Author Topic: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself  (Read 3317562 times)

Sulurith

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1200 on: April 01, 2014, 06:40:28 PM »
I'm Casey, just found the blog like a week ago.

Recent college graduate, just starting in the corporate world and already looking to get out ASAP.

LakewoodStache

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1201 on: April 01, 2014, 08:23:45 PM »
I really admire the recent college graduates that have committed to grabbing the bull by the horns.

The cars, vacations and stuff isn't worth it.  Get in, get out.  Like an assassin.

Your FI is way more important that shiny things.

aetherie

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1202 on: April 01, 2014, 08:32:56 PM »
Get in, get out.  Like an assassin.

I'm making this my motto from now on.

Eurotexan

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1203 on: April 01, 2014, 09:16:15 PM »
So happy to be here too! I have been lurking for a few months and have been reading all the posts, already I have seen a huge change in my savings rate and my general outlook on life. Thanks to MMM and you guys on the forum!

I am a 38 year old living in Dallas and I have a daughter entering middle school. I have always had a good job but did the typical "put 10% towards my 401k" and spend the rest.. duh! I have a decent retirement account but boy, it could have been so much more if I had started living like this 10+ years ago. But, it's never too late, that's definitely something I have learnt here. My goal is FIRE by the age of 50.

In response to the Tracey about all the clothes she bought last year.. me too... I spent nearly $10K in clothes, purses etc.. absolutely ridiculous. I am proud to say so far this year I haven't spend a single penny on clothes or anything that I can wear! It feels so liberating... we can do it!

So happy to be here, y'all :) (to be spoken with a British accent!!)

NinetyFour

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1204 on: April 02, 2014, 04:54:49 AM »
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/

joe travers

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1205 on: April 02, 2014, 09:01:50 PM »
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!

jordanread

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1206 on: April 02, 2014, 09:09:19 PM »
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!

YES!!! You have no idea how happy I am to see a story like this. Keep up the great work.

joe travers

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1207 on: April 03, 2014, 10:42:54 AM »
@jordanread. Thx man!

MrMathMustache

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1208 on: April 05, 2014, 02:45:51 AM »
I'm a 36 y.o. teacher in Florida and came across this site several months ago, but finally check out the forums and registered just now.  I was never an extravagant spender, but I didn't become a mustachian of sorts until 2008 when the real estate market here imploded and my net worth turned negative due to my mortgage going nearly $125,000 underwater.  Unfortunately, I purchased my condo in 2006 at the height of the property bubble. 

Thanks to an average 55% after-tax savings rate for 5+ years, I've managed to:
- pay off a huge chunk of my mortgage and refinance to a 3.5%, 15-year note (no longer underwater either!)
- continue fully contributing to my roth IRA, which now has a balance of 93k
- build up a taxable investment account, which now has a balance of 98k

Despite the hole the real estate market punched in my net worth, it did have a couple of side benefits: it kicked my savings habits into overdrive plus my property taxes plummeted to almost nothing and by law they can't rise more than 3% per year even though values have climbed back 40% from the nadir! 

I think I've managed my expenses down about as far as they can go, but I plan on frequenting the forums to get more ideas.  The idea of financial independence is really attractive to me, even though I absolutely love my job and couldn't imagine ever leaving it, except on a stretcher.

ChrisLansing

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1209 on: April 06, 2014, 08:26:14 AM »
Hi,

Just discovered both ERE and MMM a few days ago and can't stop reading.     It's too late for us to retire early (I'm 57 my wife is 67 and forced to retire) and I don't see myself being able to retire until I'm 66.   Still, there is a lot of good info and ideas here that can make our late retirement better.   We can use MMM ideas to maintain and even improve our health.   There are lots of ideas that can reduce costs.   We continue to save and are looking for ways to increase our savings.   

We did everything wrong when we were young - financed cars, maxed the CCs, bought stuff we didn't need.   Then we did everything "right" in a conventional sense.   We saved 15 percent of our income, we paid off the house, the cards, the cars.    It's too bad our savings rate wasn't higher.     

