Say Hi and Introduce Yourself

[burkevalocks]

Hey everyone my name is Alex I am new to this forum but I cant wait to contribute to you all, and hopefully help me out when I need it.

[ender]

Hi Everyone,

I'm Bill, Married w/ one 2 year old and one on the way.  We've been doing Dave Ramsey for 5 years. They took down their forums so now we're Mustachian's. We're finishing up 23k in student loan debt.  We live in a small town in Minnesota.

I like the articles on the blog.  I guess we're looking for support and ideas.

Small town in MN huh? :)

I did the Dave Ramsey --> Mustachian journey a few years ago myself and an from a not-so-small town in MN origianlly.

[MsChewieBear]

Hey, everyone. My husband and I hit a very rough financial patch due to some serious medical problems I had in 2012 (no emergency fund, so we ended up putting necessary expenses on credit cards because I was in the hospital and couldn't work), and we are still trying to dig our way out. Wish I had found your site about five years ago. We're slowly making a little progress, but I'm looking forward to learning more. I have been loosely following Dave Ramsey, but his website no longer has forums, and I tend to do best when I have a network of people I can talk to about certain topics.

[Tigerpine]

Good luck, MsChewiwBear!

Credit card debt is hard to get out of due to the high interest rates, but it's good that you're making progress!  I wish you and your husband the best!

[MsChewieBear]

Thanks so much!

[PFHC]

Hey, everyone. My husband and I hit a very rough financial patch due to some serious medical problems I had in 2012 (no emergency fund, so we ended up putting necessary expenses on credit cards because I was in the hospital and couldn't work), and we are still trying to dig our way out. Wish I had found your site about five years ago. We're slowly making a little progress, but I'm looking forward to learning more. I have been loosely following Dave Ramsey, but his website no longer has forums, and I tend to do best when I have a network of people I can talk to about certain topics.

Wlecome, MsChewieBear! I'm still a new guy, but there is tons of good info here and the posts I made have gotten great responses. Best of luck with your debt. Follow the things you learn here and it will be gone in no time!

[Urchina]

Hi! I'm Urchina. I live in coastal Southern California with husband and kids, have two part-time jobs that I enjoy, and currently use MMM (as well as the RE forums) as a vaccine/antidote to the, ahem, somewhat incredible consumption patterns present (though not universal) in my current hometown.

I enjoy my work so thoroughly that I'm not sure I'll ever retire (adjunct faculty at a community college -- such an awesome job!), but I think my husband may want to stop working eventually, so we'll plan for that.

Onward!

[mmuhlenkamp]

Hello all, I've been reading the MMM blog for a little while now and starting to lurk in the forums (so much info everywhere!).

I'm nowhere near full on Mustachian, but this site has challenged me to think more about what I spend my money and how I'd like to get to where my husband's work is optional (mine kind of is already). I work part-time from home (graphic designer/photographer) and my husband is a full-time engineer type. Me being part-time helps cause I take care of most of the chores and house maintenance, and make a bit of extra money when I do have work. We live well within my husband's means and have zero consumer debt.

I'm not great with investing type stuff (my eyes glaze over once that's mentioned) so I'm more concerned with getting more paid off on our mortgage and student loans paid off since those are things that are more tangible to me.

We have a decent savings account and we've gotten to a point that when something breaks or needs fixing on the house it's not a huge deal because we have the money for it already. The peace of mind with being more financially stable (if not quite totally free from the rat race) is a great gift to ourselves.

I look forward to learning more and hopefully I can give back some advice as well :)

[Monocle Money Mouth]

Hello!

I don't have any dramatic turnaround stories as my wife and I have generally avoided debt . My wife and I never had any student loan or credit card debt and my wife paid off her car about a year ago which leaves us with only our mortgage. Mostly I have been waking up from a slumber where I wasn't paying much attention to how our finances worked or where our money was going.

My interest in personal finance was piqued in April when I became frustrated with how slowly our mortgage payoff was going. I found an amoritzation calculator online and was appalled by how long it would take us to start paying more in principal than interest each month. I took a look at my savings account at my brick and mortar bank. It was paying pennies every month for a pretty decent chunk of cash. I moved most of it to a higher yield online account and threw a large chunk of it at my mortgage. I reduced my interest burden on the mortgage quite a bit, and earn much more on my emergency fund money. After that, I forced myself to examine some other parts of my finances that weren't optimized. I signed up for a rewards credit card. I have been in the habit of paying for everything with a credit card anyways. If I have to pay for boring stuff like groceries, gas, or unexpected repairs, I might as well earn a few extra bucks back every month. 

With all the money I threw at the mortgage, we were able to refinance to a better rate and shorter term. We went from a 30 year 6.24% mortgage to a 10 year 3.39% mortgage with the same monthly payment. I did all of this before I found Mr. Money Mustache mind you. It was nice to find a blog and forum that confirmed that I was on the right track to getting out of debt and finally being financially independent.

My short term financial goal is to get my house paid off in the next 3 years or less while putting as much into my retirement account as possible. After that, I want to work on early retirement. MMM has shown me the way forward and that I don't have to be stuck in an office job for the best years of my life. This blog and forum have been great for keeping me motivated with my goals.

