Author Topic: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself  (Read 3317625 times)

FireHiker

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2500 on: December 16, 2015, 05:56:43 PM »
After reading every single MMM post from the beginning (took awhile!) and lurking here briefly, I've decided it's time to dive in!

A little bit about myself: I'm 37, my husband is 48. Three kids, all about to have birthdays, who will be 4, 6, and 15 within the next month. We live in San Diego and are both electrical engineers, although I'm in manufacturing management as of two years ago. I've been reading a lot about frugality, minimalism, and financial independence the past year or two and I'm trying to put it all together in our lives. I come from an extremely dysfunctional and financially irresponsible family, and have spent all of my adulthood trying to learn how to do things better. My husband comes from a stable, upper/middle class family and was taught well how to be financially responsible. We are mostly on the same page these days.

The good:
two 6 figure incomes
no credit card debt
cars owned outright (paid cash for them both in 2008)
Just cut cable two days ago!
close to $1M net work total, half in 401Ks, half in home equity (which doesn't really count until you sell, I guess)
2 mile commute, rarely leave a 5 mile radius
3 months emergency fund (could stretch beyond 3 months with increased frugality if desperate)
savings rate is currently 6% in 401K pre-tax (matching limit), savings rate is another 17% post-tax, without really trying

The bad:
one of the cars is an SUV (Honda Pilot). Husband not willing to change this, not a hill I'm dying on right now with our minimal driving
$25k loan for solar we installed this year (cheaper per month than our electric bill was, break even in 5 years and plan to be in house for 15, but we're going to pay it off in the spring)
two 401k loans out (one each) from buying our house, plan to pay off in next 3 years after solar loan
excessive monthly spending on food/eating out
we don't walk or bike enough

mixed:
huge mortgage on a too-big house, but bought in 2012 with 3.375% interest rate. Downsizing in half would not save us any money because skyrocketing equity the last few years (taxes, higher interest rates). Sitting on 40% equity right now, 30 year fixed loan.
indulgent cell-phone family plan, but no land line, corporate discount on the plan, and we keep our phones a long time with no contract. Ok for now.

My goals:
pay off solar loan in spring 2016 when we get our tax credit
pay off both 401K loans (~$87k total) before fall 2019
open vanguard account to make our money work for us
walk/bike more
waste less food
spend less money on food and eating out
teach my kids to be financially responsible
spend money on travel and experiences instead of "stuff"
continue to save at a rate that we can pay college as we go for oldest, and save up for the younger kids between now and then
retire no later than summer 2030 when youngest graduates high school (and we will sell our house and move somewhere cheaper)

Looking forward to getting involved here!

save_save_save

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2501 on: December 18, 2015, 01:17:18 PM »
Hi, I'm Mike. 
I'm new to the forum but have been lurking for a couple years now.  My wife and I are in the final few years of the accumulation phase.  For us, it's been a long process and we hope to FIRE in our late 40's.  Years of maxing our savings in the 401k is now rewarding us with plentiful balances and once I saw that happening, combined with the discovery of FIRE, we started to focus.   I owe a huge thanks to blogs like MMM, jlcollinnh, Go Curry Cracker and others.  When I first thought about retiring before 55, it felt like breaking the rules.  After reading about many people that are doing it, we became empowered to do the same.  And more importantly, through the process of trimming the fat off the budget we learned about what truly makes us happy.   

algebracyco

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2502 on: December 20, 2015, 08:11:42 PM »
Hi, I am James and have been lurking on MMM since 2012 and the forums since 2013, but first time posting.  My family and I live in the midwest and have no debt saving for FI (currently renting an apartment so the no debt part may be changing shortly as the family expands).

GreenRanger

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2503 on: December 20, 2015, 09:53:59 PM »
Hello everyone! 

I am completely new here, just found out about the site last week.  i have been reading here as much as possible, but there is a lot of stuff to take in!  I've read the main blog and am just starting on the forum.

Lately i have been feeling completely out of control with my own finances and need something to give me hope of EVER retiring, let alone early retirement.  i am certainly a late starter at this point (31 yrs old).  i cant believe I got to be this age and basically have never heard of any of these financial ideologies as a possibility.  So much for "traditional" advice. 

i hope that isnt too much for a first post, and i hope to continue here for a long time to come, i have loads of questions.  It is getting late and I have to work tommorow!!!

Macharius

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2504 on: December 21, 2015, 05:53:08 PM »
Hi everyone,

I found MMM about two weeks ago and have devoured every post!  I work in "balmy Minneapolis", to which I ride the bus from my home - which is about to become Woodbury as we've purchased a house there to close in several weeks.  My undergrad is in Physics, and I am currently working on my MBA in the evenings as a part-time student while working full-time.  I'm 33, married and have two boys (4, 1) whom I am hoping to bring up much more wise about money than their old man (me) as I have negative net worth due to grad-school student loans and some consumer debt.  I had been working on the latter prior to discovering MMM, but his advice on things to change has more than doubled our savings rate (on paper so far, but in the process of implementing)due to increased frugality and decreased driving from living within walking distance of a Super Target (for groceries only).  Supposedly a Costco will be built there in two years which will enable us to bike and then almost never drive again.   MMM has been a bright flash of hope that we will be able to finally, actually be able to get off the debt treadmill.  We're too far behind for FIRE to be a real probability on only my income, but at least "FI" will now someday be possible for us.

kskillz

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2505 on: December 22, 2015, 04:20:39 PM »
Hello all,

My name is kskillz and I live in colorful Colorado with my adorable three year old daughter and lovely wife.

I'll turn 40 in the summer of 2016 and I'm getting serious about achieving FIRE so I can spend my days with my family and enjoy the good, simple life.

Net worth is ~$830k, only debt is ~$184k remaining on our mortgage.   We've got 11 years left on the mortgage at 2.875%, I like to think that as soon as the house is paid off I'll be FIRE.  So hopefully I can get there before I turn 50!