Even with my wife retired we are able to save about 20%  or our income.    Sadly I must continue to work.   It's not really that sad as I love my job, but still, it would be nice to be home with my wife instead of at work.   My wife found PT work, which keeps her active and involved outside the home, something she values.       For us, SS and my pension will pretty much replace my current income (if I retire at 66) so while we missed out on early retirement we won't suffer any great financial shock when I stop working.    We can continue to optimize our situation and make life as good as possible.   

We are especially interested in getting this info to our son (he's 31).   He may not be able to retire "early" but should be able to beat us by a couple decades.     

begood

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1210 on: April 06, 2014, 11:38:35 AM »
Hi! I am quite new to MMM, and just joined the forums today. Everything I've read so far on MMM's blog resonates with me in unexpected, powerful ways. I'm not a numbers person at all; the word "algebra" makes me itch. So people start talking money and my eyes glaze over. But this essential idea -- spend less, save more -- that struck a chord.

The family is me (49), my husband (48), and our 12-year-old daughter.

We've been married 25 years and have always been good about saving. We never carried credit card debt and we were blessed not to have student loans to repay. But we also bought increasingly larger houses over the years. My husband worked with a MNC (multinational corporation) that moved us four times, and we moved from 1500 sf to 2500 to 3500 and finally to 4200 sf.

Just about five years ago, after 20 years with the MNC, my husband took a dream job at half the pay and we moved across the country. We sold our house in the summer of 2009, losing pretty much 20 years of accumulated equity, but at least we didn't have to come to the table with money (or lose the house to foreclosure). We now live in provided housing at my husband's new job.

On the surface, I'm sure it looks like that was a crazy move to make, but now I see that it was, in some key ways, a MMM moment for us. We moved into a space 1/3 the size of our previous house, sold 2/3 of our stuff, pay no rent or mortgage now, and live less than a mile from work. At the time, we felt we had "front-loaded" our retirement/education funds for the kid and could manage if we never saved another dollar. But he is still able to save 16% of his pay in a work-related retirement account, and I got a part-time job I can do from home that's helping to pay for some luxuries, like summer camp for our kid.

If Mr. begood weren't working so dang hard at his new job, I'd definitely think of this as a semi-ER. As it is, it's really a second career where we're given the opportunity to live a lot more simply.

We're still doing fine in terms of retirement income and education funds, so for me the "spend less" is more about reducing our eventual annual expenses than anything else, thus freeing up even more moolah to save, save, save. *rubs hands together in glee*

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?
« Last Edit: June 16, 2014, 09:34:29 AM by begood »

aetherie

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1211 on: April 06, 2014, 12:13:54 PM »
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. :)

NinetyFour

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1212 on: April 06, 2014, 12:29:56 PM »


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?


I'd say those are at least toddler steps!!

Welcome!

begood

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1213 on: April 06, 2014, 01:02:55 PM »
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. :)

That's a good tip, aetherie! One of our continuing big expenses (and sources of frustration) is mobile broadband as our sole internet source aside from my iPhone, which was grandfathered in on an unlimited data plan, and that is how I listen to Pandora! We live so far off the beaten path that we can't even get DSL, let alone cable or FIOS. *smh* So I don't listen to Pandora through my internet browser. But I am sure that tip will be helpful to someone! I *liked* the ad-free version, but I don't *need* the ad-free version. :)

Iconoclast

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1214 on: April 06, 2014, 01:57:29 PM »
Iconoclast here. I've been a longtime lurker on these forums, and maybe it's time I get a bit more active. 39, married, two wonderful sons. My wife and I are civil servants and make decent money, of which we save and invest most. Crazy about bikes and biking in general - easy here, with the great bike paths and a tax system that promotes biking. Spent some time in more remote parts of the world for work and study.

Recently I did the FI math and concluded that it is possible to quit working in about 10 years if we keep socking away enough money. For the moment I have no desire to stop working, but that could easily change and it's very reassuring to have a backup plan.

Love some of the views of MMM on certain points. Sometimes I can also be quite a contrary thinker at work and at home, hence the username.

ms

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1215 on: April 07, 2014, 11:18:41 AM »
Hi all, I discovered MMM about two months ago and it's been a great inspiration to get my house in order.  Previously I've been spending everything that's coming in every month and then some and now I've turned it around, I'm tracking everything that's going out and I should be able to pay off my line of credit by end of May. 

