Author Topic: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself  (Read 3317801 times)

mosprott

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3350 on: July 20, 2017, 11:20:27 AM »
Hi!

I've been lurking for a few years now. My husband just retired @ 60, and I'm working up the nerve to give notice any day now. Hoping to move to less-sweaty climes SOON! (Northern AZ, from DC Metro area)

mollyburnett

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3351 on: July 20, 2017, 04:15:05 PM »
Hi all!

My name is Molly and I am 19 years old from Columbus, Ohio. I'm on this forum because my crazy uncle from Boulder, Colorado wanted to give my cousin and I a lesson in ways to be financially savvy in our near futures. So here I am! Through this forum, as well as from a couple other readings, I've learned about the dangers of living a material lifestyle and the outcomes reckless spending could have on my work life. Reckless and unwarranted spending may yield momentary happiness and satisfaction but, it ultimately will result in you spending more hours working than out spending valuable, priceless time with your family and friends. I've also learned that investing early is extremely important. Part of the challenge that my uncle gave my cousin and I was that he and his wife are going to be giving us money to invest in a Roth IRA. While it may seem annoying and unnecessary to do at such a young age, it will pay off in the end. The earlier you invest, the more money you save, the earlier you retire, and the more time you spend doing what you love instead of stressing over money.

In regards to what I wish to learn more about, I'm interested in the long term pros and cons of investing in stocks and bonds. Is it worth the risk?

CSuzette

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3352 on: July 21, 2017, 05:08:17 PM »
Hi:

I am CSuzette and currently live in Boston.  I am a long-time lurker and cannot tell you why it has taken so long to figure out how to register :)  Every once in a while I would see something I wanted to respond to and couldn't.

I think I have always been naturally frugal...to the extent of spray starching and ironing my money when I was just a kid :)

The advice here is fantastic and I have some big financial decisions I need to make in the near future and look forward to receiving some valuable direction.

Thank you in advance.

CSuzette


Imma

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3353 on: July 23, 2017, 10:52:08 AM »
Hi! :) I'm Imma, 27, from the Netherlands.

I was raised in a frugal and financially savvy way, with a mother working in the investment business, so frugality and FI have always been natural to me. Sadly, I also saw first hand in my family what can go wrong if you let go and succumb to the 'entitlement' consumer logic. I knew I wanted to FIRE before I graduated from high school and have always made my life choices accordingly. I have very little student debt and saved to buy my first home at 24, together with my partner who was not raised like me but picked it all up with an impressive speed. He's currently more frugal than I am. Sadly I have a low income due to health issues, but as we don't need much it's not a huge problem, and because I don't work fulltime I don't need retirement as badly as someone who's working 60 hours/week. I am a longtime blog reader and lurker but decided to finally register because I needed advice about the quickest way to FIRE for me. 

L2

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3354 on: July 23, 2017, 08:31:49 PM »
Howdy all. I believe I found out about MMM via reddit about a year ago and have been reading the forum for a few months now, so I decided to join to interact with this awesome community and help hold myself accountable in reaching my goals. I really can't get enough of the FIRE concept...

A little bit about me: I am a 26 year old male who lives in Cleveland, OH and I'm a CPA.

Vienna4ever

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3355 on: July 25, 2017, 04:55:50 PM »
Hello fellow like-minded friends that are looking to achieve FIRE!

 My name is Gastón and I am 41 years old, married for 20 years with two little kids. I am an American citizen, but altogether my life is spread across several continents: North America (Florida), South America (Argentina), and Europe (Germany+Russia). I work in Germany at the moment, and I trying to figure out my retirement strategies and options in this international milieu I am currently in.

I'm look for advice/experiences on expat retirement strategies.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2017, 04:59:03 PM by Vienna4ever »

EarthSurfer

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3356 on: July 26, 2017, 08:13:04 AM »
Hi All!

It's time for me to transition from lurker to contributor.

I became a FIREbug back in the early early 90s with YMOYL, and paid off my first home in 50 months in the hometown of Mustachianism. That accomplishment awakened me to the power of intensely directed saving and investing.

Like MMM, I realized I made a ridiculously high income as a techie, and I didn't need much in the way of material goods to be happy in life. I'm at my happiest with a backpack and a long trail ahead of me. (Over 14,000 miles under my hipbelt.)

