Lurker finally dipping my toe in...

[always_learning]

Hi everyone!

I joined the forums a while back in order to look at a graphic that someone posted on an old thread and now I am finally ready to join in and introduce myself. I read the boards for about a month before creating my account and I visit nearly every day, so I feel as if I already “know” many of you. It’s making me feel a bit like a voyeur, so I can’t sit back and just lurk any longer.

I feel like I have found my place on the internet with this forum. I happened to surf in one day and just hung around because the advice and welcoming atmosphere here is fantastic.

I’m an introvert who doesn’t mind talking. What that means is that I’ll usually just sit back and enjoy the conversation around me but once in a while, I’ll jump in and talk, talk, talk.

I’m not comfortable with giving out personal details on the net, so I’ll have to ease in slowly; hence my thread title of "dipping my toe in".

With that, here I go:

I’m a married SAHM of two. I homeschooled for 10 years (late elementary through high school) and the kids are in university. I’m enjoying the brain break of having been curriculum planner, teacher, and guidance counselor for two students for all those years. We will be empty nesters in two years. DH doesn’t want to retire until at least year after the youngest is though uni so we can super save that last year. So that’s 2 1/2 to 3 more years, depending. He may say to heck with it and retire sooner or he may stay another year or so but I’m leaving it up to him. I’m fine with either choice and already have a few road trips planned for when he finally calls it quits.

I guess I’ll leave it at that, then. I’m happy to finally become part of the community and look forward to joining in.

One last thing; I looked around and didn’t see a sticky of common acronyms that are used on this forum, so if there is one out there and I just overlooked it, I’d appreciate it if someone would point me in the right direction.

 

[braumeister]

Welcome!

This may be useful:
Acronyms and Slang Frequently Used on the Forum

 

[REWahoo]

Welcome!

 

[Car-Guy]

Welcome....

 

[nvestysly]

Welcome, you've come to the right place. Like you, I feel I don't contribute often or have the weighty subjects others do but we all contribute in some way.

I don't use many shorthand abbreviations and I'm not very active on other forums and don't use Facebook. I had to look up SAHM.

 

[eastnortheast]

+1 on the welcome. I was like you, a lurker for a while until getting my feet wet. And I found that the water is just fine!!

 

[MBAustin]

Welcome - "always_learning" will serve you well in retirement! If you haven't found them already, we have a helpful list of things to think about as you are making your retirement plans (and who knows, it might even convince your DH to make the leap sooner!)

Some Important Questions to Answer

We look forward to your posts, whether frequent or less so. Thanks for joining in!

 

[kimcdougc]

Welcome, look forward to hearing more for you as you feel more comfortable.

 

[Mdlerth]

I’m not comfortable with giving out personal details on the net, so I’ll have to ease in slowly; hence my thread title of "dipping my toe in".

I'll echo the earlier welcomes, as well as reassure you that you won't be pressured to reveal anything you don't feel like telling us.

I also will reassure you that I look forward to benefitting from whatever insights and experiences you decide to bring to the forum.

 

[nash031]

I’m not comfortable with giving out personal details on the net, so I’ll have to ease in slowly; hence my thread title of "dipping my toe in".

Welcome! I've found this to be a great place to learn about financial and personal aspects of retirement, Instant Pot pressure cookers, Teslas and why they're not as green as hybrids, why people have/don't have kids... just a lot of interesting stuff talked about by reasonable, smart people.

If you want to talk about your personal financial situation, you can do what many of us do and talk in ratios or percentages. I think I've posted an actual dollar number on here once in four years, otherwise it's "We're 80% to our FI number gaining 10% every year..." or "my savings represent 25x my annual spend..." etc. People can glean the information needed to have rational discussions based on that type of stuff. And in a lot of cases, absolute numbers are less meaningful anyway - someone with $2 million living in Cambodia is probably going to make it, but the guy living in a Silicon Valley mansion probably isn't! It's all relative!

 

[always_learning]

Welcome!

This may be useful:
Acronyms and Slang Frequently Used on the Forum

Thanks a bunch! I thought I had seen a list in Feb when I joined but when I looked the other day before I posted my intro I couldn't find it.

Do you know I was all over that FAQ and didn't even see it? Not a great first impression, eh?

 

[always_learning]

Welcome, you've come to the right place. Like you, I feel I don't contribute often or have the weighty subjects others do but we all contribute in some way.

I don't use many shorthand abbreviations and I'm not very active on other forums and don't use Facebook. I had to look up SAHM.

Thanks for the welcome. As a newbie to the finance/retirement area, I find it intimidating to jump in when there are so many posters who have so much to offer. At this stage of the game, I just hope that the questions I ask haven't been asked ad nauseam and that I can offer a few tidbits here and there so I don't feel like an information mooch.

Apologies on the acronym. After I saw the list, I realized it wasn't on there and I wasn't able to edit my post. I guess it's obvious, now, that my previous online life was on parenting boards.