Nice to meet you all and best wishes.

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2506 on: December 23, 2015, 12:05:04 PM »
Hello all,

My name is kskillz and I live in colorful Colorado with my adorable three year old daughter and lovely wife.

I'll turn 40 in the summer of 2016 and I'm getting serious about achieving FIRE so I can spend my days with my family and enjoy the good, simple life.

Net worth is ~$830k, only debt is ~$184k remaining on our mortgage.   We've got 11 years left on the mortgage at 2.875%, I like to think that as soon as the house is paid off I'll be FIRE.  So hopefully I can get there before I turn 50!

Nice to meet you all and best wishes.

Yay!! More Coloradans!! And you may be closer than you think to catching FIRE.

Heavenbound

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2507 on: December 23, 2015, 08:47:39 PM »
Hello all,

My name is kskillz and I live in colorful Colorado with my adorable three year old daughter and lovely wife.

I'll turn 40 in the summer of 2016 and I'm getting serious about achieving FIRE so I can spend my days with my family and enjoy the good, simple life.

Net worth is ~$830k, only debt is ~$184k remaining on our mortgage.   We've got 11 years left on the mortgage at 2.875%, I like to think that as soon as the house is paid off I'll be FIRE.  So hopefully I can get there before I turn 50!

Nice to meet you all and best wishes.

Whoa!  I think we were separated at birth!  Lots of similarities.

The Happy Philosopher

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2508 on: December 23, 2015, 11:08:25 PM »
Greetings!

I'm not new around here, in fact I've been reading since almost the beginning - maybe 3-4 months into the blog? I can't remember exactly. I've never been known for necessarily doing things properly (like having the first forum post on an introduction thread) but better late than never right :)

 For me it was not so much the financial side of this blog that helped me, but the psychology and philosophy of it all. Frankly, I knew I wanted FI soon but couldn't quite wrap my head around something so crazy like retiring at 30 or 40. The blog resonated with me like none other on the topics MMM writes about. It's been great kinda lurking in the shadows, posting a few comments here and there, but really reading about other people more than anything. Many of your stories on the forums have been just as inspirational as MMM, thank you for sharing them.

I'm at a place now where I don't worry about FI much any more. I know that at any time I could use the tools on this blog and others to make that transformation rather quickly. I've found peace and happiness that were not always there five years ago.

I'm at a place now where I want to create something rather than just amble along. Maybe I'm finally figuring out that self actualization thing that all these fancy psychiatrists talk about. I've begun writing (you can check out my blog if you like - link below), reading and thinking more deeply. I'm not sure where the future will take me, but I've sure had a hell of a great time getting to where I am right now :)

PhilB

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2509 on: December 26, 2015, 10:01:59 AM »
Hi All,
I'm yet another who's been lurking for a while since devouring the main blog.  I've always been frugal, but will never be a fully bad-ass mustachian I'm afraid - but that hasn't stopped MMM having a massive impact on me.
49 years old, married with 2 kids and living in Wiltshire UK. My plan was always to retire at 58 when my youngest finished high school, but that has changed to 53 now thanks largely to this blog.  We are probably at FI now as our spending in 2015 is just about bang on what we'd have for life if we retired now, but doing an extra 3.5 years will increase that by 40% which seems too good a deal to turn down - especially as I get to work from home 3 days a week and we can't go off travelling until the kids finish school anyway.  The extra cash will go on travelling and helping the kids with college and house deposits.
What MMM has given me is the insight to the link between money and happiness and changed me from living in fear of losing my job and not being able to get another, to realising that all my earnings now are pure jam.  It's also taken away all the worries about 'but if I quit before I've got this much then I won't be able to do that' as I now know that there are many more fun things to do that I can afford than that I can't and nowhere near enough time to do half of them.

SunnyMoney

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2510 on: December 28, 2015, 12:50:42 PM »
Hello all,

I'm a 42 year old woman, married, no kids and living in the San Francisco Bay area.  My husband and I have been FI for about 7 years and I have tried RE twice.  First time was 7 years ago and that lasted 18 months.  Then the financial crisis happened and I panicked and decided to go back to work.  Went back to work for a couple of years.  The economy started to look better so I RE for the second time and have been (mostly) enjoying it ever since (~4 years now).  Tried a "funemployment" gig which turned out not to be that fun and have been focusing on self-improvement projects instead.  My husband has worked all this time and still does because he loves his job.

I have been reading MMM blog for at least a couple of years but only recently started looking at forum posts.  Hopefully I can add some new thoughts to the conversation here.

Batastrophe

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2511 on: December 28, 2015, 05:35:54 PM »
Howdy - Mr. Bat here and glad to be part of the forums.  Found this site on the interwebs while looking at early retirement sites and immediately fell in love. I guess I'm a natural "Mustachian" with my only career goal being not to have one as soon a possible. I've always espoused the same values of saving more than one makes, ignoring the American materialism hamster wheel, realizing that life is made of memories and not stuff, and generally being a money badass in my own way.  Looking forward to meeting some other likeminded folks, having some fun and learning together.  Live in So. Cal, married to Mrs. Bat and, together, we're the 2 full-time butlers for our cat, Satire.

Best,

-Bat

Joe Bladi-Blada

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2512 on: December 29, 2015, 04:34:59 PM »
Hello, I have been following MMM since the Washington Post article in 2013. My wife just retired at 63 and my plan is to retire this April at 54. I don't usually participate in online forums, but I like the fact that there are so many like-minded people here, so I plan to take part in some of the discussions.

I have been working as a network engineer for the last 25 years, and I'll be glad to stop in April. It's not that bad, but as most of you know, this "work" stuff takes up a lot of time :)

I'm also a part-time musician, and hope to be doing a lot more of that starting this Spring.

I live in the Washington, D.C. suburbs and for now our plans are to get used to being retired ("detox" some people call it) and not make any other major changes right away.

