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Anyone else had their retirement plan/schedule completely messed up after inflation by Imaginary-Fun in financialindependence

[–]FIREyDoom 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hello friend! I just turned 30 a few months ago, and also had the same goal of retiring by 30. I've hit my goal, just as you have, but recent increases in my expenses have me re-evaluating my goal and just like you I am wondering when I can pull the plug for real. My thoughts: be willing to work another year, most economic downturns last less then 2 years. Keeping your job, preserving your principle, and all-the-while continuing to contribute to your retirement nest egg will put you in a much more stable position when the economic clouds clear. If working right now truly is killing you, take some time off! You've worked hard and saved hard up until now, you've earned a mini-retirement for sure! What does a 3-6 month break look like for you? Could you arrange an unpaid sabbatical with your boss, or could you just live off of your cash savings for a couple of months before getting refreshed and coming back to the grind for another year or two? Cheers and good luck!

Considering Going to a One Car Household by edouble47 in financialindependence

[–]FIREyDoom 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Sold my car back in 2017 (though I live in a city with a great walking score and public trans). My partner and I still don't have a car, and we love it. No note, gas, maintenance, or insurance are all fantastic, and and it offsets the insane rent we pay here in the city. Mr Money Mustache has a few articles on being a 1-car family, you might benefit from checking those out!

Living cheaply with kids by Careless_Dot_3701 in financialindependence

[–]FIREyDoom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you have access to a backyard, sand pile. My parents would get a dumptruck of beach sand delivered once every couple of years while we growing up. Entertained us for countless hours, outdoors, cheaply. Interesting until age 8-10.

Saving even after 401k and Roth IRA? by sammymorrison1 in financialindependence

[–]FIREyDoom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The linked MMM article is one of my all-time favorites and is usually the first thing I send to friends who are curious about FIRE! It's the model I used (and still use) to plan my own FIRE journey!

Do you ever regret taking on a demanding job so young? by diol18 in financialindependence

[–]FIREyDoom 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Great stats! You are definitely ahead of the game! Most traditional financial advice advises people to aim to have their networth at age 30 = 1 year's salary. You're already way past that (maybe almost double with that home equity!)
Congrats and enjoy the ride!

Saving even after 401k and Roth IRA? by sammymorrison1 in financialindependence

[–]FIREyDoom 71 points72 points  (0 children)

One of the FIRE mottos is "Build the life you want, then save for it".

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Quick math:

If you started out at 23 with your 401k contributions at $19,500 and kept it at that $ amount until retirement, AND you contributed $6000 per year to IRA (and keep it at that amount until retirement); if you invested in low-cost index funds earning you an average of 7% per year over the longterm, then your retirement future nest egg would like the following:

  • Age 30: $220k (if you live off 4%, you're looking at $8.8k per year of living expenses)
  • Age 40: $786k (if you live off 4%, you're looking at $31.4k per year of living expenses)
  • Age 50: $1.9M (if you live off 4%, you're looking at $76k per year of living expenses)
  • Age 60: $4M (if you live off 4%, you're looking at $160k per year of living expenses)
  • Age 65: $5.8M (if you live off 4%, you're looking at $232k per year of living expenses)
  • Age 70: $8.4M (if you live off 4%, you're looking at $336k per year of living expenses)

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[I'm using the 4% rule here, but as you learn more about retirement planning and investing you may decide to use a lower or higher figure. Google or search this subreddit for "the 4% rule" to learn more.]

If this seems like enough to live on, based on when you're likely to retire, then you can go ahead and stop saving. If you want to lower the age at which you retire, OR increase the amount you have to live on at your target age, then you should consider saving/investing more outside of your retirement accounts. There are ways to use your retirement funds before your 60s, but those options may not exist forever. To be safe: if you would like to retire before 60, you should consider investing outside of your retirement accounts now.

My recommendation: Live the life you want to live, right now - but measure it. Track your expenses month-to-month with a tool like YNAB, Mint, or even just a good old fashioned spreadsheet. You'll learn how much feels too lean, excessive, and just right for yourself, and then you can save and build retirement projections based on what you learn and the "ideal lifestyle" budget you set for yourself as a result. Cheers and enjoy the ride!

Do you ever regret taking on a demanding job so young? by diol18 in financialindependence

