loans ($10k), and now are on track to pay off our one car loan ($15k, 2010 model) in less than a year. We also have goals of reducing our "misc" spending category from ~$1200/month to $525 (50/wk/person allowance and $125 for restaurants), and reduce our grocery bill from $700 to $500. This is just the start. I feel like we have a decent start already, as our net worth is ~$450k right now, 34 years old, no kids, but we have 2 cars, don't carpool enough, have been spending too much for short term happiness, etc. I'm already looking at selling my V8 dakota and getting a mini van, because I've always wanted a van! We have somewhat unique needs living in AK (which I know is not cheap!) such as taking our own garbage to the dump, hauling our own water in a 200gal tank (1600lbs) to our house, and steep roads and winter for 7 months of the year, etc. I hope to adjust the principles here to our life in the north (and then maybe retire in a new location where our money will go way further!)
I hope this is the start of a great time.
Tom
Thanks to the Tightwad Gazette and Your Money or Your Life, I spent my 20's being frugal- paid off $5,000 of student loans early, saving money to quit my job and travel for months every few years, etc. Spent my 30's getting married, buying a house, and getting comfortable spending what I made. I look back now and wonder what the hell happened? My Dad died when I was forty and that plus some other stuff created a sort of midlife crisis and I realized that I didn't want to waste to much more of my limited time on this earth working. A frugal friend directed me to MMM and my course was immediately corrected. So far we have gotten rid of the car loan and have cut spending way down. Next, we will attack the mortgage because that will be the FU money we need (without a mortgage we can live on my paycheck alone and I don't make very much) for my husband to have the option to quit his job- or stay if it seems more bearable when he no longer HAS to stay and we can reach FI even earlier.
My goal is to own (i.e. no mortgage) my first property at 25, and completely financially independent by 30.
Other things I dream of are owning a franchise, owning an apartment complex, taking a trip to space, inventing something useful, building my own house (i.e. pulling out the hammers and saws, not hiring contractors. Never understood why people refer to that as building their own house) I may get married after I achieve the above.
Wow, your dreams are epic! Good luck with them all!
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/28/weekend-edition-the-magic-of-thinking-big/ (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/28/weekend-edition-the-magic-of-thinking-big/)
I also read the book and take it seriously. Thank you :)
Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum.
Until 9 months ago, I never really thought about retirement or saving to that matter. I always thought people being able to retire before 45 were either the "inheriters" or those who had sold their dotcoms.
9 months ago my partner and I found out we were pregnant, and this is when I realized that we would be getting old one day, and that our child would have to go to school eventually (and it probably won't be free either)...
The sad reality is that, although we are both in our early 30's and have been making over $500k a year for the past few years, our savings account is virtually in-existent... (Although we have a decent chunk of equity in our house).
Reading this website has been a great wake-up call, and my partner and I are committed to change our lifestyle in order to be able to retire before we get to 50 y/o.
Looking forward to learn about living more frugally and still be content and fulfilled.
I saw your post, ZugZug. I like to read posts in this thread. Welcome!
One of my favorite jobs was being a bank teller! I didn't have that job long, but I liked that it all made sense, and there was never any homework!
I doubt if anyone reads these, but here goes. Lol.
Can I pull the plug on cable and stop having someone else clean my house? Well, one of those is much more likely than the other. Perhaps my fellow mustachians can help.
Hello,
Found MMM via the recent article on Marketwatch. I thought I was frugal and about ready to retire until I started reading the blog. Many posts still to go, but I'm taking notes.
My wife and I are both employed with a gross income of around $160K and debt free except for a 4.5 year 2.99 percent loan on a 4x4 for about $25K taken last year following a collision that totaled my 13 year old debt-free truck. (Not our fault and no one seriously hurt). I know I should punch myself in the face because now my fuel economy sucks and I bought it new. I am fortunate, however, in that I have a third car that I could sell and use the proceeds to cut the loan balance in half. It is just a way overpowered toy anyway.
We have about $650K split between two almost equal 401K accounts.
I want to to leave my current job in three years and retire (at age 58). My wife plans to work until she is 58 (five more years). Our plan is to start picking up an early $1,200 per month pension from my previous employer in April and for my wife to pick up her early pension of about $1,000 per month when she is 55 in 3 years. Based on what we can save from our jobs between now and then, we should have about $30,000 to 35,000 per year to live on debt-free for 18 months until I hit 59 1/2 and can start drawing 401K money if neded. She gets to do the same a few years later, and then Social Security can kick in at 62, if we feel like it.
Are we almost there, or am I missing something?
outside of mortgage/taxes/insurance and charitable contributions, we only spend about $32k/year on our family of 7.
Wow--that's truly impressive! I'd love to see more about how you accomplish this!Well, I can share details, but I don't think this is the right thread to do it in. Can you point me in the right direction?
Let me tell you, anyone who is starting out being frugal and finding it difficult, or is slogging through a few mid-career-year doldrums, IT IS WORTH IT! IT IS WORTH IT TO NOT HAVE TO GO TO WORK ANYMORE!!!!!! NEVER GIVE UP!!!!!!!
Hello,
I'm Michael. I'm at 20 year old student from North Carolina (although currently studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain). I love everything about the philosophy about this website and I am striving to live this type of lifestyle.
One of the greatest joys of not blowing money on stupid shit has been the ability to buy bikes for others. It is one of the best feelings of my life. Thanks for listening!
Hi!
Just finished reading the blog archives and punching myself in the face for the last 15 years of being a mindless slave to consumerism.
My wife and I and our 3yo son are ready to "live the dream" and are aggressively changing our ways in the hopes of becoming full-time parents in the next 5-6 years.
Can't wait to dig into the forums and light this fire cracker!
Can't wait to dig into the forums and light this fire cracker!
Hi All, I'm Grant. I found the blog about a year ago while searching for instructions on how to pour a concrete shower pan! Have read every article since then...it's been a life-changer for me.I don't know you well yet but I just wanted to remark that you have good taste in names.
Hello ducky (!) Great handle by the way, welcome. This thread includes a link to general personal finance TLAs: FAQ (https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/forum-information-faqs/frequently-asked-questions/), although they are not specific to this site. Lots of other good stuff in there too.
I've seen this link posted on the MMM forum before.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f47/acronyms-and-slang-frequently-used-on-the-forum-34884.html
Hi All,
I'm Joelle. I'm 46 (I will turn 47 next week!). I'm French, and I live in the Paris suburbs, which is an incredibly expensive place to live in.
I have been married for 2 years.
I discovered MMM 3 months ago, just after discovering YNAB (I was looking for a tool to manage my Personal Finance).
I had never thought of retiring earlier than the legal age here in France (62)!!
I am quite far from FI...
For now, my objective is to at least spend less than I make (while continuing to pay for the mortgage, saving a bit for retirement... and paying all the taxes we have here...).
I am glad to be here.
Cheers.
A few years ago I told my dad I was going to retire before he does (he's 52). Sadly enough for him, I'm on track to actually do that. He's part of the inspiration for me being frugal: he hates his job but has had such bad spending habits over the years, plus he doesn't have a lot of transferable skills to make really good money in other industries, so he's stuck. I do NOT want to be like that.
A few years ago I told my dad I was going to retire before he does (he's 52). Sadly enough for him, I'm on track to actually do that. He's part of the inspiration for me being frugal: he hates his job but has had such bad spending habits over the years, plus he doesn't have a lot of transferable skills to make really good money in other industries, so he's stuck. I do NOT want to be like that.
I hear you. That's the main reason I'm as frugal as I am now. I've watched my parents fritter money away for years when they could have been long retired and living much less stressful lives. Even when they would get a stock windfall or inheritance it just gets blown.
I'm 30, and live in Abilene, TX.
I'm not at all on the right track for managing my money, but I'm trying to turn that around. I've been trying to turn a lot of things around lately, including recovering from years of deep and debilitating depression. I'm hoping that with my mental health improving that I can do something to improve my financial health as well. Financial Independence isn't something I ever really considered before, but MMM gives me hope that maybe I too can succeed.
Hi everyone,Me too! Well, aiming for FI and love bouldering! I live in Bishop, CA so let me know if you're ever down this way!
I'm 30, living in Ontario Canada, aiming for financial independence and just love climbing (bouldering).
Hi Everyone!!I'm Cecilia I am 45 and I don't know if I ever want to retire or just be a SWAMI because I love my job as a pediatric registered nurse.
On another forum I frequent, I related in great detail an encounter I had with a pod of orcas while I was sea kayaking - let me just say that the impact that this moment had upon me was profound in that it made me question how many other moments we are all missing out on while we are slumped in our cubicles, or (in my case) slogging in the mud at the bottom of a hole trying to repair a damaged sanitary pipe. I may never experience as breathtaking an event as when I felt my kayak rise up a few feet because a 10000 pound bull orca had swum beneath my fragile boat - yes, the mass of the animal displaced enough water to lift my boat - but I want more TIME and FREEDOM to seek out similar wonders. The world is full of them.
Hi everyone,
I'm new to the MMM community - stumbled upon the blog via the YNAB forums.
Read a couple posts and thought "yeah right, dude. NOT for me, thanks but no thanks."
In fact, I actually posted something on the YNAB forums about how I'm doing things XYZ way because "it's not like I'm trying to retire early, or anything."
And then the STRANGEST thing happened. I couldn't stop thinking about the principles of MMM/FIRE. So I slowly started reading more of the posts and started questioning things I had taken at face value. I was like "why do I need XYZ? because someone told me I deserved it? Because thats what other people are doing?"
So here I am. :) Full believer now. :)
Hi everyone,
I'm new to the MMM community - stumbled upon the blog via the YNAB forums.
Read a couple posts and thought "yeah right, dude. NOT for me, thanks but no thanks."
In fact, I actually posted something on the YNAB forums about how I'm doing things XYZ way because "it's not like I'm trying to retire early, or anything."
And then the STRANGEST thing happened. I couldn't stop thinking about the principles of MMM/FIRE. So I slowly started reading more of the posts and started questioning things I had taken at face value. I was like "why do I need XYZ? because someone told me I deserved it? Because thats what other people are doing?"
So here I am. :) Full believer now. :)
Wow--that's a very cool mustachian 180 you just did. Hope you enjoy the MMM/FIRE lifestyle. There's no turning back now... ;-)
Hi all,
I'm from London, in my early 30s. I've led a fairly disastrous live thus far not saving a single penny despite working for over 10 years, but during the last two years have been slowly cutting back on the spending whilst getting sizeable pay rises. For the last two months I have fully committed to "Financial Freedom Through Badassity" and have been able to achieve a ~50% saving rate.
London is a bit pricey, but I'm always up for a challenge. Thanks for having me
BW
I just read that the median global salary is estimated to be something like $1,255 a year. One would only need an income of about $34,000 a year to be in the global top 1% world wide.
That blows my mind.
I had to "grow up". Smarten up. Buckle down.
How could I make so much money but have so little to show for it?
Get in, get out. Like an assassin.
Hey fellow Mustachians,
I stumbled upon the article in the Washington Post about MMM almost one year ago. My fiancee (at the time) were a couple months away from our wedding. I remember reading the WashPost article and thinking, "This must be some kind of sign for our totally awesome future!" I was amazed that MMM became financially independent at 30. I was 29! Let's just say it was my first "face punch." Then I found the MMM website and immediately became hooked. Over the next few months I went back through the archives and studied up on "mustachianism." I've since been a regular and enthusiastic MMM reader and long-time forum reader. This is my first post here!
My wife and I had occasional frugal tendencies and we invested (maxing 401k, Vanguard index funds, TSP, etc.) but we weren't exactly tracking our spending/saving -- even though we both had our own Mint accounts. We had a large chunk of cash in a combo of savings and checking accounts (so you could say we had an emergency fund) but it wasn't doing anything. Additionally, I was paying a loan a new-ish Jeep Wrangler -- because I wanted to look cool (FACE PUNCH)! My wife was paying off her law school loans but fortunately owned a quality hand-me-down Honda Civic for her commute. We did though have a great (but pricey) wedding.
But by regular standards, you could say, for a newly married couple, we were doing pretty good. As we learned though, we weren't doing very good by MMM standards. So here's what we did:
1. Actually tracked our spending for July and August 2013
2. Sold my Jeep and bought a used Prius (thx to MMM car recommendations)
3. Set initial goal of saving 30-40% of our monthly pay
4. Started doing weekly grocery shopping (previously it was very ad hoc) and made our own meals (no more Whole Food hot bar lunches!)
5. I started biking to work!
6. Reduced our weekly dinner/movie dates from once a week to once a month
7. Combined our bank accounts so our respective incomes became "ours" and combined insurance
8. Eventually upped our savings rate to at least 50% of our take home pay with most of that going toward our "home down payment fund" and the rest to my Vanguard taxable account
9. Lastly, I got a new job recently so we'll be moving to a new city shortly. I'll get a company car, cell phone, etc. and my wife will take public transportation for her job so we'll be able to cut some additional costs there as well.
Here's one quick measure: we calculated our net worth back in October as we were getting our acts together. It was approximately $126K. It's increased 47% since. Sure, the markets have helped but we are proud to be stashing our cash even more so!
Bottom line: the MMM way has my wife and me starting off on the right financial foot as we begin our lives together! Great to be a part of this community!
My approach to "spend less" has been to start small: I cancelled Netflix (we weren't watching the DVDs in any kind of timely manner and we can't use streaming video, but that's another post!), reverted my Pandora One subscription to the free version, cancelled a magazine we decided we don't enjoy enough to justify the expense, and on Monday, I plan to cancel the XM subscription in my car. Total annual savings: $250
Baby steps, but better than none, right?
Those are great baby steps!
Installing AdBlock Plus for your internet browser (I've tried both Firefox and Chrome) is a way to take the ads off Pandora for free. :)
Welcome, TexasBrit! Sounds like you have really woken up! In case you are not aware of it yet, there is a No Clothes Shopping in 2014 challenge here. Hope you join it!
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/no-clothes-shopping-in-2014/
Hi!
I'm Bee from Northern Ontario! My boyfriend and I are 23 and 24 respectively, and fully committed to the mustachian way! We love the outdoors, cooking, travelling and saving money!
Super excited to join the forum and talk to other like minded people out there, learn some new tips and grow our 'staches!
I'm also super pumped that as of today I am debt-free!
I've recently restarted blogging over at besimplyfree.wordpress.com to chronicle our quest for simple living and financial independence !
We plan to enter “rural retirement” within the next few years by starting a homestead and living a fulfilling life of purpose, simplicity, and peace on 60+ wooded acres.60 plus wooded acres sounds great! May I ask in what area this will be? I have a similar goal and like to know what locations people choose for these kind of things
60 plus wooded acres sounds great! May I ask in what area this will be? I have a similar goal and like to know what locations people choose for these kind of things
I have always been frugal and am quite fascinated by this site. How does the term mustachian relate to frugality?
[...] with a just-turned-one year old daughter called Arya (named for the GoT novels character).
Welcome everyone...[...] with a just-turned-one year old daughter called Arya (named for the GoT novels character).
Also, yes!!! ^
Give her a Needle for her 8th b-day. :-)
Hi everyone,
I'm from Perth, Western Australia and found found this site via Whirlpool forums. I was suckered into the "leverage up and live off equity" myth and recent mini-recession here in WA has opened my eyes to the fact that it may not be such a great strategy for building wealth and retiring early. I'm looking forward to learning how to save 70% of my income and start paying off my property debts so I can get off the wheel and become financially free.
I've been lurking for about 6 months and finally decided to join. I really enjoy MMM's enthusiasm and come here often for FI inspiration. We're on the right track with no cc debt, no car payments, two paid off rental properties in AZ and a low morgtgage on our primary residence here in TX. Yet there is still so much to improve upon including a 60 mile commute roundtrip to work and becoming better at doing the fixitup stuff ourselves. Wish me luck ya'll.
Jordan, just turned 27, my wife and I have a one-year old son and plan to have a few more. We live in the Salt Lake City area but are working hard to get back to Boise, ID where we both grew up. No debt, working our way to FI in 15 years or less. Taking a few small risks on real estate to try and expedite the process.
I've already quit using the toll road on my commute to and from work, minimizing how much gas I burn on the commute, brownbagging it to work, canceling stuff like Hulu that I don't care that much about, cutting out the daily Starbucks and brewing my coffee at home, and selling our RV on ebay. That's just after three days!
[...]
I rent in "the bad neighborhood" so I am able to walk to work.
[...]
Hi Guys,
My name is Steve and I live in South Florida.
I must admit that I just found this forum a few days ago. I follow a few forums during the days and I followed a link to this site. What a great find.
Hello!
I have been an off and on reader of MMM for a couple of years. As far as cults go, I am much more in the J.Money camp! But I decided to sign up because I am definitely going to be having some difficult times ahead. A few years ago I had gotten out of college with a pretty much worthless degree and some decent student debt, around $25k. This was right around 2008 and with the degree I got and what I wanted to do I couldn't get a job anywhere. I started working at a Subway to pay the bills and pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck. During this time I was pretty frugal, although not as much as I could have been. I managed to pay all the bills, including the payments on my debt, while renting out a single room. Well, after four years of doing this I thought I would like to do something different and better with my life so I decided to apply to law school. I got in and moved to go there. I am just starting my third year now and graduation/employment is on the horizon. However, I have accumulated a massive debt now, about to roll into 6 figures and have no for sure employment after graduation. I am working a part time job right now, but I am anticipating the face punch this debt is about to throw me as soon as I get out of school and so I need to start planning and trying to be frugal now to save me some money as well as increasing my working time so that I can decrease my loans this last year. I also need to start planning for after school and what I am going to do.
Anyway, that is my story. I mainly joined the forum after seeing the challenges section so expect to see me hanging out there a lot!
For those of you who have made it here to page 30 of the welcome thread, my name is JC and I'm starting to flex my FIRE muscles just a bit.
I recently turned 30, and I spent much of my 20s working my way into a nice income in an interesting line of work. Last year I stretched my budget to buy the house of my dreams, just one mile from work in my hometown, trying to outrace home price and mortgage rate increases in this economic recovery. Now I live in a house I hope to keep for 20 years or longer with my wonderful wife and baby daughter, and I've shifted my financial focus to achieving financial independence.
Here's to making progress down that road together!
-- JC
Hey frozzie... Welcome to the forum. I too came to Sydney in 2003, although from the uk, and now have two kids here and loving the Aussie life. May I ask how you negotiated the health insurance down? That sounds like a great saving each month. Also, a 275k mortgage sounds very small for Sydney, well done.For the Health Insurance it was just a matter of checking what me and family were actually using and dropping/reducing cover on things we don't/no longer need. Things like hip replacement, pregnancy etc ..
Hey I'm Alex, 23 yr old male, Detroit Metro area, and single. Been lurking and reading the blog for less than a year, but taught to be a saver by my mom :)
I started working as a consultant for a software company based in the area just over one year ago. 70-90% of the time I'm traveling all over the US all expenses paid, which kind of makes this the perfect Mustachian job: low personal expenses + high income = really high % savings rate.
I graduated with my bachelor's degree at 20 years old with no student loan debt at all. The first 2 years of my career weren't the greatest from an income standpoint but this job has accelerated my ER plans big time. I reached $100k net worth on June 15, 2014. Yay!
I figured it was time to stop lurking and actually talk once in while :)
Hey I'm Alex, 23 yr old male, Detroit Metro area, and single. Been lurking and reading the blog for less than a year, but taught to be a saver by my mom :)
I started working as a consultant for a software company based in the area just over one year ago. 70-90% of the time I'm traveling all over the US all expenses paid, which kind of makes this the perfect Mustachian job: low personal expenses + high income = really high % savings rate.
I graduated with my bachelor's degree at 20 years old with no student loan debt at all. The first 2 years of my career weren't the greatest from an income standpoint but this job has accelerated my ER plans big time. I reached $100k net worth on June 15, 2014. Yay!
I figured it was time to stop lurking and actually talk once in while :)
Welcome!! I have to ask what you do as a home base if you are travelling 90% of the time? Methinks there are some awesome savings to be had there. :-)
Hey I'm Alex, 23 yr old male, Detroit Metro area, and single. Been lurking and reading the blog for less than a year, but taught to be a saver by my mom :)
I started working as a consultant for a software company based in the area just over one year ago. 70-90% of the time I'm traveling all over the US all expenses paid, which kind of makes this the perfect Mustachian job: low personal expenses + high income = really high % savings rate.
I graduated with my bachelor's degree at 20 years old with no student loan debt at all. The first 2 years of my career weren't the greatest from an income standpoint but this job has accelerated my ER plans big time. I reached $100k net worth on June 15, 2014. Yay!
I figured it was time to stop lurking and actually talk once in while :)
Welcome!! I have to ask what you do as a home base if you are travelling 90% of the time? Methinks there are some awesome savings to be had there. :-)
Boy, that's a long story haha. But here it goes:
When I first moved up here I purchased a membership in a co-op that allowed me to live in an apartment for $390/month with gas and water included. In the beginning I was still in training/not traveling so I definitely needed a permanent home since I refused to commute an hour and a half from Toledo, OH. Unfortunately, some of the younger friends of mine that I made after I moved caused the elderly neighbors to complain one too many times about noise and the board of directors at the co-op voted to revoke my membership. I received my equity back but after I moved out in March this year I still had to pay the $390 carry cost per month until June 2, pro-rated. I didn't want to pay for two apartments at once so I moved my stuff into storage and moved in with friends. I actually "moved" three times due to incompatible personalities. as of right now, I am staying with some guys I know on the weekend for free/cheap while I travel Sunday-Friday.
So to answer your question, as of today my home base is "voluntary homelessness" where I live out of the trunk of my car and visit friends on the weekend :)
This month, my monthly "housing" cost has been $81 for my storage unit and I paid for a PO Box for 6 months for mail back in March. I didn't owe my friends rent this particular month because I have had back-to-back trips. Unfortunately, traveling week after week after week is not guaranteed, and my friends don't have hot water, therefore I am looking to buy a house. I would much rather pay $400-500 combined for mortgage, property tax, and home insurance instead of renting a apartment for $600-$800 in the Detroit suburbs. And it will be much nicer than those apartments :)
But you're right about those cost savings. When I had my apartment, all I paid was a little bit of electricity for the refrigerator when I'm gone. Otherwise, I used the cable, wifi, free breakfast, etc at the hotels ;) The lowest electric bill I was able to squeeze out I believe was like $15.
I barely spend any of my meals per diem I receive, and I've turned my old used car into a big profit center by collecting $0.565/mile in reimbursement if I travel by car instead of plane. (when I'm allowed to). and it goes without saying that I collect flyer miles and hotel points. Although I had to use the hotel points occasionally when I didn't have anyone to stay with. The voluntary homelessness idea can be lucrative when the stars align, but after couch surfing for 5 months I'm ready for stability again. Might as well get a small house and build equity.
Hey I'm Alex, 23 yr old male, Detroit Metro area, and single. Been lurking and reading the blog for less than a year, but taught to be a saver by my mom :)
I started working as a consultant for a software company based in the area just over one year ago. 70-90% of the time I'm traveling all over the US all expenses paid, which kind of makes this the perfect Mustachian job: low personal expenses + high income = really high % savings rate.
I graduated with my bachelor's degree at 20 years old with no student loan debt at all. The first 2 years of my career weren't the greatest from an income standpoint but this job has accelerated my ER plans big time. I reached $100k net worth on June 15, 2014. Yay!