A little info on me: living in the Toronto area, in IT, single mom to a 17 year old that's about to start university in the fall.  I live in the suburbs and I commute via train downtown and I can't believe I've been doing it (on/off) for nearly 7 years.  But with the young one moving out to university, now seems to be the time to make changes in location.

I own a condo but it's much cheaper to rent.  I have been very hesitant to get out of the market as I've been warned that you won't get back in. 

I am getting lots of great ideas/advice reading others' situations here in the forums.  The best part is that I'm really thinking about the decisions I'm making whereas before the choices were on autopilot - no matter if they were frugal or not.  I can say my eyes have opened.  It's not the same as saying I'll get it right all the time..

norabird

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1216 on: April 07, 2014, 01:04:16 PM »
Hello! I am very new to this whole spending-less thing...just taking baby steps, trying to cook more/be more thoughtful about expenses, switching my Verizon plan to prepaid with Kitty Wireless, scaling back the cable at my next apartment. I have 10% of my not very high salary going into a 401k and about $7,500 in not too high interest credit card debt that I am getting serious about paying off. My parents are in the process of buying an apartment that I'll be living in and paying my same rent as before (despite being 30! I live in NYC and my parents were just retiring when I went through a bad breakup, with the condo purchase resulting from that combo of circumstances).

Basically I have been pretty thoughtless up to now, and I want to at last get rid of the credit card debt, start a Roth IRA account and rainy day savings fund, and be more mindful in my money use. I am not mustachian by nature (I love traveling, eat out/go to bars often, spend a lot on tickets to theater etc.), so I feel rather out of place here sometimes but think it's good for me to be outside my comfort zone! And I am learning to pause more when I think I need to do something that involves an outlay of cash.

Eurotexan

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1217 on: April 08, 2014, 10:28:21 AM »
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/

I will absolutely check it out, thank you!

besimplyfree

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1218 on: April 08, 2014, 07:50:23 PM »
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 !

jordanread

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1219 on: April 08, 2014, 08:05:04 PM »
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!

Welcome, and congrats on getting started so early.

I'm also super pumped that as of today I am debt-free!

Hell Yeah. That belongs in the Celebrations Thread

I've recently restarted blogging over at besimplyfree.wordpress.com to chronicle our quest for simple living and financial independence !

And you should head over to the MMM reader's blogroll and get added.

Welcome!!

crypie

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1220 on: April 09, 2014, 11:54:11 AM »
Hi everyone,

Just joined up and am furiously reading the forums for good insight.

I am very fortunate in that my wife and I have been able to save for retirement (401-K, Roth, etc) and my 2 kid's education (429's) but I've been feeling that I need to do more. I think a lot of the panic news that you read about people's lack of savings can lull you into the false sense that just because you're saving 10% of your income you are so far ahead of the average Joe, there's no need to do anything differently. This site has been really useful to give me the punch in the face to realize that while I've done ok - I haven't done as well as I could have. Just because I don't have a mountain of debt does not mean I'm doing all I can.

Thanks in advance to everyone for the useful insight and I look forward to learning more.




Digital Watches

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1221 on: April 09, 2014, 12:15:40 PM »
Hi, I'm Alex

I'm a softwaresmith from Portland, and I'm working on getting my student loans gone by the end of the year, and then plan to continue on the mustachian path to financial independence.

I'm also an amateur electrician, competitive fighting game player, intermediate climber of things, aspiring friendly supervillain, novice gourmet cook, and I like to think a nice person. I'm looking forward to talking interesting people on this forum and hopefully learning a ton.

RunningWithScissors

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1222 on: April 09, 2014, 12:49:47 PM »
Hello  -

Long time lurker (2+ years) but this is my first post.  I live in in Edmonton, Canada, 46 years old, married, and am working as an architect (sustainable design). 

