Author Topic: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.  (Read 20659 times)

Goldielocks

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #50 on: November 17, 2015, 03:43:54 PM »
I need a wife so i can have twice the household income...

If it flies, floats or fucks it's cheaper to rent..

hmm,  a rental husband might be cheaper, indeed!   

RootofGood

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #51 on: November 17, 2015, 04:28:21 PM »
I had someone say to me that they "didn't share my quaint notions about using landromats while travelling"...

How else do you do laundry while traveling long term (assuming you're not airbnb'ing it with laundry in your apartment or in the building)?  Pay $7 per pair of pants and $4.50 per shirt at the hotel rate?  Drop it off for laundry service (at about half the hotel rates)?  I guess I've always rented apartments with washer and dryer so I've never needed to visit a laundromat but it seems like a perfectly sensible way to wash clothes when out of your house.  :)

JLee

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #52 on: November 17, 2015, 04:44:05 PM »
This stuff is really not complicated.  Save a ton of money every year by being very thoughtful about how you spend your money.  Minimize the big ticket items of housing and transportation.

Root of good averaged about $70k/year in savings.  Over 10 years that is $700k, so it's really not that surprising that a bit of investment gains gets you to a cool million.

As best I can tell from MMM's post about his path to FIRE (which is much less specific about additions to the portfolio), he also averaged about $60k/year over 8 years and then started doing home renovation full time after hitting $600k.  $60k x 8 = $480k.  Again not surprising he hit $600k.  The real trick is cutting out the nonsense in regards to houses, cars, eating out, etc. so you can free up that $50k+ to invest.

Of course, most people will scoff that saving $50k+/year is impossible.  Well it is obviously not if there are multiple people who have done it and documented it!

It's certainly not impossible - but given the median household income of $50,500/yr in the USA, the ability to do that is uncommon. There just happens to be a lot of people here who can. :P

aschmidt2930

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #53 on: November 17, 2015, 05:11:22 PM »
The real question here, is why do you care?  Sounds like you may be in the braggy stage many go through when they find this site.  Continue on with your plan, ignore the outside opinions.

mandy_2002

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #54 on: November 17, 2015, 06:19:38 PM »
I had someone say to me that they "didn't share my quaint notions about using landromats while travelling"...

How else do you do laundry while traveling long term (assuming you're not airbnb'ing it with laundry in your apartment or in the building)?  Pay $7 per pair of pants and $4.50 per shirt at the hotel rate?  Drop it off for laundry service (at about half the hotel rates)?  I guess I've always rented apartments with washer and dryer so I've never needed to visit a laundromat but it seems like a perfectly sensible way to wash clothes when out of your house.  :)

Laundromats seem to be my mysterious secret weapon.  I pack in a single carry on for all of my 3 week or less trips.  The limiting factor is my mouthwash (I'll put two in the liquids bag if needed).  I've met some very cool and interesting people while folding my shirts, saved $50 on checked bags each time, and I can move through crowds like a mad woman without a huge checked bag. 

I went on a trip with two friends earlier this year.  I convinced one friend to do a backpack.  The other didn't think it was possible, so she did a medium sized roller.  We were basically waiting for the roller bag the entire time.

Goldielocks

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #55 on: November 17, 2015, 08:23:29 PM »
I had someone say to me that they "didn't share my quaint notions about using landromats while travelling"...

How else do you do laundry while traveling long term (assuming you're not airbnb'ing it with laundry in your apartment or in the building)?  Pay $7 per pair of pants and $4.50 per shirt at the hotel rate?  Drop it off for laundry service (at about half the hotel rates)?  I guess I've always rented apartments with washer and dryer so I've never needed to visit a laundromat but it seems like a perfectly sensible way to wash clothes when out of your house.  :)

I think they were stunned by the fact that I find people watching at the laundromat while travelling very culturally enriching.  So much better than a tour bus of americans driving around town.

RootofGood

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #56 on: November 17, 2015, 08:31:27 PM »
I think they were stunned by the fact that I find people watching at the laundromat while travelling very culturally enriching.  So much better than a tour bus of americans driving around town.

Gotcha. 

I've certainly crossed cultural boundaries while doing laundry.  I got locked out of my airbnb apartment in Montreal and locked in the basement next to the building's laundromat, with the only key locked inside the laundromat (that was locked when I walked out of it).  I had to explain in very very broken French what happened and ask if they could unlock the laundry room for me.  Fun times. 

RootofGood

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #57 on: November 17, 2015, 08:33:46 PM »
Laundromats seem to be my mysterious secret weapon.  I pack in a single carry on for all of my 3 week or less trips.  The limiting factor is my mouthwash (I'll put two in the liquids bag if needed).  I've met some very cool and interesting people while folding my shirts, saved $50 on checked bags each time, and I can move through crowds like a mad woman without a huge checked bag. 