[Tessiebee]

Hello all! I'm a newbie from the UK and I have been reading the forum for a while before joining. I love the open, honest and no bull attitude of the site and while its USA specific I feel a lot of the basic tenets are applicable worldwide. Thank you for everything

[mitko]

Hello, I am Mitko,

I am 28, and making good salary but have not saving much. Started reading MMM blog as it was interesting and I tended to agree with the ideas, then gradually read almost all articles and got convinced that I was doing the math wrongly.

Excited to optimise my lifestyle to greater freedom. My largest costs are the rent and going out and travelling.

I actually want to do a lot more of traveling (it is *worthed* for me) and have a lot of free time for side projects, so mustachianism seemed like a fun viable way to get this.

Reading though the forum it seems that this is positive community.

I am excited to join the community :)

[Mr. Michael]

Hello everyone,

So glad to join the MMM forums and see thousands of like minded individuals striving for more by living off less.

I recently took an early retirement from the normal 9-5 at age 36.  Ironically I work more now then I did before, but at least it's on passion projects of mine (family, blogging, investing, etc.). I'm fascinated by the relationship of mind and money.  I own a few rental homes, invest in dividend stocks, and P2P notes.  My equity is healthy, but cash flow is tighter now without my FT income... trying to ratchet down my monthly expenses by 30% this year.

Good luck to everyone on your journey to FI! 

[xdragoox]

Howdy Y'all!

MMM has inspired me to pay down my debt.

My story: I graduated with a Biz degree from a top 10 University.
I tried to be responsible for 2 yrs: worked 8-5, bored to tears,  decided at age 26 to pursue a dream.
Moved far away from home for 6 yrs and achieved most of my dreams, but they weren't financially smart.
I had crazy adventures, pursued a passion, and learned a lot.

Now I'm divorced and in debt, paying child support and working a blue collar job. Hurrah!
I never thought my life would turn out like this.
I'm in my early 30's and wide awake now.
My kiddo is the true source of my inspiration to get outta debt and save enough to leave something behind after I'm gone.

This is where I'm at in life and I'm not ashamed of it.
I'm done making excuses and blaming others.
This is my burden and I take full responsibility for it.

The good news is that I've already made some exciting first steps, including paying off 2 credit cards, and I hope to learn from all the Mustachians on here. Onward and Upward!

[GingerGirl]

Hello everyone.

I am a separated mother of two teenagers, trying to get out of debt. Just wanted to introduce myself, and look around at everything. There is a lot here to take in!

[Physicsteacher]

Hello Mustachians,

I'm a married 29 year old spendypants. I teach high school science in a tiny, high poverty (85-90% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch), rural school district in Arkansas. My husband is also 29 and is a journeyman electrician. Last year our gross income was $70k, but my husband recently got a raise to $20/hour and has been getting quite a bit of overtime and I took on some extra responsibilities at school that came with a $3k stipend. Our only dependents are two cats.

We have no debts. My degree in physics at the state university was covered entirely by scholarships, and my husband's degree in math was covered by his generous parents. We own a 2011 Nissan Versa and a 2002 Ford Taurus, both of which we drive way too much. We rent but are saving for a down payment on a house within the next couple of years; we might not buy yet but want to be in a position to do so. We're also on track to max out our Roths for the year, and I will qualify for a tiny pension at age sixty even if I quit teaching at the end of this school year. Overall, we're probably doing better financially than your average Americans yet are still deserving of a ton of face punches.

Our school counselor was forced to resign three days into the school year, and that has served as a catalyst for reevaluating my relationship with money. She was a caring, dedicated person, and that didn't seem to mean anything to my employers.  Now everyone at my school is stressed out all of the time, and I think it would be drastically less worrisome if we were financially independent. I really love teaching and might not choose extreme early retirement, but I want to have the option. Few things could be as liberating as having F.U. money. Also, while my husband loves that his job consists of playing with power tools all day, he's come to the realization that older guys in his field usually either end up transitioning to office jobs or find other employment. The guys over fifty who can handle and still want to spend forty to sixty hours a week doing heavy lifting are few and far between. So I'm no longer happy with being on track to retire comfortably in our mid sixties. 

We need to stop being satisfied with doing ok, step off this hedonic treadmill, and get serious about getting our lives in order. I'm hoping the Mustachians will offer their sage guidance as we do so. (Now bring on the face punches!)

[jordanread]

Hello Mustachians,

I'm a married 29 year old spendypants. I teach high school science in a tiny, high poverty (85-90% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch), rural school district in Arkansas. My husband is also 29 and is a journeyman electrician. Last year our gross income was $70k, but my husband recently got a raise to $20/hour and has been getting quite a bit of overtime and I took on some extra responsibilities at school that came with a $3k stipend. Our only dependents are two cats.

