Hi,
This is my first post here. I'm 43 and I just discovered FIRE 6 months ago! Oh man, what would-I give to have found about about it 10-20 years earlier. But, it's never too late, I have a lot of catching up to do I first heard about it by reading an article about GoCurryCracker then by reading more about it I found MrMoneyMustache and this forum, which I have been reading for a while.
Current situation
My wife and I are Canadian living in San Francisco since 2013, we moved from Montreal, we couldn't take the cold and the snow anymore. I am working in the video game industry as a software engineer. My wife stays home because she is disabled from Multiple Sclerosis... this is influencing a lot of things I can do and can't do in relation to FIRE.
I have an OK salary for the city, but nothing close to what they make at the giant companies in the valley ... but my work life balance is excellent.
We bought a 5BR/2B house, a year ago, in the cheapest SF neighborhood before finding about FIRE, but luckily it's not a bad move, even though it is expensive. The house is less than 5 miles from my office. It's cheaper per month than the 1BR/1B apartment we were renting. Including the taxes and services, they end up at the same price per month. But now we are done with the 10% rent raise every 10-12 months.
I commute with my 10 year old motorcycle , I am close enough to use a bicycle, but I can't since I go home for lunch every day. With the motorcycle it takes me about 10-15 minutes each way, on a bicycle I would not have any time left to eat.
Our FIRE date would be in 2023, I will be 51, I want to have worked 10 years in the US to be able to get some social security later.
Changes made since 6 months ago
- Opened a Vanguard taxable account and contributing all of my bonuses and free money
- I will have more free money in the coming months, see below.
- Maxing out the 401k
- Taking full benefit of the company's match up
- Changed investment to what was closer to the stock index
- Downgraded the brand new 2015 Jeep Wrangler for a used VW Golf
- Downgraded cable and internet
- Can't cut it entirely, my wife is home alone all day
- Downgraded cell phone service, we went with MetroPCS
- Now buying groceries at FoodsCo instead of Safeway/TraderJoe
- Didn't even know about this place before reading this forum.
- DIY repaired the furnace
- DIY repaired of the water heater
- DIY built my own 10x10 shed
- Selling a lot of stuff on Craigslist... more to come
Work in progress or next steps
- DIY transformation of my first floor to create an 2BR/1B in-law to do some AirBnB rental.
- Why AirBnB instead of a rental unit, because we have tons of friends and family that comes from Canada to visit us in California, so we need the flexibility to keep the in-law for us when we have visitors. No no, we won't charge our friends.
- If I rent 10 days per months this should cut the mortgage bill in half. So more money to invest.
- Renegotiate Home, Car, Motorcycle insurances
- In Canada, changing my RRSP (401k) from managed to self, currently moving to Questrade.
- Then get some Vanguard ETF
- Open an IRA account
- Cancelled, our AGI is to high to get any tax return.
Questions and future investigation
These are some points that I need to figure out before I FIRE.
- Health Insurance when you FIRE
- With my wife's disease we can't go for the minimum insurance, we need something good with a low OOP maximum.
- Also, for the first year of retirement, can you receive health insurance assistance? is it based on what you will make for the next 12 months or is it based on the previous months!?!
- Move away from SF ASAP before FIRE where I could have a less paying job but a house that is way cheaper, so the net would be better and my path to FIRE shorter.
- Or I could look for a telecommuting job
- Where to FIRE?
- I know there are a tons of thread about this, I will continue to dig out information about that.
- I could a more important point if we want to move prior to FIRE
- Location we are investigating at the moment:
- San Diego, CA
- Portland, OR
- Texas?
- Housing looks really cheap
- British Columbia
- Going back to Canada, but where the winter are the warmest
- My Canadian RRSP would give us more money because of the exchange rate
- Cheaper health insurance
- More taxes
I will continue to read the forum and find new way to invest more money