Since paying off my first house, I have been stashing at least 50% of my after-tax income, and choosing to take long periods off paid employment for travel and adventure. I have worked less than 50% of the time since 1998 as either an employee or consultant / contractor. Additionally, a good portion my stash has come from real estate "slow live-in fix & flips," utilizing the $250,000 capital gains exclusion to shield the profit from taxes.

While I have been truly FI since the early-2000s, I have subjected myself to full time employment at times to maintain access to health insurance, which is a must given my Rx bills costs were over $1,000/m (legacy from cancer in my 20s). While I hated paying $400-600/m for insurance on COBRA, it was the price for freedom. Now I am on an ACA HSA plan (~$450/m), all my meds are generic, and the monthly Rx cost is about $130/m.  I had never considered “full retirement” before Medicare eligibility an option due to the pre-existing conditions issue, but the ACA has allowed me to be self-(un)employed for longer than in the past.

Every time I plan to "fully" retire from tech, an interesting opportunity crosses my path. For the past 2 years, I have been maintaining trailing edge tech for former clients and employers, netting me about $85/hr for 600 hours work a year. At present, I enjoy the work, and I like the high return on my time with no capital investment risk when compared to real estate.

My strategy has always been "Adapt and Thrive!" For me the core to the FIRE / YMOYL / MMM lifestyle has been to find niches that I enjoy and exploit the opportunities. My exact path is not your template for success, but the basic philosophy will carry you far.

Particulars: single gay white male, early 50s, 2016 personal expenses: $22,800; paid off condo in Denver; stash ~$1.2m.

Cheers,
EarthSurfer

M0ntana

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3357 on: July 26, 2017, 03:09:50 PM »
Hey guys! I'm M0ntana, a 27 year-old lawyer from Montreal, Canada. I was always financially literate but realize after a year post-call that financial independence truly is the most freedom you'll get in this (capitalist) world. I am not looking for ER as I love lawyering, but do wish to get FI so that I can start my own practice and delocate from the big city in a few years.

I currently own an income property that's paying more than half my mortgage, try to save/invest about 50% of my net income every month, and do not own a car (though my partner does). I very recently started a side-gig as a wine writer/blogger and hope this will allow me to develop another revenue stream... Overall I just hope to accumulate enough FU money to be able to live on my own terms, not having to answer to anybody. To dream is the first step, they say, right?

Looking forward to poking your brains, guys. See you 'round!

hayesb26

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3358 on: July 28, 2017, 11:23:04 AM »
Longtime lurker, first time poster.  I'm Brett, a 28 year old CPA living in New York.  Always have been financially literate (hence the CPA) but have been far too lenient with the spending aspects after tracking my purchases for a year.  Was focused on paying off student loans through my early-mid 20s, and now have a positive net worth around 50k (cash/401k/roth IRA).  Looking to cut down unnecessary expenses and start saving approximately 50% of after tax income going forward.

Looking forward to chatting with everyone and continuing to learn!

Oemssi

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3359 on: July 31, 2017, 12:03:22 PM »
Hello, just discovered this forum and decided to join. I'm a 30-year-old civil engineer from Tampere, Finland and aiming to retire early. I've always been quite frugal but found room for improvement after discovering the MMM blog.

I have an almost 6-figure portfolio of stocks and one rental property. I recently moved to the city center and got rid of my car, savings rate is in the 60-70% range.

There are some geographical differences that make the journey a bit more challenging here. Compared to the US and most of the western world, here in Finland salaries are lower, taxes are higher and consumables cost more.

Financial upsides here are universal healthcare and low interest rates, so gotta take advantage of those! And the fact that education is free, so I have a Master's degree and never had any student loan.

See ya around!
« Last Edit: July 31, 2017, 12:11:57 PM by Oemssi »

noplaceliketheroad

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3360 on: August 01, 2017, 12:01:11 PM »
Hello mustachians!

I just discovered the mustache life a couple months ago...and DH and I are trying our best to live it while on a unique career path. We're both filmmakers from Los Angeles, but we recently relocated to the east coast for 6 months as DH has a gig out here. I don't know where we'll be next year. Would love to hear any recommendations from people who travel often and last minute for work!

Thanks all!


Snow

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3361 on: August 02, 2017, 05:01:50 AM »
Hi all!

