Author Topic: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?  (Read 19803 times)

SDH

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #50 on: July 02, 2017, 12:39:23 PM »
Quote
I guess if I keep my head in the game here and just keep reading, it'll start to become more clear .  Thanks to you all for your replies!

YES! Give it time to come clear, keep asking questions along the way, especially the ones inside you that "feel stupid" :)     And you're welcome. I hope you'll check out Millionaire Teacher too. That's the one that felt and feels most accessible to me. Reading different excellent ones can help bring the picture together for you. (And my whole story in book form is linked to in my sig, but it doesn't detail investing...though does get into how to start approaching that.)

Thank You!  I'm just sitting here chatting with my 72 year old in laws that have recently moved in with us until they find a house (moved to our neck of the woods... I'm married to an only child)...they are very encouraging for us to try to make this work!  I may see if they'll just stay with us to offset routine living expenses so we can save more!  haha

Spork

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #51 on: July 02, 2017, 01:02:19 PM »
I have a question for you success story folks...Did you feel like you had to really be an investor smarty pants to pull this off?  I'm certainly not and kinda knocks the wind out of my sails when I think "can we really do this?"  Or were you more of the "max 401, max IRA, put everything else into stocks and viola, in 5 yrs your ready..."  (grossly oversimplified I know)

Not at all.

We were (are) higher spenders than most MMM folks... but we are vastly lower spenders than the normal person around us.  We've always been that way.  Just "not spending so much" and putting that money in index funds pretty much made everything work.  I FIRE'd "early" by normal-people standards... but late by MMM standards.  It was exactly 2 years ago at age 50.  We didn't do it in 5 years... but there was a 3 year work hiatus in there and a vast majority of the time we only lived off of one income.

In retrospect, the more we learn, the more I see how we didn't optimize things in one way or another.  Guess what?  It still worked out fine.  You'll see people bicker and argue over whether option A or option B is more optimized and how you'll be SO much better off if you just pick option A.  In the long run, I'm pretty sure "spending a lot less than you earn" is THE kicker.  The rest of it likely affects the speed of reaching FIRE... but maybe not the success rate.

SDH

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #52 on: July 02, 2017, 01:15:38 PM »
Did you feel like you had to really be an investor smarty pants to pull this off?

No.  I went the real estate route, and though there was a lot to learn, anyone can do it, no special intelligence needed.

And with stock investing, it happens that the simplest method is the most effective anyways.  Being an "investor smarty pants" is often a detriment, because you (incorrectly) think you'll outguess the market.

I heard your story in  a podcast, incredible!  We have 2 rent houses now, but I feel that's not quite enough to generate enough income, so thinking of selling one that has no mortgage and using that money to help fund our bridge years.  Our area didn't feel that big real estate hit like Vegas area did in 2008, NOR did we have the cash to jump on the areas around us that did get hit. (the suburbs got hit harder than the city, but we did get a good deal on a primary home in that time which is now the above mentioned rental that has no mortgage) I have few scenarios running through my head to try to make it all work out! 

SDH

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #53 on: July 02, 2017, 01:52:42 PM »
Quote
I guess if I keep my head in the game here and just keep reading, it'll start to become more clear .  Thanks to you all for your replies!

YES! Give it time to come clear, keep asking questions along the way, especially the ones inside you that "feel stupid" :)     And you're welcome. I hope you'll check out Millionaire Teacher too. That's the one that felt and feels most accessible to me. Reading different excellent ones can help bring the picture together for you. (And my whole story in book form is linked to in my sig, but it doesn't detail investing...though does get into how to start approaching that.)

Just scored a mustachian moment with a free audible version of this book with a 30 day free trial of audible!  I"ll be sure to cancel it before the $15/mo charge goes into affect :)

SDH

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #54 on: July 14, 2017, 09:50:58 PM »
I should probably put this in another forum category besides here, but your responses to my other posts was encouraging so I wanted to "find" you all again...(I'm a forum/computer illiterate so forgive me)

So I'm still trotting along over here trying to learn and I'm realizing I don't fully understand our current allocations :( 
The breakdown on the 401K fidelity website states the following: Asset classes: 89.62% Stocks, 8.40 bonds, 1.98 short term investments (which I get)  Also, the fees appear to be pretty low on these

But then the following:
HOLDINGS:
TARGET DATE 2035 49.43% - this is listed as unclassified in personal capital and I can't figure out how to list it between stocks and bonds
US LG CAP STK IDX 26.31%
EMERGING MARKETS STK 12.22%
US SMID CAP STK IDX 12.04%

Is this good enough to just have the overall 89% stocks, 8% bonds, 2% short term or do I need to figure out how to break this other list down more?

Also, we are contributing 20% with a 5.5% match in a T 401K...is that TOO much, should we divert some of that to the taxable account?