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2513 on: December 30, 2015, 09:20:39 AM »
Hi everyone

So glad to have discovered the blog and I get a lot from that and reading peoples ides on the forum.
I am a transplant to the us from the uk.
I have been enjoying the biggest luxury for six years having two babies and raising them. As the youngest approached 4 I am preparing to return to work as a high school teacher.
We are not in debt...oh apart from the huge mortgage from being in LA and buying a fixer upper house in an area with good schools.

I have never done debt till I took this mortgage on. Worked through college so no debt from that. Never done car payments. Never done credit cards unless they are paid off straight away.

Why?

I was raised by a pretty extreme frugal father and whist resenting him at the time, I am now grateful for the lessons he taught.. I lost my first job as a server at 15 because I put my shirt from my Friday night shift in the dryer to be ready for my Saturday shift. My dad found it in the dryer which was inky used in emergencies, and he cut off the dryer plug. I went to work In a Wet shirt and they let me go that day. Pretty extreme. But his rationale was I should have washed my shirt as soon as I got in at 6 pm so I did not need to dry it that way. Debatable. But anyway he taught me that you don't do things unthinkingly and you only use resources up when you have no other choice.

Before I was allowed to learn to drive...taught by my dad of course although he calculated the exact gas use and insurance for my three hour lesson and I paid out of my fit around high school job. I had to learn how the engine worked, how to clean my spark plugs, I had to explain what was happening when I changed gear, in the engine, so I may have a chance of trouble shooting problems on the car I would one day get.

Suffuce to say I never took my driving test and cycled for the next 14 years till I took my test at 32 and bought my first car for $550.

Anyway as we age we see the weird things our parents did were to help us, even though they felt extreme at the time.
I am grateful for my dad's lessons. My husband had the opposite....no input. When I met him he was in debt just from living..maybe $20k. So he moved in with me lived rent free and paid off the debt in18 months. I had been saving since I started my first salaried job at 31. I saved half my income every year, living frugally, riding my bike to work. 

Then my husband list his job and was offered the same job in LA. I found out I was pregnant so we moved to LA 6 years ago. The savings from my 5 years working recently got swallowed up as our deposit for our house. So fir the first time in my life I have no savings and we cannot save on one wage. After paying for mortgage and property taxes (3200$)and house insurance, we have 1900 dollars a month for a family of 4. We pretty much use this all up every month on the necessities.

I intend to save my entire pay check once I gave one and I am working on finding that job. We recently got green cards all paid for by the company. So now we are free to go anywhere in the USA


Suffice to say I am inspired by the idea of buying our freedom by saving now. My dad retired at 55 and travelled Europe with my mum in a home made camper van he rigged out himself from the shell of a commercial van he bought used.

Anyone else living in an expensive city like LA? Should we be moving somewhere we can buy a house outright so we can save more each month?

We only have about 300 k, 150 of that tied up in a rental property that in ten years will be mortgage free. Mortgage 750 a month. Rent coming in is 1100 but the excess seems to get swallowed up with maintenance etc.

I wish I had got the salaried job in my 20 s of course, and bought a house then but what can you do? You gave to work with where you are today.

Our big dilemma is when the job for my husband stops as it will some day, do we move somewhere cheaper.
Our mortgage payment is a little less that it would cost to rent the home we have bought.
Sorry that was long.

Any thoughts?

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2514 on: December 30, 2015, 09:25:53 AM »
Sorry excuse the typos....on an I pad. The luxury massive apple ( my husband bought))died a year ago and now we all share the old typos creating I pad))

Thinkum

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2515 on: December 30, 2015, 10:49:21 AM »
Anyone else living in an expensive city like LA? Should we be moving somewhere we can buy a house outright so we can save more each month?

Any thoughts?

Welcome! I grew up in LA and moved to Dallas a couple of years ago. It is MUCH cheaper to buy a house or rent, however, like anything, there are trade-offs. There is a reason so many people rent in LA, the price to buy is ridiculous, especially when all the homes are getting older and older. If you are open to moving and are not tied to a location, I'd look at different cities/states. The US is a huge country with all sorts of different socioeconomic places to live. Good luck!

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2516 on: December 30, 2015, 11:06:40 AM »
Thanks thinkum.
We are open to moving, especially as my husband's job will come to an end due to his line of business. We have met lovely friends here. And our grass is green. We live waking distance from the mountains and our don just started at an excellent school that we walk to. He lives it so far. We get by on one salary and we just bought a house that we could easily rent out if we moved for a bit more than our outgoing  on it. Our grass is green but very expensive but we are very happy here. ButI know the good life can be lived in many places. How is Dallas? Did you miss anything about LA when you left? We spent so much in rent in 5.5 years...we jumped on a house that was a great deal due to it having a 50 s kitchen and bathroom. Neither of those will we change unless we have to. And we love living in the house and the area. It really makes us happy. So there is a risk there...we move to another state and can't replicate the happiness we have here. I am researching Colorado and Washington for living expenses right now. This forum is great!! As is mms blog of course.

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2517 on: December 30, 2015, 11:13:02 AM »
That sounds dumb.....we love living in the house and the social relationships we have. We know most of our neighbours, walk a few houses for play dates, have a small yard, loads of free stuff for kids to do, loads of amazing green spaces and wildlife parks minutes from us....simple things that really make for a high quality of life even though we have very little disposable income that we try not to dispose of😁

dogboyslim

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2518 on: December 30, 2015, 02:28:38 PM »
Hello,

I'm a 42 year old insurance guy.  Married to SAHM (for now) with three kids, 11g, 9b & 6g.  My goal is to FIRE between 50 and 55.

The good:
Retirement assets ~$720k.
Wife's retirement assets ~$500k
Mortgage: ~$30k, will be paid off in 2016.
Income: >$150k
2 cars 1999 & 2006 paid off.
I ride my bike to work often...>2 days per week.

