30 years old and want to semi-retire ASAP.

[Frost]

I hate waking to an alarm clock. I don't like wasting my life sitting at a desk and to do so for the next 35 years is unthinkable. I have a great imagination and a lot of interests that will fill up my semi-retired time nicely.

I am 30 years old. I think I am in a great position to semi-retire within a few years. I have no kids and don't want any. I have no pets and don't want any. I am not married and don't really care to be married anytime soon, possibly never. I have no debt. I rent an apartment for $440 per month. My gross income at my desk job is a little under $40,000 per year. I have about $10,000 in savings now.

I think I am done partying, so instead of wasting my money on going out, I can save 30 percent of my net paycheck.

I have considered getting rid of my vehicle, but that's not going to happen right now (I live in a town that isn't friendly to bikers and pedestrians). I might get rid of my vehicle at some point in the future, though, especially if the expense of the vehicle is the last thing that's keeping me from being able to quit my desk job.

I think I could live happily on $2,000 per month, so I want to find ways to make $2,000 per month so I can say goodbye to my desk job.

I currently know very little about investing. But I just opened a trading account online and am going to try investing in some stocks.

I am interested in and willing to buy a duplex and live in one half and rent out the other half (but I currently know very little about real estate and nothing about house maintenance).

I make about $100 of profit per month on eBay. I also make a little money on eHow. Right now, those are my only other sources of income besides my desk job. So I'm about $1,900 (per month) away from achieving financial independence.

That's all for now. Questions, comments, and advice are welcome.

[Gerbil Wheel]

Welcome. My suggestion is to follow your passion.

Many, including myself, are resigned to our cubicle fates, but see light at the end of the tunnel -- that is, we will soon have enough money to be financially independent or close to it.

You still have a lot of time to find your way and recover from any career setbacks. Follow your passion. No future employer worth their salt can fault you for that.

[bizlady]

At 30, your dreams may still change. If you think you can get by on 2k a month-- start doing it and see how it goes. You'll need to condisder if that includes taxes and medical insurance.

You say you make some money on eBay. Can that be expanded somehow? If you get that going, maybe you can shift to part-time.

You do not really have enough in savings-you may want to beef that up.

I would not suggest trading stock, but start learning about mutual funds which will keep you more diversified.

[Emeritus]

Sincere best wishes.
In my university environment we call that living a "monastic life". No sarcasm intended. It is indeed a materially simple life but can be very intellectually and socially rich. Academia is surprisingly full of such folks. They got used to living on a grad student stipend and just "stayed on". Very nice and bright fellow who runs the copy center has a PhD in French literature. We have a lab tech with a Phd in American studies. Both picked the job for its laid back requirements. Salaries are low and we treat these people well because we need them.

If it is not work itself but the particular rat race you are in that bothers you, look around for something more congenial

[ksr]

You sound like you might like Jacob's Early Retirement Extreme blog:

Early Retirement Extreme: — written by Jacob Lund Fisker, Freelancer

[Gerbil Wheel]

And the twin brother to following your passion...use your God-given talents somehow and you have a high probability of happiness. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to work 9 to 5 in the rat race though.

[TooFrugal]

How to make 24K a year writing articles -

Making Enough Money On Info Barrel To Replace Your Full Time Job - Info Barrel

If you learn how to make your own sites and get them to rank you can make much more, but then you have to know SEO as well as how to write articles.

I would suggest starting a side business. It could be writing articles if you like that, expanding your eBay business, blogging or whatever you enjoy. Invest your side income to generate more income. If you are lucky maybe eventually you will be able to replace your desk job income some day and just work at something you enjoy.

[Frost]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bizlady At 30, your dreams may still change. If you think you can get by on 2k a month-- start doing it and see how it goes. You'll need to condisder if that includes taxes and medical insurance. You say you make some money on eBay. Can that be expanded somehow? If you get that going, maybe you can shift to part-time. You do not really have enough in savings-you may want to beef that up. I would not suggest trading stock, but start learning about mutual funds which will keep you more diversified.

I already spend less than $2,000 per month, so I know I can do that part. I consider the $2,000 to be net, so I'd actually want to make about $2,400 per month. I pay about $15 per month for health insurance through my employer. So I'd have to pay about $85 more to get health insurance on my own. So now I'm up to $2,485 per month. (Sometimes, I spend only $1,700 per month, though, so $2,485 is probably on the high end.)

