Completely agree. My wife and I had the discussion a couple years ago about what to do with the extra money when the writing was on the wall. She wanted to donate it to charity now. I was more comfortable with the larger cushion for the time being since the ER concept has a lot of risk. I convinced her that we can do more good down the road by responsibly growing the stash ourselves for the time being. Then, when we do give it away, it can be a significant contribution to something we care about.
Right now, our plan is to support whatever local community we end up settling down in. We want to promote something we appreciate, which is town infrastructure that provides the opportunity to walk to where you want to go. So, we would like to establish sidewalks/bike paths/public transportation for whatever small town we end up with. The goal surely will change, but that is the intent of the extra money.
This definitely seems logical. As far as current donations, it makes more sense to let the money grow but you don't want to do that at the expense of your current/soon-to-be community. I might suggest going in with a ER rule of "5% of what we spend will be used each year towards our community" or something like that. If you are on 27k a year, then 1350$ a year into the community. Since you are military, I assume you know how exceedingly far this seemingly small amount can go in other countries. Then, later in life you can start making really big differences in communities because the money was compounding so efficiently (IE a orphanage organization or school system).
Either way, kudos to you. Maybe tweak the FIRE plan a little to include whatever commitments you and SO are comfortable with and establish it as a plan that can be recorded, actionable and accountable. :)
Why are we immediately pushing him to give it away? Let him get settled into this lifestyle for a few years! He is only 30 and will find things important to him in his 40s, 50s and 60s!
Back on topic.
How did you save so much being military!? By 29 and 30!? Do share!
I was just one of those weirdos who took the "This is Sally vs John" seminars seriously. The ones about compound interest and the comparison over the course of their lives. I spent most of my free time in high school working at Staples and using what I earned to pay for pilot lessons on the weekends. So I developed the skill of delayed gratification for something better than frivolous toys. I wanted to be a pilot growing up, and I considered that a way to get my toe wet.
I went to the air force academy in hopes of becoming a pilot, which I was fortunate enough to have reached the goal. And while tough, the free college, room and board obviously gave me a step in the right direction. I started consciously budgeting our $100 a month stipend to develop the habit of money management, and poured over investment books. At this point, I didn't know what I was going to do with my savings, but I knew then at least enough that a money cushion can provide food and shelter.
I met my wife there, and we started our journey together learning to be pilots. We both enjoy cheap hobbies and avoided lifestyle creep right out of the gate. Our starting pay was more than enough to provide for us, so every pay raise was just plowed into investments.
Due to our hectic lifestyle often on the road, we indefinitely delayed having kids. If we do, it will be one after we can retire. Not having to pay for child care helped out.
We started with two "old" used cars and maintained them well. We discovered MMM a few years ago after a rough deployment, and set our sites on a focused goal for our savings in case we decided to get out at the end of our commitment. More and more we are leaning that way simply because we have more interests we want to pursue outside of the military. We sold our oldest car and have enjoyed biking to work daily. We just have our small truck for when needed to haul things or go long distance.
MMM helped us refine our spending to a hyper efficient level, though we already were more frugal than our peers. We havent had a TV since 2012 or so mainly because we never used it.
We received a combined inheritance of about $60k from various family members, which went straight into investments.
That's about it in a nutshell. Simply focused goals and avoiding lifestyle inflation. Our investments are a few individual stocks, but the vast bulk is the S&P 500. The housing crisis was a test drive that drove home my academic knowledge that buy and hold, regardless of what's going on in the market, is critical. Buying consistently through the recovery provided rediculous returns. As we get closer to FIRE and interest rates rise, I will adjust our portfolio to have some bonds instead of 100% equity.
We recognize how fortunate we were to make good money right out of college while avoiding student loans, but there has definitely been an emotional trade-off with lack of family connection and the ever present theat of losing your spouse due to the nature of the job. Like anything in life, it's a trade off.
We're definitely looking forward to a more benign life after this adventure and having more free time to enjoy more time with each other and family.