The bad but I'm okay with it:
We have a boat that will require $120k in savings to support post FIRE
The 1999 is a big truck that gets 9 mpg to tow said boat
Kids activities run about $600 a month (swimming, soccer, Piano, Clarinet)

The bad we are trying to fix:
Dining out is crazy, and with 5, it runs about $50 a pop.
Emergency fund is only 6 months.
mid-term savings only ~20k
College estimates for the 3 kids range from 600k to 900k depending on school chosen and unknown scholarships

Current plan:
Cut back spending on dining out
Avoid replacing the suburban
Increase cycling frequency by 1 day per week to ~3 of 5 days.
Track spending
Mortgage payoff aligns with a bonus that is anticipated mid-2016
Then move all mortgage money to funding 12 month emergency fund and increasing mid-term savings
Continue to maximize savings to 401k

Our number: $2.8M based on 3.5% swr, no contemplation for future SS.  That gets us to 98k pre-tax per year which is 105% of spending after assuming a 30% tax rate.  I know this is uber conservative.

I have enjoyed reading the forums and plan to continue.  My biggest conundrum right now is what exactly to do for college.  I make too much for many of the assistance items, but not enough to just wing-it.

Thinkum

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2519 on: December 30, 2015, 05:41:54 PM »

 How is Dallas? Did you miss anything about LA when you left?


Dallas takes some getting used to, that's for sure. The thing I miss most about CA was having the mountains as my backyard. I lived in Pasadena and the Angeles Forest was a favorite haunt. Also having real forests and deserts within a couple of hours, not to mention the ocean. Dallas has a lot of diversity, which I like. It just lacks in the natural landscape. The people, at least in my neighborhood, are really nice. If you like where you're at, then no reason to move. You can always make money on the side while you're at home, if that's a concern.

alyxmj

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2520 on: January 01, 2016, 06:40:36 AM »
Greetings, I have been reading a while but finally getting around to being social. I have dogs, I cook, I play video games, I garden, I make new elaborate plans on how to remodel the house and landscape the yard every other week. My weaknesses include books, seeds, and power tools. Otherwise, I'm pretty boring and hope to stay boring for a long time. ;)

While I love the ideas behind mustacian-ness anyways, it is esp valuable when I have no income. Super anxiety of doom has kept me from holding, and now even getting, a job to support myself so working on meds and therapy before I go insane because I don't have the resources to implement elaborate remodel and landscape plans.

On the plus side, no income means I have not dared take on debt that I know I couldn't pay anyways and life style will not change much with extra income except reducing my self hate for the boyfriend paying all the bills and increasing the savings account.

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2521 on: January 01, 2016, 08:10:25 AM »
Welcome Aly! Oh that feeling of doom is so awful. I had it twice in my 20 s and it us paralysing and utterly depleting to having any quality of life. I feel for you.

What helped me was to just take any job till I worked out what I really wanted to do. That broke the paralysis overnight. I now accept that the propensity to anxiety is in my nature and I just breathe and do the things I don't feel like doing anyway. I am currently getting f ready to return to work and am getting a touch of doom thinking from the very prospect. Will someone employ me? Will I be rubbish at my job? Will I find it dull? Will I feel stressed all the time? It is

Thinking.Thinkum. Thank you...Dallas sounds nice if it has nice people. I love pasadena. I.love California actually but if course it is pretty expensive here. Still we compare it to London which was so crazily expensive....so we feel we have an amazing quality of life, even though we have to live frugally to pull that off.

alyxmj

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2522 on: January 01, 2016, 08:20:23 AM »
I wish taking any job were that simple xD

Mostly my anxiety is that of people. If I had my wish I'd work from home and never speak to another soul. But most jobs want things like customer service and meetings and idiot coworkers... Honestly anxiety meds are helping, but I still get sick to the stomach thinking of dealing with people sometimes.

Only social here cause its a 'good' anxiety day xD

Philip Marlowe

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2523 on: January 01, 2016, 01:41:05 PM »
Hello All - yet another long-time lurker on the forum/website.  I currently reside at the southern tip of the Northeast Megalopolis, although hopefully not forever.  Look forward to contributing!

CheapScholar

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2524 on: January 01, 2016, 02:22:29 PM »
Been lurking for a while now and finally signed up.  I live in Indiana in a very affordable town.  Wife and I both work in higher ed with household income of about 135K.  I'm 35.  My goal is to be totally FI by 51 (when my only child should graduate college, hopefully with tuition waiver by my employer).

Main path for financial independence is maxing out 403b accounts over the next 15 years. 

Working as a higher ed administrator makes the future somewhat unknown.  Not sure what opportunities might come up and where I might be living years down the road.  For now I'm saving like mad.  160K buys a nice home in my parts.  Property taxes are $1,800 a year which is laugh out loud funny when I think about the high taxes I was previously paying in Illinois.

Captain Mars

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2525 on: January 01, 2016, 07:13:28 PM »
Hi all.... figured I should do the obligatory introduction post.

My initials are MM so I feel at home! I only just discovered the Mr Money Mustache blog and all of the financial concepts within, and reading that damned thing has been like getting a sledgehammer to the head. I honestly can't believe how much it has made me reassess my life and how wastefully I've been living it until now. I can't believe how many bad decisions I've made and how much has gone right over my head before now.

So a little background. I live in London, UK. I was raised by a single parent and we moved around a lot, pulling what she called 'midnight flits', where you pile everything into a car and disappear in the night when you can't pay rent. Essentially, we were being chased by debt agencies and running from landlords all the time. I inherited zero financial acumen. In fact, the only thing I did inherit was a bad credit score... imagine, aged 18 filling in a form for my first Store Card and being refused due to bad credit, when I'd barely even had a bank account for 5 minutes. Insane, right?

Anyway, despite this, there is a frugal soul in me somewhere trying to get out. You have to have something of that nature when you've lived hand to mouth growing up. I was very frugal until I hit 19 when I went to University, where I was given a lot of very easy low interest credit and soon picked up bad habits. I also did an unpaid internship in London for half a year which gave me my first mountain of credit card debt, and it's been a downhill tumble ever since.