We have no debts. My degree in physics at the state university was covered entirely by scholarships, and my husband's degree in math was covered by his generous parents. We own a 2011 Nissan Versa and a 2002 Ford Taurus, both of which we drive way too much. We rent but are saving for a down payment on a house within the next couple of years; we might not buy yet but want to be in a position to do so. We're also on track to max out our Roths for the year, and I will qualify for a tiny pension at age sixty even if I quit teaching at the end of this school year. Overall, we're probably doing better financially than your average Americans yet are still deserving of a ton of face punches.

Our school counselor was forced to resign three days into the school year, and that has served as a catalyst for reevaluating my relationship with money. She was a caring, dedicated person, and that didn't seem to mean anything to my employers.  Now everyone at my school is stressed out all of the time, and I think it would be drastically less worrisome if we were financially independent. I really love teaching and might not choose extreme early retirement, but I want to have the option. Few things could be as liberating as having F.U. money. Also, while my husband loves that his job consists of playing with power tools all day, he's come to the realization that older guys in his field usually either end up transitioning to office jobs or find other employment. The guys over fifty who can handle and still want to spend forty to sixty hours a week doing heavy lifting are few and far between. So I'm no longer happy with being on track to retire comfortably in our mid sixties. 

We need to stop being satisfied with doing ok, step off this hedonic treadmill, and get serious about getting our lives in order. I'm hoping the Mustachians will offer their sage guidance as we do so. (Now bring on the face punches!)

Both arebelspy and his wife were teachers, and loved it. They also retired earlier this year at 30. Look into them. Also feel free to join in the Cycling challenges!!

[RonMcCord]

Hello, I'm Ron and I want to get into the FIRE lifestyle though I make less than most here.  I graduated school with an IT degree debt free thanks to a combination of going to a local state college, scholarships, and living with my parents.  However, when I got out, I couldn't find anything in my field because every job required 3-5 years experience or were upper management positions.  Right now, I'm 25 and I work for a small local business making $16k (just below living wage in my area), and though I like the work, I still live at home and would like to eventually move out and be independent.  I read all sorts of articles and was convinced that there would be no way for me to get out of my current predicament, then I read this graphic novel called Poorcraft which teaches a lot of the Mustachian principles, and it showed me that there were other options.  So I started looking around online and found the ERE and MMM blogs which go even further and saw even more options.  I'd like to get out on my own soon and become a full-fledged Mustachian, and I'm hoping to find people who can help me get there.

[Thinkum]

@RonMcCord: Have you tried networking with people in your chosen field via Meetup.com or the like? That would be a great way to find out about other jobs and find out how others have moved up to better jobs. If you have a degree in IT, I have seen a lot of peeps start out in the call center. I would think you have a ton of options, I wish you luck.

[RonMcCord]

@Thinkum: Meetup isn't really popular in my area. My boss' uncle is in software development though, and I contacted him on LinkedIn about career advice. I'm getting an A+ cert right now and that may get me a help desk job.

[spiderman]

Hi checking in from Plano, TX. I found this site from the bogleheads forum. I have been binge reading the posts from the beginning. We are a family of four. I thought we were pretty frugal but reading the forum and the site has opened my eyes to how much money we have been losing. Hope to learn a lot more in the coming days.

[Adram]

Hi all, I'm Adam from South Australia and I found this blog a few weeks ago and am about halfway through reading all the posts from way back.

I can't remember how I found it but whoever posted the link that got me here, I am forever grateful.

We have a pretty good joint income but were only saving about 20K in our offset account per year, despite my desire to pay the mortgage off ASAP.

Upon reading the first few posts I went through my CC statement and discovered I had spent 10K in the last year just on eating out at restaurants. And that's just my card, we didn't look at hers. Other junk spending was in there also.

Since then I have cancelled our pay TV saving $74 per month, moved our insurance to save another 30 per month, started shopping together and reduced our grocery shop by about $30 per week, stopped eating out almost totally (once per week max and only at cheap places is the deal we made together) and cooking much better food at home.

Currently moving our mortgage to get a rate reduction of 0.25% plus $2000 cash back. Also looking at changing the missus' phone plan to save another $30 per month, mine is a work phone.

Have also sent off the Vanguard application last week, and cancelled some credit cards so we have only one joint card, apart from one with interest free for a year that has a 12K balance that I keep rolling over. Luckily my missus is pretty keen on retiring ASAP so we are feeling like a team.

So I feel like we are making lots of progress quickly, should be able to save $50K per year, and once the mortgage is paid off that will skyrocket.

Planning to retire in 13 years max and hopefully 10. I credit this all to MMM, so happy I found this blog. We have started cycling to the store also :)

[Pinkleaf]

Hello everyone!

DH and I are mid 50's and I'm embarrassed to say, have zero set back for retirement. We did Dave Ramsey a few years ago, paid off all debt except the house and then got lazy. (I'm so dang mad at us!)

I started working with YNAB 7 months ago and seeing much improvement in controlling our spending.  I need help figuring out how to proceed on a few things but I wanted to say hi before I started asking for help.

I didn't come over from the TMMO forums but want to especially say hi to those that did!  That had to suck big time for you when you saw it go away.