I just rediscovered the MMM blog a few weeks ago, and feel like an idiot for not absorbing all the wisdom earlier. I live in Norway (hence the snow reference) with my Mr. Snow in a roomy but sensible flat. I just started my 4 year phd (something you get paid for over here), which is absolutely terrifying.

When I graduated with a MSc in 2014 Norway just nose-dived into an oil crisis, meaning many people with similar skill sets to my own got unemployed and on the market, leaving a recent grad like me pretty helpless. I scraped by as best I could and slowly but surely managed to get my head above water (which is why 4 years of stability is an absolute luxury). Vowing never to return to such a state of utter helplessness, I plan to save at least 50-60% of what I earn and also try to start up a small side venture in order to put my eggs in several baskets, so to speak.

tommo

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3362 on: August 02, 2017, 11:32:56 AM »
Hi,

I'm Ray, completely daunted by all this information. Want to retire young/ish like most here, where to start though?


alexpkeaton

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3363 on: August 03, 2017, 01:31:15 PM »
This is my second post, actually, but it seems I should say "hi" here first. I've been lurking on and off ever since MMM's profile in the New Yorker. I've kind of been looking for a new forum/community, as my current "home" forum is slowly dying (prospers.org, if you're curious, membership is restricted so the death is inevitable).

I'm not fully on board with extreme frugality, but I appreciate that this crowd isn't religious about it. Spend money on things that are worth it to you and spare it on things that are not. I want to FIRE, but I also want to live in relative comfort now and in retirement. I also live in Manhattan which isn't exactly cheap, but it's a life choice I'm happy with. Doesn't hurt that my earning potential here is ~3x what it would be in most of the country.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2017, 01:40:24 PM by alexpkeaton »

one piece at a time

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3364 on: August 03, 2017, 03:55:20 PM »
Hi Folks,

It seems I was living the MMM lite lifestyle before I found this site but it is certainly validating to see others discuss frugality. Unfortunately I can't share fully in the "muscle over motor" philosophy due to some limits, but the rest of the ideas are scarily shared. I'm still working having recently moved to a lower COL area. Two kids at school, stay at home wife, about 3 years from full FI (excluding mandatory retirement savings) and about 2 years from 40. As an engineer in a low stress role I thing I'll stick with working until the kids leave school. Hobbies include bass, rhythm guitar, gardening and motorcycles. Once I RE I'll be looking to gig more, but sticking to local shows for the moment.

User name is because I got my FI one piece at a time, and it didn't cost me a dime (of delayed gratification).

SOS

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3365 on: August 04, 2017, 06:10:29 PM »
Hello Everyone,

I'm Andy from Savannah, GA. and I drive a Ford F-150.

This site is great and I'm glad I found it. Trying to change my ways and get my girlfriend on board.

Andy


Old Hippie

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3366 on: August 07, 2017, 05:28:58 PM »
Hi everyone,

I am 66, FIRE'd at age 52, and just discovered the forum. I live in a suburb of Austin, Tx. and look forward to sharing ideas. I have always been liberal and seem to be more so as I grow older.

liveitupoutdoors

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3367 on: August 09, 2017, 07:37:24 PM »
Greetings, MMM Community! 

I retired a couple years ago (earlier than most people I know, but later than most of you!) because life is short and travelling/mountain biking/rock climbing/hiking was calling me louder and louder with every passing year.  I rediscovered MMM via a friend and thank you all for sharing your insights and experiences for the benefit of all, including me; hopefully I can reciprocate here and there!  It's really nice to know that there's a whole community of like-minded co-conspirators who follow logical and frugal paths to achieve long term goals and overall happiness.  I was fortunate to have been brought up by frugal parents and the lifestyle stuck.  Now that I'm retired with more freedoms than ever, I'm looking forward to continuing to live life to its fullest:  the potential is virtually boundless!