But the Mustachian way of life and the ideas I'm finding in this forum have shown me that I have a lot of reasons to be positive and that I don't need to be a wage slave, fighting the tide of debt forever. I turned 30 last May, and I got nearly a 30% pay rise the same month. I started plowing 25% of my earnings into debt repayment and always hoped to clear it all by the end of this year......... but now I'm feeling a lot more ambitious. I'm going to clear that debt AND I'm going to save every extra penny I can and put it in the UK Government's new Help to Buy ISA for first time home buyers, which will yield 25% free money on your end sum (you can put in £200 max per month and when you want to put down a deposit on a home, the Gov will give you 25% of what you've saved on top tax free, so say I saved £10k, the Gov will top it up £2500... not freaking bad).

Why? The first step to FI for anyone living and working in London is not renting. Renting is hell. I want to buy a home far away enough for the mortgage repayments to be miniscule, and commute in (with weekday couch surfing where possible) until I've saved enough to start making some investments, making all that hard work really pay at last.

I won't be retiring at 30(!) but by 40 I want to be a homeowner, working part time, investing in a small way, and by 50 I want to be investing in a big way and to be living completely FREE.

MMM says that FI is when you have complete command of your own time. Honestly that's all I've ever wanted in life, the thing I've dreamed of for years, but the trouble is, received wisdom has always been it's impossible - "the only way to be successful is to climb the greasy work pole, earn more and work all the way until retirement aged 68". That's what all my consumerist friends believe and I have also believed that. I feel quite foolish now.

I know what I have to do and I know I can do it. It's scary but I feel determination like I've never felt before, to learn everything I can about investment and financial management from now on. So thank you all in advance for all the tips, advice, thoughts and clarity you're offering here. It makes a real difference to newbs like myself.

Squirrel away

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2526 on: January 02, 2016, 03:10:45 AM »
I'm going to clear that debt AND I'm going to save every extra penny I can and put it in the UK Government's new Help to Buy ISA for first time home buyers, which will yield 25% free money on your end sum (you can put in £200 max per month and when you want to put down a deposit on a home, the Gov will give you 25% of what you've saved on top tax free, so say I saved £10k, the Gov will top it up £2500... not freaking bad).


I read about the HTB ISA and it sounds like a good deal.:)

Captain Mars

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2527 on: January 02, 2016, 08:02:04 AM »
I'm going to clear that debt AND I'm going to save every extra penny I can and put it in the UK Government's new Help to Buy ISA for first time home buyers, which will yield 25% free money on your end sum (you can put in £200 max per month and when you want to put down a deposit on a home, the Gov will give you 25% of what you've saved on top tax free, so say I saved £10k, the Gov will top it up £2500... not freaking bad).


I read about the HTB ISA and it sounds like a good deal.:)

It's pretty sweet and a great incentive to really work on saving for the future. The housing market in the UK is (I'm assuming you know, given your moniker!) pretty hard to breach in some areas. You constantly feel like you've missed the boat anyway, when your friends are constantly raving about how much the flats their parents helped them to purchase a year or two years ago are worth tens of thousands more now (ah, Londoners).

I'm not planning on buying a mansion, I want for nothing more complicated than a small bungalow or flat and the area I'm looking at still has options going for under £100k. Long way from London, but nice area and eminently commutable once or twice a week (and I'm not above couch surfing or eventual vanlife to keep my costs down).

My friends are going to think I'm mad but I think 'blaming my extreme frugality for 2016 on 'Aunt ISA' will help keep them off my back. ;)

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2528 on: January 02, 2016, 09:40:00 AM »
Welcome captain mars and scholar! I am new here but have learnt so much already. There are some smart imaginative people on this forum.

Captain mars. I just want to say you are doing great! You are only 30 and you have :-( the epiphanies! My husband was your age when I met him, in tons of debt, no clue about money. He had managed to buy a flat with 0 deposit though...when prices were below 90 k in outer London. Gone are those days. He had a similar background to you......very little money growing up...and he is by nature such a buyer and I understand that because as days sometimes we try and get what we feel we missed out on as kids.

But he is a convert now and you can learn this stuff! Especially here.

Smart move. Do not buy at the current crazy London prices. You don't have to. Your plan sounds great. If you can pull that off do it. You can pay off a 100 k mortgage in less than ten years releasing your funds for saving.
Don't beat yourself up. You are on track. You are in one of the most expensive cities in the world surrounded by those irritatingly smug home owners bleating on about what their house is worth. That is just bad form in front of friends who have not been given a leg up.

We almost bought in London a  3 bed good sized home 275 k house in destinations in 2007. We thought it overheated so pulled our offer. Just checked. Those houses now sell for 650......of course I gently wish we had bought and made a fast 375 k....but the following year we moved to the usa and now live in a home we love( with a stupid mortgage but not as bad as London).

You can't use too much energy on regret. It us just not pragmatic...I still do now and again though but try to curb it.

You are on task.

The only thing I would say is can you do a weekend job.
That is how I saved. I made about 100 quid a night with tips at a chain London restaurant. That was 13 years ago so I reckon maybe 150 or more now .oh banked every penny and saved 60 % of my main job...teaching. I had 100 k in 5 years...teaching paid 26 k starting and I only topped out at 44 k so it was not so easy to save in London but I knew I wanted a solid deposit for a house. Imagine if you did that. You buy your house in5 years.

Work hard and save now because when kids come along it is so much harder to do.
You have had the realisation which is the most powerful part of all this.

