Dreaming...

[Bankerwithabrain]

I started this thread 2.5 years ago and wanted to update where I am now.

I was laid off from my Investment Banking job during the crisis so the decision to leave the intense work life wasn't really my choice. I now work for another finance job with much better lifestyle but also much worse pay.


My current financial situation:
Assets:$320k (divided in stocks, money markets)
Liabilities: $10k (low yield student loans)
Income: $80k/yr

I am now 27 and don't see any chance of reaching that $1 million mark by 30. Definitely not that $4 million mark everyone suggested.

Sad...

 

[chris2008]

Oh well, it might be sad in one way but good for you in another.
In Germany we say "wie gewonnen, so zerronnen" (as it was gained it will be lost).
So if we gain something very quickly we will probably lose it quickly, too.

You have a job with regular not bad income and you are financially ahead of a lot of your peers.
The crisis has given you a chance to develop a more healthy lifestyle and a better relationship with money. It has also taught you about unpredictabilities in life.

All the best to you!

 

[explanade]

I thought the financial industry gave out the biggest bonuses in history last year.

This year it's suppose to be even bigger.

 

[jIMOh]

value life before setting really high savings goals.

This life is the only one you have. Enjoy it.

 

[Texas Proud]

I thought the financial industry gave out the biggest bonuses in history last year.

This year it's suppose to be even bigger.

They also laid off a LOT of people... not as many deals to do... more money for the people who were left...

 

[Martha]

Sad? Come on, you are richer than most everyone your age. You have a job that pays decently and has a better lifestyle than your prior job. I don't feel the least bit bad that you won't have a million by the time you are 30.

 

[haha]

Sad! Come on, you are richer than most everyone your age. You have a job that pays decently and has a better lifestyle than your prior job. I don't feel the least bit bad that you won't have a million by the time you are 30.

Martha, you have no empathy for the downtrodden in our midst. What has gotten into you?

Ha

 

[Sam]

Sad! Come on, you are richer than most everyone your age. You have a job that pays decently and has a better lifestyle than your prior job. I don't feel the least bit bad that you won't have a million by the time you are 30.

I was about to chime in with basically the same thought, only much stronger. OK, I'll do it anyway:

OP, you've got your priority all mixed up! It's time to look at other aspects of life. Money is important, very important, but not that important. Besides, as Martha pointed out, you're already doing extremely well for your age. Enjoy your new, more peaceful, less stress job. So what if you retire at 40 instead of sooner. Use the available free time now to learn to surf or whatever you want to do to enjoy yourself NOW. Don't wait until you're retired.

Sorry for the strong words. Reading your posts, I could not help getting the feeling of admiration and contempt at the same time.

 

[haha]

I was about to chime in with basically the same thought, only much stronger. OK, I'll do it anyway:

OP, you've got your priority all mixed up! It's time to look at other aspects of life. Money is important, very important, but not that important. Besides, as Martha pointed out, you're already doing extremely well for your age. Enjoy your new, more peaceful, less stress job. So what if you retire at 40 instead of sooner. Use the available free time now to learn to surf or whatever you want to do to enjoy yourself NOW. Don't wait until you're retired.

Sorry for the strong words. Reading your posts, I could not help getting the feeling of admiration and contempt at the same time.

I see you favor admonishment over comedy. And there is nothing wrong with that at all.

Ha

 

[Onward]

Doesnt' matter what your age: if you've got FIRE fever, and your plans evaporate, it's a sad day. Keep on chuggin', my friend. You'll get there.

 

[TooFrugal]

I'd suggest reading the book the Millionaire Next Door. You can find an excerpt online for free at -
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/stanley-millionaire.html

"About one in five of us is retired. About two-thirds of us who are working are self-employed. Interestingly, self-employed people make up less than 20 percent of the workers in America but account for two-thirds of the millionaires. Also, three out of four of us who are self-employed consider ourselves to be entrepreneurs. Most of the others are self-employed professionals, such as doctors and accountants."


Maybe you could look for something to do where you could be your own boss and make more money than you do now. If you enjoy what you do you may not even want to retire.

 

[Bankerwithabrain]

Sad? Come on, you are richer than most everyone your age. You have a job that pays decently and has a better lifestyle than your prior job. I don't feel the least bit bad that you won't have a million by the time you are 30.

I am a man with large dreams. They killed the last guy with one too

Isn't one supposed to feel sorry for someone that tries for a dream and then falls short? I haven't yet reached 30, so I still have a chance of being succesfull and I won't give up.

If a professional sports athlete comes in 3 place would you say at least he's still a professional sports athlete....

Don't get me wrong. I am very happy with the success I have had to date. But don't think for one second that it wasn't achieved without sacrifices: Living below my means, sacrificing relationships, and working through blood, sweat and tears.