I've had a pretty good track record with finances, having been raised by frugal parents - didn't pick up many bad habits.  My husband, on the other hand, is new to the Moustachian lifestyle as he came out of his divorce four years ago completely broke.    We make a decent wage at $150K/yr combined so we're packing away as much as we can to meet our ER goals in 6 years.  What worked for us:

- meal planning and lots of home cooking
- gardening to supply summer veggies and winter canning (jams, salsa, fruit)
- automatic monthly savings/investment payments (65% of net salary!)
- drive older but efficient and low maintenance cars which were paid for by cash
- use public transit and bike to work
- needed items are sourced from used, secondhand stores or Kijiji

Where there's still room for improvement is our housing and related expenses.  Bought a beat-up old house with great bones two years ago and spend a year renovating it ourselves.  We now have about $500,000 equity in that.  Plus, we're now maxing out our TFSAs ($31K for each of us) and have over $600K in registered and non-registered investments.  Have $150K available in a line of credit but there's nothing charged to that as we consider it to be an emergency fund only. 

Right now, our biggest debate is figuring out what annual income or spending amount we should expect to maintain in retirement so we can crunch the numbers and see how far away ER actually is!  Exciting times...

megalo

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1223 on: April 10, 2014, 08:07:45 AM »
Hi. I discovered MMM a few years ago but have only recently gotten serious about developing my mustache. I'm in a pretty good spot financially - a few years away from FIRE, and until then I'm hoping to keep my sweet gig that lets me work my office job from not in the office. A few years ago my ex and I divorced, and one effect is that I no longer have constant positive reinforcement about the benefits of frugal living. So I need some community support to keep me focused, hoping to find that here on the forums.

Sonorous Epithet

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1224 on: April 10, 2014, 01:07:55 PM »
Hiya,

I'm 31 year old accountant. After college, when I was facing down student loans, I became serious about personal finance. My financial house in is good order. I am currently on pace for a nice normal "on-time" retirement.

About 2 weeks ago I found MMM. I hadn't even thought about early retirement before, but, well, here I am. I'm not looking to get FIRE ASAP, just try to further reduce my spending, increase my savings rate, and raise my quality of life a few notches.

First order of business has been biking to work. I only live 3 miles away and have thought about it before, but always put it off because I thought I needed "a system" of lifehacks to take care of the potential tangle of logistical issues that I thought a goddamn 3 mile bike ride would impose, likely involving multiple wardrobe changes, showing strategies, cargo, etc. Then I read MMM and just went ahead rode my bike to work in my work clothes and everything was magically normal and easy.

After that quick win I am hungry for more.

janetaz

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1225 on: April 10, 2014, 08:34:15 PM »
Hola!

I realized that it's been a year since I signed up for the forum, but had not stopped in to introduce myself and say thank you to everyone in the community!  Still learning quite a bit, trying to encourage my husband in the MM ways, my toddler luckily doesn't know the difference yet.  The biggest relief for me in the last year was finally paying off my student loan!  Thanks again for all the encouraging stories and ideas, I hope to add to them. 


Clover

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1226 on: April 10, 2014, 09:14:54 PM »
So...  I am an office manager, married with 3 kids.  I am definitely a minimalist although I like nice things.  I don't like "stuff" or clutter - unless it is in my closet.  Clothes, shores an purses are my weaknesses.  Not to excess, but I will buy high quality, new or second hand.  DH and I have always done well with long term financial goals but there's lots of room for improvement. With no change we're set for FIRE in about 15 years when I'll be 53.  We could possibly get there sooner but I need to factor in college for the kids and that's a big unknown at this point.

greyshade66

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1227 on: April 11, 2014, 04:43:41 AM »
Hi my name is Rich. I'm 47, married with a 4 year old and another baby due in June. Believe it or not, my financial advisor actually turned me on to Mr. Money Moustache and Early Retirement Extreme. MMM rings a bit more with me than ERE but I read both.

I'm 90% certain that I can get to FI by 55 although if I can successfully convert my spouse to MMM, we could see FI much sooner. We're net worth positive but have a mortgage and a 2 car clown like habit.

lady brett ashley

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1228 on: April 11, 2014, 08:41:31 AM »
Hey y'all!

I've always thought of myself as "good with money" because i'm naturally frugal and good at budgeting, so even when i was making 10k/year i was living fairly comfortable within my means.  But in the last 5 years or so, i've realized that there's a lot more to intelligently dealing with money than not spending it all and socking the remainder in a savings account.  So now i'm trying to plan ahead, which is almost impossible given that we are in a "transitional" stage while my honey is in school (2 more years!).