[InvestingforFreedom]

Hello my countrymen,

Dan from Colorado. Stoked that MMM is right up the road in Longmont. I've been lurking for several months now and figured I should join the conversation.

Keep it simple for now.

[therixonator]

Hello Mustachians!

I'm James, I'm from London, England. My friend recommended this site to me a few weeks ago when I mentioned some of the money saving ideas I'd been putting in place. I've been totally hooked ever since, I've already munched my way through 200 blog posts and put a few more changes in place too. I'm 35, married, no kids. We're already quite thrifty but I never imagined that I could retire so soon. This blog has really opened my eyes to the possibilities and I've already got lots of plans swimming around in my head for FIRE. I've so far calculated it as 9 years and 1 month away, but I might be able to do it sooner. There are a few choices ahead though so I'm going to post a question to the Mustachians and see what they say.

Many thanks to MMM for all the great advice he's posted on here over the last 4 or so years. You've helped so many people realise the rat trap they are in and allowed them to help themselves out of it. Really sterling work, if the Queen finds out maybe she'll give you an honourary knighthood!!

James

[Jim Fiction]

Hello esteemed Mustachians!
My name, is case you hadn’t gathered already, is Jim! Although contrary to the surname in my screen name I am a real, live, flesh n’ blood person!

A little about me. I am married to my wonderful wife (Mrs. Fiction) and live in Connecticut. I just turned 31 last month. I am a bit late to the game in many respects, but better late than never, I suppose.

My financial picture isn’t pretty, at the moment, but I have a little bit of momentum building. It took me awhile to find a career. I worked in the restaurant business for 15 years while I figured stuff out (mixed in with some personal/health issues). I wasn't making a lot of money during those years and compounding the problem was a nasty habit to overspend and a love of material goods. It took awhile but I eventually was able to sort things out. Eventually I went back to school and finished my bachelors, and I am a few months away from finishing my masters. This year I first interned and then started full-time at an accounting firm. The pay is pretty good for someone fresh out of college - I just wish I started earlier in my life - so much lost earning/saving time! Many of my peers (people in my age group) are several levels, and thus several pay-grades higher than me.

I actually found the site/blog last fall, and started putting some of the practices into place then, and was able to make some headway on my debt situation. However once I started the internship, it along with school and wedding planning sapped all of my time and drew away my focus. I still don't have much free time now, but since I have the day off to go to a wedding rehearsal later I thought I'd taken a moment to introduce myself.

I am Jim and I am back into debt-crushing mode! Nice to meet you all!

[avocado]

Hello all!

I found out about this blog while reading a landlord website a couple of months ago (biggerpockets.com). I had just had a deal fall through on a rental property that I was trying to unload and was researching possibilities. While researching I heard about this site and read a couple of blog posts, did a few calculations of how much my debt was actually costing me, and then I was really bummed that the deal had fallen through b/c the cash would have solved my hair being on fire.

My monthly profit from the rental was $800/mo, whereas my consumer debt (cc's, car loan) was $1200, and if I sold (owned the house free and clear) I could eliminate ALL consumer debt and have an extra $400/mo, PLUS we would be able to get rid of our full coverage insurance ($50/mo) and just go with the state mandated coverage.

Not even 4 hours after realizing my hair was on fire, I got a call saying the deal was back on. Sweet!

In the next 2-3 weeks, my wife and I will have $0 consumer debt (we had $55K in credit cards and car loan at the start of the year). Now we can start focusing on student loans ($93,000). I bought a bike and I've ditched driving my son to school everyday, saving $10/wk in gas. My 4 yr old son now begs to go everywhere by bike, which is frickin' awesome to hear. I'm looking forward to doing more errands/appointments by bike and saving even more money.

Really excited about what's ahead! FIRE seems very, very possible!

[Sjalabais]

Employing more senses to live life is usually cheered upon by the kids - very cool! :)

[TVRodriguez]

Hello from South Florida.  I found this site through comments on the SimpleLivingForum.net boards, espcially from lhamo.  Nice.

DH and I have been fairly simple livers, especially compared to our peers (he's a physician and I'm an attorney).  His frugality was one of his attractions when we first met 15 years ago.  If people meet us outside of work, they are often surprised to find out what we do, as they expect more ostentatious cars, home, lifestyle.  We live in a 1250 sq ft house and drive old paid-for cars.

We had borrowed a lot for school (about $325k between us).  As soon as I'd finished paying off my student loans of $65k, I married DH 11 years ago and got started on paying off his loans of $260k, plus business loans of $65k.  Once those were gone, we switched to paying off the mortgage.  We paid off our mortgage ($335K house) in just under 10 years, with the last payment in June of this year.  That's $660,000 of debt payoff in our 11 year marriage (not counting my loans).  Our income has had its ups and downs, and we have experienced lifestyle creep for sure, but we're working on that.  Both of us work for ourselves and basically work part-time b/c we prefer a low-stress lifestyle.

We have 3 kids, ages 8, 6, and 4.  I'm 41, DH is 51.

