Brainstorm for Another mid 30s Poster

[ZaraThustra]

Down

[Platypuses]

You seem to have all your ducks in a row for spending/ saving. Best opportunity I see for speeding things up is job hunting/moving up the career ladder. Law degree in a HCOL area can be pretty lucrative, that is unless you want to continue working in gov't.

BTW- you are not way behind on your net worth. Financial Samurai has a good post on above average net worth by age: https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-average-net-worth-for-a-30-year-old/

[reeshau]

Any particular reason you have 1.5 years of expenses in a money market?  Take that down to 6 months, and get it to work!

And yeah, the eating out / drinks / entertainment thing is nuts.  20% of your spend--really?

But kudos on the house and car.  Given the headline that you are a lawyer, I would not have guessed HCOL from those numbers.  Could be Midwest or Southwest, easily.

[Freedomin5]

Any side hustle / additional part-time work opportunities?

[ZaraThustra]

Thanks everybody, genuinely appreciate the advice and perspectives. 

Side hustle and/or moving up the career ladder would help improve ROI on the law degree.  100% doable. 

The money market / emergency fund is bloated... I'll work on that ASAP.

The food & drink expense is partially due to leaving my pocket of LCOL (and food in the fridge / free home entertainment) in order to maintain a social & dating life in a trendy local urban area.  But, NO MORE EXCUSES.  I have to work on it. 20% is insane.

Thanks again!

[ontheway2]

Honestly, you're doing great. Yes, you could cut your $500 lifestyle budget down. However, the fact that it is 20% of your budget is only because your budget is so low. You spend $876/month beyond PITI+HOA. Enjoy the urban lifestyle (within reason) for a little bit and make sure you are investing all the excess that is not accounted for in your budget. You are not behind with your net worth. Just make sure that what you are spending is actually worth it to you and not just to maintain the status quo

[Sanitary Stache]

Why have a house?  You mention home improvements are those to make your living space more to your liking or to increase the market value?  You mention dating - is the home part of a vision of your future where you have a partner/family?

What are your goals?  Is the house and dating/the bar a reasonable path to those goals?

How long have you been throwing money away going out?  I did that for a few years and it was not working/unhealthy for me.  It wasn't until I made big changes in where I spent my time that I found my partner and started a family. 

[ZaraThustra]

Why have a house?  You mention home improvements are those to make your living space more to your liking or to increase the market value?  You mention dating - is the home part of a vision of your future where you have a partner/family?

What are your goals?  Is the house and dating/the bar a reasonable path to those goals?

How long have you been throwing money away going out?  I did that for a few years and it was not working/unhealthy for me.  It wasn't until I made big changes in where I spent my time that I found my partner and started a family.

Thanks for the feedback!  Have been mulling over your points.  Mind if I ask what big changes you made?!

The house is an investment / just somewhere to live within a reasonable distance of work.  The upgrades were with resale in mind.  End goal is a permanent partner and a kid or two.  It's been about two years of throwing away the going out money at that rate. 

[bearman]

Living in a HCOL area and with a valuable profession like law, your most optimal impact would be:

1. Rent out your current house for a few years until you "need" it or know you want to sell and live in some unconventional low cost way like a camper/van or tiny apartment. This is an opportunity that goes away with spouses, kids, etc. It's just temporary but could net big $$.

2. Focus on getting your income to $200k+ (without lifestyle inflation). This is your biggest opportunity and feasible in HCOL + valuable profession area.

These together will super charge your trajectory. In 5 years, you could be over $1m in NW without much trouble. I'd stay out of real estate investing at this point unless you're already a guru or a big price drop happens.

You have great options! Good luck!

[former player]

You have an income after tax of $89k and expenses of $30.5k, which suggests a savings rate of about 65%.  You are doing fine.

Please don't take up the suggestion of trying to live in a camper van.  It will do nothing for your social life, your quality of sleep or your ability to concentrate at work.  Having a safe and comfortable base from which to go out and conquer the world (succeeding in a demanding and competitive profession division) is essential.  Your housing expenses are entirely reasonable as is.

For the rest, keep investing in low cost index funds.  Mustachianism can feel slow to start with, but over time the benefits of compounding accelerate and will take you to lift off sooner than you think  - the shockingly simple maths post suggests that with your savings rate this will take only 11 years and that's not counting what you've already accumulated - even not including the equity in your home, the $260k you've already invested/saved knocks several years off that.

The one thing I would say is: take that $500 a month you are wasting on unproductive activities and divert it into finding something productive to do with your time, or several different somethings. Not only will this make your life better it's likely to bring you closer to finding someone with whom to share your longer-term family goals.

[ZMonet]

Echoing former player that you shouldn't change things up too much as you're doing fine.  Along those lines, no need to go up to $200k+.  That would require you to leave government and likely go into Big Law.  Believe me, you'd likely burn out quickly from that, especially after coming from your current situation.