 

[always_learning]

Welcome! I've found this to be a great place to learn about financial and personal aspects of retirement, Instant Pot pressure cookers, Teslas and why they're not as green as hybrids, why people have/don't have kids... just a lot of interesting stuff talked about by reasonable, smart people.

If you want to talk about your personal financial situation, you can do what many of us do and talk in ratios or percentages. I think I've posted an actual dollar number on here once in four years, otherwise it's "We're 80% to our FI number gaining 10% every year..." or "my savings represent 25x my annual spend..." etc. People can glean the information needed to have rational discussions based on that type of stuff. And in a lot of cases, absolute numbers are less meaningful anyway - someone with $2 million living in Cambodia is probably going to make it, but the guy living in a Silicon Valley mansion probably isn't! It's all relative!

Thanks for the welcome. I'll have to keep the percentage idea in mind. It feels strange to talk about finances when it's one of those things we, as a society, don't discuss in public. Add to that, the fact that the internet isn't private, and, well... it makes me super leery about oversharing. Speaking in percentages might help me with that.

I need to tell you that you made me grin with the Instant Pot comment. The forums that I usually hang out on went wild when those hit the market and I saw thread after thread about "Instant Pot" and wondered why on Earth a bunch of homeschooling moms were excited about instant 'pot'. To see it discussed here, as well, brought back the humor in my misunderstanding.

And, yes, the diverse topics and posts full of intelligence are what drew me in. This place already feels like it could be home to me now that I have pretty much graduated from the other boards I've been on for so long.

 

[always_learning]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcomes.

I would love to reply to each of you individually but I'm not sure of the board's protocols and if that would be considered spamming so I opted for a few individual posts and an all-inclusive one.

You have all made me feel very welcome. Thank you.

 

[nvestysly]

Hello always_learning,

No apologies needed for using SAHM. I only mentioned it to indicate how I am not very in tune with other groups that exist beyond my sphere of experience.

The idea of speaking in terms of percentages was very key to DW and I reaching and acting on FIRE. Otherwise, we never really would have known if we had "enough." Several years ago a co-worker asked about my experience saving and investing and how the money had grown over the years. Not wanting to talk in specifics I came up with the chart below to indicate how our savings, income and expenses had changed over the years. What I failed to do was update the chart for the last two years of working but you get the idea. When we FIREd our savings to expense ratio was over 33x.

There are a few threads on favorite books that you might find useful. Two of my favorites are The Richest Man In Babylon, and You're Money Or Your Life.

 

[Green Hornet 21]

Welcome to the site. I have been here several years and found it to be a great source of information and inspiration. I will be retired in a few months at 56 and look forward to posting about my post work lifestyle after enjoying several years of posting about what I hoped it would be.

 

[brucethebroker]

Welcome.
I think you will find that you have some expertise in areas that occasionally come up... nearly everyone does... and you will be welcome to put in your 2 cents worth! Different perspectives are one of the things I find interesting about the forum.

 

[always_learning]

Hello always_learning,

No apologies needed for using SAHM. I only mentioned it to indicate how I am not very in tune with other groups that exist beyond my sphere of experience.

The idea of speaking in terms of percentages was very key to DW and I reaching and acting on FIRE. Otherwise, we never really would have known if we had "enough." Several years ago a co-worker asked about my experience saving and investing and how the money had grown over the years. Not wanting to talk in specifics I came up with the chart below to indicate how our savings, income and expenses had changed over the years. What I failed to do was update the chart for the last two years of working but you get the idea. When we FIREd our savings to expense ratio was over 33x.

There are a few threads on favorite books that you might find useful. Two of my favorites are The Richest Man In Babylon, and You're Money Or Your Life.

Your comment about groups outside your sphere of experience reminded me of another group I joined a few years back. It was vastly different from anything I had ever joined. They used several of the acronyms I was used to but they meant different things. I ended up just typing everything out so as not to confuse anyone what I was talking about.

Thanks for the book suggestions. I'll see if my library has them.

That's a handy chart. It's reassuring to look at. Thanks for posting it.

 

[always_learning]

Welcome to the site. I have been here several years and found it to be a great source of information and inspiration. I will be retired in a few months at 56 and look forward to posting about my post work lifestyle after enjoying several years of posting about what I hoped it would be.

Thanks for the welcome! You must really be counting the days until you RE, eh?

I was thrilled to find this site. The myriad of topics and willingness to share information, combined with the friendliness of the people here impressed me. Other retirement type boards I found just paled in comparison. I have learned so much in the few months that I've been lurking, it's just incredible.

I also hope to be here several years from now, posting away.

Welcome.
I think you will find that you have some expertise in areas that occasionally come up... nearly everyone does... and you will be welcome to put in your 2 cents worth! Different perspectives are one of the things I find interesting about the forum.

Aw, thanks for the vote of confidence. I feel like I know something about a wide variety of topics but am only an expert in my own opinion.

I love different perspectives. The more the better, I say!