We've got a reasonable house (mortgage cheaper than renting, and appreciating), and the start of a 'stache thanks to an unexpected inheritance, but are fairly low earners (and about to move from 1 full-time paycheck to 2 part-time paychecks; not currently certain how that will balance out).

We're also foster parents, which is awesome, and an interesting financial consideration because there are a lot of people who have a say in how we live our lives - in order to stay licensed we have to make "enough money" and have a "big enough" house and "nice enough" things that folks aren't worried we're taking advantage of the kids' stipend and are taking good care of them.  It's really the first time in my life i've worried about impressing people with my stuff/money, which has been odd (also, it *is* worth it, for sure).

serious_pete

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1229 on: April 11, 2014, 02:24:51 PM »
Hey guys

My name's Pete (user name is a bit of a give away) and I live in Manchester, UK. I'm 37 and live with my lovely wife Chaz, 32, and son Oliver, who is 1. I work as a psychiatric nurse and until not so long ago the retirement age used to automatically be set at 55. It is now set at 67. Obviously I'd prefer 55 so I started looking into if this was possible for me, which after some time on Google led me to MMM. Turns out it is.

Chaz is naturally frugal but I am not. I've never been one for cars, gadgets and clothes but had expensive hobbies and ate & drank out a lot. Since cutting them out and realising how stupid it is to be in debt I've paid off my credit cards with every penny possible and am now looking to do the same to the mortgage. I'm still aiming for retirement at 55 but maybe working part time from about 45, which is when I think the mortgage will be gone.

I'm planning on keeping a journal but probably won't add much to the conversation until I know what I'm doing!

retirein5yrs

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1230 on: April 12, 2014, 05:22:21 AM »
Hi I'm James

I'm 25 and I'm already sick and tired of the way we have been living and consuming.

I'm trying my best to make sure I stay ahead of my finances and become financially free as soon as possible.

Reading this website and forum are great educational tools and I just want to thank Mr and Mrs Mustache, and everyone else on this forum for sharing!

SmilingBob

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1231 on: April 12, 2014, 10:07:27 AM »
Hi all, I'm Bob.  Found this blog by googling stuff about Colorado and looking up boring subjects like state income tax, retirement info, and cool inexpensive places to live since my wife and I are planning on retiring there in about 6 years.  I was astounded to find a blog where the blogger (MMM) mirrors my own ideas about frugality, and then takes them to what most would consider "over the top" - I was just hooked.  Unfortunately, my new found wisdom about money and finances didn't occur until much later in life than MMM (as Forrest would remark, I'm not a smart man) and I played the idiot debt/consumption lifestyle game for most of my working life.  I'm 47 now and plan on being out of this shithole called Houston, TX and being a ski-bum (hopefully) by age 54 with a 7 figure retirement (if the market holds out).  We have young children and I am intent on finishing raising them in the spectacular rocky mountains, with the active lifestyle and natural splendor that brings.

I've been poring over the content for several weeks and I'm thrilled to be here, although my wife is just about done hearing about it.  Cheers.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2014, 10:09:39 AM by SmilingBob »

Credaholic

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1232 on: April 12, 2014, 12:16:02 PM »
Hello, I'm just discovering the MMM Forums, and thought I should introduce myself before picking the brains of the members here. I'm a near-thirty Seattleite with a hard-working but hard-consuming husband, a 1.5 year old son, and a daughter arriving in August. I've been reading MMM since the blog was founded, and I was featured as the first ever reader case study.

We've come a long way since then, but I'd say we're still Mustachian-lite. If I had my way we'd be far more Mustachian, but I don't have total buy in from the other half. I shouldn't criticize too much, though. He's actually made pretty huge improvements in his spending ways, and makes up for any remaining short comings by working incredibly hard to get our family ahead. We lived on a boat for a year when we first turned our cash hog McMansion into a rental, purchased a tiny bank owned house at the rock bottom of the market which my husband worked tirelessly to renovate in his spare time before the arrival of our son, and have now purchased another tiny house that my husband is building into a highly efficient and better fitting forever home for our future family of four.

Our long term goal is financial independence by 50, and in the short term to sock away more savings in our Roths and 401K, invest our Roth more wisely, finish our current remodel and addition, and then invest in more rentals.