Kai

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3368 on: August 11, 2017, 08:39:53 AM »
Hi there,

I'm new to forums so I certainly may botch some things here while I figure it out.  :)

Grew up in NE Florida.  Love to bodyboard.  Graduated with a finance degree from UF.  Moved to Kansas City to work in healthcare IT.  First gig was tech writing.  Got married.  Quarter life crisis after 2-3 years in the cubicle.  Could not imagine doing what I was doing for another 30-40 years.  Realizing there wasn't enough time to pursue the things I valued most in life while working 40, 50, 60 hours weeks.  In-laws were in real estate and I figured that was the way.  Quit renting and bought a place that we thought would be highly rentable when we moved out.  Switched to project management to increase income.  Bought another place to rent out a year later.  Already had all our investments in Vanguard index funds.  Friend mentioned MMM.  Binge read the whole thing.  Wife and I started making radical lifestyle changes.  Decreased our spending from 65K to 25K in 2.5 years.  Didn't invest in real estate anymore, socked it all into our Vanguard funds.  Became FI March 2016 just before our 28th birthday.  I left healthcare IT and took a job at a custom furniture shop.  Finally decided to move to the Denver area to be near our best friends.  Here we are.

Really grateful for MMM for reorienting things for us.  Definitely changed our lives.  Look forward to learning here, getting to know some like minded people, and helping anyone the way I've been helped.

junioroldtimer

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3369 on: August 11, 2017, 10:15:42 AM »
Hey guys,

I've just started getting into the FIRE concept and am excited to learn as much as I can. I'm 32 and looking to put a plan together. Really excited in getting to know y'all.

Tom

NevermindScrooge

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3370 on: August 13, 2017, 01:14:37 PM »
Hi everyone!

I'm a thirty-something lab technician from the Netherlands and really bummed out the differences in tax systems between the US and NL. But, as MMM taught us, I try to be ridiculously optimistic; so I'll be happy about the wonderful bike lanes that are being maintained from our tax money.

Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out a way to work The System to my advantage (not much luck yet, it seems I need to get a Master's in Economy, Business, Accounting and Law to make sense of it all) and I try to save about 40% of my income to be Free in about 12 years. That's the optimistic plan. If we do something stupid in the next few years like getting married and throwing a big party at an expensive venue it'll take a few years longer.

Good luck to you all!

avocado lime

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3371 on: August 15, 2017, 08:12:38 PM »
Hello!

I've been reading the blog and checking out the forum since my early 20s and I'm now in my late 20s. Finally ready to start taking my finances more seriously especially since I've had my first "I hate my job" experience. Looking to be FI within the next decade which will be difficult with my low paying day job but I'm obsessed with real estate and am under contract to purchase my first rental property!

Thanks!

lazylonewolf

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3372 on: August 16, 2017, 06:25:07 AM »
Hiya, Lazylonewolf here!

Single, 25, and living in the Philippines. Have a small amount of savings (20%/80% bonds and stock index funds in COL Financial), but no debt thankfully, although still living with parents. I have a lil webcomic site that earns me a bit, but planning to raise it further, if possible. I thought I was frugal (and saved at least 10% while I was working), but I'm glad I stumbled upon this website this early in life! Totally changed my life, and now a practicing Stoic (and Mustachian) to boot!

A. Wilk

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3373 on: August 17, 2017, 07:18:05 AM »
Low income earner here!

Just found out about MMM April 2017.
I'm 29, housewife, with a 16 month old baby girl.

Husband is also 29, a first class active duty military with 9 years left, non-mustachian, but is on board with FI.


simone

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3374 on: August 17, 2017, 01:40:43 PM »
Hi,
Simone here:
  • 40 year old, male, single, living in Switzerland, near Geneve. I'm in IT
  • broke-up with my GF mainly for reasons related to how to spend money (she was in to buying expensive clothes and dining out - I couldn't care less about those)
  • I stumbled upon MMM 6 months ago, while doing a web search on Vanguard, liked the idea about frugality.
  • I make 100K net (after all taxes and health insurance), have 300K in the bank and own my house. no debts.
  • Right now I'm aiming at hitting 60% monthly saving and investing
  • I like to cook, brew hard cider, kombucha,curing meats, and fixing stuff
  • Last year I started flipping houses (countryside) with a 30% margin each

My plan is to move back to my country (Italy) and do a side gig around my kitchen related hobby, while being part time involved in flipping houses.