[Steeze]

Spend the portion of the $500 you spend at the bar / restaurants on active hobbies. Take classes like yoga, kickboxing, or CrossFit. Join a rock climbing gym or spend the money on travel to local hiking destinations, invite your friends. Think of other hobbies which include group social activity like dance lessons, photography club, indoor soccer, etc.

Obviously these specific examples are not the point ... the point is don’t look for friends/ love at a bar or you will have friends or a lover that goes to the bar all the time. $50/wk for ______ lessons sounds expensive, but it’s cheaper that $500/mo on wining and dining, and will be more fulfilling.

[jeroly]

With non-house savings of $277k, annual savings of $58k, and expenses of $31k, you're on track to FIRE at age 42 with a WR of 3 1/3% (assumes asset growth of 6%, savings amount growth of 4%, mortgage payoff is offset by new expenses, no SS income, so fairly conservative assumptions).

Even if your expenses were to double, you'd still be on track to FIRE between 46 and 47 (with WR between 3 1/3% and 4%).

Seems like you're doing just fine!

[ZaraThustra]

Thanks for all of the input, everyone!!! My turn to put it to good use, and pay it forward.

(Just as a side note: I've had friends of friends do the camper van idea.  One actually did a camper, and another lived on a sailboat.  I personally see that more as a post-FIRE activity.  Other threads cover those concepts, so I'll leave it there. )

Thank you!!!!

[Sanitary Stache]

The big change I made was that I left my job and through hiked the Appalachian Trail. 
I started a relationship on the trail which ended when the trail was over, but it reminded me that I don't meet people in bars I meet them at work or with friends and doing the things I enjoy.
It also helped me discover my priorities and instead of going out aimlessly I started online dating and spending intentional time with friends.

The advice above about putting your energy and spending money into hobbies or groups is good and a practical suggestion for what I was thinking of.

[MoneyizHere]

minor quibs:  otherwise - your expenses are pretty decent (other than your going out budget - but even that is understandable - easily discretionary if needed) - and you're really ramping up your savings now that your loan debt is paid off.  It takes time to build it back up... but once its going - it keeps going.

1.  Insurance - not sure of the insurance coverage costs in your area - but you may save some on the home/car insurance if you evaluate the amount of risk you're willing to have.  Coverage wise - you may want to go liability only on the car.  And how much coverage do you need on a house (seems like its a coop/townhouse/condo situation? - premiums for car/house insurance could be halved.)?

2.   Income - look to increase your income- whether you're happy/not with your current work situation start posting and interviewing just to see whats out there.  Then if you get a nice offer - weigh the costs and dangle it to your employer to see if they'd match if you like your current situation (or negotiate additional leave or something in-tangible).  Not sure if govt job allows for much flex in that matter - but I'd say its worth a shot at - considering your profession is quite portable.  Also evaluate whether you could work in a locale that avoids that local income tax - plenty of cities that do not have that.  And probably lower cost of living comparatively.   

Ultimately you're doing a fantastic job. 

[ebella]

Um can you just give me your job?  As a 34 yo former govt worker who switched to firm to pay off student loans and recently got fired, I am trying to get back in govt.  You seem like you are very well set up for success.  Madly envious.
And ignore people who tell you to make more money or side hustle.  (1) most govt law jobs actually forbid side hustles.  (2) If you are happy and secure at your job and living in your means, you're doing so great.  Going to a firm will generally make it exponentially harder to date and/or have a family.  Keep doing what you're doing and maybe just cook more at home and take fewer ubers?

[ZaraThustra]

1.  Insurance - not sure of the insurance coverage costs in your area - but you may save some on the home/car insurance if you evaluate the amount of risk you're willing to have.  Coverage wise - you may want to go liability only on the car.  And how much coverage do you need on a house (seems like its a coop/townhouse/condo situation? - premiums for car/house insurance could be halved.)?

Thanks for the feedback.  My annual insurance numbers (~800 for car, and -- I actually overestimated a bit in my OP -- but it's exactly $620 for house) have been a sore spot with me for a while.  So, maybe it's a reflection of my HCOL, but I've had a tough time negotiating them down.  There's some wiggle room with car (*knock on wood* no accidents, no points on license).  I recently dropped comprehensive coverage (but kept collision).  I live in an area that can be SUPER congested, so the risk of getting in a collision is high and the vehicle has enough value to justify the cost.  Homeowner's already has a high deductible.  I'll try to screen older posts for insurance advice, but it's not looking good.  Maybe I can just act like I'm self-insured, and raise the deductibles even higher / drop collision.

[SwordGuy]

You are doing great.   You're in the 97th percentile for net worth for your age in the US.

https://personalfinancedata.com/networth-percentile-calculator/?min_age=30&max_age=30&networth=446000#results

There are some other interesting items on that website.

I second getting out of bars and into classes and clubs that do things that really interest you.  Local community colleges often have continuing education classes that are surprisingly inexpensive.   DIY classes, too.   It's a good way to meet people.  Put that $6000 a year to work meeting the people you want to meet and learning the things you want to learn.

What do you like to do for fun?   What part of the country are you in?   We might have some suggestions for you.