If you're in the Seattle area and would like to connect, feel free to email me! The blogging community has been a huge reason we've gotten our lives on track, and I can only imagine what motivation it would be to have more like-minded people around my "real" life.

ReverendRN

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1233 on: April 13, 2014, 06:07:49 AM »
Hi, all!

My name's Lisa. 29yo, single, resident of Pittsburgh, PA. I've been living on $8-12,000/yr for a while now out of necessity. I'll be finishing up a nursing diploma in three months, and I'm super excited to discover that that the frugal skills I've been developing are going to help me get ahead on my soon-to-be $40,000+ income.

My first goal of Mustachian awesome will be to pay off my $18,000 in new student loans in 18 months or less. The only reason I took them out was because I was sure I'd be able to pay them back quickly on my new nursing wages -- although I have classmates who are planning on being in debt for a long time. I'm grateful that this blog has encouraged me that paying them off is, in fact, the smart thing to do. And now that I've found this blog, I'm starting to get ideas about what to do with all that extra money once I finish pay-off.

Here's to living differently and well!

The Resilent Dame

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1234 on: April 14, 2014, 07:08:04 AM »
Hi everyone. My name is Michelle. I'm 37, husband is soon to be 49, and we have a 4 year old son. I have two teenage stepdaughters.

I come to these forums from an interesting perspective. My husband and I both own businesses (three franchise territories). We have a net worth of around 2 million. HOWEVER, it's mostly tied up in real estate and our businesses, so due to some heavy risk taking over the last 10 years we are cash poor but asset rich and also highly leveraged.

We've just been through hell and back with a major national bank who decided they wanted to foreclose on one of our properties. We never, ever were late with payments. However, it was a balloon note that came due. We didn't have $200K+ to pay it off. As we know real estate values dropped. So a year and a half ago they decided to start the process of foreclosure. We were not upside-down. I'm convinced that if we WERE upside-down they would not have proceeded as they did, ESPECIALLY since they also held loans on our other properties, and because we were in "default" over one property, they declared ALL of our notes bad. Essentially, this bank just wanted all the cash. So what started as one small commercial property foreclosure turned into a foreclosure on EVERYTHING we had. This last year and a half we continued paying on everything (who keeps paying while in foreclosure? apparently we do). Long story short, we found a small local bank with a whiz of a banker (old school, he saw that we were "good" people) who refinanced the whole deal.

Needless to say, my #1 goal is to hammer down on that debt as quickly as we can. We are net worth positive, but the problem with selling parts of our property is that it is all a tangled mess--business is housed in our biggest commercial property (valued at 1.6 mil approx). We have discussed selling the two largest franchise territories, paying down the large commercial property, and take the income from that, and move to the smaller town where my franchise is located. But his business is the major cash cow, so it is pretty scary to look at axing that.

Anyway, love the ideas and the community here.

agentM

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1235 on: April 14, 2014, 10:55:24 AM »
Long time lurker. My name is Marissa, and I'm a 33 year old accountant. I'm not really a mustachian, but I do like some of his ideas and most of all his attitude. I've definitely made some changes in the past year I've been reading MMM - I've always been a frugal person - getting married at 19 and having a baby right away didn't exactly leave me much choice, plus I grew up in a rust-belt town in the 1980's in a family where everyone was a factory employee - whether on the line or in management, so making money stretch was just part of my upbringing.

However, I've definitely always just followed certain cultural assumptions that MMM has made me start questioning, much to my benefit. Like how big a house you "need", and how many after school activities your kids should be involved in, etc. We've been able to cut back our spending almost $8,000 per year, or about 14% of our after-tax income. That's now going towards paying off our student loans, leaving us free to start making double mortgage payments in about 2 years. At this rate, we will be totally debt free by 40, leaving us free to live entirely off of less than one income.

We could probably do it faster. Alot of MMM reccomendations don't work so well for us, but I adapt them where they do and they do work. For instance, due to a disability bike riding is just not possible for me (if only....), so instead I picked up a cheap used scooter on Craigslist! I've definitely dialed down the complainy-pants and started to hit my life with an optimism gun with increasingly wonderful results.

