First post.
Man the anti-spam on this forum is stronk :D
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Hi I'm Kahooli. I'm 30 years old, I have a bachelors of science in electron management, I live in the midwest.
I have made quite a few anti-mustachian mistakes in my life that I have been working to correct.
- I bought a new car right out of school (I still have it)
- I bought a house that was far bigger than I needed two years ago.
- I acquired expensive hobbies like woodworking and speaker building
- I have been addicted to video games since I was about 17. (I do mean addiction: when you struggle to stop that is what it is)
- I eat out way too much.
But then again I have done some good things. I paid off that car loan in a couple years, my student loans in a few, and until I bought my house always lived with room mates.
I have always been a saver/investor so I do have a reasonable 2x my current salary saved between retirement accounts, HSA, and cash. Not a mustachian figure by any means, but I haven't been living the mustachian way either. I still have ~75% of my mortgage to pay but I have no intention of staying here. In the past two years my LTR imploded, my good friends moved away, and my job started sucking a bit. I have calculated that my best option is to finish the renovations the place needs and sell next spring. So that's the plan!
For my next six months I have these minimum daily personal goals:
- Spend an hour learning and practicing my Norwegian.
- Cook every meal, and pack lunch for work
- Get up an hour earlier and do some sprinting/weight lifting before work
- Sleep a minimum of 7 hours
My short term goals are:
- Get all the junk I don't need on ebay/craigslist/freecycle etc
- Get the stuff I really want to keep hauled up to my parent's farm. It's free storage :p
- Empty my house of anything not essential to daily living so I can finish the work that needs done
Once I get that far I can start knocking out the intermediate goals of house reno.
Stuff:
I have a pretty large collection of expensive tools and test equipment. I have a problem letting people send things to the dump. I'm pretty sure if it came down to it I could get a license to be a steam fitter in my city and do residential steam as a retirement gig (I have had to do a lot of repairs and remediation to the steam heating system in my home).
But yeah, all my stuff is just a liability at this point. I have so much hobby shit. Much of it I bought and have never used. I'm sure I can resell most of it but I'll lucky to get 30% aggregate capital recovery. I have a motorcycle I don't ride anymore (mice ate the wiring harness and I just gave up on it mentally). I have all the shit that goes with owning a motorcycle.
Current savings rate:
I will save the maximum in my 401k this year! it's a first for me. 2018
I will save the yearly max in a roth IRA ( I have always done this) 2018
I have a HDHP again this coming year, so I should be on track for putting the max into the HSA as well (2019).
But I have not calculated the total rate directly. Rough figures are around 30% of gross income.
I could probably use a bigger emergency fund. I have built myself a treasury bill ladder that would last me a year of basic living expenses (ex-mortgage, I'm assuming to shed that soon)
I fully expect all financial markets to collapse soon. I'm excited to be able to dump a tonne of money into a bear market over the next five years. I have zero concerns over employment security. Right now my only worry is getting rid of my house. It causes me stress daily.
In general I think I'll be able to "retire" at 40 and start doing whatever. The numbers work in my favor as long as I stick to my long term plans. It could be sooner if I do a better job controlling my human impulses. Could be later. But I know it wont be 62, 67, 70. The idea of it makes my stomach turn.