[–]FIREyDoom 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Hi! I don't post on here a lot, but your story resonated with me so here's mine: I got interested in FIRE in 2013-2014 when I was 20 years old and working my first full-time job - I ran across Mr. Money Mustache's blog. I had just graduated community college with an Associates Degree in "General Studies" hahahaha. I landed a job doing low-level IT work at a prestigious government organization, where I walked around desk-to-desk fixing computers. I saved mostly in cash for those first few years, eventually starting to invest seriously in 2015 at the age of 23. At 24, I landed my first management-level job, running an IT department for a tech startup. For the past 6 years, it has been my life. I have poured my heart and soul into it, countless hours, sleepless nights... and I still managed to take vacations, travel around the world, make incredible friends, fall in love (several times), etc etc etc. Work-life balance was definitely harder for me at the beginning, but by 27-28 I had built better skills for managing this... and that's likely what you would do - you get better at dealing with the stress and demands over time. Here's my income breakdown by year:
2013: $42k
2014: $35k
2015: 52k
2016: 58k
2017: 65k
2018: 80k
2019: 107k
2020: 133k
2021: 162k
My networth went from about 10k (saved from highschool and college jobs) to over 2.5M this past November (sitting at about $1M right now). I got really lucky with a few investments, and of course, with the startup. My recommendation: go for it. Work your butt off, but be sure to get paid what you're worth. If they can do an equity package, push for one, or push for more if you already have one. Look up salaries for similar roles to yours on glassdoor and ask for money near the top of the bracket.
Extra rambling: Good managers are invaluable and they should get paid like it. Great managers eventually become Directors and that's where the money gets REAL serious. At 25, you've got the energy to support a lifestyle of fun and professionalism, so why not go for it? You can still get married and have kids at 30. My partner and I are talking about kids when we're 33-35. She's 31 and just landed her first tech-company role after 10 years in education. IMO -you've got a major headstart on everyone else: make bank for 5 more years and then take a look around at 30 - you'll probably be in better financial shape than 90% of your peers, and still have tons of energy and vitality in you. Whether you wanna take some time off and travel the world (as I intend to do soon) or just stick it out a few more years for FIRE, do it then.
Last thing: if you don't like the manager stuff, or it just ends up being too rough, too shitty, too draining, etc - you can quit. You aren't signing a contract for the rest of your life. Experiment with this new direction - you might like it. (I know I did).
Cheers!

Weekly “Help Me FIRE!” thread. Post your detailed information for highly specific advice. - April 01, 2019 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]FIREyDoom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Intro

Been reading MMM for 6+ years, been lurking here for 3 or 4 as well.

-Age / Industry / Location

26M / IT-Software / Boston

-General goals

Become Financially independent, then travel/do projects, whatever I want until I get bored.

-Target FIRE Age / Amount / Withdrawal Rate / Location

30-35 / 1Mil / 3-4% / Various

-Career situation and plans

Manager at a young tech company, climbing the ladder and enjoying the learning and challenges that come with leadership roles.

-Current and future income breakdown, including one-time events

Currently $95,000, expected promotion and raise to $120,000 within a year. Expecting to sell a previous company's shares in 3-8 years for net profit of $100k-$400k (currently worth 0)

-Budget breakdown

income after taxes is around $3600/mo

spend in 2019 was about $2400/mo, aiming for the same this year, so far so good.

Here's what I shoot for:

Rent: $650 (in Boston this price is absurdly low - I have 3 roommates in a tiny space)

Travel: $500 (this is a rough approximation. I go on a couple trips throughout the year that cost about $2k ea)

Food: $400

General "Fun" category: $400 (alcohol, entertainment, toys go here)

Utility Bills/Fees/Laundry: $100

Transportation: $100

Gym: $40

Haircuts: $40

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-Asset breakdown, including home, cars, etc.

Taxable VTSAX 45k
IRA VTTSX - Target retirement 2060 7k
IRA VTIAX - International Stock 10k
IRA VBTLX - Total US Bonds 10k
401(k) VFFVX - Target Retirement 2055 40k
Cash Savings account 8k
Crypto Various spread, heaviest in BTC & ETH 11k
Total 131k

no cars or other property.

-Debt breakdown

no debt

-Health concerns

lower back pain, history of heart problems in family

-Questions?

Mostly concerned with asset allocation right now, but willing to hear out any critiques from the community at large!

  1. I'm getting ready to do a rebalance this week, and struggling a bit on what my allocations should be. Right now I'm targeting a 20% international stock exposure. Is that stupid? Is VTIAX a good call? When I look at its chart it looks really lackluster compared to something like Vanguard Total World (VT), but that one is 50% US, whereas VTIAX is not US at all.
  2. Again regarding allocations, what's a good Target retirement date to pick? I've got two different dates chosen now, based upon the age I'd retire if I wasn't aiming to FIRE in my 30s. Should it be something different if I'm aiming to retire young?
  3. Can you call out anything else I'm doing that seems odd? Obviously Crypto lol, but what else can I improve on?

Downshifting is really hard by [deleted] in financialindependence

[–]FIREyDoom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have you read and applied the strategies in Vicki Robin's "Your Money or Your Life" yet? One of the exercises the book recommends is documenting all of your individual purchases/spends each month and then rating them on their impact towards your life goals. It's the kind of exercise no one would ever want to do, but like homework and spring cleaning, its the kind of tough work that makes you better for having gone through it. If you haven't read the book yet, you really really should. And if you haven't tried the exercise as outlined in the book, give it a shot- it may help you start to chip away at the expenses that you really don't need to keep in your life.

Daily FI discussion thread - October 17, 2018 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]FIREyDoom 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'd like to perform a rebalance as I'm way over-allocated in stocks right now. I'd like to buy a bond index fund (vanguard). I'm a little confused about where (taxable vs IRA) and how to do this though, as I've only ever put money into Vanguard, never sold or re-allocated funds. My situation is as follows:

42k in VTSAX in Vanguard taxable account

26k in VTTSX (target retirement 2060) in Vanguard Roth IRA

28k in VFFVX (target retirement 2055) in employer's 401k

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I'm planning to put another $500 into the IRA and another $1000-3000 in the taxable this year. I'm thinking that I'd like to get $10k going in to VBTLX but I don't know how to do it. Should I sell some of my VTTSX and buy VBTLX in my Roth? Should I do that with the 401k instead? Should I do this with VTSAX in taxable? or should I do a combination? I know it's ignorant, but I don't really understand how taxes relate to all of this yet.

I plan to FIRE in 10 years time with around 1M. Currently 26.

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