I went on a trip with two friends earlier this year.  I convinced one friend to do a backpack.  The other didn't think it was possible, so she did a medium sized roller.  We were basically waiting for the roller bag the entire time.

That's how we did the packing on our 7 week Mexico trip (with 3 kids!). Just bookbags for all of us with 3-4 shirts and 2 pair of pants/shorts.  Very awesome to be able to easily hop on and off local buses and the subway for transportation and not have to wait on checked bags in the airports. 

arebelspy

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #58 on: November 17, 2015, 10:09:38 PM »
I had someone say to me that they "didn't share my quaint notions about using landromats while travelling"...

How else do you do laundry while traveling long term (assuming you're not airbnb'ing it with laundry in your apartment or in the building)?  Pay $7 per pair of pants and $4.50 per shirt at the hotel rate?  Drop it off for laundry service (at about half the hotel rates)?  I guess I've always rented apartments with washer and dryer so I've never needed to visit a laundromat but it seems like a perfectly sensible way to wash clothes when out of your house.  :)

http://smile.amazon.com/Danco-Inc-Suction-Stopper-White/dp/B00G99DMVU/

http://smile.amazon.com/Coghlans-Adjustable-Bungee-Clothesline-length/dp/B000NUM8D4/

:)
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thingamabobs

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #59 on: November 18, 2015, 11:36:45 AM »
Between this thread and your other one, it seems that YOU don't have the concepts grasped quite yet. So rather than trying to explain to other people, you should be reading and learning more. Once you understand the basics, explaining will be easy. Convincing others is another story.

Goldielocks

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #60 on: November 18, 2015, 03:18:12 PM »
I had someone say to me that they "didn't share my quaint notions about using landromats while travelling"...

How else do you do laundry while traveling long term (assuming you're not airbnb'ing it with laundry in your apartment or in the building)?  Pay $7 per pair of pants and $4.50 per shirt at the hotel rate?  Drop it off for laundry service (at about half the hotel rates)?  I guess I've always rented apartments with washer and dryer so I've never needed to visit a laundromat but it seems like a perfectly sensible way to wash clothes when out of your house.  :)

http://smile.amazon.com/Danco-Inc-Suction-Stopper-White/dp/B00G99DMVU/

http://smile.amazon.com/Coghlans-Adjustable-Bungee-Clothesline-length/dp/B000NUM8D4/

:)

You missed the people watching part!   Can you throw in a way to watch people while I use those tools (and not have them just watch me, that is!)

johnny847

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #61 on: November 18, 2015, 03:31:43 PM »
If you want a quick way to show some of the results of compound interest, use the rule of 72:

Take 72 and divide it by the interest rate of your investment. The result is the approximate number of years it will take for your investment to double.
Clearly, this is inaccurate for very high interest rates. It works well enough for interest rates in the 2-14% range.

arebelspy

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #62 on: November 19, 2015, 12:30:45 AM »
You missed the people watching part!   Can you throw in a way to watch people while I use those tools (and not have them just watch me, that is!)

I didn't miss it; that wasn't a part of RoG's question.  :)

Plenty of other people watching time, if you're doing the vacation right.  But yes, that is always enjoyable.  But sometimes it's just not worth it.  One load of laundry at the local laundromat here in Croatia is the equivalent of $7 USD.

No thanks!
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If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
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RootofGood

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #63 on: November 19, 2015, 09:12:38 AM »
http://smile.amazon.com/Danco-Inc-Suction-Stopper-White/dp/B00G99DMVU/

http://smile.amazon.com/Coghlans-Adjustable-Bungee-Clothesline-length/dp/B000NUM8D4/

Oh, we did some of that in the hotel in Cancun when the little guy had some serious "bathroom issues".  Throwing clothes in the shower, pouring soap on them, then stomping until clean.  Rinse using scalding hot shower.  Hang dry from the A/C vent with clothespins. I discovered the free laundromat in the hotel basement the next day...  :/

Otherwise, a washer and dryer is a very nice convenience for laundry for a family of 5. 

RootofGood

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Re: Tried to explain to my friends about early retirement and failed.
« Reply #64 on: November 19, 2015, 09:15:32 AM »
Plenty of other people watching time, if you're doing the vacation right.  But yes, that is always enjoyable.  But sometimes it's just not worth it.  One load of laundry at the local laundromat here in Croatia is the equivalent of $7 USD.

Is that for popping quarters in a machine, or full service wash/dry/fold?  I hope it's the latter!  We were definitely willing to pay for a washer/dryer in the airbnb apartments we rented.  Mostly for convenience, but it might have saved us money since we weren't paying per load.  I think we washed something like 12-15 kg of laundry per week.