I figured it was time to stop lurking and actually talk once in while :)
Welcome!! I have to ask what you do as a home base if you are travelling 90% of the time? Methinks there are some awesome savings to be had there. :-)
Boy, that's a long story haha. But here it goes:
When I first moved up here I purchased a membership in a co-op that allowed me to live in an apartment for $390/month with gas and water included. In the beginning I was still in training/not traveling so I definitely needed a permanent home since I refused to commute an hour and a half from Toledo, OH. Unfortunately, some of the younger friends of mine that I made after I moved caused the elderly neighbors to complain one too many times about noise and the board of directors at the co-op voted to revoke my membership. I received my equity back but after I moved out in March this year I still had to pay the $390 carry cost per month until June 2, pro-rated. I didn't want to pay for two apartments at once so I moved my stuff into storage and moved in with friends. I actually "moved" three times due to incompatible personalities. as of right now, I am staying with some guys I know on the weekend for free/cheap while I travel Sunday-Friday.
So to answer your question, as of today my home base is "voluntary homelessness" where I live out of the trunk of my car and visit friends on the weekend :)
This month, my monthly "housing" cost has been $81 for my storage unit and I paid for a PO Box for 6 months for mail back in March. I didn't owe my friends rent this particular month because I have had back-to-back trips. Unfortunately, traveling week after week after week is not guaranteed, and my friends don't have hot water, therefore I am looking to buy a house. I would much rather pay $400-500 combined for mortgage, property tax, and home insurance instead of renting a apartment for $600-$800 in the Detroit suburbs. And it will be much nicer than those apartments :)
But you're right about those cost savings. When I had my apartment, all I paid was a little bit of electricity for the refrigerator when I'm gone. Otherwise, I used the cable, wifi, free breakfast, etc at the hotels ;) The lowest electric bill I was able to squeeze out I believe was like $15.
I barely spend any of my meals per diem I receive, and I've turned my old used car into a big profit center by collecting $0.565/mile in reimbursement if I travel by car instead of plane. (when I'm allowed to). and it goes without saying that I collect flyer miles and hotel points. Although I had to use the hotel points occasionally when I didn't have anyone to stay with. The voluntary homelessness idea can be lucrative when the stars align, but after couch surfing for 5 months I'm ready for stability again. Might as well get a small house and build equity.
I was hoping it was something like that. Glad to have you here.
Hi all,
We are from Central California, have been married one year as of yesterday, and my wife and I are both 24 with no children(yet). I finished a 2 year college degree early at the age of 17 and started my career in IT. I now work as the Director of IT at an awesome family owned farming equipment manufacturing company. My wife graduated from Nursing school last spring and works full time as an RN at a hospital. We have managed to pay off her $40,000+ in student loans in just 8 months which is super exciting to us and with inspiration from MMM we intend to up our savings to at least 70% which will allow us to buy a house/duplex next summer with at least 20% down.
We have made a some financial mistakes in the last year such as wasting a lot of money on eating out and other misc non frugal thinking and we also bought a new car which went against my internal logic that said it was a dumb idea... anyways we are here to learn from more frugal individuals so that we can be good stewards of the money and financial stability that we have been blessed with.
Hi All, Glad i found this site! I'd been reading various financial self help books for years and finally got myself into a position where I can invest. Looking forward to learning lots!
I’m Guckles and I’m (learning to be) a mustachian. Engineer, married, late 20s, no two legged kids, but one of the spoiled canine variety.Welcome. I'm stealing this just to see people doing math with a quizzical face.
its just time to turn off the financially suicidal commercial cascade of consumerism.
Hi!
I'm so happy to have found a community like this! I am 29 years young and my goal is to retire early (would like to work part-time hours later on in life but I do not want to depend on corporate America anymore for my entire living)
I live in Atlanta and work for a big tech corporation right now in Sales. I'm studying to be a computer programmer so I can be able to work freelance, work from home, and be able to live anywhere I want. I also am aiming to start my own blog one day to also generate income.
I've been a "mustachian" for 5 years now but didn't even realize it! People just called me frugal. I come from a poor background and I fell pray to trying to keeping up with other people's rich lifestyles after I graduated college. Needless to say I fell in debt, my credit was wrecked and I was unemployed during the recession. I'm back on my feet and can proudly say I'm debt free, my credit is beautiful, and I built up an emergency's savings account and started retirement funds 2 years ago
I want to learn as much as possible and connect with other mustachians. Living in Atlanta has been great in terms of cost of living but not so great for my esteem. I am constantly disrespected at my job for taking public transportation and this is a BIG car city. I'm tired of the jokes and disrespect. I'm tired of people thinking I don't drive because I'm broke or something is wrong with me. My manager made a joke about me not having a car in front of a new, younger employee and it made me livid. I also get jokes because I prefer to cook my own lunch/dinner instead of eating out. I'll eat out when it's important but I don't like doing it every day like my coworkers......I'm so happy to be around people who share my goals and hopefully I won't feel so alone any more.
Hey fellow mustachians! Thanks for the introductions, it's lovely to 'meet' some like-minded folks :)
I'm single, female, live in Australia, aged 36. I have no debt but don't own anything either. I have an emergency fund saved and another small 'stache ready to begin plugging in to some investment funds. I am almost mentally ready for it but have a bit more learning to do first. I am coming at this with limited knowledge about investing and finance but have been reading blogs and books for a little while now and by nature I would describe myself as frugal and have always directed my money to where I want it to go. I have accumulated and let go of huge sums of money in my life, and used it for travelling, studying, learning, volunteering, etc... I have no regrets but 40 is suddenly not so far away and it's now time to see my goals for the future more vividly and make them happen. And that means learning how to direct my money differently and with that there is a mental shift needing to take place within the psyche...
My main goals include: paying cash for some land and designing and building (with my hands) my own small self-sufficient house, and retiring from working full time in my profession in 10 years time.
It was wonderful to come across MMM. It has been the tipping point for me because it made me realise that my dreams of early retirement are not only possible, but there are people already doing it. Ignoring the naysayers and complainypants takes courage and energy but it's much easier to do knowing there are like-minded souls out there doing the same.
Hi! I'm coin, I'm 24 and live in Perth, Western Australia. I have a partner who is more 'mustachian' in some ways (e.g. he has a higher savings rate than me) but less so in others (he's not all that interested in early retirement/financial independence while I am all over this stuff).
I've been reading the blog for a while now, but only recently gotten into it. I've mostly been focusing on substituting my more spendy habits with some more frugal ones. The idea of bikes has really caught on with me, to the point where I packed a lunch and cycled from Morley to Fremantle (~33kms) yesterday. I didn't think it was something I could do, because I'm unfit and asthmatic, but I did it! Sure, maybe I'm not the fastest, but that packed lunch tasted like victory (take that, asthma!).
Hello, I am late 20's. Spouse is early 30's. So far we have: Paid off our modest student debt; bought a modest home less than 1 times our yearly salary; my workday commute is from the bedroom to the basement; Next stop is maxing Roth and then 401K/TSP.
I don't know if I would ever want to fully retire yet I would like the option. I like being busy.
Where are all my fellow young people.
Hi Ze-french-architecte, I could write this post in French but it's more polite to do it in English for everyone else.
How low are how into Mustachianism? For me, It’s been 13 months and I can tell you, even if I was pretty much Mustachian by myself before I known that THING, we are now full throttle.
I went to U.L. myself as an Agronomist and I just realized I can live with the same expenses from those student years but we bring home 2 average salaries. Nobody from neighbors or friends could even know about this.
Comment est le climat à La Rochelle comparativement à Québec ?
Avez-vous la possibilité d'offrir de l'hébergement pour les touristes, ça pourrait apporter un revenu d’appoint.
Just keep up reading a lot of the MMM blogpost, biking, training, cooking and investing are the keys.
An alumni !
I have had a friend in UL that was studying agronomy.
Yes indeed keeping the student simple life witha growup paycheck is the best way to never feel pain and loss of puchasing power !
Good for you !
Living in Europe means there is already less waste as in NOrth America so it is challenging to cut back. I have found a house closer to work (10 km less, so 3-4km now for 200 euros more on rent per month, higher taxes too but I think this will still balance to a good move) and I use my car only 4days a week and will reduce that some more if I find daucare closer to our new location.
I will absolutely rent a room, what a good idea ! We don't need the extra bedroom to be empty while we wait for the next addition to the family !
I've only been reading the blog and forum for a month now. I have lots to learn and change in my life.
So I'm not the Architect from the Matrix, nope, sorry to disappoint...
I'm 28, Canadian-American (but haven't spent more that 6 months combined in the USA since my birth, unfortunately) living in France since '06.
Mother of one, step-mother of one, so I have truly made my nest here in La Rochelle (France, west coast style!). ... Have been working in architectural practices for 5 years.
Hello,
I'm an attorney in Madison, WI. My wife and I are relatively frugal, but a long ways from mustachian. We've been saving for years but with no real plan. I found this site in January and have been lurking and learning ever since. Great information. Seemed like a good time to join.
Hi,
New mustachian here in Los Angeles. I've been reading the blog and forum for a couple weeks. 35 years old and have been fairly frugal with most expenses but tend to get excited and spend too much whenever I get into a new hobby. I'm working on changing that asap. Recently bought a bike to commute to work and started 403b and 457 accounts. Looking forward to learning from you all and sharing my own experiences.
Hi, my name is Annie-Blake and my husband and I are excited to be on the FI journey in order to gain a more meaningful life by focusing on things that we value most. We are at the beginning of our journey and so far have gone from spending 100% of our income (+ sometimes taking from the savings) to now saving 67%. We have also paid off our car. We have a goal of paying off our house within 6 years, then saving to invest. FI to us means choices and therefore freedom. We want to live a life filled with purpose, and that's why we're here. To learn, to be inspired and to be encouraged. Thank you MMM.
Hi, one of my buddies at work introduced me to this site, and I'm extremely excited to start buying myself back from my boss and the bank! I'm an active duty Staff Sergeant in the USAF (E5), married, no kids, and though I've got a long way to go, my job offers a number of unique opportunities not necessarily afforded by civilian employment. So, are there any other military Mustaches on here?Seems like quite a few active duty and Reserve/National Guard, with even more veterans.
New guy. I'm 34, my name's Mark. I've been a professional audio engineer for about a decade now and have been extremely successful at it. The downside is I'm a workaholic, regularly doing insane hours (60-80 hour weeks for months at a time), and my health is in pretty bad shape. I recently realized I have a lot of cash piled up (in a 'Stash as you folks call it, I'll learn!), and I have enough to retire now if I set up investments properly, throttle down our expenses and change our way of life and way of thinking.
So my wife and I are now absorbing all of this, learning what it means to be Mustachian, and we're making a plan to land this crazy plane over the next year or so. I don't want to walk away from the job yet for two reasons:
01) I've got a pair of big paydays (project completion bonuses) coming in the next 15 months, and they're pretty sure things, as I've received quite a few of these in the last five years
02) I feel like we should start cutting our expenses and adapting now before I cut off the cash firehose, rather than cut it off, screw up and find ourselves in a bad place
So that's who I am. Happy to be here, excited to learn and shooting to retire at 35 :)
NO DEBT! (Just paid off my auto loan after acquiring my latest job and discovering mustachianism through badassity, $3.5k in 3 months!)
Gross ~ $52k annually
Still living at home with parents - saves $$ on rent and allows me to save up for a down payment for a home
I plan on maxing out my 401k in 2015 with a 5% company match and also maxing out my traditional IRA.
Hi everyone, Im greg
I have been interested in FI since i was about 23 and im 37 now. I have done ok for myself so far, but after discovering this site, ERE and GRS im keen to speed things up a bit and thats where all of you come in!
I want to post my current financial position, current budget and situation, then get feed back from all moustachians about what they believe i could improve and what they would do differently and why.
Where should i post that?
thank you!
Hey everyone !
I'm 18 years old from Australia !
I love everything finance and investing, and am currently at University!
Looking forward to my road to financial freedom :D
Hello!
I'm Melissa, I live in the DC area and in a few months I'll achieve real adult status by turning 30.
I have a good job working for the federal government and I'd say I enjoy it most of the time (but oh the bureaucracy!). I discovered the whole idea of FI last year and have been pretty obsessed with it ever since. Even though I don't hate my job, the older I get the more hobbies and outside interests I acquire and I think about all the other things I could do with my day outside my cubicle! Plus, I'm still debating on the whole kids thing and the idea of staying home the first few years sounds nice, though I realize it will be its own full time job.
SCUBA diving is a passion of mine, and though I know I've spent a LOT of money on it in the past few years I do think it's worth it. Thanks to MMM, I'm much more frugal in other areas than I used to be and am well on my way to FI - target date 2020. Still have a lot to improve on though. Combing assets with my SO would probably enable me to be FI sooner, but circumstances will likely prevent us from living together for another 3 or 4 years. Plus, I want to be able to do it myself!
Other interests include running, biking, swimming, hiking, vegan cooking, minimalism (except for all that SCUBA gear...sigh), personal development books and savings/investing (obviously).
Hi, I'm Nazar,
I had the good fortune to read Your Money or Your Life while in grad school in the 90s (paid for by my employer at the time) and came across MMM when searching the internet to see what follow-up stories might be out there from well known FI advocates from the 80s and 90s, curious to see if their plans were sustainable over time since I am pretty close to taking the leap.
Hey everyone !
I'm 18 years old from Australia !
I love everything finance and investing, and am currently at University!
Looking forward to my road to financial freedom :D
Wow, good for you, getting started so early in life!!! I was useless with money at 18, and wish I had found a place like this! good luck with it.
I found MMM about 2 years ago and love the overall approach to FI, great money saving ideas, and the MMM blog really provides lots of encouragement to reach FI.
I was laid off from my job a few years ago, and that really put me in shock, as a good worker bee, you just think the gravy paycheck train will keep going on until you reach that magic place called retirement. I was super lucky as I had a new job within a month, so no break in the gravy train, but it caused me to completely rethink savings, retirement, and financial independence. As I realized when I was laid off that my monthly expenses could only be sustained for maybe 6 months before I would really be in trouble. So a new plan had to be put in place, both for retirement and FI. Thus I found MMM.
I have been trying to be more Mustache like, and started easy by getting rid of my ridiculous monthly expenses like:
Cable TV bill ($120) replaced by NetFlix ($9) & Amazon Prime ($7.5);
Cell Phone ($120 for two) replaced by buying the next cell phones (no renty stuff) and using GoSmartMobile ($75 for two, still expensive but we work via phone with unlimited minutes);
Home phone ($26) replaced by OOMA ($3.5);
all magazine subscriptions cancelled ($10 at least) replaced by personal internet magazines (Zite and Flip are great to keep up with the latest news);
Internet Access ($80) replaced by Freedom Pop ($42 for 20 gig with two Freedom Pop modems as you need one per 10gig);
baking bread at home (love the breadmaker approach);
and lots more eating in and watching movies vs the expensive restaurants/movie theaters.
And just 2 days ago, I got rid of my biggest crazy insane expense, a big fancy old motor yacht, that was costing me out the nose every month ($$$). It was a hard decision for me, as this was my main hobby, repairing it and keeping it running, and I enjoyed boating every other weekend. This is replaced by having friends with boats ($0 except for bringing the food and drinks).
So finally after two years of reducing my monthly expenses, increasing my savings and investments, I finally feel like I can reach FI in a few years thanks to MMM and the great writers and links to other sites that provide guidance to work towards FI.
I'm Christie, and I'm working on being retired in 5 years. I have 7 children (one marriage), and am now single.
I have sold my big house, bought a piece of land in the sticks (on the river.....) for the future retirement spot. Paid cash.
Then used the rest of the profits to buy a small house (1/3 the size!) in town until all kids are grown.
I get to ride my bike almost everywhere now. Sold my second vehicle (a Suburban).
When they are grown, I'll move to the country on the river.
Paid off $400K worth of debt in the last 6 years. Added $200K to retirement fund. FEELS GREAT!
Just a little left to go on a couple of rentals, then I'm 100% free, with an income! Am very glad I found MMM's site that let me know I'm not the only nut job on FIRE out here! ;)
Hello all,
I'm Marian, 25. 3 furbabies. Currently live in theMustachian Nightmare townHampton Roads area of Virginia. I wish I had discovered MMM years ago- I might not be as bad as some people out there, but I was dumb enough to buy a brand new car and max out a credit card! Time for me to end my bad habits!
I’m Karen and I am from Iowa. I have only discovered MMM and mustachianism in the last few weeks, but I couldn’t resist the name of MustachIowan, since I haven’t seen anyone else from my state. I’ve been interested in personal finance since I was in grade school, though, when I was nerdy enough to track the money my mom gave me for doing chores.
I’m a 41-year-old mother of two boys and about to be divorced from my husband of twelve years. It’s a mutual decision, and the more I read on this blog, the more I see more examples of just how opposite we are in our approach to money, saving, spending and living life.
I work from home as a financial analyst for a software company that is based on California, which is some pretty great geographical arbitrage. I’ve used that to stash as much as possible in various savings accounts, and am focusing on the likelihood of early retirement to get me through this limbo time of not-married but not-yet-divorced.
There's definitely quite a few of us Iowan's here :)
I fear that I have ventured deep, deep into Extreme Frugality (with the purist of motivations in mind) and I'm not loving it right now. I just so desperately want to be out from underneath the burden of debt, and to live my life. It's just a hard rope to walk. I wonder if this sentiment resonates with anyone else out there?
Hi, I'm Sandy in Indianapolis. I'm really happy I found this website. The changes in my life are astounding in just a couple of months. I've cut our grocery bill down by more than 50%, changed lots of light bulbs, paid off my car and paid cash for another car (we have a lot of drivers right now). Great stuff. Thanks to everyone who shares knowledge and time!
Hello everyone,
Long time lurker first time poster. I came over here from the ERE website where I first learned about the concept of FI and early "retirement". I am a 25 year old Physical Therapy student living in Boston. I am interested in learning all kinds of new skills and meeting people who are looking to do the same. Goals are to become a competent handyman, fix my car/bike, improve my cooking skills, learn how to juggle 4 balls, understand finance and investing etc. Glad to be here and participate! Would be interested to meet up with anyone in the Boston area.
Sam
I am very late to the party (age 37). I stupidly ignored investing and fell for the whole consumerist trap throughout my 20s and 30s up until not that long ago. Makes it even worse that throughout my 20s in NYC I made $100K+/year yet failed to save (I did travel the world and amass an amazing wardrobe, however...ha). Upsides: We have no mortgage or debts whatsoever, and drive tiny cars that are good on gas. We live in a very low-cost area of the country, and we do have SOME savings in the form of 401K and mutual funds -- around $60K total. I also am "only" in my office 3 hrs. a day and we do not need to pay child care.
Downside: Our house is just average. It's only 1000 sq ft and in a good area, but it's not overly charming or aesthetically pleasing by most standards; also, the high school here is very questionable (we have a 6-month-old son so this is a concern). Homes can be hard to sell. My husband is still looking for a FT job after a year and makes a very small PT income, although we can meet our basic expenses on it.
Right now I'm trying to decide whether to go all out and max out my 401K and live on my husband's small PT income, and just stay put -- it's not a bad house, really, and we could make some DIY changes that would make it better. Or, do we save up for a house that I like much more in a great neighborhood about 20 min. further than ours from work, which might mean taking on a "minimal" (<$50K) mortgage in the next couple of years?
Anyway, I'm just glad I found this place. I feel like a new person already. It astounds me how much bullshit there is out there surrounding consumerism and how duped I was by it all. (Also wondering how many people here have similar regrets and face similar choices!)
You're NOT too late to the party! I'm 42, just went back to school, and I plan on being mustachian once I start earning an income again (which should be another year and a half yet).
Hi folks!
Like many folks posting in this thread I just finished an archive binge (I was down for the count with a sinus infection and needed a lot of reading material last week). I'm kind of a born Mustachian, and I've also been pretty lucky, financially. I've never been in debt in my life, I've never owned a car, I graduated from college with more money than I started, and I've fully funded my IRA for 16 of the last 17 years, starting at age 21. My net worth is about a third of my lifetime earnings.
My life has just undergone some big changes - I moved to NYC, have a sort-of-new job (long story), drastically downsized my living space, etc. I absolutely love it here but I'm having a hard time saving much money in NYC, even with the new higher salary - which is how I found the blog, looking for savings in every day spending. Unfortunately the tips from the blog don't net me much savings (for the most part either I'm already doing it, or it's not applicable to my urban lifestyle)... so I figured I'd come peruse the forum for more ideas.
I'm currently a little unclear on my own goals... I'm most likely going to inherit somewhere in the neighborhood of $1-2mil, so why am I saving? I don't know exactly. I've always been big on efficiency and optimization - it's just in my nature - so part of it is just not wanting to waste money. Part of it is hoping to be more 'green' by not polluting and creating waste. Part of it is that my life's dream is to be a philanthropist, and for that, you obviously need a good-sized wad of cash. But that last one is also kind of my downfall - I like giving money away and being generous. Not so good for the stash...
Welcome Vee! What does your budget look like? I'm also new to NYC, and just started a journal about it (see link below). It's definitely possible to save here, but does take a different sort of optimization than a suburban lifestyle.Well, looking at your journal, you're doing a heck of a lot better than me! I'm living alone so the rent is much higher. I also was sort of restricted as to where I could live because my parents live just north of the city and felt very strongly that I should live somewhere they could visit easily and somewhere they felt was very safe. So, no Bushwick or Red Hook for me!
Erin, if you're savings are wimpy..
I'm fucked (and not in a good way).
How long did it take you to read all the blog posts? I just finished 2012 (and the first of Jan 2013).
Erin, if you're savings are wimpy..
I'm fucked (and not in a good way).
How long did it take you to read all the blog posts? I just finished 2012 (and the first of Jan 2013).
Well, I guess it's wimpy in comparison to some of the high-earning whippersnappers around here (those under 30, who also all seem to be married, so there's that....). I'm bad about looking around at the other 30-somethings (especially the ones I went to college with. Thanks, Facebook) doing big things and feeling like I've failed, not only financially but in life milestones . Not a productive mentality at all, but just the reality of it. I do realize there really are lots of folks in the same boat I'm in, or even paddling along in a smaller dinghy with a leak and only one oar. We only know our own experience....
It took me probably 6 months or so to read everything from start to finish on the blog... maybe longer. (Disclaimer: I skipped a few when they were about installing your own shower or whatnot because I'm a renter and also probably shouldn't be trusted with power tools or strong adhesives). I feel like I found it randomly on a search about investing vs. saving vs. things like CDs, read for a bit, got hooked, but forgot about it, then remembered and came back for the marathon. All in all, I'm on board. When did you start reading?
Erin, if you're savings are wimpy..
I'm fucked (and not in a good way).
How long did it take you to read all the blog posts? I just finished 2012 (and the first of Jan 2013).
Well, I guess it's wimpy in comparison to some of the high-earning whippersnappers around here (those under 30, who also all seem to be married, so there's that....). I'm bad about looking around at the other 30-somethings (especially the ones I went to college with. Thanks, Facebook) doing big things and feeling like I've failed, not only financially but in life milestones . Not a productive mentality at all, but just the reality of it. I do realize there really are lots of folks in the same boat I'm in, or even paddling along in a smaller dinghy with a leak and only one oar. We only know our own experience....
Hey there,
28 years old husband and father. Found out about MMM through a friend a few months ago.
I have felt trapped by "the system" for so long, and simply had no idea there was another way!
Looking forward to learning and sharing with the rest of the Mustachians.
I have about $50,000 in debt. About half of that is a car loan debt. The rest is student loans and credit cards. In three months I will be moving within walking distance to work and selling the car
That will cut me down to roughly $25,000 which I hope to aggressively pay off in a year.
Hi Folks,
I'm Paddy. Early 50's. Business owner. Ex-commercial pilot.
Living in Southern Ontario.
My DW and I hope to be FI next year.