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2529 on: January 02, 2016, 09:44:54 AM »
And when I stay work weekends I mean Friday, sat, Sunday. I rang every separate restaurant in the areas where tips would be good....and told them to call me if someone rang in sick. Through my summer college break I picked up every shift possible. 7 lunches. 7 evenings. Saved every penny. Made my restaurant pizza last three days so kind of not spending on food. The thing is when you work that hard. You don't have the time or opportunity to spend. I call them my oilfield days.😊

Captain Mars

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2530 on: January 02, 2016, 06:02:50 PM »
Captain mars. I just want to say you are doing great! You are only 30 and you have :-( the epiphanies! My husband was your age when I met him, in tons of debt, no clue about money. He had managed to buy a flat with 0 deposit though...when prices were below 90 k in outer London. Gone are those days. He had a similar background to you......very little money growing up...and he is by nature such a buyer and I understand that because as days sometimes we try and get what we feel we missed out on as kids.

Thank you for the welcome! I never knew an epiphany would be such a blow to the head but it's really great - learning a lot here already. And your observations are very astute - there has definitely been a bit of overcompensation in my twenties for all the stuff I didn't have. But it certainly hasn't made me happier, and in some ways, throwing off the shackles of feeling I need to buy all this stuff to "keep up with the Joneses" has been the most uplifting thing I've experienced in a long time. I expect your husband feels the same!

Smart move. Do not buy at the current crazy London prices. You don't have to. Your plan sounds great. If you can pull that off do it. You can pay off a 100 k mortgage in less than ten years releasing your funds for saving.
Don't beat yourself up. You are on track. You are in one of the most expensive cities in the world surrounded by those irritatingly smug home owners bleating on about what their house is worth. That is just bad form in front of friends who have not been given a leg up.

Thank you! I have seen a few places well below that sum in my target area about 1hr 10mins north of the capital (via direct train link), and I am positive I could clear that mortgage in under a decade AND save up in that period. Before MMM I don't think I'd have found the confidence to declare, "yes, I can do this" though. When you have this kind of intransient background there is something almost mystical about home ownership. A real home of one's own... it seems like an impossible dream.

Also, don't worry, my friends don't know any better and I like hearing their enthusiasm for their own situations. Despite the poor upbringing, I managed to get two scholarships and go to an excellent private school for free (most stable period of my life!) so I think I got over begrudging others their good fortunes at an early age and learned to ride their coat tails. These friends are the types I end up renting rooms from (funding their mortgages but also just about allowing me to afford to live in London) which is very helpful in of itself!

We almost bought in London a  3 bed good sized home 275 k house in destinations in 2007. We thought it overheated so pulled our offer. Just checked. Those houses now sell for 650......of course I gently wish we had bought and made a fast 375 k....but the following year we moved to the usa and now live in a home we love( with a stupid mortgage but not as bad as London).

Windfalls are nice and all but you got to go to the USA (I'd LOVE that). Experiences like that count for a lot. :D

The only thing I would say is can you do a weekend job.
That is how I saved. I made about 100 quid a night with tips at a chain London restaurant. That was 13 years ago so I reckon maybe 150 or more now .oh banked every penny and saved 60 % of my main job...teaching. I had 100 k in 5 years...teaching paid 26 k starting and I only topped out at 44 k so it was not so easy to save in London but I knew I wanted a solid deposit for a house. Imagine if you did that. You buy your house in5 years.

Work hard and save now because when kids come along it is so much harder to do.
You have had the realisation which is the most powerful part of all this.

That's very industrious of you and an impressive way to build your funds up. Good advice, but sadly I have a 'but'.... my present job makes extra earning problematic (it's written into my contract that I have to seek express permission to work in any other capacity at the same time, even though there's no overtime pay and no bonuses allowed). Without being more specific, these rules are there for very good reason and come with the territory. But maybe I'll find something freelance (I do sell a few art bits online for pennies so I hope to build that side up more).

Lucky me, I don't think I'll ever have to worry about kids, so I can be completely selfish in my savings! :D

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2531 on: January 02, 2016, 09:21:31 PM »
Ok. So if you can't earn extra money you need to minimise the spending on your current income.
I am sure you have considering eliminating travel costs by cycling. I cycled from Brixton to roehampton...twenty miles round trip each day. That was quite hard in the winter but I spent 0 on travel. Obviously take your own lunch in. What else.....have night in out where people come to you to hang out rather than going out.

And you can always get a higher paid job. Trying to think where you can get a place an hour north for that price...Hitchin area maybe? Yes do that. 200 k with a good deposit will be a reasonable mortgage. We pay about 450 on the 55 k left on our uk mortgage.

Yes we love living in the usa, despite Trump, the guns and the capitalistic health system.it is a beautiful land of opportunity.

If it is not in your plan to have kids.....not selfish at all, probably a good turn for the planet....you could retire earlier than you think. But get a property paid off quick as you can. You always have to pay for a roof whether you rent or buy unless you can live in a camper van like the guy at Google!!!

Anyway you are well on your way just figuring all this out. We have few savings now we have ploughed all into our house, a huge mortgage, house maintenance.....so you will get there sooner than us, with an extra decade to play with.

Yes ...my husband did not really do the status thing but was just mindless with what money he had, boozy nights out,  buying loads of vhsvideos of every film ever made....he just gets excited about all the stuff he could only dream of as a kid who had very little. I expect that will always be in him to some degree. But I will always worry even when I don't need to, so we can only escape our follies so much.

Make it a game to spend as little as you can without being cheap or giving up the things that you value so much for what they give you. I love travel so made sure I got a few weeks of that even in the oilfield years....but always with an eye on the budget.

You will get so many ideas here. I am learning just reading threads other ways I can improve my life by not fluttering money.

Squirrel away

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2532 on: January 03, 2016, 03:42:43 AM »

It's pretty sweet and a great incentive to really work on saving for the future. The housing market in the UK is (I'm assuming you know, given your moniker!) pretty hard to breach in some areas. You constantly feel like you've missed the boat anyway, when your friends are constantly raving about how much the flats their parents helped them to purchase a year or two years ago are worth tens of thousands more now (ah, Londoners).


Yes, I know the type.:D We bought in the early 2000s with no parental help and our house has increased in value, but not as much as a lot of other people we know as we bought in a crappy area. Oh well, haha.