I'm still lamenting over what to do with the IRA's(transferring from american funds to vanguard) and what type of taxable account to open...any guidance/advice/opinions would be much appreciated. 

TIA

evanc

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #55 on: July 19, 2017, 03:56:12 PM »

Also, we are contributing 20% with a 5.5% match in a T 401K...is that TOO much, should we divert some of that to the taxable account?

I'm still lamenting over what to do with the IRA's(transferring from american funds to vanguard) and what type of taxable account to open...any guidance/advice/opinions would be much appreciated. 

TIA

For most people, all things being equal, you want to maximize your 401(k) contributions first, for the simple reason of tax advantages (compounding interest is a beautiful thing,  even more so when you aren't paying tax on it today).  If you still have additional income to save, that's great, and that's when you would put it in non-advantaged accounts.

markbike528CBX

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #56 on: July 18, 2019, 02:45:20 AM »
Insomnia?

But seriously, I still learn things, still want to help out in a minor way.
And as OP of the 2019 fire cohort thread, cheerleading is fun.

Encouraging people to FIRE as opposed to OMY is the most fun.  I would like to think I've had some success at pushing the indecisive to FIRE.

Parizade

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #57 on: July 18, 2019, 07:38:21 AM »
Wait..We can Leave?
/
Like whenever we want?

BWAHAHAhahahaha!
Thank god I didn't have coffee in my mouth when I read that or I'd have to launder my slipcover.

I am only 28 days into FIRE so I'm still in that decompression/transition phase. I don't know if I'll keep coming back forever but it is still quite relevant for me at this stage. Plus many of the people who post here are quite funny and laughter is the best medicine.

Fishindude

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #58 on: July 18, 2019, 02:41:19 PM »
Being fired, we don't have the annual work related income anymore, or the time / years to stash away a bunch more money, so it is probably more important then ever to make smart financial decisions.   Lots off good heads on this forum, you can learn a thing or two.

Dicey

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #59 on: July 18, 2019, 07:21:23 PM »
Love to see an old thread resuscitated. Also pleased that a good number of folks are still around. Thanks!

Rdy2Fire

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #60 on: July 18, 2019, 08:12:40 PM »
Well for me being very newly FIRE'd and not even sure I am, it's to read, to learn and to bounce things off people. Also, like some here, most around me don't know my situation and here I can ask questions of those similar

Basenji

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #61 on: July 19, 2019, 02:54:49 PM »
To participate in resurrected threads and scan for screen names of people I've never met but who are characters in my favorite imaginary book, characters who often have shared more personal information here than people I know irl

To remind myself to stay on course

avrex

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #62 on: July 19, 2019, 09:51:25 PM »
Insomnia

That's some serious Insomnia.

You got all the way to Page 8 on this subforum and revived a 2 year old thread.  LOL.

Dicey

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #63 on: July 20, 2019, 12:25:57 AM »
Insomnia

That's some serious Insomnia.

You got all the way to Page 8 on this subforum and revived a 2 year old thread.  LOL.
Another possibility is that you accidentally hit a spot on your screen that took you to an old thread. It's easy to do, especially when sleep deprived. #askmehowiknow

happy

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #64 on: July 20, 2019, 05:56:47 AM »
I joined in 2012 a financial ignoramus and now I’m FIRd. I’m not sure I’ve graduated completely from ignoramus status, but I sure know an awful lot more than I did. It’s been part of my life most days for the past 7 years. I like the mostly intelligent and humorous conversation around here that prevails. I’m still learning relevant stuff here.

I’ve made a lot of friends on this forum. A few folk I’ve met IRL. It’s all been a good experience. I hope to meet a number more in Canada at CM*TO this year. I won’t be able to keep going back to CM*TO endlessly so this forum will hopefully be the conduit of our ongoing relationships.

Now that I have a wee bit more time on my hands I try to make a small contribution to some posts to pay it forward.


Trudie

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #65 on: July 20, 2019, 08:55:33 PM »
Because this is the Hotel California...

Dicey

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #66 on: July 20, 2019, 11:35:56 PM »
Because this is the Hotel California...
Love this!

TartanTallulah

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #67 on: July 21, 2019, 12:50:05 AM »
Because I'm nosy. And for the Post-FIRE forum ;-)

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #68 on: July 22, 2019, 06:39:45 AM »
Because this is the Hotel California...
Love this!

You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!

Logans

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Re: So you've FIRE'd. Why do you keep coming back to this forum?
« Reply #69 on: July 22, 2019, 08:21:48 AM »
I FIRE'd 13 years ago and I just joined this community mainly for 3 reasons:

- All my friends are still trapped in the rat race and has been difficult for me to share with theme the ups and downs associated to this lifestyle.

- Sharing my experience. The things I learned in the past 13 years may be useful to someone who is just getting started.

- Learning from others, there is always room for improvement. :)