Likely moving to Europe to refresh, revive and reinvent.
Cheers
PS, the registration process is a little ridiculous. It took me 20 minutes to figure out the answers to the two questions. But I'm also a village idiot.
Ahoy Mustachians!
[...]
Several years back my now ex-wife and I saved up, bought a 40 foot sailboat, lived aboard and sailed around Florida and the Bahamas for eight years. We could live, with our son, on about $500 a month on the boat. (We met retired folks in the Bahamas living on $10,000-$20,000 boats, less than most spend on a a car, for part of the year, while "the SS checks are piling up in the bank." True Mustachians!)[...]
Ahoy Mustachians!
[...]
Several years back my now ex-wife and I saved up, bought a 40 foot sailboat, lived aboard and sailed around Florida and the Bahamas for eight years. We could live, with our son, on about $500 a month on the boat. (We met retired folks in the Bahamas living on $10,000-$20,000 boats, less than most spend on a a car, for part of the year, while "the SS checks are piling up in the bank." True Mustachians!)[...]
I've been thinking about a sailboat a lot lately. Might move up my timeline a bit. I really look forward to hearing more about your story.
Hi, I'm new to the MMM community. I'm 41, live in Perth with my wife and 2 daughters, and have been a classic high earner / high spender for most of my adult life. DW and I decided it was time for changes about 15 months ago. We read some books, cut some costs, and have not borrowed a cent since. But we were still focussed on affording lifestyle inflation without debt. We found a financial goal list from January over the weekend - on it was things like moving into a nicer house, having a fancy Land Cruiser, more guitars, etc.
However, we discovered MMM about 4 months ago and it has changed our lives even further. With a couple of changes we have in flight now, I think we are on track for FI in about 10 years. And we have (mostly) lost those desires for fancy things.
MMM is also a topic in my team at work, we have all embraced it and discuss mustachianism at our weekly team meetings now. The office is still full of antimustachians of course...but my team is focussed.
I'm wondering how many other Perth MMM readers there are? I hear there are meetups...would love to meet some others.
I've been thinking about a sailboat a lot lately. Might move up my timeline a bit. I really look forward to hearing more about your story.
One of my retirement dreams is to buy a used sailboat & small outboard, and spend a year cruising the Great Loop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Loop
After that, maybe see the islands.
Hello all,Who in a cube isn't!? Thanks for sharing your story and good luck with your plans! --a govt guy
Joe here. 45 y/o man who found this site because I am tired of my cube.
Hello everyone.Damn straight it is! Good to have you here.
I'm Tanner--a 22-year-old recent college grad who is probably about to land a job as a nuclear engineer halfway across the country. The circumstances of this job are nearly ideal. Aside from it almost being my dream job, I have ~13k in student loans, and I wish to retire by July 11th, 2026. That date is chosen because I'll be 33 years old and 1/3 of the way to my next birthday, giving me the remaining two thirds of my life to do with whatever I please.
------snipped for brevity-----------
The future is bright.
Sorry for blithering my life story, but, I'm having one of those moods. It happens when you're soul-searching by reading a finance blog.No apology required. Enjoy yourself here.
Hello all,Who in a cube isn't!?
Joe here. 45 y/o man who found this site because I am tired of my cube.
A 45-year-old man you know?Who in a cube isn't!?A 45 year old man?
Hi Everyone!You missed the second part of the post. You said hi!! That is amazing, but I'd love to hear more things.
Hi Everyone!You missed the second part of the post. You said hi!! That is amazing, but I'd love to hear more things.
Hi Everyone,
I'm Bill, Married w/ one 2 year old and one on the way. We've been doing Dave Ramsey for 5 years. They took down their forums so now we're Mustachian's. We're finishing up 23k in student loan debt. We live in a small town in Minnesota.
I like the articles on the blog. I guess we're looking for support and ideas.
Hi Everyone,
I'm Bill, Married w/ one 2 year old and one on the way. We've been doing Dave Ramsey for 5 years. They took down their forums so now we're Mustachian's. We're finishing up 23k in student loan debt. We live in a small town in Minnesota.
I like the articles on the blog. I guess we're looking for support and ideas.
Hey, everyone. My husband and I hit a very rough financial patch due to some serious medical problems I had in 2012 (no emergency fund, so we ended up putting necessary expenses on credit cards because I was in the hospital and couldn't work), and we are still trying to dig our way out. Wish I had found your site about five years ago. We're slowly making a little progress, but I'm looking forward to learning more. I have been loosely following Dave Ramsey, but his website no longer has forums, and I tend to do best when I have a network of people I can talk to about certain topics.Wlecome, MsChewieBear! I'm still a new guy, but there is tons of good info here and the posts I made have gotten great responses. Best of luck with your debt. Follow the things you learn here and it will be gone in no time!
Hello Mustachians,
I'm a married 29 year old spendypants. I teach high school science in a tiny, high poverty (85-90% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch), rural school district in Arkansas. My husband is also 29 and is a journeyman electrician. Last year our gross income was $70k, but my husband recently got a raise to $20/hour and has been getting quite a bit of overtime and I took on some extra responsibilities at school that came with a $3k stipend. Our only dependents are two cats.
We have no debts. My degree in physics at the state university was covered entirely by scholarships, and my husband's degree in math was covered by his generous parents. We own a 2011 Nissan Versa and a 2002 Ford Taurus, both of which we drive way too much. We rent but are saving for a down payment on a house within the next couple of years; we might not buy yet but want to be in a position to do so. We're also on track to max out our Roths for the year, and I will qualify for a tiny pension at age sixty even if I quit teaching at the end of this school year. Overall, we're probably doing better financially than your average Americans yet are still deserving of a ton of face punches.
Our school counselor was forced to resign three days into the school year, and that has served as a catalyst for reevaluating my relationship with money. She was a caring, dedicated person, and that didn't seem to mean anything to my employers. Now everyone at my school is stressed out all of the time, and I think it would be drastically less worrisome if we were financially independent. I really love teaching and might not choose extreme early retirement, but I want to have the option. Few things could be as liberating as having F.U. money. Also, while my husband loves that his job consists of playing with power tools all day, he's come to the realization that older guys in his field usually either end up transitioning to office jobs or find other employment. The guys over fifty who can handle and still want to spend forty to sixty hours a week doing heavy lifting are few and far between. So I'm no longer happy with being on track to retire comfortably in our mid sixties.
We need to stop being satisfied with doing ok, step off this hedonic treadmill, and get serious about getting our lives in order. I'm hoping the Mustachians will offer their sage guidance as we do so. (Now bring on the face punches!)
Yearly Income: $400k (very recent surge in income)
Estimated Yearly Spending: $30-40k
Hello from Montreal!Fuckin' A! Won't take you long at that rate! lol
Not really sure how I found my way here, probably randomly browsing investments sites and such. Been lurking for a few weeks, but I thought I should try joining the conversation. Always planned to retire early, saved in my 20's with the expectation of retiring around 40 although now with recent job changes/promotions I may end up doing it a lot earlier. I enjoy my work, so another few years isn't a big deal.
Stats:
Age: 35, wife is 33
Kids: 1 (1 yr old)
Estimated Net Worth: $700k cash (invested in index funds), $300k house (Estimated value - mortgage, 4 unit complex, we occupy 1 unit).
Yearly Income: $400k (very recent surge in income)
Estimated Yearly Spending: $30-40k
Finally, I'm interested in effective altruism. I think Peter Singer's The Life You Could Save might have been what prompted me to start researching frugality in the first place. I do feel an ethical obligation to become more frugal and to use my "spare" resources to help others. I'm also interested in reducing my environmental impact.
Hello to everybody.92K (USD because honestly I don't have a good conceptual understanding of value in euros) is certainly not too small to invest. Depending on your bank's interest rate, you could be losing upwards of 1.5-2K a year to inflation alone. As far as getting the courage to take the plunge: Knowledge. Get some books on investing, and head over to the 'Investor Alley' section of the forums if you have questions. Welcome to the community!
John, 30. Engaged to the Mrs., 26. Both computer engineers. Found this forum and the blog 2 days ago. Since then so much more things make sense to us. Without actually knowing about it, we have been living quite a part of the Mustachian life. Other parts we have been missing wildly, mostly because of our ignorance. This will lead to some hilarious statements you will see below, I swear these are true. Plus side that will make things interesting: We are from the other side of the Atlantic. Recently (5 months ago) moved to the Netherlands and we are currently planning to stay here at least for 6-8 years. we are currently behind the retire-early train, as we were ignorant to much things that would accelerate our plan a lot earlier, but we have recently decided to chase after the 42-44 year old retirement. Here's some of our info:
Couple net income: 60.000 euros (approx. 69k USD). Yep it is low, we are on the beginning of our engineering careers anyways, and salaries in most of Europe are on a low standpoint for the moment. Expected to rise by 3000 annually.
Zero property taxes. That's precise, we own nothing that is taxable. No car, no house, no land.
Bank assets: 80k euros (92k USD) currently sitting completely idle (yep, that's one of the big things we have been missing - not a single little plan for any kind of long term)
No kind of any debt whatsoever. No mortgage (obviously), no credit cards, no nothing.
We are living quite the modest life. We haven't have a TV for the last 12 years. We don't have expensive subscriptions to anything. I really really dislike new books and at the same time I love used books. I also never keep books at home, once we read them we give them away (that's right, we give stuff away all the time, we have a soft heart when it comes to taking other people's money for something that should be free in the first place like books). We use our bikes all the time (we're in the Netherlands, right?), rarely go out. I almost never shop for clothes but I do waste money on my personal computer and for my hobby of assembling and painting futuristic toy soldiers. Mrs buys clothes, but never expensive shit. We do on average 3 trips abroad per year, 2 to visit family and 1 to take some personal time. On that last one we were currently spending ridiculous amounts because it felt like we deserved it (more stuff I wisened up from during the last two days alone). With a rough estimation I would say we get by with spending 23000 euros per year. So we are saving 55% more or less.
Looking at the above, someone would say we got off to a great start and the mustachian dream can be seen in the horizon. The problem is I am not seeing it. My bank assets are too low to invest, or maybe I'm a coward. I also hate the fact that practically 50% of our yearly expenses go to pay for house rent. We plan to move in a much more affordable house come new year which would save us about 4200 euros per year (4800 USD). I am also wildly considering purchasing a house but I think I am too chicken to do it. Currently we are bleeding 1100 euros per month to stay in a 55 sq meter (500 sq ft) little apartment. Yes, I am aware that I do this wrong. I actually got aware of this 2 days ago, thanks MMM.
So my main question is: How do I un-coward myself to actually start doing smart choices when the purchasing prices are high?
Hello Mustachians,
Hmm. Where to start. Well, here is the deal - I randomly landed on this blog via the personal finance subreddit, specifically the commuting post. I read the post, and moved on to the 'Start Here' post, and well the rest is history. That was about 2 weeks ago, and since then I've:
1) Cut cable - reduced bill from $160 to $90, and will drop another $10 once our $40 purchased cable modem arrives. I wish we could reduce this bill further, however Comcast has a monopoly here and alternatives are all horrible
2) Reduced my cell phone plan from $165/mo to $30/mo. I get a free phone from work but was too dumb to cancel my personal phone and my wife moved her phone to Republic. Both of our old phones are on eBay now, and should more than cover the remaining balance on our phones (purchased on credit (0%, but still...))
3) Am in the process of reducing my auto/home insurance - don't have a solid figure, but will probably save 60% or more
4) Finally decided that my 26-mile round trip commute was not worth living in Seattle, so we met (tonight) with our Realtor sister-in-law to put our house up for sale next spring and move within biking distance of my work
5) Once we move, getting rid of the Nissan Leaf that I'm leasing, and paying off our other car (less than $5k at 2.75% APR)
6) Buying a cargo bike with a kiddo-hauler for our two youngsters so my wife can bike the older kid to kindergarten
Never in my life did I think that randomly searching the internet would so profoundly change my view on life. I mean, holy shit, what a punch in the face. I've ALWAYS said that I want to be financially independent, but never have I seen a more clear path than prescribed by MMM. Kool-aid has been fully ingested, shit, I've never even posted on a forum in my life before today, but felt the overwhelming need to say thank you for providing me the toolkit needed to do what I've so desperately wanted to have since I started my professional career. I'm very fortunate that I'm in the target audience ($100k+ income, zero revolving debt) and have the means to 'Stache cash. I fully get it now, and am STOKED for the next 10 years!
Hello, is this forum active? :)Alive and kicking :)
Hey everyone, just started reading the blog... going to read the whole thing in a few days at the rate I'm going. Anyone from Alberta, Canada?
Hello all,
My name is kskillz and I live in colorful Colorado with my adorable three year old daughter and lovely wife.
I'll turn 40 in the summer of 2016 and I'm getting serious about achieving FIRE so I can spend my days with my family and enjoy the good, simple life.
Net worth is ~$830k, only debt is ~$184k remaining on our mortgage. We've got 11 years left on the mortgage at 2.875%, I like to think that as soon as the house is paid off I'll be FIRE. So hopefully I can get there before I turn 50!
Nice to meet you all and best wishes.
Hello all,
My name is kskillz and I live in colorful Colorado with my adorable three year old daughter and lovely wife.
I'll turn 40 in the summer of 2016 and I'm getting serious about achieving FIRE so I can spend my days with my family and enjoy the good, simple life.
Net worth is ~$830k, only debt is ~$184k remaining on our mortgage. We've got 11 years left on the mortgage at 2.875%, I like to think that as soon as the house is paid off I'll be FIRE. So hopefully I can get there before I turn 50!
Nice to meet you all and best wishes.
Anyone else living in an expensive city like LA? Should we be moving somewhere we can buy a house outright so we can save more each month?
Any thoughts?
How is Dallas? Did you miss anything about LA when you left?
I'm going to clear that debt AND I'm going to save every extra penny I can and put it in the UK Government's new Help to Buy ISA for first time home buyers, which will yield 25% free money on your end sum (you can put in £200 max per month and when you want to put down a deposit on a home, the Gov will give you 25% of what you've saved on top tax free, so say I saved £10k, the Gov will top it up £2500... not freaking bad).
I'm going to clear that debt AND I'm going to save every extra penny I can and put it in the UK Government's new Help to Buy ISA for first time home buyers, which will yield 25% free money on your end sum (you can put in £200 max per month and when you want to put down a deposit on a home, the Gov will give you 25% of what you've saved on top tax free, so say I saved £10k, the Gov will top it up £2500... not freaking bad).
I read about the HTB ISA and it sounds like a good deal.:)
Captain mars. I just want to say you are doing great! You are only 30 and you have :-( the epiphanies! My husband was your age when I met him, in tons of debt, no clue about money. He had managed to buy a flat with 0 deposit though...when prices were below 90 k in outer London. Gone are those days. He had a similar background to you......very little money growing up...and he is by nature such a buyer and I understand that because as days sometimes we try and get what we feel we missed out on as kids.
Smart move. Do not buy at the current crazy London prices. You don't have to. Your plan sounds great. If you can pull that off do it. You can pay off a 100 k mortgage in less than ten years releasing your funds for saving.
Don't beat yourself up. You are on track. You are in one of the most expensive cities in the world surrounded by those irritatingly smug home owners bleating on about what their house is worth. That is just bad form in front of friends who have not been given a leg up.
We almost bought in London a 3 bed good sized home 275 k house in destinations in 2007. We thought it overheated so pulled our offer. Just checked. Those houses now sell for 650......of course I gently wish we had bought and made a fast 375 k....but the following year we moved to the usa and now live in a home we love( with a stupid mortgage but not as bad as London).
The only thing I would say is can you do a weekend job.
That is how I saved. I made about 100 quid a night with tips at a chain London restaurant. That was 13 years ago so I reckon maybe 150 or more now .oh banked every penny and saved 60 % of my main job...teaching. I had 100 k in 5 years...teaching paid 26 k starting and I only topped out at 44 k so it was not so easy to save in London but I knew I wanted a solid deposit for a house. Imagine if you did that. You buy your house in5 years.
Work hard and save now because when kids come along it is so much harder to do.
You have had the realisation which is the most powerful part of all this.
It's pretty sweet and a great incentive to really work on saving for the future. The housing market in the UK is (I'm assuming you know, given your moniker!) pretty hard to breach in some areas. You constantly feel like you've missed the boat anyway, when your friends are constantly raving about how much the flats their parents helped them to purchase a year or two years ago are worth tens of thousands more now (ah, Londoners).
Greetings from Sweden
/lavinfara
Welcome lemanfan. Well Sweden sounds a great place to.live apart from the short dark days.....you have a great country to be in by all accounts..
Welcome Carlos. I think the trick is the sooner you realise this the sooner you can create a plan. Only ten years into your working life you are having the realisation sooner than many!!I am new too but realise I have been pretty frugal...But we have had a 6 year lapse where we have had two kids and one income and I have relaxed more into my husband's more somebody ways. No debt as I just haven't ever done debt...oh apart from the 519 k mortgage...ha ha.....there is that.
It's pretty sweet and a great incentive to really work on saving for the future. The housing market in the UK is (I'm assuming you know, given your moniker!) pretty hard to breach in some areas. You constantly feel like you've missed the boat anyway, when your friends are constantly raving about how much the flats their parents helped them to purchase a year or two years ago are worth tens of thousands more now (ah, Londoners).
Yes, I know the type.:D We bought in the early 2000s with no parental help and our house has increased in value, but not as much as a lot of other people we know as we bought in a crappy area. Oh well, haha.
I do have student loan debt but it'll be just above 10,000 and it seems like there are quite a few UK people here - but for those who aren't, it's not screaming ab dabs with student loans here so I don't feel like I have to be hair on fire about it. If it's more sensible to pay it off then please let me know.
I will say, I feel like there is a lot more inherent frugal thinking / less extravagant consumerism in Britain than in America. Nearly of my friends earn more than I do but have attitudes similar to mine. I only know a few people who seem noticeably consumerist (of course most people still have iphones etc, I do), and those who have spending problems are older and it seems to be an unexamined emotional problem for them. Do other UK people feel this is true?
[anxiety/feelings]
I have a creative writing BA. I do have an ongoing interest in creative writing, I was originally going to do English because it seemed like the most general degree and I didn't really care about going to uni (I just wanted to sleep all day but I felt like I had to) and I was talked into doing creative writing because it was thought I might then start feeling some enthusiasm about going. I obviously didn't start feeling enthusiasm for anything until I got on anti-depressants (after uni) and I don't know that I can even say that I liked/would have otherwise liked the course or thought it was particularly good. I don't think these forums are going to facepunch me for this like they would for something like credit card debt, but I thought I should put this here anyway.
[anxiety/feelings]
I'm aware I need to learn to understand investing, but for the moment I just like having it there because it is of course over 1 year's salary for me and it just makes me feel like I have a little control over how often I get tired and frustrated at work.
Now I think about it more, what about using your creative writing skills and see if you can get freelance work writing articles, writing a blog or even writing an ebook?
Monevator is often mentioned as being useful if you want to know about investing.
There is also a good book called Smarter Investing by Tim Hale.
Hello MMM Gang! I am super-psyched about Mustachianism. I am a lawyer and this morning, for the first time, I rode my bicycle to court, suit and all. Then I rode from court across town to work! True, I have to use my clownmobile later today to pick up my infant son, but I'm going to ride that bicycle all that I can!
Hello MMM Gang! I am super-psyched about Mustachianism. I am a lawyer and this morning, for the first time, I rode my bicycle to court, suit and all. Then I rode from court across town to work! True, I have to use my clownmobile later today to pick up my infant son, but I'm going to ride that bicycle all that I can!
Outstanding!!!
I'm taking the plunge! My DH and I have been married for 33 years and have 3 adult children. He's 58 and I'm 52. We have probably made every.single.bad.money mistake ever devised over the last 33 years. We've traded cars every couple of years, leased expensive vehicles, financed almost everything, have major credit card debt, etc etc etc.
Several years ago DH was downsized very unexpectedly (went to work one day and they said he was done) and, of course, we had no emergency fund in place. Consequently, our credit cards got maxed as he tried to find a job and we tried to keep living. We are STILL working on paying off that debt.
We live in a huge house in a tiny, rural town. If we lived on a coast it would probably be worth half a million or more. Since the kids are moved out, we purchased outright the tiny house he grew up in down the street and are remodeling it. It was built in the early 1900s and has no insulation, needs floors, etc. We are gutting it and starting over. Because we're in a small town and he is very handy, we are doing the work ourselves. Right now that house is not livable. When we get moved into it, we will do some work on the huge house and sell it. We currently have about 60% equity in the big house. We plan to use any profit from the sale of this house to pay off any remaining debts.
I am currently vested in several public retirement systems in Illinois where we live and also in Iowa where I worked for many years. DH has a small retirement account with his employer and we have a few small investments. DH has already decided he will have to work until he dies, which I don't want to happen, of course!
We are working hard to pay off as much debt as possible. We are cooking at home; getting rid of cable as soon as we can get out of the contract, etc.
We have a car loan (of course we do!) that we are about $5000 upside down on. I'd love to sell the car and get rid of that payment. We don't have the $5000 to pay off the balance so we are stuck with it for now.
Now, here's a dilemma. I work full time in education--I have a master's degree and a specialized job in the schools. I used to love this work but in the last couple of years, I've disliked it more and more. Lately I have to make myself even get out of bed to go to work. There are some days I just can't do it and end up calling in sick. My blood pressure is up and I've developed Type 2 diabetes. The stress is greatly affecting my health. The problem is money. My "dream" job would be to get out of education altogether and go into retail. I realize that's quite the change and a much lower "status" job but I absolutely love retail. I've been working part time in retail for 10 years while working full time in the schools. I would love to go full time into retail management. I'm weird, I know. I also am very aware that retail has it's own stress; however, it's not the same as making literally life-changing decisions on children all day long.
If I were to find a full time retail job, my income would reduce about $20,000. We could get by, but barely. Additional debt snowball would grind to a halt and we'd have no extra money for anything. My current commute is 45 minutes each way; the job I'm wanting is walking distance from home. DH is working a couple side gigs that he's hoping will take off to supplement his income to make up some of the difference also. We are not counting on that; just hoping.
Am I crazy for wanting to switch careers? Actually, I know I am. But I'm concerned about my health, mental and physical. My goal is to NOT be in my education job at the start of next school year--no matter what!
If anyone has any ideas or thoughts, I'd love to hear them. Deserved face punches are welcome, but I'm already bloody and bruised for self-inflicted ones!!!!
Do you do much riding in a suit, Jordan? I'm thinking that my dress shoes might not be the best footwear...Hello MMM Gang! I am super-psyched about Mustachianism. I am a lawyer and this morning, for the first time, I rode my bicycle to court, suit and all. Then I rode from court across town to work! True, I have to use my clownmobile later today to pick up my infant son, but I'm going to ride that bicycle all that I can!
Outstanding!!!
Hey MMMers,
I've been reading the site for 6 months now and am completely sold on the lifestyle.
I'm a 32 y/o single guy who lives in Baltimore, works as a math teacher, enjoys swing dancing and hiking, and recently picked up his first rental property.
In some ways I feel like I'm retired already. Since I'm working a job that I'd like to do until I'm 80 and get three months of pure "retirement" every summer, in some ways I've accomplished the goal without having a huge stash (although I'm working on growing that just for fun:)
Please drop a line if you live in or around Baltimore!
Please drop a line if you live in or around Baltimore!
Hello to everybody.