CharlieandFamily

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2533 on: January 03, 2016, 11:35:04 AM »
Hello all,

My name is Carlos (32yo). I live with in the Southern US with my wife (37) and our two children (2&3).  I came across this website within the last week and have already learned a lot. I am sure I will continue to learn and hopefully I can contribute some value to the community as well.

My wife and I married five years ago.  We are both college graduates; i have a business degree, she has an MBA.

Thanks mostly to my wife, we have managed to establish some healthy saving habits.  Other than our mortgage, a vehicle note (I know, I know) and less than $20K in combined student loans; we have no other debt.  We use one credit card (southwest points) which we pay off every month.  We max out her retirement account (401k), max out our Roth IRA accounts and have an emergency fund along with a healthy brokerage account balance. 

Couldn't be better right??...WRONG!

Recently I hurt my back lifting weights; luckily it was a minor (but very painful) injury.  However, it forced to me consider the possibility that at any moment, our healthy income could be negatively impacted by any number of factors. My income is comprised of a salary plus monthly commission.  As such, if I was unable to work our household income would take a significant impact.  This injury helped me realize we needed to take more control of our financial future. I want "real" security...not just the illusion of it. 

Plus, the idea of financial freedom is very appealing, if i might say so myself. 

As I previously mentioned, we have some healthy saving habits...but our spending habits...not so much.  Its easy to justify spending money when you've checked off all of the "saving for retirement rules" boxes.

So here I am...ready to learn and practice the MMM way. 

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2534 on: January 03, 2016, 05:03:58 PM »
Welcome Carlos. I think the trick is the sooner you realise this the sooner you can create a plan. Only ten years into your working life you are having the realisation sooner than many!!I am new too but realise I have been pretty frugal...But we have had a 6 year lapse where we have had two kids and one income and I have relaxed more into my husband's more somebody ways. No debt as I just haven't ever done debt...oh apart from the 519 k mortgage...ha ha.....there is that.

Chavak

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2535 on: January 03, 2016, 10:34:09 PM »
Hi all, new to the forum. Was directed here today from another forum and am glad I found it. Looking forward to reading through all the threads and posts.

Today was my first day of retirement. While I didn't quite make it by 30 (I'm 61), it's younger than many other people get to retire at.
It was lovely to not have to go to work today, especially since there was snow and freezing rain. Looking to doing not much of anything for a week,
and then getting down to doing all the things I have never had time to do before.

I have always lived cheaply but well. Was widowed last year and was shocked I could not get social security widows benefits because I was responsible
and I worked. So it got me thinking how to retire and get the benefits. Figured out how much I spend a month, and how much I make between SS benefits
and rental income, and decided to do it.

Hoping to get lots of advice on the forum.

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2536 on: January 04, 2016, 06:18:58 AM »
Chavak congratulations on retiring! I am so sorry you lost your partner. Welcome.

lavinfara

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2537 on: January 04, 2016, 07:32:38 AM »
Hi,  I'm a new!
Or not. I've been reading since two years. I finally decided to register as user so that I can get more out of the forum. Hopefully I will contribute too.
I'm 43 with wife and two kids trying to handle the rat race.
 
Greetings from Sweden
/lavinfara

lemanfan

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2538 on: January 04, 2016, 07:57:01 AM »

Greetings from Sweden
/lavinfara

Välkommen!  :)

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2539 on: January 04, 2016, 08:02:14 AM »
Welcome lemanfan. Well Sweden sounds a great place to.live apart from the short dark days.....you have a great country to be in by all accounts..

lemanfan

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2540 on: January 04, 2016, 08:04:53 AM »
Welcome lemanfan. Well Sweden sounds a great place to.live apart from the short dark days.....you have a great country to be in by all accounts..

Sorry, it's lavinfara that's new.  I've been here a while.   And yes, the days are short here now (almost pitch dark right now at 4 PM where I live) but on the other hand we have 20 hours of sunlight a day in the summer. :)

« Last Edit: January 04, 2016, 11:46:03 AM by lemanfan »

Midcenturymater

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2541 on: January 04, 2016, 11:02:39 AM »
Oops. Welcomelavinfara.

CharlieandFamily

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2542 on: January 04, 2016, 06:01:51 PM »
Welcome Carlos. I think the trick is the sooner you realise this the sooner you can create a plan. Only ten years into your working life you are having the realisation sooner than many!!I am new too but realise I have been pretty frugal...But we have had a 6 year lapse where we have had two kids and one income and I have relaxed more into my husband's more somebody ways. No debt as I just haven't ever done debt...oh apart from the 519 k mortgage...ha ha.....there is that.

Thanks for the welcome. I think u said it exactly right...about having a plan. Thats probably whats opened my eyes the most...being on here and seeing what people are working towards is very inspirational.

Hudstache

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2543 on: January 04, 2016, 06:26:10 PM »
Hi to everyone! I've been a lurker on MMM (mostly the blog) for about six months off and on and have finally decided to get down to business. While my larger goal is early retirement, my immediate goal is to maximize happiness through prudent financial choices. I'm hoping to find lots of useful advice and recommendations from others since two heads (or a whole forum!) are better than one. Hopefully my scenario provides enough new material to keep it interesting for everyone.

I've been a dentist for about twelve years now and have had the expected amount of related face-punch-worthy spending behavior. However, during the past few years, I've had increasing periods of financial sanity involving paying down debts and getting the wildest spending under control. This was prompted by my growing dissatisfaction with my career, specifically the high stress level and dwindling free time and energy. I'll search for the right place to post details and await a good punching!

Hudson

funcomesfirst

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2544 on: January 04, 2016, 07:01:56 PM »
Hi! I'm 38 & my DH is 36 and we both have bachelor degrees. We've both been fans of MMM for a couple (few?) years now.  We have a DD who's 4 and super fun.  I'm doing everything I can to help her enjoy life without all the materialistic things so many people think they need.