I have been looking for ways to expand my eBay sales.

How much in savings would you consider enough?

[Frost]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TooFrugal How to make 24K a year writing articles - Making Enough Money On Info Barrel To Replace Your Full Time Job - Info Barrel If you learn how to make your own sites and get them to rank you can make much more, but then you have to know SEO as well as how to write articles. I would suggest starting a side business. It could be writing articles if you like that, expanding your eBay business, blogging or whatever you enjoy. Invest your side income to generate more income. If you are lucky maybe eventually you will be able to replace your desk job income some day and just work at something you enjoy.

That's an inspiring article. I've never looked into Info Barrel. How is it compared to eHow? And for blogging, is there a specific blogging site that's already established, or would I be better off starting my own site and putting blogs on it?

[soupcxan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frost I pay about $15 per month for health insurance through my employer. So I'd have to pay about $85 more to get health insurance on my own.

I would not plan on paying $100/month for health insurance for the rest of your life.

[Sam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TooFrugal How to make 24K a year writing articles - Making Enough Money On Info Barrel To Replace Your Full Time Job - Info Barrel

Hilarious! I hope it meant to be a joke. Writing 1,000 quality articles in a month at $2 per article. I doubt the best writer can produce 10 quality articles in the same period. But "quality" itself is relative.

[Frost]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Hilarious! I hope it meant to be a joke. Writing 1,000 quality articles in a month at $2 per article. I doubt the best writer can produce 10 quality articles in the same period. But "quality" itself is relative.

The person wouldn't write 1,000 articles in one month. The idea is that each article would continue earning $2 per month forever.

[Frost]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soupcxan I would not plan on paying $100/month for health insurance for the rest of your life.

What would you suggest I plan on?

[obgyn65]

Hello Frost

You may wish to start with the basics :

Financial How-To Guides and Advice on Yahoo! Personal Finance

Personal Finance Investment - WSJ.com - Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, News - WSJ.com

and

Personal finance advice, news - CNNMoney.com

(that's where I started from a while ago, like you quite new to all this).

Also you may wish to use the "Search" function on this site to get more advice / information on specific topics of interest.

Good luck

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frost I currently know very little about investing. But I just opened a trading account online and am going to try investing in some stocks.

[TooFrugal]

Quote:

Hilarious! I hope it meant to be a joke. Writing 1,000 quality articles in a month at $2 per article. I doubt the best writer can produce 10 quality articles in the same period. But "quality" itself is relative.

You don't write the 1,000 articles in a month as Frost said. You just try to get to the point where you have 1,000 articles earning residual income every month. If you can write 2,000 words a day that is 4 articles a day. Do that every day for 6 months and then you'd have 730 articles.

Quote:

That's an inspiring article. I've never looked into Info Barrel. How is it compared to eHow? And for blogging, is there a specific blogging site that's already established, or would I be better off starting my own site and putting blogs on it?

I don't know how info barrel compares to ehow. I just get friends that ask me how to make extra money so I send them that article because it is numbers based and very realistic. There are many articles sites like these. If I were going to go that route I'd test them all out, and spread the articles around to the top 5 or so in case one of them went belly up.

You make more money having your own site or blog, of course, because you aren't sharing the profits with anyone but then you have to figure out how to get your site or blog to rank which is a skill in itself and a very different skill than writing. But top bloggers can easily make 6 figure incomes. On the downside, the competition is tough and most people will never make it. But if you like to write anyway it never hurts to hone your writing skills and some bloggers end up getting book deals or self publishing books and make more money that way, too.

There are also sites where you can sell photos online and earn royalty fees and some people do that full time. You can also flip sites instead of houses. Make sites on spec and then sell them. Just find something you enjoy and go for it.

[Emeritus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frost What would you suggest I plan on?

Our State wide plan costs out at $3500 per year per person. All ages all risks

Start with that

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emeritus Our State wide plan costs out at $3500 per year per person. All ages all risks Start with that

Could you link to this? It sounds like a home for adverse selection.

Ha

[Sam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frost The person wouldn't write 1,000 articles in one month. The idea is that each article would continue earning $2 per month forever.

My bad. Thanks for pointing it out.