Fordtough

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1236 on: April 14, 2014, 12:41:04 PM »
Hi,
37 Paid off mortgage. Retiring soon.

RShott

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1237 on: April 14, 2014, 07:53:20 PM »
Hi, I'm RShott. I am just starting my journey towards FI. Right now I have a ton of debt (thanks law school), but I am working to pay it off as quickly as possible so I can continue my journey down the road to early retirement.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2014, 07:56:57 PM by RShott »

YogiBritt

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1238 on: April 14, 2014, 09:10:36 PM »
Hello wonderful internet mustachians!  My username pretty much sums me up... yogi, biker, and non-profit professional living in Seattle and married to a fellow mustachian for nearly 3 years now.

I'm on the cusp of completely switching careers in order to drastically increase our earnings, and hoping I'll gain some courage through being involved in the forums!  I'm currently making so little at the transitional housing program I work at that I would qualify to live there myself if I wasn't married.  I'm hoping that gaining early FI will allow me to eventually go back to doing what I love without the lack of income causing so much stress!

oh...and in spite of all of this, in less than a month we will have paid off almost 70K in debt from student loans, medical debt, and credit cards.  It took 3 years, and for the first year we were never both employed at the same time haha!

schoopsthecat

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1239 on: April 14, 2014, 09:52:10 PM »
I've been reading the forums for a few months now and have decided that I should start participating.  I'm a university professor and musician in Indiana, and I can't imagine actually retiring because I love my work so much.  However, I've always been a bit obsessed with being financially independent and able to walk away from anything at any time without worry.  When money isn't a concern, life is so much more enjoyable.  I was close to being able to FIRE before I started my university job, but a divorce right after the stock market crash in 2008 pretty much wiped out my savings, so I've basically started over.  I'm 39 and about 2 years away from being able to FIRE if I ever decided I wanted to.


St4n

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1240 on: April 15, 2014, 11:29:21 PM »
Hi!

I'm Stan, a 34 year old Pommie (Englishman) by birth.  I'm now living in Australia (Melbourne) with my wife, Kiera (27), and baby daughter, Matilda (5 months).  Like many, I've been a MMM lurker for several months now - I found the site via the Marketwatch article earlier in the year - and have been hooked ever since. 

Let me first say MMM, you're great.  I love the writing style and irreverence.  I can even handle the tree-hugging aspects, regardless of the fact that my political persuasion is somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun!  I think the thing I enjoy the most is that there is room for a whole bunch of individuals in the MMM tent - our lives are ultimately all very different, but you clearly pick up on the points that unite us.

I'll post full details of our situation in due course, but in summary we're probably middle-ranking mustachians.  We have no debt, are currently renting (our home is under construction and will be owned outright) and income is low to middling (~A$60,000 net), but we still spend too much!  I've done some calculations and we reckon FI in 12 years is realistic in our current circumstances, but looking forward to studing further and discussing helpful hints so we can bring that forward.

snareman1

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1241 on: April 16, 2014, 01:50:34 AM »
Hi Everyone. I'm new. I live in Los Angeles and am an entertainer by trade. I'm 32. Male, single. Looking forward to this journey!

annie79

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1242 on: April 16, 2014, 08:36:09 AM »
Hi y'all! My husband has been following MMM for a while now, and he gets me to read certain posts that are pertinent to our situation. The philosophies of this blog and way of life have resonated with us so greatly, and we have such resolve and vision for early retirement like never before.

So a big THANK YOU to the MMM family for spreading the vision. I'm truly grateful.

mattchuck2

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1243 on: April 16, 2014, 02:37:51 PM »
Hello, my name is Matt. I'm 33, I'm a geologist, and I'm excited to try to use mustachian principles to change my life. Currently, I have credit card debt (facepunch), a mortgage, and a pitifully low (for this forum) retirement savings rate of 10%. But I have the desire! Even without altering anything, I'll have a nice pension kicking in when I'm 55 years old that leaves me some wiggle room, but I want to try to get to FI earlier. I'm inspired by the anti-materialism/anti-consumerism message of MMM and I'm excited to start figuring out places to save my hard earned $.