Comments?
« Last Edit: August 17, 2017, 02:13:12 PM by simone »

Jeferson

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3375 on: August 18, 2017, 04:18:46 PM »
Hi,

I am Michael, but my friends call me Jeferson (my old nickname), I come from Czech republic which is a small country in the hear of Europe. I am interested in forex trading to which I have dedicated over 2 years so far

IsaacEmbley

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3376 on: August 22, 2017, 04:57:04 AM »
Hi Everyone, I 'm IsaacEmbley.

fdsafasdfsadf

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3377 on: August 22, 2017, 10:04:48 AM »
Poz here from the great white north (Ontario, Canada).  At the age of 36 I finally eliminated all debt and reached $0, starting the climb towards FI

BigMoneyJim

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3378 on: August 22, 2017, 10:30:16 PM »
Hi, I'm Jim. I'm 47, no debt except the mortgage, maxed my 401(k) most of the time since age 21, and I'm getting laid off with a severance at the end of the month.

In 1997 or 1998 (age 27 or 28) I noticed that I kept getting raises but had less money to spend, and I knew something was wrong. I read a couple of personal finance books and started improving my finances a little.

In 2000 I quit my job for a startup company with stock options and quit that, disillusioned, a weeks before it folded. I took some time off because I had some cash, even though I had a lot of consumer debt. I foolishly didn't cut my spending. Then the IT industry crashed, and I couldn't find IT work.

Somewhere in there I did some more financial reading and learned of the concept of early retirement. Where do I sign up? So then I got serious about saving and managing money.

In 2001 I worked a non-IT job to tread water for 5 months, then got a shaky but interesting IT gig, then moved to another state to rehire with the company I had quit in 2000.

At my worst point I had $20k in high-APR credit card debt and $10k left on a truck loan. I was able to sell the truck for the amount of the loan and bought a cheaper car from a relative who let me pay it out. I was also able to consolidate the credit card debt with a relative's lower-APR offer. I paid everything off by June 2004 and was debt-free for the first time in my adult life.

I have continued to contribute to a 401(k) at varying levels, and that plus compound interest has me passing milestone after savings milestone.

In 2005 I volunteer-migrated Early Retirement Forum from YaBB to the better-performing SMF (the 1.0 version of this forum's software), helped them move servers, and when it sold in 2007 I helped again with the move to the new owner's servers. So maybe some of y'all know me from there.

In 2006 I quit again to move back near family since I had no kids but was rapidly acquiring niece and nephews. I dawdled a few too many months and made a little debt but paid it off quickly after getting a job again.

Things kept getting better financially, and retiring by 55 (2025) seemed not too unlikely, and if the market did really well maybe a little earlier.

But now I'm getting laid off, and I'm reassessing the situation. I could probably quit saving, work to cover expenses and still retire by 55. So instead of pounding the pavement for another job, I'm going to go on a long road trip to detox, and I'm going to see if I can find ways to make at least enough money to cover expenses while being able to work from home or the road on my own schedule.

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.

NinetyFour

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3379 on: August 23, 2017, 06:59:47 AM »
Interesting story!  I hope you start a journal here so that we can follow along as you detox and construct some side gigs to keep some income coming in...

LaMoustacheFrancaise

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3380 on: August 24, 2017, 01:43:47 AM »
An introduction to a French Mustachian
Good morning my fellow Mustachians,
Introducing myself : My name is Greg and I live in the upper north of France. Let my briefly talk about myself. I will skip what my life was before I discovered the website 2 years ago. It was that time in my life when I wanted to be more responsible, get my life together and to start making a positive impact on others and myself. So I slowly start applying some recommendations and advices I found online : Exercising, meditating, cutting some of my useless habit of consuming and mastering English.
I think I have been quite successful in doing so. I have now grown up, graduated from high school and I am entering my adult life ( by the way I am 20 now ) .
Why I join the forum :
I decided to become a member of the forum to be more involved in the community and also helping others like people here did by giving me good life advices.
Having now a job, I will also pay taxes starting this year and saving money in a bank account. My huge problem is that our social system is far different from the US one. I am lucky to enjoy free healthcare,free education and I have almost free access to public transport but I know nothing about investing and enjoying early retirement at an early age in France.
My objectives :
1 _ Getting to know the community and learning more
2 _ Being involved in projects, topics
3_ Connecting to other French members and learning from them about the French economic system.
Future projects :
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 !



simone

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3381 on: August 24, 2017, 05:41:14 AM »
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 !

welcome! (from an as well recent member of the forum)

Google Analytics: Italy is not even on the list :(

TominKY

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3382 on: August 24, 2017, 08:38:13 AM »
Howdy, my name is Tom, I live in the bluegrass state, and I joined this form mainly on behalf of my father, who was very smart with his money and retired 23 years ago.  I will be posting a question about his portfolio balance in another forum.  I will probably put some posts up pertaining to my personal financial situation later after I help him out with his situation, as I could use some improvement on my end.  My wife and I are both early 50's with two teenage daughters, so the big life expenses will be coming at us soon. 