I've found this site helpful to keep us focused, especially now that we are debt free.  It was easy to see the debt shrink and get a charge from that.  I find this site (and the simple living forums) run a strong counterpoint to the typical South Florida lifestyle of spend-all-you-earn, you-deserve-it, $300K-income-and-$0-assets, etc.  DH is a big DIYer and iconoclast, so this stuff is right up his alley.

New goals:
-fully fund kids' college funds,
-plow more $$ into retirement accounts (tax-deferred and taxable),
-reduce unnecessary spending,
-grow more of our own food,
-overall, waste less.

[somebody8198]

Hey everyone,

I am new to the site but have been reading for a few years. I love the MMM writing style and the articles really cut through the consumerist mentality that drives so much spending in the U.S. I truly believe that most people in this country COULD be financially secure if we could just reign in the bad spending habits.

I have lived a sort of proto-Mustachian lifestyle since 2007, when I graduated college. I learned the importance of low spending from my father. I watched the job market slowly circle the drain from 2007 on and then crash, while my coworkers squandered their incomes on expensive cars and nightly trips to the bar. This helped to realize the wisdom of saving as much as possible, and ignoring the typical "but you deserve it!" nonsense. Since reading the blog I have started investing more while maintaining my low spending habits.

I pay more for rent now than I did 7 years ago because I live alone, but otherwise my expenses are more or less the same. I rent an apartment by myself. I am unmarried and I don't want children but I would like to be married someday... provided it's to someone who shares my goals and spending habits! :) My goals are to have enough money to work without a regular salary by age 50 (in 20 years) and to have enough money to survive another major job market crash, which I think are completely achievable by saving 50% of my income and investing it wisely.

[CanaDuh]

Hello -

My name is Karl, and I'm new here - both to the forums, and to the concept of actually making plans for my future. I've always been of a frugal bent, so I'm finding a lot of kindred souls in the posts as well as the MMM blog.

I'll probably be making a more personal (and detailed) post [elsewhere] to ask for input on how I might approach my own unique situation and get started at 'making my money work for me' rather than just sitting in a savings account and doing nothing.

For now, I'm glad to be here and I hope to make some friends.

Regards,

Karl

[Crabbie]

Hello from Montreal!

Not really sure how I found my way here, probably randomly browsing investments sites and such. Been lurking for a few weeks, but I thought I should try joining the conversation. Always planned to retire early, saved in my 20's with the expectation of retiring around 40 although now with recent job changes/promotions I may end up doing it a lot earlier. I enjoy my work, so another few years isn't a big deal.

Stats:

Age: 35, wife is 33
Kids: 1 (1 yr old)
Estimated Net Worth: $700k cash (invested in index funds), $300k house (Estimated value - mortgage, 4 unit complex, we occupy 1 unit).
Yearly Income: $400k (very recent surge in income)
Estimated Yearly Spending: $30-40k

[lemanfan]

Yearly Income: $400k (very recent surge in income)
Estimated Yearly Spending: $30-40k

[LifeAtTheLodgeHouse]

Hello fellow Mustachians!

I am a turnaround story. I was a spendaholic who spent my twenties up to my eyeballs in debt and swimming in overdrafts and credit cards. I am 31 and have spent the last 4/5 years completely clearing that debt and now saving for a deposit with my husband. When we buy I want to be putting down as much possible cash as possible. I then aim to be clearing the mortgage within a few years. I promised my husband we would be mortgage free by 40 but between you and I, I plan for this to be a few years earlier than 40 (IF we stick to MY plan ).

I actually came to mustachianism very recently where I am ashamed to say I was still a spender/hoarder. I found it through minimalism where I realised I was drowning and struggling in piles of stuff and then buying more stuff to help with the stuff. I had a MASSIVE clear out and donated lots to charity and am now in a better place. What the minimalism taught me was that I don’t need stuff to make me happy, quite the opposite actually.

We earn average salaries and I went a spell without working (not through choice) and I realised I think I’d like to always work – but not full time and on my terms. I’m an accountant so there always tends to be contractors at year ends etc etc so would like to work contracting but know we have finances in place to know that it is a choice not something we have to do.

Also planning for a family in next year or so which I aim to do frugally. Children don’t need much! It does not need to be the best or designer! Foraging and walking or playing on the beach are going to be my goals!

My work place is very frugal, EVERYONE brings in packed lunches, people make their own coffees, don’t flash cash etc, they often BRAG about how little they spend so it has actually really helped working here with my new life goals! Today I actually stopped bringing in my fancy coffee to make at work which is $8 a bag, when I get FREE coffee – what am I doing?!? I'll still have my nice one I make at home so I don't need then fancy coffee at work!

My only hurdle I foresee is turning Mr Mars (the husband) into a Mustachian! He lets me deal with all the finances but he is a little resistant at times. He also wants to enjoy things whilst we are younger blah blah but I think we still CAN do everything but we just need to be super smart and sneaky about it! He likes to spend on bike things as well!

He is currently working away and I am literally begging him to bring the free toiletries home with him that he NEVER uses but I will!!!