Kman0010

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1244 on: April 16, 2014, 07:28:49 PM »
Hello! I'm a 26yo male and am a long time lurker of the forum. Currently I am an architectural conservator working in Charleston, SC and I am focused on retirement and financial independence. I'm single with no debt and currently renting with no plans on purchasing a home. I make approximately 40K a year and just began my retirement savings. I have about 6K in a Roth IRA and about 30k in taxable investments. I am currently at a 35% savings rate for retirement, but am looking forward to increasing that number. My main goal is to learn as much as I can so that I can make smart investment decisions in the future and grow my stache! Thanks!

obstinate

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1245 on: April 16, 2014, 11:28:35 PM »
I'm J. I'm somewhat of a natural saver, but I want to improve. I'd like to go from planning to be able to retire at 50 to being able to do it at 45 or 40. I'm nearly thirty, with a first baby on the way.

Frugalgal

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1246 on: April 17, 2014, 12:45:10 AM »
Hi, my name is Elaine. I first started reading MMM a year ago but finally got around to joining the forum. I'd like to connect to other people with similar life/money philosophies. I've always been frugal and lived below my means and have been able to save up quite a bit. I'm 37, have a husband who is also 37, and a 3 year old daughter.

I love MMM and am inspired to try to do better. I'm on track to be FI (would already be FI if I didn't live in California) but am a little unsure of the RE part. Haven't figured out what I would do if I retired aside from travel. I am so tired of how materialistic the American culture is and wish there were more mustachians out there. Good luck to everyone on achieving your goals!

kattyh

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1247 on: April 17, 2014, 09:30:49 AM »
Hi, I'm Kat.

I'm interested in the lifestyle and finding happiness without having to make a lot of money.

Also about to go to grad school, so trying to figure out the best way to manage that financially.

Yay!

BFGirl

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1248 on: April 18, 2014, 07:56:00 AM »
Hi.  I am new to MMM.  I have been fairly Antimustachian up to this point. I am now getting a divorce at 46 and have our 19 year-old and 16 year-old children living with me.  My husband and I have both worked full time during our marriage, but he makes 3-4 times what I make.  I have pretty much spent what I wanted when I wanted and didn't have to worry about it.  However, even with that philosophy, house was paid off, cars were paid off and driven for 8-9 years and we lived well under our means, so we had ample savings.  Investing strategy sucked because soon to be ex refused to discuss finances with me or come up with a budget with me and he maneuvered the majority of our joint assets into his name so that I couldn't touch it and kept it all in short term cash accounts.  In spite of my spending and his manipulation, I managed to squirrel away enough so that when I decided to divorce, I was able to pay cash for a townhouse 2 months ago and move out.

From a Mustachian point of view I have moved into a home that is 1000 square feet smaller than what we were in before, I no longer have maids to clean my house (soon to be ex still has them coming weekly) and I have reduced some of my pampering expenses.  I don't expect I will ever have a bushy 'stache, but I am trying to grow a little fuzz.  We have reached an agreement in the divorce and I hope to have my share of our savings soon and will be trying to figure out the best way to invest.

I hope to "retire" in 7-10 years to run a side business I have established.  My  current job takes out 7% of my salary and pays 7%
interest on my contributions, and when I retire will match at 200% and pay me a lifetime benefit, so, even though I am a little tired of "working for the man" I am going to try to make it at least 7 years when I am eligible to receive my retirement benefit.

Thanks for listening, BFG

Setruss

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1249 on: April 18, 2014, 09:23:31 AM »
Hi, I'm April! I'm a 21 year old Civil Engineering student and intern. I stumbled onto MMM while browsing /r/personalfinance. I'm trying to become financially independent (from my parents) and start my life out right. My parents have been pretty good role models with regards to personal finance, but I want to become even better.

Thankfully my parents saved enough money so I don't have to take loans for college yet, plus I earn enough in scholarships to help with ~1/4-1/3 of the costs. I'll be paying my parents back in the future.

Currently, thanks to internships, I am ~$500 away from a net worth (Roth IRA, 401k, savings and checking accounts) of $15k. My dad is helping me manage my Roth IRA since I'm not 100% comfortable with investing.

After looking at some of my housemates who are 24+ years old and being shocked at their finances, I am more motivated than ever to be responsible.

Wish me luck on my journey, and I'm glad to have people such as yourselves as my travel companions!