 

[REWahoo]

But don't think for one second that it wasn't achieved without sacrifices: Living below my means, sacrificing relationships, and working through blood, sweat and tears.

I can see why you would consider that as 'sad'. Some things aren't worth giving up for money.

 

[growing_older]

I am a man with large dreams. They killed the last guy with one too

This is confusing. Are you suggesting your "dream" of early retirement is somehow comparable to Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech. What do you mean?

 

[Nords]

I am a man with large dreams. They killed the last guy with one too

There's a difference between enjoying a fantasy and working toward a goal...

 

[Bankerwithabrain]

This is confusing. Are you suggesting your "dream" of early retirement is somehow comparable to Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech. What do you mean?

For sure. We both want freedom...

 

[haha]

For sure. We both want freedom...

Son, you are traveling into territory only occupied by fools. A lot of narcissism is expected around here, but your level may be setting a new target.

Ha

 

[harley]

Isn't one supposed to feel sorry for someone that tries for a dream and then falls short?

No? Why would we? I never played bass on tour with Eric Clapton (yet), but I wouldn't expect anybody to feel sorry for me.

I haven't yet reached 30, so I still have a chance of being succesfull and I won't give up.

Is there another choice?

Don't get me wrong. I am very happy with the success I have had to date. But don't think for one second that it wasn't achieved without sacrifices: Living below my means, sacrificing relationships, and working through blood, sweat and tears.

You've definitely come to the wrong place. None of us had to do any of those things for our FIRE. Bunch of silver spoon suckers, here.

 

[kyounge1956]

I am a man with large dreams. They killed the last guy with one too

This is confusing. Are you suggesting your "dream" of early retirement is somehow comparable to Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech.

For sure. We both want freedom...

Son, you are traveling into territory only occupied by fools. A lot of narcissism is expected around here, but your level may be setting a new target.

Ha

+10!
I have so had it with people comparing themselves to Dr King when their situation isn't remotely similar. He was assassinated more than a decade before you were born, Banker, so maybe this is just ignorance on your part, rather than the combination of self-aggrandizement and totally unjustified self-pity that it sounds like to me.

First of all, that dream you're trying to cloak yourself in was for the benefit of people who were genuinely oppressed, both politically and economically. IMO, anyone who's been able to amass a six-figure portfolio before turning 30 doesn't even begin to fit into that category. I'm both black, and old enough to remember Dr King, and I can't remotely consider myself oppressed. (To a significant extent this is thanks to Dr King and the other Civil Rights activists, and the rest to my parents. I can't take any credit for it—it was handed to me, and all I had to do was not drop it.) I think, in the US at any rate, you have to go back another generation, to people of Dr King's age and perhaps also of his upbringing in the segregated South of those days, before you get to people who really understand, through personal experience, where he was coming from, or who can maybe draw comparisons between him and themselves without looking ridiculous.

Second, and IMO even more important, Dr King's dream was largely for the benefit of others, not for his own personal advantage. Can you say the same of your goal of accumulating a million by age 30? Sure, you are aiming high, and I recognize that it has required and will continue to require both effort and discipline on your part. To that extent, it's a praiseworthy goal. But even if you accomplish it, it will primarily benefit you, your family, and any charities you may support. It isn't going to win you the Nobel Peace Prize, and rightly so.

There really isn't any comparison at all between your (or my) dream of financial independence or retiring early, and Dr King's dream.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Here's an interesting link: Narcissistic Personality Disorder

 

[Texas Proud]

Heck... I didn't even associate his dream with MLK... they are so far apart that it never clicked in my head... until I read other posts....


Sooo, not much to add except that your dream was a bit hard to get... so failing is no big deal... and I can tell you that if I finished 3rd in a competition I would be thrilled... that would mean that I am at the top of my sport... oh well, moving on where I can add value or at least an opinion.....

 

[SunsetSail]

Here's an interesting link: Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Years ago wouldn't these conditions just have been described as blind ambition? IDK, but it came to mind when reading the description.

As a preemptive strike to those who would read it as such, I don't mean ambition related to window treatments. The OP doesn't strike me as the interior decorator type.

 

[kyounge1956]

Heck... I didn't even associate his dream with MLK... they are so far apart that it never clicked in my head... until I read other posts....

I think the tipoff was the OP's saying that the big dreamer he was comparing himself to had been killed.

 

[Texas Proud]

I think the tipoff was the OP's saying that the big dreamer he was comparing himself to had been killed.

I saw that and was wondering... who the heck is he talking about As I said, I just could not take the leap from the Grand Canyon that exists between the OP and MLKs dreams... others got it...

 

[Bankerwithabrain]

It was a joke! Wow, lots of stiffs...