Currently looking into cycling to work and saving on petrol!!! I have a bike and most of the stuff so think we will make big savings this way!! BIG, HUGE!  And the health benefits cannot be quantified! Going to do a test route at the weekend! ;o)

Wish me luck! x

[BeFalterm]

Hi! I'm Bettina, single, no kids, 53, live in NYC, pay mortgage on a studio co-op apartment, otherwise no debt. Just had a career change and want to retire at 62 at the latest. I feel like I'm in fairly good shape but of course there's always new things to learn and have found MMM so informative and helpful. Maybe I'll learn enough to be able to retire while I'm still in my 50s? I posted for the first time today with a question about my 401k rollover.

[primozaj]

Hello,

I just found this site yesterday via a link on the Google Fi phone posted on Facebook and I've been pouring through the posts, though today is my first day with the forums.

Since I started working in my current job in 2000 I've held the goal of being retired by 57 which is the earliest I can retire by "their" rules.  Since then I've gotten married; bought, sold, bought, bought, rented houses; and now we are dealing with a serious illness of my wife.  Throughout this I have been having a sinking feeling that I will never be able to retire.  This site already has given me hope and ideas for freedom.  I am taking note of poor spending habits and by changing those I feel I can get to the bottom of the debt that I do have.

I just wanted to introduce myself here and  then I plan on heading over to the "Ask a Mustachian" thread to ask for some advice.

Thanks!

[Quokka]

Hi All,

Another Aussie here, have been reading some of the posts and it looks like there are quite a few of us!

I'm a 37 year old engineer, married to another engineer (35) with a baby boy.

Didn't make much money in my 20s but I've have been saving and investing since getting my first solid job around 7 years ago and we're in reasonable financial shape. Have been reading the ideas in the blog and this forum, and I'm intending to step up the pace now that I've realised that the goal might not be as far away as I thought. If we can avoid any speed bumps such as unemployment, we might be FI by 45ish.

Looking forward to some fun and useful discussions!

Q

[zephyr911]

Lot of new people recently - welcome all, and enjoy yourselves. :)

Hello from Montreal!

Not really sure how I found my way here, probably randomly browsing investments sites and such. Been lurking for a few weeks, but I thought I should try joining the conversation. Always planned to retire early, saved in my 20's with the expectation of retiring around 40 although now with recent job changes/promotions I may end up doing it a lot earlier. I enjoy my work, so another few years isn't a big deal.

Stats:

Age: 35, wife is 33
Kids: 1 (1 yr old)
Estimated Net Worth: $700k cash (invested in index funds), $300k house (Estimated value - mortgage, 4 unit complex, we occupy 1 unit).
Yearly Income: $400k (very recent surge in income)
Estimated Yearly Spending: $30-40k

Fuckin' A! Won't take you long at that rate! lol

[shzm93]

Hi everyone!

I'm new and very excited to have found Mr. Money Mustache's blog. My husband and I spent several days scouring through most of the posts here and running some numbers. If we tweak a couple of little things we should be track to "retire" when my husband is 30 and when I'm 25. I'm not taking anything for granted though (we have a slightly-less-than-six-figures income, 2 investment properties with a 3rd purchase planned for 2016, no debt, and a good-sized cash reserve for a young couple) so I'm trying my best to pare things down. My biggest spending weaknesses: fast food and clothes. Ugh, it's SO easy to spend on those things but the costs add up! However, we are currently traveling/living abroad for a year which is teaching me a lot about how it's possible to live with very few material possessions. I hope I can keep that lesson in mind once I return to the States, and find other ways to cut back as well.

I'm excited to be part of this community and to learn from and be inspired by all of you!

-S

[Paul | pdgessler]

Hi all, 25 year old married engineer from Milwaukee, WI here.

After college graduation (May 2012), I didn't think too much about my student loan debt (~$25k) since it was deferred further by attending graduate school on a teaching assistantship. Graduated with my Master's degree in May 2014, got married, and started my career. Life rolled on. Around March 2015 I decided to start seriously attacking my student loan debt, and I've now paid off two of three loan accounts in seven months. Found MMM in mid-July and dove in, reading all the articles in order. :-)

My wife and I are already pretty frugal, but I'm always trying to find ways to increase my "badassity". I take the bus or ride my bike to work and try to use my car as little as possible (usually less than once a week). Just last night I used the UMGD to give myself a haircut for the first time. My wife approved, so I guess I did at least a half-decent job on that! haha! I also have a few side gigs, all things I enjoy that bring in some extra bucks on a semi-regular basis.

Looking forward to hopefully meeting some Mustachians in the MKE area (already seen there's a few of you out there) and using the forum to keep myself more accountable.

[ktk.ace]

HI I'm John from Taiwan and  is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. 

Currently doing my own business on ebay and yahoo auctions.