John, 30. Engaged to the Mrs., 26. Both computer engineers. Found this forum and the blog 2 days ago. Since then so much more things make sense to us. Without actually knowing about it, we have been living quite a part of the Mustachian life. Other parts we have been missing wildly, mostly because of our ignorance. This will lead to some hilarious statements you will see below, I swear these are true. Plus side that will make things interesting: We are from the other side of the Atlantic. Recently (5 months ago) moved to the Netherlands and we are currently planning to stay here at least for 6-8 years. we are currently behind the retire-early train, as we were ignorant to much things that would accelerate our plan a lot earlier, but we have recently decided to chase after the 42-44 year old retirement. Here's some of our info:
Couple net income: 60.000 euros (approx. 69k USD). Yep it is low, we are on the beginning of our engineering careers anyways, and salaries in most of Europe are on a low standpoint for the moment. Expected to rise by 3000 annually.
You sound like you are doing pretty good. But I would consider buying a house if your rent is that much for that little
Zero property taxes. That's precise, we own nothing that is taxable. No car, no house, no land.
Bank assets: 80k euros (92k USD) currently sitting completely idle (yep, that's one of the big things we have been missing - not a single little plan for any kind of long term)
No kind of any debt whatsoever. No mortgage (obviously), no credit cards, no nothing.
We are living quite the modest life. We haven't have a TV for the last 12 years. We don't have expensive subscriptions to anything. I really really dislike new books and at the same time I love used books. I also never keep books at home, once we read them we give them away (that's right, we give stuff away all the time, we have a soft heart when it comes to taking other people's money for something that should be free in the first place like books). We use our bikes all the time (we're in the Netherlands, right?), rarely go out. I almost never shop for clothes but I do waste money on my personal computer and for my hobby of assembling and painting futuristic toy soldiers. Mrs buys clothes, but never expensive shit. We do on average 3 trips abroad per year, 2 to visit family and 1 to take some personal time. On that last one we were currently spending ridiculous amounts because it felt like we deserved it (more stuff I wisened up from during the last two days alone). With a rough estimation I would say we get by with spending 23000 euros per year. So we are saving 55% more or less.
Looking at the above, someone would say we got off to a great start and the mustachian dream can be seen in the horizon. The problem is I am not seeing it. My bank assets are too low to invest, or maybe I'm a coward. I also hate the fact that practically 50% of our yearly expenses go to pay for house rent. We plan to move in a much more affordable house come new year which would save us about 4200 euros per year (4800 USD). I am also wildly considering purchasing a house but I think I am too chicken to do it. Currently we are bleeding 1100 euros per month to stay in a 55 sq meter (500 sq ft) little apartment. Yes, I am aware that I do this wrong. I actually got aware of this 2 days ago, thanks MMM.
So my main question is: How do I un-coward myself to actually start doing smart choices when the purchasing prices are high?
Hi Nathan, welcome from another Santa Cruz area member! I feel exactly the same as you, don't know how I ever had time to work :-)
LOL I'm in Scotts Valley too, a few miles North of town. And yeah, I was commuting over the hill too, for way too many years. I've had to drive over there a few times since FIRE and I just can't believe I did that every single day. Now it feels like a long drive when I go down to Santa Cruz.Hi Nathan, welcome from another Santa Cruz area member! I feel exactly the same as you, don't know how I ever had time to work :-)
Thank you, and great to meet you! More specifically I'm in Scotts Valley, but figured few people would have any idea where that is. Amongst many other things, very happy to not be commuting over The Hill this year with El Nino.
Hi, I'm Greenly Spirits. I like to run and try new things. I'm married and stay home with our toddler twins.
Greetings,
You can call me Chet. I also live in Colorado.
I currently am a CSR (but making money like a consultant, does anyone need a consultant?)
I'm 37 and I yearn to be free, and by freedom I mean to choose the work I want to do. Not what pays the bills now. Unfortunately this has been my entire career. When I first came across this blog I was incredulous. I looked at my expenses, looked at my income, ran the numbers. I was stunned to learn I could semi-retire in 10 years and fully retire in 15, with some big caveats and assumptions, but nonetheless it's possible!
Chet Manly
Hi, I'm Greenly Spirits. I like to run and try new things. I'm married and stay home with our toddler twins.
We have runners, but if you'd like to take it to the next level, or just provide additional feedback, please join in on the S&F thread for this year. Link is in my signature.Greetings,
You can call me Chet. I also live in Colorado.
I currently am a CSR (but making money like a consultant, does anyone need a consultant?)
I'm 37 and I yearn to be free, and by freedom I mean to choose the work I want to do. Not what pays the bills now. Unfortunately this has been my entire career. When I first came across this blog I was incredulous. I looked at my expenses, looked at my income, ran the numbers. I was stunned to learn I could semi-retire in 10 years and fully retire in 15, with some big caveats and assumptions, but nonetheless it's possible!
Chet Manly
Chet, what part of CO are you in? I'm almost 31, with miscellaneous issues I've needed to overcome.
Hello I am HLS,
I am glad to apart of this forum. April 2016, I became completely debt free. Now, I am looking to build wealth. I am 42 and feel like I have some ground to make up. I have almost completed my emergency fund. And I look forward to learning from these posts and appreciate any advice to help me become FI.
Thanks.
Hello all!Student loans aren't inherently bad, although it is still debt. I had about 20K in loans when I graduated last May, and I've already sliced away a fair chunk of it. It all depends on your employement prospects, interest rates, etc. Until you settle into post-grad life, all 3 options are valid choices. I personally kept just about everything in liquid cash until I had a good feel for what my income and living situations would be like, and then started throwing everything at the loans. YMMV. Welcome to the forums! It's nice to see some more younger folks join up.
I'm MR, I'm 20, and a college student in MA. Longtime reader, first-time poster. Nervously anticipating graduating with around 18k of student loan debt in a year (no regrets, but...yikes! bad call, past-me) and want to make sure I get off to a good start - figured this was probably the right time to move off the mainpage and immerse myself in all the knowledge of the forums! :)
Thanks to my reading of MMM, I've managed to save up a decent lump sum - but I'm feeling antsy about my money just sitting in a savings account not earning anything. I've been torn between 1. dumping money into my loan preemptively, 2. investing it, or 3. just holding onto it knowing I'll need money available to start off post-graduation...so, my current financial goal is finally making a choice and not wasting any more time.
I grew up poor and my goal is to benefit from Mustachian wisdom just enough to feel safe financially - no huge aspirations. Anything more than that is an excellent added perk! :D
I wish I had started 20 years ago, but hey, there is nothing I can do about that now! Better late than never! Nice to meet you all...
Well how to start. I had a buddy of mine mention something about money mustache the other day while our kids were playing on the big toy. That was about two weeks ago and due to crappy weather, so projects on house have slowed, I have read the first year and month of the blog. I am quickly catching up and love it. We (the misses is totally on board) have already begun changing things and looking into ways to become FI.Welcome to the forums! As with most things, the answer is "it depends", but it seems like the rate is low enough that you'll be better off in the long run by investing that money. The decision is really up to you/your spouse and what you are comfortable with. Ragarding your IRA, diversification is always important but remember to think of your portfolio as a whole, rather than each account in isolation.
I do have a few questions I have been pondering;
Recently after much dilemma decided to start paying on our mortgage at a 15yr price point and bi-monthly. 372K at 3.37. We could have refied to 2.75 but my wife (nurse) is going back to school in the fall, so she didn't want to be locked into higher payments just in case. My question is we have an extra 20k sitting in bank ( I know no money soldiers out there making money for us) I am debating either throwing it down on mortgage or investing it. My wife has a roth ira that we are maxing and I have a deferred comp non matching I do 500 a month toward(max. would be 1500 month). My thought on investment is to diversify the roth and deferred, going with something like Vanguard ETF.
Thanks for the incite. I cant wait to contribute more. I love the back to basics way of life on here. I feel like our lifestyle fits right in. I can't believe all the new little things I have learned to be more frugal. I think my wife already thought I was frugal before.
Thanks MMM's
Hello all!
I found out about MMM from the New Yorker like some others here. I'm 24, graduated college two years ago with no debt and am employed so I am starting from a pretty good place! My lifestyle is already fairly mustachian - I don't have a car, I walk or ride my bike to work and to run errands, I pack my lunch every day. However, I live in Brooklyn and pay absurdly high rent, and I go out to eat a lot on weekends, etc.. So I am having a hard time saving at the moment. Would love to hear from others who are living in NYC!
Hello!
My wife (34) and I (43) travel full time, currently exploring America. I am an ex professional photographer, she is an ex dental hygienist. We've been on the road for about a year now and don't have any plans to stop. We mostly avoid people and the internet nowadays, so signing up here is new for us(me). I think I'm mostly here out of curiosity to see what other frugal retirees are up to.
We can be found on paddleboards,longboards,bicycles,disc golf courses or exploring natural or historic areas, or seeking out unique libraries or cinemas all over the USA. We do other stuff too as it pops up.
We got to this point in life by living in vehicles(i think living in a car exempts me from car clown status..) for 5 years while earning a nice salary(before marriage) then and having nice incomes and living (mostly) a minimum wage lifestyle after getting married. We enjoy the simple things in life, and our values most often coincide with that often spoken, but rarely embraced nugget that the best things in life are free :)
Hello!
My wife (34) and I (43) travel full time, currently exploring America. I am an ex professional photographer, she is an ex dental hygienist. We've been on the road for about a year now and don't have any plans to stop. We mostly avoid people and the internet nowadays, so signing up here is new for us(me). I think I'm mostly here out of curiosity to see what other frugal retirees are up to.
We can be found on paddleboards,longboards,bicycles,disc golf courses or exploring natural or historic areas, or seeking out unique libraries or cinemas all over the USA. We do other stuff too as it pops up.
We got to this point in life by living in vehicles(i think living in a car exempts me from car clown status..) for 5 years while earning a nice salary(before marriage) then and having nice incomes and living (mostly) a minimum wage lifestyle after getting married. We enjoy the simple things in life, and our values most often coincide with that often spoken, but rarely embraced nugget that the best things in life are free :)
I love that pic!! Awesome.
I love that pic!! Awesome.
Thanks! This was after an unusual and epic snowfall in Kentucky a couple months or so ago. Everything shut down, but we went looking for the closest lake :)
I love that pic!! Awesome.
Thanks! This was after an unusual and epic snowfall in Kentucky a couple months or so ago. Everything shut down, but we went looking for the closest lake :)
Very nice. I think you are going to fit in quite well around here. Even though I'm pretty much landlocked here in Colorado, I somehow found myself often interacting with Prospector (canoes) (http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/journals/prospector's-journal-the-prospects-are-good-the-discipline-needs-work) and Jon Snow (kayaks) (http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/journals/reflections-on-first-6-months-of-fire-and-what-comes-next) and discussion often turns to paddling about and enjoying the wonders that are missed by louder and faster machines. Oh, plus there is a friendly rivalry between the two and preferred modes of transportation.
Hi everyone! My name is Raj Malhotra. My wife and I are engineers who migrated from India to LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM and have saved over a million dollars since 2007. We are in our mid thirties and have both quit working in 2016 (due to the oil crash). We have two kids 4 and 2 yr old. We are super savers have gotten lucky in the stock market and have rode the bull from 2009 through 2014. Now we have effectively stopped working (because we think we are financially independent) to spend more time with kids, family in India and each other.
It has been a week since I was laid off (I didnt have guts to quit and retire). Now I am enjoying time but have no idea what to do? I grew up wanting to make money and that was the single aim my wife and I shared. But we feel that we have saved a lot and its time to relax. The idea seemed nice when I was working but now with nothing to do I actually feel like doing something. This is where I need your help. I have no idea what I want to do. All my friends have jobs during weekdays so I cannot bother them. Are there any highpaying part time flexible jobs that you have found? What else can I do to not go crazy by sitting and staring at a wall and feeling useless? Is this normal?
Hi everyone! My name is Raj Malhotra. .... Is this normal?
Hi everyone! My name is Raj Malhotra. My wife and I are engineers who migrated from India to LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM and have saved over a million dollars since 2007. We are in our mid thirties and have both quit working in 2016 (due to the oil crash). We have two kids 4 and 2 yr old. We are super savers have gotten lucky in the stock market and have rode the bull from 2009 through 2014. Now we have effectively stopped working (because we think we are financially independent) to spend more time with kids, family in India and each other.
It has been a week since I was laid off (I didnt have guts to quit and retire). Now I am enjoying time but have no idea what to do? I grew up wanting to make money and that was the single aim my wife and I shared. But we feel that we have saved a lot and its time to relax. The idea seemed nice when I was working but now with nothing to do I actually feel like doing something. This is where I need your help. I have no idea what I want to do. All my friends have jobs during weekdays so I cannot bother them. Are there any highpaying part time flexible jobs that you have found? What else can I do to not go crazy by sitting and staring at a wall and feeling useless? Is this normal?
Hello all!
I feel like I've come home... I was raised with similar thoughts around spending, but in recent years, I've felt myself slipping. I just built a tiny house, and put the balance on credit cards. I've paid off half of the debt, but I've got $37,000 to go. My goal is to nuke that this year. A funny thing happens when in debt... It sure gets easy to charge more! I could sure use all the encouragement I can get! I'm so pleased to start really looking at my finances and cutting back in the places where spending has got out of hand!
Hi! I'm Kevin. I'm 27 and married to a pretty great lady with our first child on the way. I'm at the very beginning of my FI journey, and have really enjoyed looking through the MMM blog the past few days. I'm looking forward to learning more!
Hi! I'm Kevin. I'm 27 and married to a pretty great lady with our first child on the way. I'm at the very beginning of my FI journey, and have really enjoyed looking through the MMM blog the past few days. I'm looking forward to learning more!
Interesting user name considering the content of the post :)
Hi- Long time lurker. Having a case of the Sundays after a week of vacation and was reading the Epic FU series, figured I would sign up officially. I am doing my cross-eyed best to fly this 747 into retirement (thank you Karen Black for the screen name). DH and I already have large 401(K) retirement 'stache in place and are working on a big cash bridge to live on until we can withdraw that penalty-free. We are both engineers and have lived well below our means our entire lives. No debt, no mortgage, last kid almost done with college on a cash flow basis. We are the Millionaire Next Door in every respect and when we read that book 20 years ago instantly recognized ourselves as prodigious accumulators of wealth, PAWs. Shared the book around and were surprised at how many friends said they could never live that way (what? as a millionaire? it is easy, so much easier than an under-accumulator of wealth, UAW).
So when to pull the rip cord and FIRE? Certainly before I am 50, though the hubby may want to work longer since he is less disgusted with working life. For me, that date is almost exactly 3 years if I can stand it that long. My health is starting to suffer from my high-stress job. I do have FU money but the working gig pays pretty dang good so staying in the game will assure I can jettison easily before I am 50, so I just have to practice meditating through the crapola. I am pretty good at calling BS and not putting up with it at work but it still gets under my skin too much. I am torn for all the reasons we all know about and discuss here daily.
I read Dr. Doom's blog, livingafi.com, and align very much with his attitudes (love you, Doomie!). I realize I will never enjoy a job- any job. I resent spending my life pursuing work that is unsatisfying and makes me nauseous every single morning. Seriously, I feel sick every day I go and I start dreading Mondays on Saturday mornings. I lead a team of technical experts and I love my group but really loathe the company. I am a good boss and my group really seems to like me too since I am not a company hack, but it is still a high stress environment. Dr. Doom has a great chart of fears/emotions/realities and even though I could leave right now I still can't bring myself to do it. It is not OMY, it is TMY in my world. When I was 20 I said I would be done by the time I am 50 and I have cleared that financial bar by 5+ years but still can't do it. Perhaps it will take a medical crisis for me to wake the hell up, God help me.
In any case I am glad to be on the board and perhaps making a contribution here and there will offer a nice outlet as the goal becomes nearer and my spine becomes stronger.
Hi- Long time lurker. Having a case of the Sundays after a week of vacation and was reading the Epic FU series, figured I would sign up officially. I am doing my cross-eyed best to fly this 747 into retirement (thank you Karen Black for the screen name). DH and I already have large 401(K) retirement 'stache in place and are working on a big cash bridge to live on until we can withdraw that penalty-free. We are both engineers and have lived well below our means our entire lives. No debt, no mortgage, last kid almost done with college on a cash flow basis. We are the Millionaire Next Door in every respect and when we read that book 20 years ago instantly recognized ourselves as prodigious accumulators of wealth, PAWs. Shared the book around and were surprised at how many friends said they could never live that way (what? as a millionaire? it is easy, so much easier than an under-accumulator of wealth, UAW).
So when to pull the rip cord and FIRE? Certainly before I am 50, though the hubby may want to work longer since he is less disgusted with working life. For me, that date is almost exactly 3 years if I can stand it that long. My health is starting to suffer from my high-stress job. I do have FU money but the working gig pays pretty dang good so staying in the game will assure I can jettison easily before I am 50, so I just have to practice meditating through the crapola. I am pretty good at calling BS and not putting up with it at work but it still gets under my skin too much. I am torn for all the reasons we all know about and discuss here daily.
I read Dr. Doom's blog, livingafi.com, and align very much with his attitudes (love you, Doomie!). I realize I will never enjoy a job- any job. I resent spending my life pursuing work that is unsatisfying and makes me nauseous every single morning. Seriously, I feel sick every day I go and I start dreading Mondays on Saturday mornings. I lead a team of technical experts and I love my group but really loathe the company. I am a good boss and my group really seems to like me too since I am not a company hack, but it is still a high stress environment. Dr. Doom has a great chart of fears/emotions/realities and even though I could leave right now I still can't bring myself to do it. It is not OMY, it is TMY in my world. When I was 20 I said I would be done by the time I am 50 and I have cleared that financial bar by 5+ years but still can't do it. Perhaps it will take a medical crisis for me to wake the hell up, God help me.
In any case I am glad to be on the board and perhaps making a contribution here and there will offer a nice outlet as the goal becomes nearer and my spine becomes stronger.
I am getting a lot out of your site, and I appreciate what I have learned. I am also a cynic. In all transparacny, does Mr MM or Mrs MM receive compensation form Vanguard?
Hi Mustachians,I'm afraid we don't do there-there's here, but you're welcome to a hearty facepunch and plenty of advice if you're willing to be open to it. If you'd like specific advice, and don't mind sharing the details, you can always post a case study (http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/how-to-write-a-'case-study'-topic/) for your situation.
I am pretty new to this, but I'm hoping to get my mustache on. Is there a specific forum for posting sob stories and enlisting there-there's? I've got a bit of work to do on my habits and I wish I'd started earlier.
All the best,
Willie
Hi, my name is Merin, and I live in central Kentucky. I've been reading this blog and forum for ages, but registered just today. Glad to be a part of the community now! Honestly, I registered today because I reached a financial goal this week ($250K), and I have almost no one to share it with. Most of my peers are in a very different financial situation than I am, and I don't think telling them or asking them to celebrate with me would go over well, so here I am.
Hello to all,
I am from New England and taking bold steps to make positive changes for a better quality of life. At this time, I am looking at what I have, what I value, what is the return and what may never happen again. I tend to be a little dreamy and hope things will just work out. Maybe someday people will understand me and I will understand them. Well, sometimes, it's not going to happen.
I like a quiet life out in a quiet town. I have a job but like most, it pays the bills and not too fulfilling, not many future prospects. I love to be at home, read, cook, garden, and write. I tend to be earth conscience and make many choices in the hopes I am doing my small bit to be responsible for what I do.
I finally cut the cable company yesterday. I tried to negotiate a better rate but found I was hearing a lot of marketing crap. I got a "better" offer when I asked to cancel service, but the better offer already had strings attached. So, I turn in the equipment Monday and will be readjusting. I hardly watch, but want to be informed, hardly go on line, but sometimes want to so options will have to be considered. My town library offers free wifi and that's most likely what I'll have to do. I use my PC at work to go online as well, but I hopefully don't abuse that opportunity.
I am back in school now taking on-line courses. My employer is supporting that so I can use the work PC to do many school related projects. Not sure how much posting I will do, but the reading is so interesting. I am glad to see how many people are working at improving life quality through choices they are making.
See you out there :)
Hi everyone
I found MMM in late February and proceeded to read every post in order and then punch myself in the face for ignoring my finances for the past 15 years... since 25FEB, I paid off one credit card, killed cable, sold the TV, dropped the phone data plan down by several notches, got a library card, tuned up my bike, and started biking to work several days a week.
I'm trying to bike to work everyday (not quite there yet)... the second credit card is on a major pay off schedule, soon to be followed by the car loan (yes, MANY punches to the face, but at least it was 0%)...once I have clear title, I'll sell the car and buy a suitably mustachian used one for when I can't bike.
I'm late to the party, but it's never to late to get situated... I'm fortunate to have a good engineering salary, so FI is about ten years or less out, but that's better than thinking it would be never!
Happy to meet you all!
Cheers
G42
I'm Joey, i'm teaching myself internet marketing, email, SEO, PPC, blog niche and amazon FBA, i have a bunch of what seems like legit resources and links. my goal is to make enough money so my mother does not have to work,and hopefully get her a house as my ultimate goal. currently 9-5 13.47$ an hour, Associates degree 28 years old. health nerd, nerd with women. PUA all that good stuff. Zen buddhist hindu rasta
I'm rubinho, 35 years old and I have squandered most of life, wasting my time on games, smoking weed all day until I hit rock bottom 1.5 years ago. There were circumstances that led to that lifestyle though I can point fingers but it's me that messed my life up not caring about anything. Even though I have changed mentally and physically and feel better than ever before, I still face adversity and despair every day. I am angry and frustrated because I am nowhere near I want to be, feeling like a failure a lot. I never finished any education after high school and am still in a low wage pointless job with hardly and potential. I came to MMM after some google searches for stoicism. I don't know where to begin with my path to independence of being financially stable and secure. I have a very long way to go, though it feels as I am in the position where I have nothing to lose and can only win.. in that essence I am free.. I hope I can get some information or tips here that plants the seeds today for a better future.
Damn, interesting back story. I'd love to see a journal or something. A place like where you are, while commonly perceived to be crappy, is pretty awesome as a starting place, especially if you use it to kind of create the life you want.Yes you're right it is a good starting place.. there are always people that are in a worse position than me. I still appreciate the things I do have. I recently registered a .com domain and I am going to make a website with content that is spiritual, life lessons and motivational. I hope to reach a big audience where other people can find a little peace in a life full of stress. Eventually I hope to make enough money of it but that is not my main goal.
QuoteDamn, interesting back story. I'd love to see a journal or something. A place like where you are, while commonly perceived to be crappy, is pretty awesome as a starting place, especially if you use it to kind of create the life you want.Yes you're right it is a good starting place.. there are always people that are in a worse position than me. I still appreciate the things I do have. I recently registered a .com domain and I am going to make a website with content that is spiritual, life lessons and motivational. I hope to reach a big audience where other people can find a little peace in a life full of stress. Eventually I hope to make enough money of it but that is not my main goal.
Secondly my dream is to produce music, perform and travel the word and leave something behind when I die, my legacy. Third I hope to become a professional poker player. Those 3 are my prime objectives for the moment. I already worked very hard on my health by working out hard in the gym and by boxing. I believe that I can make my dreams a reality and I hope I can learn something here. I don't know why I found MMM maybe it's fate but I think I found the right place to hang out here once in a while and read/learn.
Hi All - have been reading for a while after a friend forwarded a post, really enjoy that i've found a bunch of people who are thinking wisely.
My biggest hurdle thus far, for the last few months - how do I actually start squeezing my spending down? I have managed to say no to large purchases I would have made before (a new truck, etc. relatively easily, but I struggle with core expenses. (Discretionary is easier, and I can manage cutting out some "luxuries" - however it ends up not being very material). My biggest expense - RENT - is hard to save on in my area...i am in the next to cheapest place I can be. Second - meals and groceries - very tough given the amount i work to eat out less (at cheaper places) and prep meals. I don't doubt that eventually I will be able to afford the flexibility to affect these expenses, but at the moment it all seems somewhat too fixed and insurmountable.
