If look at MMM's post called the simple math behind early retirement, the answer to your question is simple, the less of your take home pay you can live on, the faster you will reach FI. Speed to FI depends only on your savings rate, not your income. Thus, to increase the speed to FI, focus on how to live even cheaper than you are now and save that extra money, it is as simple as that.
Can we please stop saying this.
Plainly obvious that saving rate is also dependant on income and that increasing income will increase savings rate too.
I'd say one of the things to delay is moving out of your parents and in with a girlfriend that has no job or income and is relying on her family to pay for her living expenses. You say she graduates in May, so that's only 4 months away - why do you think she won't find a job within a month after graduating?
Wait to move in together until after she graduates and has a job. You don't know where she'll end up employed, so it makes more sense anyway so you can really find the best place that works with both or your jobs.
Waiting also gives you more time to work on upping your 401K rate, paying off the car and saving up for when you do move.
You make 80K+ don't pay rent and only have 11K in savings?? Where is the rest of your money? With that sort of salary, you should have big bucks in the bank and not be carrying a car loan...You might want to look at how to do a case study so you'd get more help in targeting the areas you're overspending.
Yes +1, wait for the GF to get a job, then figure out a place to live that works for both of you.
The gf is from out of state so after she graduates she needs a place to stay otherwise she is going back to out of state which I'm not going to let happen because I dont believe in long distance relationships
She plans to work in manhattan as a bartender and audition in the daytime as she is in school for film/acting.
My rationale for living in brooklyn is that I have a stable job and will be able to increase my productivity by being closer to my patients and not having to drive 2 hours round trip every day.
She has a flat fee monthly of a unlimited metrocard regardless if we live 30 min away from where she works or 1 hour away. My gas fee changes dependent on how much i drive.
my school loans after grad school in 2013 was over 60k and I reduced it to less than 20k from then to now so thats where most of my cash went. my first year out i was making 35-40k and I got a huge boost in salary recently.
I took out a loan for the car because i didnt want to use up all my savings which I was planning to use as a emergency fund when i move out later this year.
3.99 interest rate is alot lower than the returns i made from my roth ira investments last year and I plan to exceed 3.99% roi every year so it only make sense that I take out that loan for the car.
why do all you guys advocate maxing out 401k before roth ira?
the money that I was going to put into the 401k im actually saving up as capital so I can start my REI. im going to use that to get a mortgage and get 15+% cash on cash return on average.
you show me a 401k portfolio that averages that much in ROI on a yearly basis-i never heard of it
in my eyes there is a greater risk by leveraging properties but i feel that with my income i'll be able to eat the loss when that time comes.
If waiting to move out with my gf was an option I would have done so but that is not the case so I have to deal with that hand as played out and cut costs somewhere else.
Thanks for all your inputs so far!
Keep on coming please!