Hello All,
I'm fairly new to the blog/forum and was wondering what advice, insight, and recommendations the more hirsute readers could provide to my situation.
As for me: I'm 25 years old and live in Reno, NV. The table below contains an overview of my projected finances for the upcoming year. The columns are annual and bi-weekly instead of monthly because I get my paycheck bi-weekly, but the more interesting column is probably the annual.
I forgot to include current balances in the table, but they are currently somewhere around:
- Retirement Accounts: 25,000
- ING Savings E-Fund: 10,100
- ING Savings: 10,300
I didn't include line item living expenses because that isn't the focus of where I'm seeking advice. I am aware there is some fat that can be trimmed and am hoping to tackle that sooner than later.
| Annual | Bi-Weekly | % of Net |
Gross Salary (A): | 60,000.00 | 2,307.69 |
Taxes (-B): | 9,526.86 | 366.42 |
Employer Match (+C): | 1,800.00 | 69.23 |
Net Salary (=D): | 52,273.14 | 2,010.51 | 100.00% |
401k (-E): | 16,800.00 | 646.15 | 32.14% |
Medical (-F): | 1,976.00 | 76.00 | 3.78% |
ESPP (-G): | 6,000.00 | 230.77 | 11.48% |
Take Home (=H): | 27,497.14 | 1,057.58 |
Living Expenses (I): | 13,705.94 | 527.15 | 26.22% |
Additional Savings (J): | 13,791.20 | 530.43 | 26.38% | =100% |
Total Spending (F+I): | 15,681.94 | 603.15 | 30.00% |
Total Saving (E+G+J): | 36,591.20 | 1,407.35 | 70.00% | =100% |
I guess I'm having trouble phrasing my question, so I'll just outline one plan I had and hope you guys can critique that, and I can provide additional information as requested.
I would like to spend at least part of my FI life travelling around in a van. The van I already own (you can see it at
www.bigbluevan.com, yes, I know the blog is way out of date - it was only a half-baked idea to begin with), but it is nowhere near ready for long term living. I bought it used from a locksmith with the intention of converting it into a class B RV (think
www.sportsmobile.com). My conundrum is that the van is definitely
not an investment, and it will be quite expensive to convert, even considering I plan to learn-as-I-go insource as much as possible.
So how do large "Consumer" purchases fit into a mustachian lifestyle? How do I prioritize the converting the van for gallivanting around during FI with investing so that I can reach FI?
One plan that I have been considering is:
- Save up a down payment for a small house here in Reno, NV
- Move in to said house
- Find a reasonable split of paying off the house, investing, and converting the van
- Move in to the van and rent out the house
But this leads to other questions I don't know how to answer like:
- How do I find out if Reno is a good place to own what would eventually be a rental property?
- MMM seems to recommend shorter mortgages to tackle the principle faster, but if I intend to rent it out should I stick with a 30-year fixed?
So I guess my primary confusion surrounds buying homes (specifically in Reno) and fitting expensive liabilities (The Van) in to a mustachian lifestyle.
I appreciate any resources you can point me to for my own learning, as well as your advice, comments, and criticisms.
Thanks,
BBV