Hi everyone! I discovered this forum about 3 months ago and am loving it! Already I am making big changes and am seeing the results, at the age of 38 I wish I had discovered this earlier but I guess it's never too late!
I am 38, divorced with a 9 year old who lives with me apart from the occasional weekend with her dad. I am doing well compared to other 38 year olds but I know in this forum I am far behind where I need to be!
Since I started following MMM my savings rate has gone from about 15% to 50%.. Yay! (but I am still working on upping that). That's the good news, the bad news is I currently pay $433 a month for my BMW lease, feel free to face punch me! I truly do love that car though.. still, once the lease is over I will buy a used car with cash, lesson learnt! This year I am maxing out my 401K and have already maxed out my IRAs for both 2013 and 2014. Apart from the car, my other issue is my rental house.. my rent barely pays my mortgage and escrow but my tenants have been there for 4 years and really take care of the house. I originally bought the house to live in and then moved out for a relationship which ended shortly after (another story) and it really isn't the ideal rental house.. for example it has a pool which costs money to maintain. However, the grand plan is to move back into the house once my daughter graduates high school and I am not tied to the school district so I view my expenditures as tax deductible investments into my future home! It really is the house of my dreams so I won't sell it although I know on paper it's not a smart investment.
My plan is to retire when I hit 50 and my daughter graduates from college, that is doable but I will definitely have to stay focused on this blog! I enjoy my job but like so many of you, I don't want to be dependent on Corporate America, I want to work because I chose to, not because I have to.
A BIG thank you to all for your posts, they have taught me so much and I am thrilled to be a new member of the MMM community :)