My DH and I have a lot of wild dreams and ideas that we talk about on a regular basis.  However, we finally took action on one...I recently approached my boss about cutting my hours back to half time and he is supportive so the beginning of 2016 will be a lot of conversations and negotiation because there will have to be a new position created for me.  Exciting and terrifying all at once!  I'm one of the lucky people who enjoy working with the people on my team (everyone - management, peers) so I really hope it works out!  It's amazing to me that our early retirement plans will not be derailed by this...yay for living on less!

Assuming the hours adjustment happens, I look forward to taking more responsibility for meal planning & prep as well as taking some time to focus on my health & wellness.  The biggest thing though is that I look forward to spending the before & after school time with my daughter.

kirby14

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2545 on: January 05, 2016, 07:50:52 AM »
30 year old Systems Engineer here. I just completed reading the entire list of posts starting at #1 and figured it was time to venture in to the forums now that I've exhausted my reading.

I'm happy to be a part of the group, now to flex my frugality muscles and get it going!

JrDoctor

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2546 on: January 06, 2016, 01:27:35 AM »

It's pretty sweet and a great incentive to really work on saving for the future. The housing market in the UK is (I'm assuming you know, given your moniker!) pretty hard to breach in some areas. You constantly feel like you've missed the boat anyway, when your friends are constantly raving about how much the flats their parents helped them to purchase a year or two years ago are worth tens of thousands more now (ah, Londoners).


Yes, I know the type.:D We bought in the early 2000s with no parental help and our house has increased in value, but not as much as a lot of other people we know as we bought in a crappy area. Oh well, haha.

A few consultants have voiced that they believe their colleagues in london made more money sleeping every night in their houses they bought with a mortgate than they did going to work every day as a doctor.  Housing sounds frothy in London, but with QE we live in funny times.

skuzuker28

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2547 on: January 06, 2016, 09:20:39 AM »
Hello all!  I feel fortunate to have found this site early on in my life.  I'm 28, wife 29, kid is 5 months and another on the way.  Started searching after I felt like I was in a rut with my current career path, but felt trapped due to our financial situation.

My dad is a Dave Ramsey fan, and we have been sorta-kinda been doing the whole debt-snowball thing.  We got married 4.5 years ago and had nearly $140k in combined student loan debt.  So far we have cut that in half, but I know we could have been even further along if we had been more frugal.

Got a bike last week and rode for the first time in 15 years.  All sensations to the contrary, my lungs did not explode.  Planning to commute to work on it, especially as the weather improves.

spookytaffy

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2548 on: January 06, 2016, 10:01:52 AM »
I'm taking the plunge! My DH and I have been married for 33 years and have 3 adult children. He's 58 and I'm 52. We have probably made every.single.bad.money mistake ever devised over the last 33 years. We've traded cars every couple of years, leased expensive vehicles, financed almost everything, have major credit card debt, etc etc etc.

Several years ago DH was downsized very unexpectedly (went to work one day and they said he was done) and, of course, we had no emergency fund in place. Consequently, our credit cards got maxed as he tried to find a job and we tried to keep living. We are STILL working on paying off that debt.

We live in a huge house in a tiny, rural town. If we lived on a coast it would probably be worth half a million or more. Since the kids are moved out, we purchased outright the tiny house he grew up in down the street and are remodeling it. It was built in the early 1900s and has no insulation, needs floors, etc.  We are gutting it and starting over. Because we're in a small town and he is very handy, we are doing the work ourselves.  Right now that house is not livable. When we get moved into it, we will do some work on the huge house and sell it. We currently have about 60% equity in the big house. We plan to use any profit from the sale of this house to pay off any remaining debts.

I am currently vested in several public retirement systems in Illinois where we live and also in Iowa where I worked for many years. DH has a small retirement account with his employer and we have a few small investments. DH has already decided he will have to work until he dies, which I don't want to happen, of course!

We are working hard to pay off as much debt as possible. We are cooking at home; getting rid of cable as soon as we can get out of the contract, etc.
 
We have a car loan (of course we do!) that we are about $5000 upside down on. I'd love to sell the car and get rid of that payment. We don't have the $5000 to pay off the balance so we are stuck with it for now.

Now, here's a dilemma.  I work full time in education--I have a master's degree and a specialized job in the schools. I used to love this work but in the last couple of years, I've disliked it more and more.  Lately I have to make myself even get out of bed to go to work. There are some days I just can't do it and end up calling in sick. My blood pressure is up and I've developed Type 2 diabetes. The stress is greatly affecting my health. The problem is money.   My "dream" job would be to get out of education altogether and go into retail.  I realize that's quite the change and a much lower "status" job but I absolutely love retail. I've been working part time in retail for 10 years while working full time in the schools. I would love to go full time into retail management. I'm weird, I know. I also am very aware that retail has it's own stress; however, it's not the same as making literally life-changing decisions on children all day long.

If I were to find a full time retail job, my income would reduce about $20,000. We could get by, but barely. Additional debt snowball would grind to a halt and we'd have no extra money for anything.  My current commute is 45 minutes each way; the job I'm wanting is walking distance from home. DH is working a couple side gigs that he's hoping will take off to supplement his income to make up some of the difference also. We are not counting on that; just hoping.

Am I crazy for wanting to switch careers? Actually, I know I am. But I'm concerned about my health, mental and physical. My goal is to NOT be in my education job at the start of next school year--no matter what!

If anyone has any ideas or thoughts, I'd love to hear them. Deserved face punches are welcome, but I'm already bloody and bruised for self-inflicted ones!!!!


filipmi

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2549 on: January 06, 2016, 10:42:42 AM »
Hi Everyone,
My name is Michelle.  My husband and I have a 19 yr old in college and were looking forward to financial indepedence within 5 years before I lost my job :(
But, this is just a bump in the road.
Found this site while searching for re-investing advice online, was impressed by content...and joined! 
Happy to be on here and looking forward to gaining more financial wisdom :)

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!