So how did you start making significant progress in cutting expenses? It's the core of making it all work, yet it's the hardest part AND I am finding little practical tactical advice...
Hi All - have been reading for a while after a friend forwarded a post, really enjoy that i've found a bunch of people who are thinking wisely.
My biggest hurdle thus far, for the last few months - how do I actually start squeezing my spending down? I have managed to say no to large purchases I would have made before (a new truck, etc. relatively easily, but I struggle with core expenses. (Discretionary is easier, and I can manage cutting out some "luxuries" - however it ends up not being very material). My biggest expense - RENT - is hard to save on in my area...i am in the next to cheapest place I can be. Second - meals and groceries - very tough given the amount i work to eat out less (at cheaper places) and prep meals. I don't doubt that eventually I will be able to afford the flexibility to affect these expenses, but at the moment it all seems somewhat too fixed and insurmountable.
So how did you start making significant progress in cutting expenses? It's the core of making it all work, yet it's the hardest part AND I am finding little practical tactical advice...
I was hoping someone could point me to Aussie topics that focus on growing net worth, super, tax efficiency and most importantly how to make the most of living in this great country.
hi all,
i'm 22 and just started my first job this year. my parents are very MMM-oriented: both immigrants, very frugal (in their late twenties, they were saving money from their graduate school stipends to send home to their parents), and have quietly invested in property for the past 2 decades. in contrast, i've been pretty profligate with spending. in high school i had a part-time job and in college i was working every summer, but i was spending most of my money on music festivals, bougie restaurants, designer fashion.
i'm not really proud of that and i want to be more responsible about my spending. i found MMM some time back but never really took it seriously. i sat down this weekend and read through the archives, and i really want to commit to this. i'm making more money now than i ever have and i don't want my lifestyle to inflate, and to get used to a casual luxury here, a casual luxury there, and start blowing all my paychecks on things that won't matter to me in a few years.
my goal for 2016 is to save ~70% of my take-home pay. lurking the forums has already been super encouraging, and i'm looking forward to reading more thoughts and wisdom from the people here
Hi everyone, I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I was led to MMM via other frugal websites/ and an interest in downshifting - we've been living a low expense life basically forever. We had already paid off our mortgage before finding MMM so that I could downshift (ie leave my horrible corporate job) and get to do something that didn't pay as well but that I enjoyed. That worked out well at first but then a couple of years later I made the mistake of starting a business that now has me tied to working about 35-40hrs M-F, whoops. Hubby has continued to work a high paid job because he doesn't mind it but has switched to contracts.
We live in Sydney with our dog. We find ourselves in a fortunate situation in this HCOL city. Our home by the beach is paid off but is now (due to nothing more than good luck on our part) worth a small fortune after a crazy period in the property market. We also now have an almost paid off investment property, the income from which covers our essential expenses (about $25k including unnecessary private health) but no more. If we wanted to truly retire right now we could sell our house, move somewhere cheaper (out of Sydney) and invest the rest. Or we could stay here forever and pay for our fun stuff by working part time jobs. But hubby right now is having trouble finding a contract after taking a 5 month break, and to be honest, that scares me a bit, we both thought it would be more of a reliable income stream that we could turn on and off as we wanted. Which makes me think: maybe now is the time to cash in and leave.
But.... I do like our place, it's got a lovely feel about it. We'd also miss our friends (but we'd only be an hour or two away somewhere like Kiama). There's no real rush to decide, we make enough from the investment property and my business to live on and we can redraw from the almost paid off investment mortgage if there is an emergency. And as much as would like to retire, I worry that I would stay in bed all day!!
PS Literally just got one of those phonecalls from a real estate agent asking if we want to sell up as I was typing...!
Hi!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 (http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/how-to-write-a-'case-study'-topic/).
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
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.
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"
Hi Owl, welcome from a Midlander!
There are a few of us UK people about on the forums - and also a few who areescapeesturncoatsexpats and are now in the US and other locations.
Hi everyone,Hello my name is Doug, nice to meet you. I pretty much live in Portland Oregon or 5 minutes from there and I was soooooooo sad that I heard that your husband was here 2 nights ago !!!! I want to get a selfie with him soooooo bad !!!! Is he still in Portland right now on vacation maybe ?
I've started this thread to get some introductions going. If you haven't posted anything on the board yet, this is a great place to say hi. If you have posted, then say hi anyway. :)
I'll go first.
Hi! I'm Mrs. Money Mustache. I'm married to this awesome guy that some of you may know and we have a great 6-year old kid. We live in Colorado and life is good... very good. :)
Who's next?
Hi, everyone!
I've been reading MMM for a few months now and lurking here a bit, and figured it was time to join in. I'm a 24 year old single female, originally from NC but moved to DC for college and stayed here after graduation. Thanks to generous parents/a grandfather, financial aid, and the attitude that I was going to pay more than my monthly required amount, I'm down to about $4k in student loans at pretty reasonably low interest rates so nothing there to complain about. I grew up learning from my parents that saving is a good thing to do, but they can't be considered Mustachian by even the most generous of standards, so now I'm working on breaking years' worth of spending habits that I never gave much thought to. A few months ago I realized I was feeling like I was living paycheck-to-paycheck, decided no way in hell was I going to continue down that route, and started looking up budgeting advice. I stumbled across MMM in the process and reading through all of the posts has been eye-opening! My biggest issue right now is how much of my income goes to rent, but for the time being I'm willing to work around that considering I walk to work and have a nice apartment for what is sadly a reasonable price in my neighborhood. It's pretty ridiculous that as of a few months ago I got a car despite living in this city, but to be fair, it's 10 years old, was formerly my mother's, was a free gift from my parents, and I only have it so I can go hiking on weekends and go to Costco. I feel like that means I only deserve a small punch in the face? I deserve much larger punches in the face for the truly staggering amounts of money I've spent the past few years on clothes and drinking/eating out, and I am valiantly striving to cut those expenses down to zero as a first step in the process of dramatically upping the badassity of my lifestyle.
I'm kicking myself for not having found this site while I was still in college or soon after I graduated, but I'm excited to get started now!
Hi, I'm Chris.
I like beer.
Hey Mustachians,
Really excited to be joining the community!
My wife and I are a combined 27.9 years old and we have a FIRE date of 2026. We live in the beautiful Texas hill country. Can't wait to get to know everyone!
-Jankle
Hi Ya'll,
I'm now closer to 40 than I am 35. I'm also getting closer to retirement. I'm married with one child and he's finally in school so no more daycare costs! My wife and I make a great deal of money but we could do better saving it. We don't do a terrible job, we have a net worth approaching 700k with only about 75k of that as equity in our house. We'll save over 120k this year but that'll still only be about 40% of our income so we could be doing a lot better. But, on the bright side, other than a mortgage on our house and rental property, we have no debt. I drive 15 a year old car and my wife's is 7 years old.
On the not so bright side, we pay for lawn care and have a house cleaner come in twice a month. I'm not sure how I currently justify that. We eat out more than we should and we like to travel. We have 2 trips planned currently. There's a lot we can cut out but we just need to force ourselves to do it. Overall, I'm happy with where we're at but I know we can do better.
Hey Mustachians,
Really excited to be joining the community!
My wife and I are a combined 27.9 years old and we have a FIRE date of 2026. We live in the beautiful Texas hill country. Can't wait to get to know everyone!
-Jankle
Combined 27.9 years? or average 27.9yrs? I mean if it is combined does that mean you are both roughly 13.95yrs old? Welcome to MMM
Hi, so I'm Julie and I live in Austin, TX and am looking for any way to alleviate my expenses and save money. I'm doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and following Mr Money and Mad Fientist and just trying to figure this stuff out. I guess I don't get how Mr Money just says you can save 50% of your expenses just like that, like it's that easy. I do have a car payment, but i only have about $1800 left on it for a ten year old car. I've never bought new cars, never had cable, and until I was 25, I never even had TV or a computer at home. I actually didn't even have a phone til I was 23, I used a payphone on the corner next to a Walgreens. I cook almost all my meals at home and I stock up on rice, beans, oats, apples, eggs, etc. I have a smartphone, but I get half off because I work for the company, and my internet through my own company is $5. I can't figure out how to live any cheaper.
In Austin, it's very difficult to find rent for less than 1k. After my roommate wanted to jack up my rent to $700 for a place that was rat and roach infested, I was managing to find studios for $800-900 that I was pretty comfortable with. I will admit this is where my mom kicked in and basically demanded I buy a condo, and paid for the down payment. I got a 1BR condo for $115k 3 miles from downtown Austin last year (also walking/biking distance to work but Austin's bike paths don't go over highways so the bike commute is a bit terrifying). Mortgage and HOA is $1100. Problem is, this is almost half of my income right there.
Now, in a perfect world maybe I could save a third of my income instead? But this is where things get complicated. I have COPD, Endometriosis, Adenomyosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I've had three surgeries just this year, finally ending with a hysterectomy. My health insurance is very high deductible and I use up the max out of pocket almost yearly. Additionally, things just keep happening. The reason I got into debt in the first place was my Aunt went to the ICU for an emergency. When the people she was living with bothered to call me, her only living relative, she'd been in the ICU for 4 days and they were reading last rites. I jumped on a plane ($1200 to Cincinnati same day), rented a car ($700) and spent a week in a motel, because she had died while I was mid-flight and I had five days til the funeral ($1000... Ohio has some ridiculous $100 per night motel fee). I also miss a week of work because my company pays for almost any time out for a funeral but not if they're an aunt or uncle.. Right after that, my mom decides to put the down payment on a condo for me, and I find black mold that the inspector missed ($8000 for a new shower).. now as of last week, my mom was in the ICU for a subdural hematoma. Now I'm saying fuck savings and racking up my credit card in the idea I might need another expensive flight in case she needs surgery to relieve the pressure in her brain. I was the only living relative on my dad's sisters side before she died and I'm the only living relative on my mom's side as well. If she dies, I have zero family and I haven't been in a romantic relationship in ten years.
I listen to these Dave Ramsey calls and it's literally all couples, all healthy, throwing two sets of incomes at one set of expenses and patting themselves on the back for it. I don't hear anyone like me, single, with elderly ailing family members, no money, and dealing with chronic medical conditions herself, with no one to help. So I sign on here and I see a bunch of crap about 'oh just save half your money it's super easy' along with some tips on things I'm already doing that aren't going very far for me. The Dave Ramsey class is the same thing, I go in and talk about clipping coupons and taking market research studies and donating plasma and working second jobs and everyone else is just talking about selling things like F150s and jetskis and unplugging cable... changing lifestyle habits I was always too poor to develop in the first place. I'm out of ideas. Anyone?
Julie,
Welcome. I am sorry for your loss and the hard breaks that have been coming your way. You are right it is easier for many to save than it will be for you, MMM is primarily geared towards people that earn over $75k/yr. You have been living frugally from what you have shared so good job overall. Keeping your nose to the grindstone should start to pay off in little amounts at first followed by bigger and bigger amounts. With your car payments almost over with you should be able to chip away at the debt and start an emergency fund. Look into ways to increase your income to help grow the gap between spending and earning. If you are interested there is a mustachian and single section in the forum.Hi, so I'm Julie and I live in Austin, TX and am looking for any way to alleviate my expenses and save money. I'm doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and following Mr Money and Mad Fientist and just trying to figure this stuff out. I guess I don't get how Mr Money just says you can save 50% of your expenses just like that, like it's that easy. I do have a car payment, but i only have about $1800 left on it for a ten year old car. I've never bought new cars, never had cable, and until I was 25, I never even had TV or a computer at home. I actually didn't even have a phone til I was 23, I used a payphone on the corner next to a Walgreens. I cook almost all my meals at home and I stock up on rice, beans, oats, apples, eggs, etc. I have a smartphone, but I get half off because I work for the company, and my internet through my own company is $5. I can't figure out how to live any cheaper.
In Austin, it's very difficult to find rent for less than 1k. After my roommate wanted to jack up my rent to $700 for a place that was rat and roach infested, I was managing to find studios for $800-900 that I was pretty comfortable with. I will admit this is where my mom kicked in and basically demanded I buy a condo, and paid for the down payment. I got a 1BR condo for $115k 3 miles from downtown Austin last year (also walking/biking distance to work but Austin's bike paths don't go over highways so the bike commute is a bit terrifying). Mortgage and HOA is $1100. Problem is, this is almost half of my income right there.
Now, in a perfect world maybe I could save a third of my income instead? But this is where things get complicated. I have COPD, Endometriosis, Adenomyosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I've had three surgeries just this year, finally ending with a hysterectomy. My health insurance is very high deductible and I use up the max out of pocket almost yearly. Additionally, things just keep happening. The reason I got into debt in the first place was my Aunt went to the ICU for an emergency. When the people she was living with bothered to call me, her only living relative, she'd been in the ICU for 4 days and they were reading last rites. I jumped on a plane ($1200 to Cincinnati same day), rented a car ($700) and spent a week in a motel, because she had died while I was mid-flight and I had five days til the funeral ($1000... Ohio has some ridiculous $100 per night motel fee). I also miss a week of work because my company pays for almost any time out for a funeral but not if they're an aunt or uncle.. Right after that, my mom decides to put the down payment on a condo for me, and I find black mold that the inspector missed ($8000 for a new shower).. now as of last week, my mom was in the ICU for a subdural hematoma. Now I'm saying fuck savings and racking up my credit card in the idea I might need another expensive flight in case she needs surgery to relieve the pressure in her brain. I was the only living relative on my dad's sisters side before she died and I'm the only living relative on my mom's side as well. If she dies, I have zero family and I haven't been in a romantic relationship in ten years.
I listen to these Dave Ramsey calls and it's literally all couples, all healthy, throwing two sets of incomes at one set of expenses and patting themselves on the back for it. I don't hear anyone like me, single, with elderly ailing family members, no money, and dealing with chronic medical conditions herself, with no one to help. So I sign on here and I see a bunch of crap about 'oh just save half your money it's super easy' along with some tips on things I'm already doing that aren't going very far for me. The Dave Ramsey class is the same thing, I go in and talk about clipping coupons and taking market research studies and donating plasma and working second jobs and everyone else is just talking about selling things like F150s and jetskis and unplugging cable... changing lifestyle habits I was always too poor to develop in the first place. I'm out of ideas. Anyone?
Hello all
Grumpy old Brit living in Sweden. My wife and I gave up the day job some 16 years back. We moved to Brittany France and had an organic small holding, own veggies, pigs chickens etc. We are into renewable energy PV, solar thermal, and a wind turbine. Great fun but decided it was time to move on. Sweden just looked good, so far no regrets. Looking forward to picking your brains.
I am looking for ways to incorporating some mustachian ideas into one of my classes (and therein lies my forthcoming question)This sounds like a fantastic question to have its own thread. When you start one, could you come back and post a link here so that we can find it?
Before MMM: we were naturally saving about 20% of our income, but didn't do anything with it, it just piled up in the bank.
After MMM: we now have our savings rate over 50%. Most goes to 403B/457/Roth IRA, some goes to principal on mortgage.
Hi guys from Sydney, Australia!
So nice meeting you all!
Just discovered MMM blog and forum after listening to a Mad FIentist podcast interviewing MMM about a month ago. Since then I have listened to all his podcasts, started commenting and following numerous MMM forums, and reading many other FI bloggers and vloggers.
A bit about me:
- 26 yo, 3 years out of uni and in a full-time job
- save about 25% of my income, have the potential to save 40%
- always been money-conscious but since working full-time (3 years ago) I've regularly blow the budget and lived outside of my means, mostly due to entertainment expenses (dining out/drinks at bars) with friends
- never had a credit card, only debt is student loan (which is deducted from my pay through tax)
Since reading FI blogs, I'm:
- monitoring all my expenses to the dollar!
- focusing on seeking value out of purchases instead of cheap-thrills
- challenging and questioning social expectations and pressures in my social circle which is focused around high-cost wining and dining
- aiming to be financially independent by 35
- even started a personal FI blog to catalogue my journey!
Hi guys from Sydney, Australia!
So nice meeting you all!
Just discovered MMM blog and forum after listening to a Mad FIentist podcast interviewing MMM about a month ago. Since then I have listened to all his podcasts, started commenting and following numerous MMM forums, and reading many other FI bloggers and vloggers.
A bit about me:
- 26 yo, 3 years out of uni and in a full-time job
- save about 25% of my income, have the potential to save 40%
- always been money-conscious but since working full-time (3 years ago) I've regularly blow the budget and lived outside of my means, mostly due to entertainment expenses (dining out/drinks at bars) with friends
- never had a credit card, only debt is student loan (which is deducted from my pay through tax)
Since reading FI blogs, I'm:
- monitoring all my expenses to the dollar!
- focusing on seeking value out of purchases instead of cheap-thrills
- challenging and questioning social expectations and pressures in my social circle which is focused around high-cost wining and dining
- aiming to be financially independent by 35
- even started a personal FI blog to catalogue my journey!
Hey there, nice to see another local :)
35 is a challenge... I'm trying to do the same.
The year was 2009.
Every credit card was maxxed.
We both had loans on our 401ks.
The savings account was at zero.
Both cars had loans outstanding.
We had just bought a new house - with a huge mortgage - with, naturally, zero dollars down.
We both loathed our jobs, but they paid well, so we felt trapped in them because they were the only way to pay the bills.
Suddenly, thankfully, we turned to each other one Saturday morning over coffee and admitted that this was no way to live.
****
Its the end of 2016.
We have zero credit card debt.
No loans on our 401ks (which we max!), and we also both have IRAs (which we max!) and a taxable brokerage account.
The savings accounts hold a 6+ month emergency fund.
Both cars are paid off - and we actually replaced one car in 2014 with one we paid for in cash.
We're attacking the mortgage now. We still owe $300K (our only debt) but its much less than it was.
We still are paid well, but still loathe our jobs. We still feel that this is no way to live, but we are digging our way out fast and furious!
****
I am 41 and he is 45. I'm not sure if we will be ready to FIRE in 2020, but I am pretty sure we will have FU money by then :)
We found MMM a couple years ago. The blog was a great kick-in-the-pants we needed after years of digging ourselves out of our hole. Now I love reading the forums - great ideas, and inspiration!
Hi everyone, I'm Nick - a 26 year old software engineer from central Pennsylvania. I've been a bit of a lurker to the MMM blog for a few months, trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can so I decided to jump into the community here as well.
My wife (a high school spanish teacher) and I have been discussing some ER possibilities of late due to high stress levels at her job and lackluster opportunities at mine. We're generally pretty good with not buying excessive stuff but could definitely do better to supercharge our 'stash. Our goal is to be mortgage-free in about 4 years, which is a little far-fetched but not altogether impossible. After that, we want to save up for a B&B in Costa Rica :)
retire early? that'll take a mindset shift; that's what i'm going to start reading about here. ok -- carry on!That's what this place is all about! welcome!
My wife and I have been following the Stash principles for some time now and we are also fellow Canucks .
I gotta tell ya this stuff is powerful Kung Fu!
Decided today to join the community.
We are $8000.00 shy of hitting the million mark. :), and have no intention of leaving work for at least another 10 years, (pension). But more important, we like our jobs. It's just nice have options.
Combined pensions of 110K -145K depending on if I retire this year or in 5. No debts outside of 320K in mortgage. About $1.6 M in savings/assets. We're not true Mustachians but are willing to learn.
Hello.
I'm a senior in college looking to pay off her student loans and help my mom (who is in the middle of long overdue divorce proceedings) raise my younger siblings. I'm a frugal person, but I love buying things for people way too much and am extremely inexperienced when it comes to employment. However, I am no stranger to hard work. I want to achieve FI so I can support my mom through this difficult time and her elder years, and because I want the freedom to see my family and friends in other states without having to work around a job. I live and go to college in Florida, but I have family and friends- many of whom are elderly- in North Carolina, Wyoming, Alabama, and New York. I've been following/binge reading the MMM blog for a few weeks and am very uneducated about stocks and bonds and have almost no savings to my name, but I am determined to make a better life for myself and my family.
Howdy folks!
I'm Robin. I'm a 21-year-old gal working as a mechanical engineer-in-training. I live on a cozy houseboat in northern Canada. I like to build and fix and grow things. My weekends are spent completing ultra-endurance suffer-fests by bike, ski, canoe and foot with my dog Toko. I play guitar and mandolin in a folk/funk band, and coach cross-country skiing.
I'm mildly obsessed with travel, and run off for a couple months each year. My goal is to transition to remote work once I get my P.Eng., travel nearly full-time, and maintain my home base in Canada.
I managed to escape university debt-free, and even had some savings. I bought a house(boat) in cash, and rent out the spare rooms on AirBnB. I'm maxing out my TFSA and RRSP, and funneling the rest into taxable accounts. I'm on track to FIRE comfortably in 8 years.
So, any advice for young folks just getting started? I'm currently holding my own at 12% savings and I'm on track to 15% in the next few months with some downsizing and adjustments. I've unfortunately got a new car to pay off but that's all the debt I have. Any advice, shared experiences, or commentary would be welcome and appreciated!
Hi. I'm Andy. I'm a 23 year old Industrial Designer and going-on-one-year college graduate. I was lucky enough to graduate with no debt a score a decently-paying (52k) job in a corporate engineering department. The job's ok.... pretty boring most of the time. The idea of starting my own design consulting business in the next 5 years or so has been sustaining me through it. Stumbling upon the Mustachian philosophy has also inspired me to set some long term goals toward FIRE. The freedom it would provide is really appealing to me and I thing I value that above frivolous crap that I could be spending my money on.
So, any advice for young folks just getting started? I'm currently holding my own at 12% savings and I'm on track to 15% in the next few months with some downsizing and adjustments. I've unfortunately got a new car to pay off but that's all the debt I have. Any advice, shared experiences, or commentary would be welcome and appreciated!
Also, if you're at all like me, and have a 20-somethingish friend group that loooves going out, eating out, and hanging out, don't be afraid to start proposing some cheaper alternatives for having fun. Instead of eating out every Friday, now my best friend and I walk to the grocery store together, shop together, and prepare dinner together at half the price and twice the time spent with each other. Friend wants to go to a classy and expensive bar where each beer costs upwards of $7? Propose a beer tasting among friends where you each go and pick up the most interesting or weird bottle of beer, and have a vote for whoever picked the Weirdest and whoever picked the Best. You don't need to be Mr. Killjoy-Let's-Stay-At-Home every time, but just imagine-- avoiding 2 expensive $50 hangout trips each month in lieu of $10 cheap hangouts makes for a savings of $80 each month, or $960 a year-- almost a thousand dang dollars for the same amount of fun.
The blog and forum opened my eyes to the possibilities. In the past couple years I've changed a lot ... reduced spending, increased savings, optimized investments, started monetizing my DIY skills though side gigs, and have a plan to FIRE in 7 years (age 52)!
Think it's great to see so many younger people on MMM getting it together to experience the life i had a brief taste of but permanently .
Hi, I'm Octotat and just found this site today and spent half the day reading it. I feel like I've found my people!!!!! I'm 50, no debt, paid off house, stacked 401, solid savings and planning to early retire by Christmas of this year!
About 3 years ago I got a wild hair to quit my job and spend 6 months thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail! To say that was a life-changing experience is putting it mildly. 2,100 miles later and I was ready to give up (most of) my worldly possessions.
Dear Mustachians,
So I have been reading the blog for a while and hearing about this forum all of the time, and then today I noticed the forum icon at the top.
I got so swept up in catching up that I completely missed it, now I have so much more to catch up on.