Looks like a lot of good info on this site!

bmelissa545

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3383 on: August 25, 2017, 01:23:42 PM »
Hey I'm Brooke!

I just graduated a few years ago and I've finally started my journey to getting financially fit. I have student loans  and live in an expensive city, but that won't stop me!

:)

AniMaL11

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3384 on: August 26, 2017, 05:25:44 PM »
Hello,

Been a long time browser, but  never registered. Figured I would join the fun.

No debt other than my house. In my 40's and would love to pay it off. I keep getting tempted to purchase a bigger house for me and my kids.  I am hoping I can fight that urge or at least find something that that makes better sense.

oakvilleman

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3385 on: August 27, 2017, 11:33:56 AM »
Hi Everyone,

I'm Lee. I'm married, no kids, a niece and nephew I would like to support with their education and putting them on track to FI.

I live in Oakville a suburb in the west end of Toronto, Canada.  I'd like to retire in Oakville but it is one of the most expensive cities in Canada, especially for real estate, so figuring out how to be FIRE in an expensive city is one of the main things I'd like learn from MMM Forum.

I found Mr. Money Mustache via Tim Ferriss' podcast. Since then I've consumed the blog and forum. FI was not new to me as I'd read "Your Money Or Your Life" years ago, but MMM re-kindled my interest in retiring before I turn 50.

After doing some calculation using MMM retirement calculators and meeting with my financial advisor, I'm FI!

We set our projected yearly expenses pretty low (40K) so I'd like to earn more money so we could spend more per year.

Look forward to joining the MMM community and share and learn with all of you!

Lee

Nords

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3386 on: August 27, 2017, 01:29:12 PM »
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!

You and the admin of this forum, Kevin Clack, might want to have a chat about website operations and consulting...
https://www.clackapedia.com/about-me/

honeyfill

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3387 on: August 28, 2017, 09:12:19 AM »
Hi all,
I'm Chris. I'm 60 and my DW is 58. We are finally  getting close to  retiring.  I've lived kind of a frugal lite lifestyle, used cars, no fancy vacations etc, but I have always maxed out my 401ks.  I never really thought much about retirement but earlier this year I started checking out some of the retirement calculators such as FireCalc and realized  we no longer needed to work.  However, in July we decided to take my 86 and 91 year old in laws as they can no longer live by themselves.   Right now we are still adjusting to that financially,  paying off a few debts  arranging health care, etc.  We have decided to retire sometime next year, probably between March and  July. I am devouring all the forum posts on preparing for retirement and hope to be able to contribute some posts as well.




bobbywatson

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3388 on: August 30, 2017, 05:29:01 PM »
Hello everyone,

I'm bobbywatson, from Canada. I currently live in the middle of nowhere in the "belle province", but plan to move to the Gatineau/Ottawa area soon. I'm currently unemployed.

I am an SAP ABAP Developer, and have been for the past ten years. I'm not a fan, but it pays pretty well, which is why I will stick with it until I can retire. (I'm open to contract work, if anyone in the Ottawa area is looking for an experienced ABAP developer).

My plan is, once I have a new job, to live as frugally as I can and retire in 7 to 8 years. I am still in the process of assessing what my net worth is. One big issue right now is that the real estate market in my area is deader than dead, so I will probably have to keep paying for my mortgage here for the foreseeable future.

My cost of living is already pretty low (I estimate around 25k/year). I am new to investing, but I am looking forward to learning more!

gargagnam

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3389 on: August 31, 2017, 08:06:01 AM »
Hi all,
gargagnam here, writing from Italy.

In my early thirties, married, two kids, out of debt (expect a small residual mortgage that I'm able to repay but at 0,30% my money is better invested elsewer)

I wonder, is there any other Italian reader here? Maybe even someone already retired?