[Cheshires_Coins]

Hello everyone. I'm 23yo, from New Zealand, have been reading for a while and made maybe two posts about a year ago but never officially introduced myself on this thread, have made the decision to get a bit more involved in the forum and thought that doing an intro post here would be a good start.
I'm most of my way through a BA/BSc conjoint degree, working 'part time' (nearly full time hours though, night shift!) in an unrelated field (and actually quite enjoying that job) and really just trying to absorb as much as I can r.e. financial information. I don't come from a wealthy background (am only the second person in my family to go to university, my mother doesn't own her first house yet, nobody in my family really seems to be able to give me advice, you get the idea) and had real 'class shock' when I visited my partner's family for the first time. I had been reading MMM before that, but the difference really threw me, and made me realise that I'm just not going to get the kind of financial backing or education that he has benefited from and am going to have to make an effort to do it myself.
Currently flat-sharing with my partner, his best friend (who he is looking at buying a house with soon), another good (older) mate of ours and his (adult) son, all pretty decent creative types in our own ways, and looking at growing my savings up again following 6 months studying in the UK (where I was not legally allowed to work due to visa conditions), as well as unexpected  BS that left me and my partner effectively homeless for a few weeks when I returned to NZ (long story, we're okay now).
Dreaming of FI, building my own tiny house, and getting a small plot to grow my own vegetables on and maybe a couple of chickens, and doing a bit of freelance graphic design/web design on the side if the projects are interesting (art/design is my true passion but realised after year 1 of art school that I DEFINITELY did not want to make it a career, now studying Biosecurity)- all before I've even really started my career. I want to make sure that I start out right and keep goal-oriented through my working career.
Currently have a $45k+ student loan (interest free) through our government scheme which gets paid off through deductions from salary (my pay already partially goes towards it even while studying) joined Kiwisaver (our government-based retirement scheme) as soon as I had a job that made me eligible to receive employer contributions (matched to 3% of my pay) and aiming for a career in public service through local council or one of the Ministries (the main employers for biosecurity workers). No credit card debt, hire purchase debt or any personal loan debt, no overdraft. Looking at getting a small personal loan (towards a motorcycle, due to parking costs car commuting here is awful and our public transport system is still being overhauled, plus Auckland is super-sprawling) purely to pay it off to increase my credit rating, and thinking of getting a credit card for similar reasons.
I think I'm still at the 'peach fuzz' stage of Mustachianism, but I'll get there.

[sing365]

Hi all!

I'm 30yo, married, no kids (yet). My husband and I are both MBAs/professionals. I have been lurking here since April 2014. After following MMM for a while, I realized that we had enough "FU money" for me to quit my soul-sucking job. The stories on the forum really inspired me to pull the trigger, which I did in June. It sounds kind of crazy now, but before MMM I never even realized there could be an alternative to working as hard as possible for as long as possible. I also read YMOYL, which had a huge impact on me. 

We're now planning a move to a lower COL area (from Bay Area to Colorado). We're working on building our frugality muscles - quitting my job has been a real wake-up call on our wasteful spending. I'm hoping to find a more meaningful job with better work-life balance. We're also hoping to have a baby soon.

Finally, I'm interested in effective altruism. I think Peter Singer's The Life You Could Save might have been what prompted me to start researching frugality in the first place. I do feel an ethical obligation to become more frugal and to use my "spare" resources to help others. I'm also interested in reducing my environmental impact.

[Daisy]

Finally, I'm interested in effective altruism. I think Peter Singer's The Life You Could Save might have been what prompted me to start researching frugality in the first place. I do feel an ethical obligation to become more frugal and to use my "spare" resources to help others. I'm also interested in reducing my environmental impact.

That's beautiful. I'm going to have to read that book. Your thoughts on this align with mine.

[Micona]

Hello everyone!

My name is Mike and I am from Michigan. I'm 33, just under a year of marriage and have no kids.....yet. While I have always been pretty good with my money, things got a little too lax the past couple years. It's time to tighten things up!

I recently came across the MMM blog this past week and was given quite the rude awakening so to speak. After reading a few blog entries, I realized that I've been wasting a lot of money through out the years despite thinking it was all well spent. I've now been glued to reading all of the information I can and have already begun taking steps to add a few whiskers in my stash!!

[dalegendman]

Hi all!

My name is Andrew. I'm a 21 year old from the DC area. I recently finished college at a local state school. I have no debt but a very low income from an internship. Live with parents and am still looking for that first "real job."

I've been lurking on this blog for a few months and, honestly, have no idea how I stumbled across it. I figured I'd start jumping into some conversations. MMM has given me a real punch in the face by showing me that working till I drop doesn't have to be my life story, and how wasteful a lot of spending in our society is. Before coming across this blog I knew general financial tips like "spend less than you earn" but I assumed that working until you were 65+ was a given unless you hit the financial jackpot via the lottery, inheritance, or extraordinary luck and skill in business.

Even though I'm not making much money now, I'm glad that I have a clean financial slate and can put myself on the right track and avoid some of the money-sucking traps I already see my peers starting to fall into.

[VTD0918]

Hello everyone, I am a California state employee, 28 years old with 1 child, no debt, with a NW of $110k, currently making $60k a year. We are living off of my fiancée income (he doesn't make much..less than $25k a year) and investing my paychecks. We rent from his parents so this has helped us a lot in our savings. Plus, the convenience of having his parents there helping us with our daughter...watching her while we are both are at work. I can't thank them enough and is a luxury for us since we don't have to pay for daycare.