I am 44 and I consider myself to be semi-retired. I was medically discharged from the Army after 23 years and now I am pensioned off. I am also the stay-home-dad of our 3 kids (11 yr girl, 7 yr boy, 3 yr girl).
I am planning on applying Mustachian principals to work toward becoming financially independant of my pension, or at least getting rid of my debt to free up more of my pension for living life!
Kind regards,
Scott
Thanks, Jordanread!Dear Mustachians,
So I have been reading the blog for a while and hearing about this forum all of the time, and then today I noticed the forum icon at the top.
I got so swept up in catching up that I completely missed it, now I have so much more to catch up on.
I am 44 and I consider myself to be semi-retired. I was medically discharged from the Army after 23 years and now I am pensioned off. I am also the stay-home-dad of our 3 kids (11 yr girl, 7 yr boy, 3 yr girl).
I am planning on applying Mustachian principals to work toward becoming financially independant of my pension, or at least getting rid of my debt to free up more of my pension for living life!
Kind regards,
Scott
Welcome. Find Nords. He is the military related badass around these parts.
Hello everyone. I am an engineer living and working in the middle east for the last dozen years. The life has been good to us and we are approaching retirement. As a matter of fact, my wife retired last week at 58. Not too early relative to some of the people on the forum but, nonetheless. I am 52 and trying to plan our escape.
I need some advice as well. Where can I post our particulars and some questions?
Cheers and thanks for this website.
Hi. Longtime reader of the Boglehead forums, and have been aware of MMM for some time. Decided to create an account here to get a different perspective. Seems that some Bogleheads are Mustachians and some Mustachians are Bogleheads, but being a Boglehead doesn't make you a Mustchian and being a Mustachian doesn't make you a Boglehead. In a way, I am here to find out what I am.
In my mid 20's and hope to retire early. Still working on how to do that - but I'll build my financial literacy first.
Been following the Site for a few years. 49 y/o about to FIRE.
I was shocked when I checked the Google Analytics of the MMM website that only around 5000 people in France where viewing the website each month. I would love if I have later the permission to translate in French articles from the MMM website to share them to the French market and creating a Facebook community for meetings, events and informations.
I am really glad to join the forum and I hope to learn more about you !
See you online !
I'm here because Nords likes this forum, and because some of my revenue possibilities include personal finance blogging and/or offering IT consulting or services to bloggers.Welcome, Jim, good to see you here!
I wonder, is there any other Italian reader here?
Welcome gargagnam!
And yes, I've seen quite a few Italians around here. Whether there's any that have FIRE'd already I'm not sure - you can probably do a few searches and find out.
Hallo everyone,
long time lurker here. I'm a 25 year old german male currently writing my master thesis and very much looking forward to seeing Ze Stash grow more quickly once I enter the working world. I study in the Netherlands and due to help of my parents and low education costs in Europe I'll finish my studies with no debt and roughly 10k € invested in low cost index funds and some individual stocks that I can't bring myself to sell. This could have been significantly more, but I only got serious about saving/investing 1 1/2 years ago and prior to that spent every € coming in.
I tend to overthink things, annoy my GF of 6 years greatly with my new frugal ways and still struggle to find a balance between being smart about unnecessary expenses and being stingy. Some of the advice directed at the US might not apply in Germany but most of the gerneral concepts still hold and I'm looking forward to talking to like-minded people and sharing in the collective wisdom of this great forum.
Ze Stash
Hi all,Hi Brody! We have an active Meetup thread if you're interested after you've wandered around the forum a bit :) look for the "Perth Meetup" thread.
My name is Brody I live in Western Australia I have been a long time lurker finally decided to join the forum.
Hi,
I'm David, living in Hungary. Just found this great site and forum, and started to lurk around.
Hope to find some good tips for people in Eastern Europe.
Hello,
I am Brian from Colorado Springs, Co. Any Mustachians around the Springs?
p.s. my handle (Hal) is a reference to two of my favorite protagonists in literature (from Henry IV and Infinite Jest)
p.s. my handle (Hal) is a reference to two of my favorite protagonists in literature (from Henry IV and Infinite Jest)
Love that you put where you get your name from. I was thinking 2001 Space Odessey, but that would have been all upper case.
The story of my screen name: I am of Indian origin, but once when I wore a bola tie to work, my boss told me that I could not be a Cowboy and an Indian.
Anyone introducing yourself, let us know where you get your name from.
Hi, I'm Helen.
I like to create waves.
I've been single momming it since I was a teen and my main goals were to keep our lives full and interesting, prioritize education, and get my child through college debt free. Recently checked the last box off so in that sense we were a complete success,
Hi, I'm Eden,
My husband and I just hit FI on May 8th 2017. Life is good and we really enjoy the MMM blog.
Hey Hey!
I found MMM about a month ago and have been on a bit of a binge reading (almost) all MMM's posts and now into the forums.
Bullet Point Profile:
-I'm 33yo and just relocated to South Carolina with my wife for her career and to get away from the cold (we're Canadian)
-Based on my reading, i'm pretty certain I am a Mustachian and luckily my wife is pretty darn Mustachian as well...although we didn't know that was a thing until very recently
Examples:
- We own one car that is 16 yo
- I ride my 20 yo mountain bike as much as I reasonably can
- Our primary residence for the last 18 months has been a sailboat with the equivalent of about 300sqft of living space
- Although we love the sailboat, we just bought a fixer upper house within a short bike ride of my wife's work in a great community, with cash
- Our yearly spending is about 25K
- We will only buy wine that comes in a box
- There is currently a piece of tinfoil in our drying rack that has been re-used at least 5 times
- I do a bit of work from home as a consultant, but left full-time employment 18 months ago
I feel like I've found my people here and just wanted to say Hi!!
You may want to check out the meetup threads for local informal meeting and more formal camps. Then you can see your people in person!
Hi everyone! I'm Quackersnatched. My favorite TV show is Duck Tales.I've got the theme song stuck in my head now! Welcome!
37 yr old, single, female, lawyer
...
Would welcome any thoughts. Just reading this thread has been so helpful.
Hi,
I’ve been lurking for a while, finally decided to sign up for the forum and join the conversation. I live on the Central Coast of California. I’ve been with my current career for 13 years, and kept my lifestyle inflation fairly well in check. I’ve made a point of directing most of every raise toward savings. About a year ago I set spring of 2018 as a FIRE goal. About 2 months ago I sat down with my boss and picked the end of January as the date.
So, 1 more month! I’m pretty excited.
I had never set an explicit goal to retire early, but around the time I started looking at the numbers seriously, I stumbled across the MMM blog and forum, along with other sources on the web. They were a big help in realizing it was feasible and seeing some of the ways other people had been able to make it happen.
Hi all,
I'm 49, and a single mother to a 10 yr old. I live on SSDI and so have a fairly fixed income.
I came here after deciding to get the remnants of my life together. Since coming here I have paid off all but two recurring bills. The one credit card will be paid off in two months, and the car loan should be gone in January 2019.
My situation us such that saving any meaningful amounts of money is utterly counter productive... but I can at least learn to live well within my means.
Hi(http://goo.gl/gqqjFD)
I'm Spoon, a 35 year old bloke living Downunder. I'm married with 2 daughters aged 5 and 2. I been lurking on the forum for just over a year and decided that it’s time to get involved.
I'm naturally frugal but had believed the world when they told me I was wrong, and am glad to have found a tribe that challenges conventional wisdom. To anyone reading MMM before starting work, I’m bloody envious.
I currently plan to retire when I am 40 but running my own company makes my wage more variable than most. I will probably blow the plan up by building my own house in the next few years and believe this will increase my happiness and quality of life.
I enjoy writing (I managed to get some articles published before the birth of my youngest) but find it takes a decent amount of time to craft something that you are prepared to send out into the world. I find it difficult to break from the formal writing rules I learnt and look forward to jamming some swearing into my posts. Fuck. Hopefully in time it will come more naturally!
Spoon
Hi everyone! 31 y/o, married with no kids, just joined the forum after finishing all the MMM posts.
My friend and co-worker turned me on to MMM this past November, which was very timely because at the time I was shopping for my first house. After absorbing the MMM wisdom, I now live within ~3 mi of work (and right next to two nice grocery stores), commute via bike, have majorly cut down on my expenses and increased savings, and am working on retiring in the next 9 years!
Looking forward to interacting with all the lovely Mustachians here.
Hi everyone! 31 y/o, married with no kids, just joined the forum after finishing all the MMM posts.
My friend and co-worker turned me on to MMM this past November, which was very timely because at the time I was shopping for my first house. After absorbing the MMM wisdom, I now live within ~3 mi of work (and right next to two nice grocery stores), commute via bike, have majorly cut down on my expenses and increased savings, and am working on retiring in the next 9 years!
Looking forward to interacting with all the lovely Mustachians here.
Welcome! That is a very cool story. Good for your friend for recommending MMM, and good for you for having an open mind and making some big adjustments! :)
Hi everyone! 31 y/o, married with no kids, just joined the forum after finishing all the MMM posts.
My friend and co-worker turned me on to MMM this past November, which was very timely because at the time I was shopping for my first house. After absorbing the MMM wisdom, I now live within ~3 mi of work (and right next to two nice grocery stores), commute via bike, have majorly cut down on my expenses and increased savings, and am working on retiring in the next 9 years!
Looking forward to interacting with all the lovely Mustachians here.
Welcome! That is a very cool story. Good for your friend for recommending MMM, and good for you for having an open mind and making some big adjustments! :)
Thank you very much! It's amazing the big effect just a few adjustments can have. Some of my coworkers have noticed my bike commute and are now considering it themselves - hopefully they follow through and start a trend!
Hello, new user checking in.
Found the blog through reddit a year or so ago. This seems to be an amazing community of people looking to optimize saving for the long term, and I'm joining to learn and discuss.
John
Hi everyone,
I have been lurking for a while, whilst thoroughly enjoying the content and the community.
I am 47 male from Down Under!
Will be sharing my thoughts and FIRE goals in good time.
Cheers
Hi!
I'm Mark from Cranbury, NJ.
Hi everyone!
I'm in my early 30s living in South Korea but originally from the Philippines. I've always dreamed of financial independence but hasn't really taken any steps towards that until I had the opportunity to work overseas.
My goal is to be able to eventually diversify my investments overseas so as not be subject to my country's frankly fragile economic and political situation. I hope to pick up and share ideas with people with similar goals.
Hi, I'm a fifty-something recovering from a bad divorce. A year ago I had nothing but debt and an alcoholic spouse on a certain road to financial disaster. Today I have saved about $20,000 in a 401k, almost paid off a small house in a retirement community in Mexico, a fixer-upper that I fixed up, and drive a long paid-off 2001 MBZ. I did this all before I found MMM.
I'm doing some goal-setting and want to reach financial independence within 5 years. I'm looking for like-minded folks, and this looks like a vibrant and active community.
Hi!
My name is Brian, I'm from the flatlands of Canada and I found this blog via reddit.
I'm just dipping my toes into FIRE. So much to learn.
I'm 35, just bought a house. I have 12k in student loans and 1800 in a car loan. Car loan will be paid off by June and student loan by December (fingers crossed)
House will be paid off by five years.
Can't wait to learn as I read the posts and forum!
Hello, I'm Antonn. I'm a copyeditor and proofreader who wants to learn how to retire early. I'm in my mid-thirties, so I have some time to plan. I'm already pretty frugal but have a big student loan I'd like to pay off as soon as possible.
Hello from sunny Tucson, AZ! Long time lurker and finally decided to join the community. I'm 43, married, no kids, and I've been on the FI journey for 2 years. I'm taking this nice and easy, planning to reach FI when I turn 50.
I'm a freelance online college instructor and I adjunct for about 7 schools. Hubby and I have 2 rental properties. I plan to pay them and the primary resident paid off by the time I'm 50 too.
Excited to be here!
Angela
Hey everyone! I'm a 20-year-old college student (majoring in computer science... why so many CS people do FIRE I won't understand) ready to train myself in the ways of badassity and FIRE.
My focus right now is to do well in school while trimming expenses as much as I can. I start my sophomore year in about three months, and managed a 3.7 GPA in my freshman year. I'm looking forward to starting on my adventure and making the most of it. Glad to have the community here.
Hello!
I've been reading MMM for a while, after having a financial literacy class in high school, and thought I should get on the forums to find advice and knowledge from some pretty cool people.
I'm currently attending college and avoiding any loans in the process. Picking up internships and work where I can. Making sure I have enough money in my accounts to pay for each year.
College life definitely has lots of spending temptations, especially when your friends have no clue how to lead an even remotely mustachian life. I still join on friend outings, but often spend way less money on dumb stuff and overly expensive foods. So far, loans are out of the picture and looking good for next year. And it should stay that way!
Kole
Hi, everyone!
I've been reading MMM for a couple of years now, but only recently discovered the forum and the wealth of knowledge here! (Pun intended.)
I've always thought of myself as relatively frugal (through necessity, rather than choice) because I came from a very modest background. I also always assumed that I would need to work until standard retirement age and that retirement calculators were accurate (everyone spends every penny they earn, right??). I've recently begun to question all these assumptions. While I'm not anywhere near the mustache levels of people on this forum, I aspire to be much closer than I am.
I'm 34 and live in SoCal with my husband (no kids yet - hopefully one in the near future). Our combined income is $176.5k. We save about 40% of our income, but we could do much, much better. My husband is naturally pretty thrifty, but there are some things that he is not on board with just yet. I'm focusing on cutting my own wasteful spending first, and then will gently encourage him to consider it, too. (I've already been able to cancel Hulu, Showtime thru Amazon, and Netflix, so I consider these all big wins!) I plan to post my own case study once I get rid of some of the really embarrassing items.
Thanks to everyone who has posted here because I've learned so much already.
Hi!Welcome from Australia, waylah! My situation is somewhat similar to yours, including the country, but I found MMM years ago. Have been lurking and recently posting.
I'm a scientist and I am so excited to find this place!
I love the idea of being proactive in planning for retirement. Both my partner and I have lots of hobbies we wish we had more time for. I love the idea of figuring out what you want THEN figuring out how much money you need for that, rather than the other way around of just earning money 9-5 because 'that's what people do', and then spending it on whatever.
I live in Australia, no kids (yet), and am new to this website and forum, and many of the concepts (and acronyms!) therein. First step I think is figuring out EXACTLY what our spending is, where it is going. Then I'm going to fill in a 'case study' and soak in all your excellent advice! :D
and keep reading!
Hello everyone,Welcome, Regina! It's never too late if you are still alive and posting :)
My name is Regina, I live in Kansas with my husband Robin. He's a lawyer, I'm an artist. We're sharing the same dream to travel around the world. So I suppose - it's never too late to think about our savings? Luckily, I found this community.
I don’t own a lot of expensive stuff (i.e. luxury cars, high end furniture, jewelry etc.), rather I just own a lot of stuff.applies. All mostly sensible people, just a slight hamster-like tendency of hoarding :) MMM recommends "storage in the cloud" for stuff, i.e. sell unused items on Craigslist or the local equivalent and buy from same if need the items in the future.
Hi! I stumbled upon this community a few weeks ago and it seems to fit fairly well with my values. I'm mid-thirties and am within months of paying off my student debt. I started paying attention to my finances just three years ago; and even though I feel a little late to the game, I'm really proud of the progress I've made.
Never in my life did I think I would be so excited to start saving money.
Hi! I stumbled upon this community a few weeks ago and it seems to fit fairly well with my values. I'm mid-thirties and am within months of paying off my student debt. I started paying attention to my finances just three years ago; and even though I feel a little late to the game, I'm really proud of the progress I've made.
Never in my life did I think I would be so excited to start saving money.
Welcome!! I didn't start paying attention to $$ things until my early FIFTIES, so good for you for starting 20 years earlier than I did!! :)
I am really hardcore software engineer and workaholic (married;), who had to jumped out of office cubicle (head of r&d, lead, senior) straight to the self employment. Until 2016 I was fighting the world, the government, the corporation, and my boss, until realized that I need just let the world work for me via the financial assets. Learning US stock market and becoming a top rated freelancer were the first steps to make. (I was sooo excited to know that six figure salary is much easier to make for me being an independent freelancer, not part of any corporation, participating to cool IT startups from time to time.) Now my 5 year goal is becoming FIRE and aquiring rental properties outside of my country. Of coarse I am not going to stop working even after that, just decrease number oh workhours from 70hrs a week to 25hrs a week:)
I really enjoy a lot of things... beat making, playing keys, piano, arranging music, air and firearm range shooting, pc gaming.
By the way my annual cost of frugal living of my family is $25k ... life is expensive in large cities even here.
I am soo glad to find a FI community, and happy to become a part of it.
I wish everyone of you to reach your goals and live the life you dream of
I am really hardcore software engineer and workaholic (married;), who had to jumped out of office cubicle (head of r&d, lead, senior) straight to the self employment. Until 2016 I was fighting the world, the government, the corporation, and my boss, until realized that I need just let the world work for me via the financial assets. Learning US stock market and becoming a top rated freelancer were the first steps to make. (I was sooo excited to know that six figure salary is much easier to make for me being an independent freelancer, not part of any corporation, participating to cool IT startups from time to time.) Now my 5 year goal is becoming FIRE and aquiring rental properties outside of my country. Of coarse I am not going to stop working even after that, just decrease number oh workhours from 70hrs a week to 25hrs a week:)
I really enjoy a lot of things... beat making, playing keys, piano, arranging music, air and firearm range shooting, pc gaming.
By the way my annual cost of frugal living of my family is $25k ... life is expensive in large cities even here.
I am soo glad to find a FI community, and happy to become a part of it.
I wish everyone of you to reach your goals and live the life you dream of
Hey Dreaktor, I am obsessed with soft enggs. They keep making me amazed how they make everything, from nothing. Great to see you here buddy, and of course it gave me a lot pleasure hearing you are enlightening your own path, by doing work for yourself - not for an ostentatious boss. I love being self-employed.
Welcome :)
Hi, I just discovered this movement a few months ago by reading Your Money or Your Life. I have learned many great ideas from reading the blogs and forum posts.
Just in the past couple months, I have made a few changes:
-I went from buying lunch every day at work to almost never. To do so, I am cooking an extra meal on Mondays to use in my lunches
-I joined the coffee club at work. Instead of $2.26 per day at starbucks it is $20 every 2-3 months
-We shaved off 4.5 miles of driving each work day by switching buses. We don't drive to the park and ride anymore.
-I opened a 457 account and started contributing
Looking forward to finding more ways to save!
Hello!
Well, I said that I wouldn't start posting in the community pages until I finished every MMM blog post. Took me well over a year, but I did it!
I have been lurking in the forum for awhile and really appreciate all the good info and all the time people take to help others out. Great group and hope I can contribute.
I'm married, in my 40s and doing ok but still have some ways to go. Live in beautiful CO.
Glad to have finally joined!
Hello!
Well, I said that I wouldn't start posting in the community pages until I finished every MMM blog post. Took me well over a year, but I did it!
I have been lurking in the forum for awhile and really appreciate all the good info and all the time people take to help others out. Great group and hope I can contribute.
I'm married, in my 40s and doing ok but still have some ways to go. Live in beautiful CO.
Glad to have finally joined!
Welcome! Your username is excellent.
Hi everyone,
I've started this thread to get some introductions going. If you haven't posted anything on the board yet, this is a great place to say hi. If you have posted, then say hi anyway. :)
I'll go first.
Hi! I'm Mrs. Money Mustache. I'm married to this awesome guy that some of you may know and we have a great 6-year old kid. We live in Colorado and life is good... very good. :)
Who's next?
I came across MMM website about 4 years ago. At that time all I had was $2000 credit card debt. The knowledge from this website was shocking to me and I have been following since then. Today I have had more than $400K sitting in index fund/saving account and half way to pay off my $500K home.
I came across MMM website about 4 years ago. At that time all I had was $2000 credit card debt. The knowledge from this website was shocking to me and I have been following since then. Today I have had more than $400K sitting in index fund/saving account and half way to pay off my $500K home.
Welcome, that is amazing progress in 4 years. You should share a bit more of your story in Share your Badassady.
Hi, my name is Luke. I'm new, I'm from London. I will be glad to receive new experienceWelcome Luke. Another Londoner is always a nice addition to this mad house.
Very hairy indeed... though I am loosing my hair, i might have to grow a longer stash, go for a comb-over.LoL
Hello! Former lurker for several years. Mid-40’s living in the western US in an M/HCOL city. Worked in IT/software for several decades. Currently in software management for an AlmostMegaCorp.
Close to FIRE and decided to post for the first time!
Hi all!
I'm Peach. The username is short and sweet, but it is also an anagram. I stopped working at age 40, which was more than a few years ago.
I've always been frugal, and it has served me well. Husband and I spend next to nothing on stuff but will spend a little more if required on healthy food -- very little more because we buy on sale, of course.
We'll never be rich, but we have more than enough to live very good lives and to have the things that are important to us.
Nice to meet everyone!
Hi all!
I'm Peach. The username is short and sweet, but it is also an anagram. I stopped working at age 40, which was more than a few years ago.
I've always been frugal, and it has served me well. Husband and I spend next to nothing on stuff but will spend a little more if required on healthy food -- very little more because we buy on sale, of course.
We'll never be rich, but we have more than enough to live very good lives and to have the things that are important to us.
Nice to meet everyone!
Welcome to the forum. My guess on the anagram is "cheap" ,but I prefer the term you used "frugal".
Hi, I'm from France, hoping to find other people living here who are interested in FIRE. It's not the dominant mindset here for sure. I became a partner in my firm, well, today, and fortunately my (law) partner and I have the same timeline to retirement (aggressively shooting for five years), the same balance on our mortgages, and pretty much the same "number." Now we just have to come up with a strategy.Bienvenue sur le forum.
I don't know the first thing about investing in France except that "assurance vie" is not life insurance and because nobody here seems to seriously save, asking for guidance or a signpost from friends and family and even bankers has not been a fruitful approach. What I want to do is find an index fund for the Bourse, if such a thing exists. What I'm getting frustrated enough to do is just say forget it and open the standard Charles Schwab account for furr'ners that would let me invest in an American index fund.
Quick questions!
- Is there somewhere (or someone) on this forum who I can present my case to? Financial, life direction, relocation? anything!
- Are there are any "group initiatives" that put us together and accommodate our similar goals? Partnerships, collaborations, residential solutions etc?
Hello everyone!I see a birthday cake today! Happy birthday, @sathera
I am Sathera, and I am new to FIRE. I have been going along for about 2 months now. I used to work in sales and got a bit burned out. So looking for an out I started studying economics. I have always been a spender at heart so the change is proving somewhat of a challenge for me.
However, I am slowly improving and stopped a few categories already. It has not been all bad spending as checking my 10 year income stream it has not been a high income. I have averaged out 320.000 NOK (32.000 USD) per year for the last 10 years. I am 30 years old so it was a bit higher the last 2 years.
My biggest spending outside of nessesities are eating out. By a solid margin. Other than that I actually don`t spend as much as I probably should on clothing and other stuff. (Mostly clothing.) I use a buss for transportation, and do not own a car.
So my monthly budget should look something like this. (In Norwegian kroners)
Rent: 5.000,-
Phone: 450,- (There us a interest free contract on a financed phone in there at 200,-)
Gym: 279,-
Food: 3.500,-
Entertainment: 1000,-
Other: 1000,-
Total: 11.229,-
Hoever, I have been way overspending on entertainment So my real spending is closer to 16.000,- per month. The two categories that kill my budget are eating out and food. I am a foodie and tend to buy some expensive ingredients from time to time. Nothing excessive like truffles. But a fine steak and the like.
