Hi everyone

[igni]

I just want to introduce myself and thank you for all the useful information available here.

I have been thinking about ER for quite some time now, and I'm about to take action
I recently became a father and that really did it for me, I just don't want to work anymore and my goal is to achieve a financial position where I don't have to.

I'm 33 years old and work for a Fortune 500 company. I have a good salary, stock options and awards and I really wish I could stop working when about 40.

I have never invested in my life and all the cash I have right now comes from Real Estate (I have moved a bit and sold in the old location and bought in the new one). I am also from Europe (currently in the US) and I'm planning to retire there. My last move was from Europe to here and I got a nice extra purchase power with the dollar being so weak at the time (+24%)

Out of the 3 steps I have "completed" step one. I have reduced debt to less than $1000 per month (that includes mortgage), I have reduced expenses to about $3500/month, and I have accumulated 130K in savings which is close to my yearly salary.

Now I'm approaching step 2, invest and grow. On a worse case scenario the yearly savings will be 30K for the next 10 years and adjusted to inflation every year, same for the monthly expenses.


What would be a good approach? any advice? Something tells me real estate can be a good thing but at the same time we're just waiting for the bubble to burst, yet it never seems to. I am concerned about the next 10yr mainly

thanks all
Igni

[HobbyDave]

For now, I'd suggest getting a large portion of your savings out of cash, and into investments. Save yourself the 6 month expenses "emergency" funds, but then put the rest into something like eTrade, Vanguard, Scottrade, etc.

I would recommend index funds from Vanguard (which you can get in any brokerage), such as:

60% VTSMX - Total Stock Market Index Fund (US Stocks, big and little)
25% VGTSX - Total International Stock Index (Foreign Stocks, big and little)
15% VGSIX - REIT Index Fund (Retal Estate - apartments, hotels, etc)

That will spread you out across all stocks, international stocks, and real estate. It should work, at least until you have a chance to make up your own mind about how to invest.

[igni]

Thank you so much for replying. What I meant with real estate was buying and renting homes around the corp campus.

What can be a good way to learn how to make up my own mind? I've looked and looked but I can't find a 101 on investing targeted at building growth for an early retirement

[Nords]

Originally Posted by igni

What can be a good way to learn how to make up my own mind? I've looked and looked but I can't find a 101 on investing targeted at building growth for an early retirement

Welcome to the board, Igni.

Start with the classics and branch out from there: William Bernstein's "Four Pillars of Investing" (especially a library copy) and Bob Clyatt's "Work Less, Live More".