I'd like to discuss with someone else the peculiarities of Italy and how they affect saving and retirement (more taxes but public health and pension System)

klight753

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3390 on: September 02, 2017, 07:56:08 AM »
Hello All,

I'm Kelly.  29 year old single male.  I have an average income but very low cost of living at the moment with two roommates providing income to cover my mortgage payment.  Only been focused on FIRE for the last few months but have always been an investor and have never taken on any debt outside of a mortgage.

onewayfamily

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3391 on: September 02, 2017, 01:18:20 PM »
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.

gargagnam

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3392 on: September 03, 2017, 02:18:32 AM »
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.

Thanks!

Can you point me to someone? With a simple search for Italy I only found Simone, the overwhelming rest of discussions were about people planning to visit Italy:)


Ps: nice blog... but you didn't visit Italy yet?

Ze Stash

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3393 on: September 05, 2017, 09:36:28 AM »
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

NinetyFour

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3394 on: September 05, 2017, 12:06:04 PM »
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

Welcome!

Just in case you don't know about it, this thread might be useful:

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/mustachianism-around-the-web/mustachianism-applied-to-german-way-of-life-deutsche-mmm-ratschlage/

saguaro

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3395 on: September 05, 2017, 02:44:18 PM »
Hello everyone,

I am saguaro and poster of same name over at the Simple Living Forums, where I learned of MMM.  Have been lurking here for a while and decided to finally join the cult, lol.

I am married, live in far northern suburbs of Chicago. I work in IT, DH works in web design.   We discovered the original mustachian tome YMOYL back in the 90's (yep, dating us a bit here) and it was instrumental in getting us out of major cc debt and building savings.  As a result we were able buy a house, build some retirement savings, plus build FU money but we still continue to work as both of us currently are fortunate to have jobs we enjoy at this point in our lives.

Looking forward to posting and sharing within this community!   

allstarz8

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3396 on: September 05, 2017, 06:13:05 PM »
hi there! i am like three weeks since i first heard about FIRE and i am excited to learn and hopefully turn this into something! im married, my husband and are chefs, and we make pretty nice money, and currently spend most of it eating out in chicago and travelling.

beachbumwithyarn

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3397 on: September 07, 2017, 09:28:46 AM »
Hi, I'm a newbie.  A friend introduced me to all this.  I'm a natural saver but needed a bit of hand holding to get on the right path.  I have no debt besides mortgages, however I have three of them (one is a rental property) and our cost of living is just way too high.  Hope to learn a lot here.

Raskolnikov

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3398 on: September 07, 2017, 01:16:52 PM »
Hello, new friends!

I've been a MMM reader for a couple of years now, but just decided to join the forum. I'm excited to dive into such a deep knowledge pool.

Quick bio: 41 years old, married, two kids. I'm newly "semi-retired" as of June 1, 2017 and am working part time in a field I love. My wife is still working full time in a field she loves. We are 100% debt free and have been saving religiously since age 23, but most of our assets are in retirement accounts. The only debt we'll ever consider using again is potentially a mortgage if we decide to move out of our rental home.

Areas of interest in this forum are alternative investment ideas, off grid/sustainable living, and teaching financial literacy to children.

Na zdarove!!

iesv

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3399 on: September 08, 2017, 02:13:00 PM »
Hi everybody.

My name is Ivan. I started reading this blog like 3 years ago, I guess. I used to live in Seattle for almost 4 years and half working for A*****.com as a software engineer but I quit on July 2017 and had to come back to my hometown. I'm not FI but had enough FU-money to leave.

I decided to quit for several reasons, being the two most important ones that I just had it with work pressure. I was having panic attacks very frequently and, in my lowest point, thought I was going to die of a heart attack. The second one is that my wife was also very unhappy. I also had a $25k pay cut which I'm embarrassed to admit but helped me take the next step :P

Thanks to Mr. Money Mustache's teachings I was able to get my FU-money and also value my family's happiness and my own health enough to put a stop to all of it. I can almost certainly say that I could have died or be in a darker place today if it weren't for a lot of what I learned in this site. I wish I could have discovered it sooner.

So, here I am, in my early 30s. Trying to shed some of the physical, mental, and relationship damage that I brought on myself over the last 4.5 years. I gained around 100 pounds which I'm trying to shed by eating healthier and exercising a bit (almost 20 pounds down in a little over a month). I'm also trying to study and learn new things while I'm on break. Trying to re-adapt to the town I left. Trying to re-connect with my wife and myself.

Thanks for reading!

« Last Edit: September 08, 2017, 02:35:05 PM by iesv »

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!