As a way to combat my foodie eating out and overspending at home, I wanna try and do a 0 food waste month. Also I want to learn to prepare some cheaper foods that are still amazing. Therefore I have taker up a lot of Italian food lately. I also want to explore Indian and Asian foods more.
I am also currently a student and my total income fluctuates a bit but is averaged out 17.000,- (NOK) I am taking out a student loan, but in Norway where I live the government refunds 40% of it after a finished education. So it is actually a pretty good deal. I will finish in little over a year with 300.000,- in debt from my education. My hope is to have saved enough to be able to kill that loan in a year after finishing.
My goals:
1: Get an emergency fund of 50.000,-
2: Reach restaurant FI. (I made this term up, but it is where my investments can cover entertainment.)
3: Reach barista FI
4: FIRE!
I am hoping to get to all of them in 10 years, I think once I get to work I can leverage a greater income to save a lot more money.
Anyways, I am looking forward to getting to know you all, and best wishes.
...Congrats firebrand!!
So, I have officially resigned ahead of schedule. My new life begins this December!
Hello from Canada
I’m in my 40s, married with 1 child and I know that I can retire
Because I did retire. On a couple of occasions, and for 2 years each time, I retired and planned never to return to the workforce. But I was one of the unfortunate few who eventually became so bored in retirement that I went back to work
During these “Retire Early” trials I started going to bed later and later, until I found myself going to sleep when the sun came up. Personal grooming eventually fell off a cliff and I went out in my PJs (the pants at least, sometimes I wore a hoodie or jacket)
I also got lazy. With no schedule, I spent my time gaming, reading, eating and getting fat (Today I still game and read but I eat healthier and am no longer fat)
Travel became boring. The problem was that I was never a history or architecture buff. In yet another foreign city I commented to my DW that you could just replace all the street signs in whatever language you wanted and tell me that I was in whatever country - it all looked and felt the same. Same old churches, temples and buildings. Same restaurant feel - rustic or modern. Same materials/layout of hotels or bed and breakfast. Same airports and planes. Same tourist traps. All same. Beach vacations were worse. All same, but faster
I took up a couple hobbies, but none required 16 hours a day, every day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, which is how much time I had
Friends suggested many things that I wouldn’t do even if somebody paid me - arts and crafts, clean the house, learn a language, learn an instrument, sit in a lecture hall, work around the home, gardening, hiking, etc. I would rather just go back to work if I had to do those things. I hate doing all those things
Another unforeseen problem was the lack of social interaction with co-workers and friends. And finding people in my 30s and 40s who weren’t busy with work, raising children or both was impossible. Nobody was able to meet with me during the free time that I had available - which was any time, all the time. They could only meet on weekends (maybe) or for lunch (infrequently)
The experience of retiring was priceless nonetheless. I now know what to expect
Financial Stuff
If there was a study to show that financial freedom is based on luck, I would be Exhibit A
My tax knowledge is low. My investing knowledge is slightly higher, but still low. I am carried 99% by my temperament and 1% by low-grade arithmetic
I typically work 20-24 hours a week at Fortune 500 MegaCorp. During a busy week I work 40. I’m efficient and work from home. I’m not an executive and don’t manage people. I would hate that. I don’t work for the pay. In fact I don’t spend any of it. It all gets banked (I’ll get to that later).
I have a NW of a little over $5m with no debt
I have US index funds, BRKb stock, US RE, my primary residence (CAN RE), and cash. Equity/RE/cash split is approximately 30%/60%/10%
I’m both a market timer and regular investor of low-fee US index funds via MegaCorp’s DCPP
I market timed a few things:
1. During the tech crash by buying BRBb pre-reverse-split from $2400 down to $1400
2. CAN RE during our real estate downturn in the 1990s
3. Low fee US index funds during the Great Recession (done in my Canadian Registered Retirement Savings Account and MegaCorp’s DCPP)
4. US rental real estate during the Great Recession. I achieved my goal of replacing my annual cashflow needs for my household with these rentals. That’s why I don’t really need to spend any of my pay from MegaCorp
I’ve tracked my annual spending for years and spend $6000/mo.
Retiring has given me a gift and that is a new found appreciation of working @MegaCorp. I’m a happier person now
I don’t plan to post much, I’m more of a lurker, but I’ll answer questions re: this topic or chat via PM
Best
Hello from Canada
I’m in my 40s, married with 1 child and I know that I can retire
Because I did retire. On a couple of occasions, and for 2 years each time, I retired and planned never to return to the workforce. But I was one of the unfortunate few who eventually became so bored in retirement that I went back to work
During these “Retire Early” trials I started going to bed later and later, until I found myself going to sleep when the sun came up. Personal grooming eventually fell off a cliff and I went out in my PJs (the pants at least, sometimes I wore a hoodie or jacket)
I also got lazy. With no schedule, I spent my time gaming, reading, eating and getting fat (Today I still game and read but I eat healthier and am no longer fat)
Travel became boring. The problem was that I was never a history or architecture buff. In yet another foreign city I commented to my DW that you could just replace all the street signs in whatever language you wanted and tell me that I was in whatever country - it all looked and felt the same. Same old churches, temples and buildings. Same restaurant feel - rustic or modern. Same materials/layout of hotels or bed and breakfast. Same airports and planes. Same tourist traps. All same. Beach vacations were worse. All same, but faster
I took up a couple hobbies, but none required 16 hours a day, every day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, which is how much time I had
Friends suggested many things that I wouldn’t do even if somebody paid me - arts and crafts, clean the house, learn a language, learn an instrument, sit in a lecture hall, work around the home, gardening, hiking, etc. I would rather just go back to work if I had to do those things. I hate doing all those things
Another unforeseen problem was the lack of social interaction with co-workers and friends. And finding people in my 30s and 40s who weren’t busy with work, raising children or both was impossible. Nobody was able to meet with me during the free time that I had available - which was any time, all the time. They could only meet on weekends (maybe) or for lunch (infrequently)
The experience of retiring was priceless nonetheless. I now know what to expect
Financial Stuff
If there was a study to show that financial freedom is based on luck, I would be Exhibit A
My tax knowledge is low. My investing knowledge is slightly higher, but still low. I am carried 99% by my temperament and 1% by low-grade arithmetic
I typically work 20-24 hours a week at Fortune 500 MegaCorp. During a busy week I work 40. I’m efficient and work from home. I’m not an executive and don’t manage people. I would hate that. I don’t work for the pay. In fact I don’t spend any of it. It all gets banked (I’ll get to that later).
I have a NW of a little over $5m with no debt
I have US index funds, BRKb stock, US RE, my primary residence (CAN RE), and cash. Equity/RE/cash split is approximately 30%/60%/10%
I’m both a market timer and regular investor of low-fee US index funds via MegaCorp’s DCPP
I market timed a few things:
1. During the tech crash by buying BRBb pre-reverse-split from $2400 down to $1400
2. CAN RE during our real estate downturn in the 1990s
3. Low fee US index funds during the Great Recession (done in my Canadian Registered Retirement Savings Account and MegaCorp’s DCPP)
4. US rental real estate during the Great Recession. I achieved my goal of replacing my annual cashflow needs for my household with these rentals. That’s why I don’t really need to spend any of my pay from MegaCorp
I’ve tracked my annual spending for years and spend $6000/mo.
Retiring has given me a gift and that is a new found appreciation of working @MegaCorp. I’m a happier person now
I don’t plan to post much, I’m more of a lurker, but I’ll answer questions re: this topic or chat via PM
Best
Hi Nancy very interesting/ encouraging story. Interesting to see that you did a fair bit of market timing, in hindsight it makes sense but it must have been pretty hard at the time? e.g buying in the recession, hopefully I'm able to do the same. Can I ask what type of work you do/ did?
Our savings rate is approx. 43%, which includes pension contributions of 1300 EUR per month. Under Dutch law, there is NO way to use this before age 67 - so I don't count it in the 'stash.
Hi all - hope you are keeping well!
We are new to the team-FIRE couple living in the PNW. We started our journey slowly, eliminating hubs' student loan debt before we got married in 2018 with aggressive payments. Ever since we've been learning a bit at a time and really got some momentum at the start of the year, setting a budget and opening a Vanguard account. He focuses on earning more (software engineer) and I focus on spending less (grocer and budgeter extraordinaire).
Washington based! Greeting everyone
Also recently de-lurked! Living in the western US, slowly working out of education debt while starting a career and enjoying the outdoors. Motivated by you all!
Since I de-lurked to comment on some garden stuff, here's an introduction
I'm early 30s and living in the southeastern US. I used to read the blog when it was more active and it took quarantine to make me remember there was an associated forum so I started reading several weeks ago.
Hello. I'm a big fan of MMM. I lived under the poverty line for the first three decades of my life so I'm naturally very good at not spending money. I read MMM to keep myself from turning into a consumer now that I have a few extra dollars.
I joined the forum because there are some home repairs I can't seem to figure out on my own and I think MMM people will give good advice.
I live in Ohio.
Hi guys , new here! My name is Rick .
Hi, I'm Sarah. I tested negative in everything except the "Being Broke" test.
Since I de-lurked to comment on some garden stuff, here's an introduction
I'm early 30s and living in the southeastern US. I used to read the blog when it was more active and it took quarantine to make me remember there was an associated forum so I started reading several weeks ago.
Hi @MudPuppy !! I was going to welcome you to the forums but it looks like you dove right in. An overdue welcome anyways. BTW I appreciated your comments about the incarcerated.
Since I de-lurked to comment on some garden stuff, here's an introduction
I'm early 30s and living in the southeastern US. I used to read the blog when it was more active and it took quarantine to make me remember there was an associated forum so I started reading several weeks ago.
Hi @MudPuppy !! I was going to welcome you to the forums but it looks like you dove right in. An overdue welcome anyways. BTW I appreciated your comments about the incarcerated.
Thank you for welcoming me so warmly!
Howdy. I'm 39, Canadian, a second-year RV Service Technician Apprentice. Single again after a long rocky relationship. Crossing my fingers that I can go back to school in the fall. Thanks to CERB and a government grant, I have the money set aside. Currently living with my mom in exchange for work on the family property, so I feel fortunate. I'm glad I found this place.
Hi everybody!
I've been meaning to join the forums for a long time, I started reading MMM before my freshman year of college, nearly six years ago now. I'm 24, living in Boise working a tech job, and engaged to an interior designer, and the only children we plan to have for the foreseeable future is our four year old dog. We don't have strict plans to FIRE yet, just working on building up enough money for a down payment.
Hey, 24 male living in Huntsville, AL. Married to wonderful 24 year old woman.
Both engineers and currently ~84k networth with no debt.
Hi Everyone
I hope everyone is healthy and happy during this shut down. And especially COVID free. Appreciate being allowed to join this website.
I'm a middle aged married female living in Northern Calif who was recently laid off. Each day is spent learning how to trade online within my IRA & Roth IRA thru Fidelity.
Earned $891 last month with investment of $9100k invested. Hoping to do this for a livin, or at least a side gig, now along with selling online. We cycle 3x a week for about an hour and a half up to the summit. Sometimes longer. Hike occasionally.
Dislaimer- Not affiliated at all with George the Pet Goose. Nothing better came to mind when registering. Below i am getting a verification again to post this, not sure why. Blessings to you all, Michelle
Hi,
We are an Indian couple. Basically from North India. We are 44 and 49 years old. I Paul am retiring early from the military this year in Jul and she has been a homemaker, looking to venture out into baking from home. We have two children. Elder daughter completes her undergrad in Data Sciences from the US, and the younger one is in grade VIII.
We have been reading the blog for a long time and relate with lot of things on it. Seems like India is moving towards what the US was in the 60s or 70s. Soon our country will be also like any other consumer-driven economy surviving on consumption. Indians too are consuming lot of natural resources and use money as a status symbol, which in fact is totally opposite to the Hindu culture where it was only important to value the means not the ends.
We have travelled to the US and do try and understand our elder daughters thoughts having read the blog. We are also going into a retirement now, which is motivated by the thinking on these blogs.
Thanks a lot, MMM
Hi all,
Hope everyone is staying safe.
I’m KZ, a long time lurker at MMM. Since I’ve been spending more and more time perusing the forums and getting more serious about FIRE as we become empty nesters, figured it’s time to formally join the club :)
Thank you to all those who share their insights on the forums, it’s immensely helpful.
KZ
Hey, 24 male living in Huntsville, AL. Married to wonderful 24 year old woman.
Both engineers and currently ~84k networth with no debt.
Hi @bloodaxe and a late welcome to the forums. No debt? I like it. Be forewarned though: there is an ongoing, never ending argument here as to whether you should have a mortgage or not. This has got to be about the only place on the internet where we actually debate that. Passionately. Get ready for weird. Feel free to dive in and ask questions. It's a pretty nice bunch.
Howdy. I'm 39, Canadian, a second-year RV Service Technician Apprentice. Single again after a long rocky relationship. Crossing my fingers that I can go back to school in the fall. Thanks to CERB and a government grant, I have the money set aside. Currently living with my mom in exchange for work on the family property, so I feel fortunate. I'm glad I found this place.
Howdy. I'm 39, Canadian, a second-year RV Service Technician Apprentice. Single again after a long rocky relationship. Crossing my fingers that I can go back to school in the fall. Thanks to CERB and a government grant, I have the money set aside. Currently living with my mom in exchange for work on the family property, so I feel fortunate. I'm glad I found this place.
Hi, I'm new too, and Canadian too! And recently finished a 'back to school' stage of my life. Now it's time for some big saving and investing for me and I signed up to seek some help after getting some particularly useful replies within the comments under MMM blog posts.
Being in my late 30s with no stable job or great savings, I am a late moustache-bloomer (hence the nickname), and (it seems to me) a bit of a case study that challenges most of the calculator-based assumptions of fixed income, fixed spending etc over 15 years that determine your years to FI. I think reality is much more nuanced and complex than those calculators make it look. But on the bright side, I have no debt and no big spendings or addictions (anymore!!!) either, and I am healthy.
all the best,
late bloomer...
Howdy. I'm 39, Canadian, a second-year RV Service Technician Apprentice. Single again after a long rocky relationship. Crossing my fingers that I can go back to school in the fall. Thanks to CERB and a government grant, I have the money set aside. Currently living with my mom in exchange for work on the family property, so I feel fortunate. I'm glad I found this place.
Hi, I'm new too, and Canadian too! And recently finished a 'back to school' stage of my life. Now it's time for some big saving and investing for me and I signed up to seek some help after getting some particularly useful replies within the comments under MMM blog posts.
Being in my late 30s with no stable job or great savings, I am a late moustache-bloomer (hence the nickname), and (it seems to me) a bit of a case study that challenges most of the calculator-based assumptions of fixed income, fixed spending etc over 15 years that determine your years to FI. I think reality is much more nuanced and complex than those calculators make it look. But on the bright side, I have no debt and no big spendings or addictions (anymore!!!) either, and I am healthy.
all the best,
late bloomer...
Welcome to the forums, @late_savings_bloomer!!
The calculators only take you so far. The basics are pretty simple. The problem is the assumptions are based on some perhaps unrealistic assumptions like the returns on stocks remaining at their historic norms. Speaking for myself, I think that savings are going to become more important than investment return for those looking to be FI.
Howdy. I'm 39, Canadian, a second-year RV Service Technician Apprentice. Single again after a long rocky relationship. Crossing my fingers that I can go back to school in the fall. Thanks to CERB and a government grant, I have the money set aside. Currently living with my mom in exchange for work on the family property, so I feel fortunate. I'm glad I found this place.
Hi, I'm new too, and Canadian too! And recently finished a 'back to school' stage of my life. Now it's time for some big saving and investing for me and I signed up to seek some help after getting some particularly useful replies within the comments under MMM blog posts.
Being in my late 30s with no stable job or great savings, I am a late moustache-bloomer (hence the nickname), and (it seems to me) a bit of a case study that challenges most of the calculator-based assumptions of fixed income, fixed spending etc over 15 years that determine your years to FI. I think reality is much more nuanced and complex than those calculators make it look. But on the bright side, I have no debt and no big spendings or addictions (anymore!!!) either, and I am healthy.
all the best,
late bloomer...
Welcome to the forums, @late_savings_bloomer!!
The calculators only take you so far. The basics are pretty simple. The problem is the assumptions are based on some perhaps unrealistic assumptions like the returns on stocks remaining at their historic norms. Speaking for myself, I think that savings are going to become more important than investment return for those looking to be FI.
Thanks BB. My issue with savings is inflation. What's the point of keeping money that only depreciates over time?! I have been a saver all my life and to look at the diminished value of my savings now is really demotivating. So I don't quite get the 'saving is the most important part of the equation'. I think what you do with the savings (i.e. investing) is equally important, and for me investing was the missing piece of the puzzle of how to sort out my financials. Still learning on how to *actually* do it and I'm pretty overwhelmed by the various indices and possibilities. Total newbie!! :)
My biggest learning so far is that it takes a lot more work to get rid of 'stuff' than it does to acquire it. That's sufficient to slam the brakes on my consumer habit.
My biggest learning so far is that it takes a lot more work to get rid of 'stuff' than it does to acquire it. That's sufficient to slam the brakes on my consumer habit.
Important lesson.
Hi, I'm Rob in the UK. I came across MMM last August and have been absorbing the principles of FIRE ever since. The blog has prompted me to stop outsourcing home repairs and I'm now on a massive DIY project to refresh our house before we relocate and downsize. (Lockdown/wfh has been a massive help). I have followed Pete's advice and invested in some decent quality cordless power tools (I'd never taken myself seriously as a DIYer previously so had always bought the cheapest tools – not any more!).welcome to the forum @RobERE! We're glad to have you! I'm not so much a DIY guy but we do have a section for that if you want to dig in. As for getting rid of stuff, I'm a big fan of the dumpster and the charity shop. Boot sales are OK so long as I don't have to do them. :-)
Otherwise, I'd like to think I'm fairly mustachian – no debt, home mortgage paid off, modest cars (Nissan LEAF) and we mostly cook at home from real ingredients. I do make an exception though buying extreme markdown foods from the supermarkets when they do their final markdown around 6.00 pm - 6.30 pm.
I'm using the summer weather to get external works done: repainting the soffits and facias, replacing guttering and downpipes and relaying a stone terrace are all lined up for the coming weeks. Then it will be on to upgrading a half-bathroom and a bathroom, designed to appeal to potential buyers (not necessarily what we would choose!). Following that, we'll paint the outside walls (rendered finish) and work through redecorating internally). I'm thinking about hiring a boom lift (cherry picker) for the outside work, which will save time and be safer than ladders.
In parallel, I'm will be listing my vinyl collection (maybe 1000 albums – I have lost count), and several hundred books for sale. I'm taking advantage of the seasonal weather and current boom in exercise to sell some old bikes on ebay and I have a long list of clutter which will be listed or gifted over the coming weeks. Plus my hi-fi system is going to go.
My biggest learning so far is that it takes a lot more work to get rid of 'stuff' than it does to acquire it. That's sufficient to slam the brakes on my consumer habit.
Any helpful hints and tips from forum members who have been there and got the t-shirt would be appreciated.
welcome to the forum @RobERE! We're glad to have you! I'm not so much a DIY guy but we do have a section for that if you want to dig in. As for getting rid of stuff, I'm a big fan of the dumpster and the charity shop. Boot sales are OK so long as I don't have to do them. :-)
Hi, I’m GrahamCracker. I joined this community so I could read my friend’s journal and perhaps start one of my own one day. At 95, I’m probably the oldest member of this community. I grew up in Alaska, when hard-core frugality was a way of life. I left Alaska for collage at UW. After graduation a friend invited me to visit her in Berkeley. I liked the milder CA climate and never left.
I’ve been widowed for about five years, after nearly sixty six years of marriage. My husband and I started with very little and gradually worked our way to financial freedom. He retired at 59, which was pretty early in those days. I got my real estate license once the kids were up and out and had fun with that for about a decade. Together, we bought six rental properties. We maintained and managed them ourselves, eventually selling them off one by one.
My friend and I enjoy being frugal pals. We speak the same language, so to speak.
I look forward to spending a little time here and getting to know you.
Hey all,
I am just starting my FI journey and currently fighting with our budget... Unfortunately I am 33 with nothing to show besides a mortgage, car load and fortunately an emmergency fund. Still trying to get my SO on board with stop bying crap. I'm so glad that I found this forum
Hi All-
Happy to be here and for the opportunity to learn from you all. I'm a single mom of three, trying to make wise financial decisions and help my kids learn to do the same. Starting this FI journey a little late in the game, at 39. Hoping to find more resources and information to help continue the progress I've been making recently.
Indeed, she does ;-)Hi, I’m GrahamCracker. I joined this community so I could read my friend’s journal and perhaps start one of my own one day. At 95, I’m probably the oldest member of this community. I grew up in Alaska, when hard-core frugality was a way of life. I left Alaska for collage at UW. After graduation a friend invited me to visit her in Berkeley. I liked the milder CA climate and never left.
I’ve been widowed for about five years, after nearly sixty six years of marriage. My husband and I started with very little and gradually worked our way to financial freedom. He retired at 59, which was pretty early in those days. I got my real estate license once the kids were up and out and had fun with that for about a decade. Together, we bought six rental properties. We maintained and managed them ourselves, eventually selling them off one by one.
My friend and I enjoy being frugal pals. We speak the same language, so to speak.
I look forward to spending a little time here and getting to know you.
That's great! You must have some fascinating stories from your childhood in Alaska in the 30s.
Indeed, she does ;-)Hi, I’m GrahamCracker. I joined this community so I could read my friend’s journal and perhaps start one of my own one day. At 95, I’m probably the oldest member of this community. I grew up in Alaska, when hard-core frugality was a way of life. I left Alaska for collage at UW. After graduation a friend invited me to visit her in Berkeley. I liked the milder CA climate and never left.
I’ve been widowed for about five years, after nearly sixty six years of marriage. My husband and I started with very little and gradually worked our way to financial freedom. He retired at 59, which was pretty early in those days. I got my real estate license once the kids were up and out and had fun with that for about a decade. Together, we bought six rental properties. We maintained and managed them ourselves, eventually selling them off one by one.
My friend and I enjoy being frugal pals. We speak the same language, so to speak.
I look forward to spending a little time here and getting to know you.
That's great! You must have some fascinating stories from your childhood in Alaska in the 30s.
Hello all from SoCal!Hi @felirod and welcome to the forums! We’re glad to have you.
I’ve come here to get back on track. My wife and I are 50 y/o educators and have an 11 year old son. I’ve learned a lot so far.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hi All,
my wife is a psychologist, and says that change introduced suddenly is unlikely to be long term. If you want change to be lasting, making one change at a time until it's habit and it requires no more willpower to do, then pick up another habit to change, and the habits become permanent.
Hello all! Janet from Florida here. Been reading MMM's blog for a couple years and I think I discovered the Forum about a year ago.Welcome, new myself, still working.
I actually started on my FI journey 25 years ago when I started reading stuff about what was then called "Voluntary Simplicity". That led me to Joe Dominguez/Vicki Robin's book "Your Money or your Life", Amy Dacyzyn's "Tightwad Gazette", "Affluenza" and that ilk. I attacked with a vengeance and actually thought I'd be retired fairly quickly. But things changed, I went back to school, bought a house, yada yada yada, and I finally got around to retiring officially 4 years ago. One of the reasons it took so long was that I found myself employed by one of the last remaining unicorns, a company with a defined benefit pension plan...so I limped along for a few extra years for that carrot.
Glad to be part of the group, although I'm guessing I'll still be more of a lurker than an active poster...but who knows?
Hi everyone! Long time listener, first time caller. (How many times is that written in this thread?)
My name is Matthew, my wife and I are in our early 30s DINKs in Washington State. Reading about the 4% rule and the direct link between savings rate and time to retirement changed my financial life. Best I can tell, we're now in the FI Class of 2025.