I just recently  got serious with my FIRE plan beginning of this year.  This year, I will be maxing out my 401k, 457, and IRA accounts. Anything left over goes to my taxable account at Vanguard. I will continue to contribute until I hit my FIRE goal of $1.5M. I will have a pension that I can tap into when I'm 50 years. I don't count on SS being there when I'm old enough to receive so I don't count it in my FIRE plans.

 Not sure how my fiancé thinks about being retired early but I have express my plans with him and since I handle our finances he's the type of person that will be on aboard with whatever my decisions are with our finances. He is only a couple years older than I am but he have said he would still be working when I retire early. That's fine by me.

I would like to FIRE between 2026-2028. Looking forward to using this forumn as a resource to learn about how ii can improve my financial investments. I love how this community all have a common goal that I can relate to.

Thank you!!

[Haimons Mustache]

Hello all! Finally got around to registering on the forums due to some changes I made today and felt the desire to share. I'm on target to hit the maximum in my 401(k) and Roth IRA for the first time in my life (42 years young) and am quite excited about it. I'm estimating to be FIRE ready in about 11 years, sooner if I can get my wife on board.

I've always lived a relatively mustachian life, not always by choice, but finding this community really put it all into perspective and streamlined all the things I "thought" I knew.

For that I thank you all.

[FiftyIsTheNewTwenty]

Hi!  I've been lurking for over a year, finally jumping in (it was inevitable).  I'm staying anonymous for now, but my handle is my story.

All my life I've been mustachian in spirit, but wiped out several times by business losses, medical bills, and taking care of non-mustachian family.  Currently rescuing Mom from financial ruin due to sudden and rapid onset of Alzheimer's, plus helping sister left homeless and penniless by soon-to-be-ex-husband. 

Right now I'm living with family in the Southeast until everyone's on a better trajectory, after which I will return to the DC area.  I've been there a few years and really enjoy it -- lifestyle and career opportunities greatly outweigh the expense, especially with the mustachian niche I've found.

At 50 and 51, my sister and I both need to create financial security for ourselves, while providing for Mom as her faculties fade.  It's not a pretty picture!  But I believe it's more than doable.

[jengod]

Been hanging around the forums for a few months but just found this introduction thread.

Am 38, husband is 39. We could probably FIRE now (paid-off house, $1m+ in investments) but DH is involved in a startup with friends and likes it for the time being. I am currently a SAHM who might start working again if/when I ever manage to get the kids (boys, 5 & 2) set up in school. (We are considering homeschooling them.)

We are a blend of spendypants and stoic/spartan. We have a weird hippie minimalist semi-DIY thrift-store lifestyle, but we are extravagant on date nights and the kids' education and other experiences. We grow some food in our city backyard and have chickens and all that, but also have two cars and take vacations and so forth. Really enjoy the MMM POV and the wisdom and suggestions from forum posters about further decreasing expenses and hedonic treadmill problems and socking away more in tax-advantaged and other investment accounts.

Hobbies include watching tiny house videos on YouTube, studying permaculture principles and reselling vintage children's books on Amazon.

[steviesterno]

Hey all,

Im Steve in Texas. This year I got married and we're expecting our first in January. That got me to really think about long term ideas and finances. I've been reading this forum for days and keep getting inspired, and excited to know that we're already doing some of the right things. I am fortunate that I've found a job I really like, and I already get paid full time wages for 4 days of work and 8 weeks vacation a year. (work in higher ed). My goal would be to work this same way but without needing money. unfortunately, I didn't read this 10 years ago. I'm just starting out on this adventure, but I want to be free to travel and relax, I want to retire my wife when she wants to since she doesn't love what she does, and be free to do whatever I want by the time our kid(s) go to college.

Some stuff we're doing in the right direction:
Bought "less house" than we can afford, fixed it up, and it's in a great district. The market is so crazy here that we lived for free since we moved in 10/2 last year.
mostly DIY in the house, collect rain water to garden, working on adding garden and vegetables
already commute MUCH less than average for the DFW area at 15-20 mins.
Buy only used cars
putting 20% my salary into Roth and 403b
Get free continuing ed through my job, and added 4 letters to my name last year
combined we get amazing health care , 4-6 % salary company retirement match
are good cooks and like to be at home
Paid off our wedding in cash last year.
no CC debt
have some equity in the house, other investments, but not much
combined salary of $109,000 now with her raise, but going to take a hit while she's out with the baby.

But the bad...
took out car loans for the used cars, still owe $15k between the 2. working on paying them off early
weren't able to put 20% down, but the PMI cost on top of the mortgage to buy was still cheaper than renting. going to fight that this year as the home values are up.
My student loan debt SUCKS. Since I started my own businesses after school and work now in education, I still have to pay back $230,000. that's going to be the biggest thing to tackle. man it's scary typing that number. It's the first step though.  My goal is to get to a NW of zero in a reasonable number of years. don't know what that is. 10? 20? Time to get reading...