I'm really interested in credit card/bank account churning, among various other spare-time side hustles, real-estate (we'd like to invest in multifamilies starting next year), and optimizing our taxes (limited tricks in W2 world).
Hello all! Janet from Florida here. Been reading MMM's blog for a couple years and I think I discovered the Forum about a year ago.
I actually started on my FI journey 25 years ago when I started reading stuff about what was then called "Voluntary Simplicity". That led me to Joe Dominguez/Vicki Robin's book "Your Money or your Life", Amy Dacyzyn's "Tightwad Gazette", "Affluenza" and that ilk. I attacked with a vengeance and actually thought I'd be retired fairly quickly. But things changed, I went back to school, bought a house, yada yada yada, and I finally got around to retiring officially 4 years ago. One of the reasons it took so long was that I found myself employed by one of the last remaining unicorns, a company with a defined benefit pension plan...so I limped along for a few extra years for that carrot.
Glad to be part of the group, although I'm guessing I'll still be more of a lurker than an active poster...but who knows?
Hello,
I have reinvented myself again. I was MrsWolfeRN, then Aunt Petunia. Neither of those fit me any more. Now I am Morning Glory, ready to greet the new day. I wish for happiness and peace for all of you in 2021.
He has described the typical middle-class lifestyle as "an exploding volcano of wastefulness," particularly citing the overuse of and overspending on new cars as an example.It describes my thoughts exactly.
Hey, I'm a thirty-something European, and was compelled to join this forum when I read this on the Wikipedia page:QuoteHe has described the typical middle-class lifestyle as "an exploding volcano of wastefulness," particularly citing the overuse of and overspending on new cars as an example.It describes my thoughts exactly.
I'm already successful at minimalism, but I need to get myself together regarding investments. I could've had €180 000 in profit if I hadn't sold my TSLA shares (which were going nowhere at the time) due to being greedy for bitcoin. Then Covid-19 happened, couldn't bear the anxiety, and sold everything, with only €6000 in profit. Yeah, I'm kicking myself at the moment while experiencing massive FOMO and anxiety for basically throwing away two winning lottery tickets.
I realize it's all relative, and that health trumps every other thing in life, but still, it stings. So there's my introduction, now ya'll know how dumb I can be.
Hey, I'm a thirty-something European, and was compelled to join this forum when I read this on the Wikipedia page:QuoteHe has described the typical middle-class lifestyle as "an exploding volcano of wastefulness," particularly citing the overuse of and overspending on new cars as an example.It describes my thoughts exactly.
I'm already successful at minimalism, but I need to get myself together regarding investments. I could've had €180 000 in profit if I hadn't sold my TSLA shares (which were going nowhere at the time) due to being greedy for bitcoin. Then Covid-19 happened, couldn't bear the anxiety, and sold everything, with only €6000 in profit. Yeah, I'm kicking myself at the moment while experiencing massive FOMO and anxiety for basically throwing away two winning lottery tickets.
I realize it's all relative, and that health trumps every other thing in life, but still, it stings. So there's my introduction, now ya'll know how dumb I can be.
I've been into minimalism for a while, so now I'm just pointing my minimalist instincts towards the $$$. January 1st I calculated my net worth and started a spreadsheet to track all my spending for the year, and went back through bank statements to log all my spending of 2019 and 2020.
Hello! I'm crimp. 26M, cryptographer in the New England area. I'm in the boring middle, watching balances go up and staying the course. I think I may be less interested in continuous financial tracking than some on this forum, and am pretty happy with a boring index fund allocation and a comfortable glide path towards FI. I like to spend as many evenings and weekends as possible hanging off of rocks. I look forward to the day when I transition to part-time/fully-remote work and start to wander around finding new pebbles to wrestle.
I'm 18 and learned about FI a few months ago. My passion is writing and I'm immensely relieved that I no longer have to face any tradeoffs between commercializability and artistic integrity. But the insights and impulses I've gained through this community go far beyond that. Huge thanks to everyone who makes this possible, you are awesome and I admire you all.
I have a quick question, but I'm not sure if this is the right place to post it, so, uh:
I made an account called AntoniaCaenis with a web.de email, but couldn't receive the activation mail. I've tried "Need another activation mail?" but it's still not working.
Now I've made an account with an _ in it and a gmail address, which works, but I'd rather have the first one and having two accounts seems like a waste of server storage space and probably also messes up forum stats (the member count at least). I am so sorry for this mess! If fixing this is a hassle for anyone other than me, please leave it.
Looking forward to participating here (this isn't an omen, right?? :) ) and have a wonderful day!
Toni
Hi, thank you so much for your answer! I learned about her from the Vespasian Series by Robert Fabbri, but The Course of Honour is also on my reading list. I plan to either minor or major in history :)
The account Antonia_Caenis works, the account AntoniaCaenis doesn't. The activation mail should have gone to antoniacaenis@web.de, but didn't arrive. I activated the account I'm using right now with a gmail address. Like I said, it's no big problem, and I'm sorry for not phrasing it clearly the first time!
Hello from the PNW! Glad I found this place. What a wealth of knowledge!
Hi everyone I’m new here. Looking forward to finding out if I should pay off my mortgage and whether black boxes are actually red
Hi everyone,
I am new to this blog as of March 2021. I am 61-years-old and just lost my job. I am nervous, to say the least. To use an expression I've read here -- my hair is on fire. I will keep reading my way through the blog posts, cutting back on my expenses and assessing what to do next. I am glad I found this blog, better later than never :)
Hey I'm new to MMM but not new to the quest to retire early. I'm 45, married and have two boys in college.
We have our mortage paid off and have a little over 1 million saved in retirement accounts.
My goal is to retire before 50, which I reach in 2018.
Being debt free is wonderful. Get it done.
I'm a software engineer in the Northeastern U.S.A., and while I love math and computers, my true passion is heavy metal - hence the name.
Hi everyone! Long time lurker on this forum, I discovered MMM's blog years ago and used to be a faithful reader. While I'm not strictly a Mustachian, I'm hoping to reach RE in 8-9 years.
Hi everyone! Long time lurker on this forum, I discovered MMM's blog years ago and used to be a faithful reader. While I'm not strictly a Mustachian, I'm hoping to reach RE in 8-9 years.
Hi! Do you live in Pasadena CA? Welcome in any case!
Fun fact aboot me: Pasadena--where I live--is the only part of SoCal that I don't absolutely hate and detest! Aside from that, the only good part of SoCal is the freeway that heads north to San Francisco!!
In any case, I hope you enjoy these forums!
Hiya MMM Community! So happy to finally register and expect to soon post my case study for advice/critique. The blog and forum have been eye-opening, and for that I thank all of you.
Wife and I are in central NC, mid-late 50's (that RE thing is out the window), and while I think I've managed to save "enough," we are by no means financially astute. Looking forward to continued learning here, and perhaps some direction on how I can retire asap. :)
Hello Everyone,Very sorry for your loss! I hope you are able to remain free, but glad you know how to get back on track if you need to. As you said, you are in charge.
I'm Rhian, a frequenter of Mr. MM while dreaming the (seemingly) impossible dream of FIRE. [Brief aside, comparison IS truly the thief of joy.] I finally achieved my goal after years of angst ...completing hundreds of calculations, and reading countless books/blogs/posts. I'm still in awe of myself, I formulated a plan and then executed it!
My colleague in arms, Eric, may he rest in peace, at the beginning of 2021 urged me to utilize FMLA, as he was doing, instead of quitting/retiring. I left for the UK in May to spend five months with my 93-yr old dad. The month prior, Eric passed away from COVID.
I've already blown my financial budget - purchased a used car in the UK so I could visit people and places which were important to me. Regardless, I'm prepared to deal with the consequences - I'll cinch my financial belt and get a part-time job if needed. At least I'm Mistress of my Destiny.
Thank you for reading my post. Good luck, health and fortune to you all.
Hi everyone!
I`m Sami a 34 year old bank guy from the southwest of Germany.
I read a lot of blogs and other stuff on the subject of FI. I was fascinated from the start and started my own journey maybe 4 years ago. At the beginning not with that much effort, but my frugality muscle and mustache kept on growing.
Aside from that I didn’t found the right speaker or community where I felt home and that i fit in.
Typically german most places were full of negativity and just arguing about nonsense details. Here I felt the warming positive look on FI and the world itself.
The funny thing is, a clown car broad me to the idea of FI. When I was younger and dreamed about a nice Audi and was very frustrated about the fact how long you have to work a save for it.
Even more devasted, when I saw how much money would go to interest when bought with a credit.
So my savings journey and investing in fonds and stocks began over 9 years ago, just with an other goal that I wanted to reach.
I don’t want to put to much in my first post and looking forward to give some more details of my journey later to whom is interested.
As you may see, my english is not the best, but through this community I want to improve it more and more.
So I am happy to be here and thanks to all the storys and tips that I already got from you. =)
Hey everyone!
I'm pretty stoked to finally join the forums and talk to you all. I've been exploring the different forum sections and there seems to be such a wealth of good discussion and helpful information here.
If FIRE is a journey, I've basically just left my front door. I became debt free this summer and have been building an emergency fund as I finish up my degree. Like a lot of folks, I wish I'd found this community earlier, but I'm still really glad I'm learning this stuff in my twenties!
Anyway, I'm excited to jump into the discussions here, and if anyone's in the North Texas area I'd love to grab coffee and discuss all things mustachian.
Greetings,
I've been following and reading a lot of the threads here over the last couple of months and decided I should finally introduce myself.
I am a 31 year old teacher at a public high school in the midwest. My wife is 32 and has made the transition to a SAHM with the birth of our son.
I am extremely fortunate, blessed, lucky (however you want to say it) that I am in a state with a very well funded pension system for teachers. But, I don't want to rely entirely on that pension as we all know what has happened to these types of funds over the years.
I have spent the last 4 or 5 years trying to invest additional money. I started this by enrolling in my district's 403(b) program, then opening a taxable brokerage account, and finally a Roth IRA (I kind of took the wrong path but got to where I need to be nonetheless). At the same time, over the last 4 years I have worked to increase my earning potential by earning my Master's degree and an additional state certification.
It has been rather slow going at the start here due to starting at nothing, attacking student loan debt while investing, and paying large sums of money to colleges to increase my earning potential. However, I am so excited to finally be done with schooling and looking to accept a new career in education in the coming months which will likely bring a pay increase to the tune of 30%. I can't wait to see what happens when I can get this snowball rolling!
Greetings,
I've been following and reading a lot of the threads here over the last couple of months and decided I should finally introduce myself.
I am a 31 year old teacher at a public high school in the midwest. My wife is 32 and has made the transition to a SAHM with the birth of our son.
I am extremely fortunate, blessed, lucky (however you want to say it) that I am in a state with a very well funded pension system for teachers. But, I don't want to rely entirely on that pension as we all know what has happened to these types of funds over the years.
I have spent the last 4 or 5 years trying to invest additional money. I started this by enrolling in my district's 403(b) program, then opening a taxable brokerage account, and finally a Roth IRA (I kind of took the wrong path but got to where I need to be nonetheless). At the same time, over the last 4 years I have worked to increase my earning potential by earning my Master's degree and an additional state certification.
It has been rather slow going at the start here due to starting at nothing, attacking student loan debt while investing, and paying large sums of money to colleges to increase my earning potential. However, I am so excited to finally be done with schooling and looking to accept a new career in education in the coming months which will likely bring a pay increase to the tune of 30%. I can't wait to see what happens when I can get this snowball rolling!
Congrats on getting to this point. Sounds like you've made some really good decisions. Welcome to the team.
Hi everyone!
I'm a software engineer in SV worked at Twitter/self-driving cars, founded a couple of startups, etc. I always knew about MM, but only recently got to actually signing up on the forum. I've always enjoyed SMF forum by the way since the very beginning, it has been my go to forum software every time I created a site around a topic with a forum on it. Sad the internet is moving to likes of Reddit and centralized forums.
Great to be here and would love to learn more about others who also recently joined. Let's keep pinching every penny!
Hello everyone,Welcome. Check out the case studies topic for budgeting advice.
I've been reading MMM since about 2013 but just getting involved in the forums now. My partner and I work in higher education. We are spending 2022 getting our budget in order so we can have a solid escape plan. We had a bad 2021 with regards to budgets. Anyway, we're hoping to learn more about budgets (is there a place where people post their budgets?) as well as technical financial stuff about taxes and withdrawals etc. It's very nice to be here.
Hi everyone, I'm relatively new to the MMM community (just found out about it from a book). Im 22, about to graduate from UCI with a Bachelors in Psychology, and aiming to be certified as an associate Professional in Human Resources (aPHR Certification). Hoping to land my first career job around July-ish with at least a 40k starting salary, and investing 90% of my income (I don't have many bills to pay since I'm still living with parents). I aim to be financially independent as soon as possible, and spend the rest of my life with the woman I love not having to worry about working the rest of my life slugging away for the man. I'd love some advice as someone who's so young and quite honestly naive to the field of FIRE.
Edit: My ideal FIRE situation would be living off of dividends equal to about 3k-4k a month within 10 years. (Please knock me down a peg if you think this is unreasonable!)
Hello. Been signed up for over 2 years but can't post because I don't know what the the sixth word in the first blog post entitled "Meet Mr. Money Mustache." It could be any number of words:
retired, money, do, we, we're...none work. It has to be broken or a trick question
Can someone tell me what this sixth word is and how you found it?
You, you there. You just signed up. Your post is going to be below mine. What's the sixth word? Thanks!
I am 42 male, married, kid on the way. Looking to FIRE between 49-50.
I have been reading for years, figured it was time to tap a post out now and then. I believe in super simple investing and fairly simple living.
Hell folks!!!!
Starting my FIRE journey now, though I have been investing for a little while I have been investing in stocks. I currently have over 500K in stocks, over 700K in 401k, and a pension lined up.
Just getting my wife onboard, though it has been a struggle getting her here.
I am looking at retiring in about 5-6 years hen I am 55/56. My wife is looking for another 10 years.
We currently live in the Washington DC metro area, but looking to leave soon.
I am looking to convert a van into a camper to start traveling in a few years to find a new homebase and see the world.
I have a crazy idea to help get me there. but we will see
Howdy, call me Mr. Mustache. I hail from North Carolina.
Hi! I am in the midwest and I am not great at doing FIRE yet but it's a work in progress. I think I will finally be able to hit a 50% savings rate this year for the first time ever (and I'm on track to max out my 401k for the first time EVER this year or next) so I am pretty happy about that! I am 32 and I could use some advice on where/how to invest in an index fund. I have a nonqualified account with my financial advisor but it's really annoying to have to go through someone else to change the amount I'm investing. If I already have a Fidelity account can I do it through there?
Anyways nice to meet all however many bajillion of you are on this thread :-)
Mary
Hey new here.
Not new to trading or investing, made a lot of mistakes, mostly by not being patient and listening to dumbasses.
Although, pretty happy and satisfied with where we are financially as a family. I am 37M from Melbourne, Aus.
Zero debts, just the mortgage on the family home which according to the market is worth a few hundred K more than what we owe on it still and we are happy and healthy and so are the kids.
Starting this mustache journey and aim to retire by the time I am 42 which is in 5 years and a HUGE goal but if it's 45 I wont be mad :).
Hello again,
I joined this site about 3 years ago. Not long afterward, I began attending school online while working full-time. I worked hard to complete a 4-year course in 2 years. This was great, but I had no life outside of work and school for awhile. After graduating, I began a new job with a huge learning curve.
I'm now working on developing a better work-life balance. I'm going to get reacquainted with things that are important to me. One of these things is a strong interest in FIRE. At this point, it will likely be LeanFIRE.
I look forward to learning from everyone!
Good Morning all. Looks like I joined this forum way back when, and then promptly buried my head in the sand regarding all things finances. I've got 10 years to sort it out and achieve the end game of retiring at 55.
Is there a forum dedicated to debt repayment here? That's the current albatross keeping me up at night. If anyone can point me in the right direction!
Hi,
I JUST RETIRED 5 DAYS AGO!!! January 12 2023! (I am 60 and worked over 41 years straight).
I am new to MMM.
I recently saw your PodCast It was from 2015, Definitely worth listening to. It made me feel much more comfortable in my decision.
It was the "Art of Manliness: 133 Financial Independence".
Anyway, that is also what brought my attention to your blog which my wife and I have been reading.
Thanks,
Cozzmo
wanted to say hi
hi,
just wanted to come and say hi
Hello shortduck, welcome to the MMM forum, but please don't be one of those people that post random nonsense to get yourself over the 100 post threshold. It exists to try and ensure people are here for the MMM aspect of things and not primarily for the 'off topic' related discussion.There is option to create a new post in off topic, is there someting that I am missing?
You're too new a member to post there. After 100 postings, it'll appear as an option.
Hi all, fellow member from Italy here. I've decided to join you for two reason:
1) I'm 32 now and after some years of splurging money on unnecessary things i have realized what really matters in life, i'm shure that reading your messages will keep me on track.
2) I took the IELTS test two months ago and i'm trying to take advantages of any opportunity to speak and read in english, (sorry if i make any mistake).
Hiya folks,
Longtime FIRE devotee, first-time poster. I've been interested in the movement since the pandemic, which effectively forced my family and I to reconsider a lot of things in our lives. I'm looking forward to continuing the journey with some like-minded new friends!
"Never stop learning."
Hi there, new member from Chicago! I've heard about FIRE for a long time, but haven't taken it too seriously until the last few months. I'm 34 and saving around 85% of my monthly income.
Glad to be here! I didn't even know that forums still exist; it reminds me of good old times. I am 57, and for reasons too long to explain in this post, I worked all my life and only started saving and investing about a year ago. I want to stop working at least 67, so I only have ten years to stash as much as possible. I am saving in a 401k with a good employer match and investing another 25% of my income in index funds. I am trying to reduce my spending as much as possible without sacrificing life enjoyment with my wife. I don't know what will happen in the following years, but I am glad I found this community.
Welcome, just starting on my fire journey after a lot of research......Male aged 45 from the UK and hoping to retire in 5 years in 2028.Hi everyone! Same age and in the east coast US.
Had a property portfolio that is being cashed in due to the high interest rates and downsizing my house.
Let's see how well this post ages!
Hi Everyone,
I've been a lurker on these forums for a few years and a reader of the blog even before that. Have been meaning to get active in this forum for a while now but just now got the time.
I'm single, in my early to mid 20's, live in the east coast and work in Tech. I graduated college with a bachelors degree in Computer Science in 3 semesters at a state school by testing out of all of the Gen Ed courses with CLEP/AP tests and taking some community college courses in High School. By doing this I was able to buy a home at a 2.8% interest rate at age 19 before interest rates skyrocketed significantly easing my path to Early retirement and locking in a hard to find $1200 mortgage. I hope to retire by age 30. Hobbies include playing video games, Cooking and travel. I also churn credit cards for travel points. In addition to traditional investing methods I have gotten into the niche investment method of renting out homes by the bedroom to college students. I'm happy to provide more insights on efficiently getting around the 4 year college pitfall that nowadays is both often needed depending on ones chosen career path and a money / time pitfall.
Cheers!
+1. Welcome, and please keep writing.Hi Everyone,
I've been a lurker on these forums for a few years and a reader of the blog even before that. Have been meaning to get active in this forum for a while now but just now got the time.
I'm single, in my early to mid 20's, live in the east coast and work in Tech. I graduated college with a bachelors degree in Computer Science in 3 semesters at a state school by testing out of all of the Gen Ed courses with CLEP/AP tests and taking some community college courses in High School. By doing this I was able to buy a home at a 2.8% interest rate at age 19 before interest rates skyrocketed significantly easing my path to Early retirement and locking in a hard to find $1200 mortgage. I hope to retire by age 30. Hobbies include playing video games, Cooking and travel. I also churn credit cards for travel points. In addition to traditional investing methods I have gotten into the niche investment method of renting out homes by the bedroom to college students. I'm happy to provide more insights on efficiently getting around the 4 year college pitfall that nowadays is both often needed depending on ones chosen career path and a money / time pitfall.
Cheers!
Wow, that's quite impressive!
+1. Welcome, and please keep writing.Hi Everyone,
I've been a lurker on these forums for a few years and a reader of the blog even before that. Have been meaning to get active in this forum for a while now but just now got the time.
I'm single, in my early to mid 20's, live in the east coast and work in Tech. I graduated college with a bachelors degree in Computer Science in 3 semesters at a state school by testing out of all of the Gen Ed courses with CLEP/AP tests and taking some community college courses in High School. By doing this I was able to buy a home at a 2.8% interest rate at age 19 before interest rates skyrocketed significantly easing my path to Early retirement and locking in a hard to find $1200 mortgage. I hope to retire by age 30. Hobbies include playing video games, Cooking and travel. I also churn credit cards for travel points. In addition to traditional investing methods I have gotten into the niche investment method of renting out homes by the bedroom to college students. I'm happy to provide more insights on efficiently getting around the 4 year college pitfall that nowadays is both often needed depending on ones chosen career path and a money / time pitfall.
Cheers!
Wow, that's quite impressive!
Welcome! It would be interested to hear your experience with immigrating to Finland in either the Off Topic or the Journal community.
Hello everyone. I think I may have just FIREd! Today was my first day of not going to work when everyone else did. I think it’s going OK so far.
I’ve been reading MMM for a few years, starting at about the time of a wobbly period for the tech company I worked for. I decided to get a bit more serious about financial resilience, and have MMM to thank for helping me realise that with a bit of extra effort I could target an early retirement. I had been thinking maybe in the next couple of years, definitely before age 55. Then, at the end of last year, aged 50, I was made redundant. Not quite at my ‘number’ but with the redundancy package, close enough. It’s all quite exciting.
Moof here. Been lurking a bit. Thought I was doing pretty good, and I am by comparison to the average american, but feel I have been remiss now that I have seen how far a little more discipline goes.Had to check in with my 7 years ago self. 0.5M of savings has grown to 1.85M, aiming to pull the plug by the end of the year. My target has moved a bit, $1.3M in 2017 dollars would be $1.63M, so we are targeting about 20% more than my past self was thinking. My wife wants to keep working a few more years, so we will likely blow past are target by time she pulls the plug. She expects to break 6-figures this year, not sure if her thinking will change, but we are in good shape either way. I took a 14 month sabbatical, but have been working part time for the last 7 months, and very much not enjoying it. Net worth is up at $2.3M with house equity and a college savings account for the kiddo. My main headwinds are the impending need to replace a car, and some deferred house maintenance that will put a big dent in the slush fund outside of the IRA’s. Past self should have understood Roth’s and the value of after-tax flexibility better.
Currently 39, wife, kid. 3 cars, but just $2k total car debt. No credit card balances in years. I was targeting mid 50's to retire, which seemed great till I realized I could possibly pull that in before I hit 50. Currently sitting on $0.5 M in retirement accounts. My own number is about $1.3M to feel comfortable cutting myself loose.
Currently I am saving a little more than 25% of my gross each year. I am struggling to benchmark that properly given taxes and such. Even doing my homework I struggle with properly weighting those effects between 401k's, Roth's, etc.
I grew up frugal (single parent, welfare, etc), but let things slide as I saw big paychecks come in. I never questioned the save 10% mantra, wishing now I had kept it at 20% all along. Luckily I have never racked up any real debt. I used to freak out my girlfriend (now wife) by always carrying a few hundred in cash. She never had that much spare, but it helped me stay disciplined. I have let a lot of little things slide under the mantra of a happy wife is still cheaper than a divorce. I need to work on getting us both on the same page better for not wasting so much money (or not being so damn cheap as she would counter). Good times.