Quit the world at 34 and now "broken" and refuse to go back

[Nemo2]

I met this couple in Vancouver, circa 1998....now they have traveled:

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/...iser-692000-km-and-counting-92537.html#agal_5

 

[Go-NoGo]

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of Delos personally (got to hang with them in Antigua earlier this year ), but the Wynn's are pretty cool too. S/V Delos and Sailing La Vagabond I think are still by far the biggest sailing Vlogs out there though.

I like Delos as well - they have a nice mix of crew which makes things interesting.

Some of the other sailing vlogs I have come across:
"Sailing project Atticus", "Sailing Soulianis", and "Sailing doodles"

Very tempted to do the catamaran thing myself !

 

[Go-NoGo]

Youtube videos have become quite a source of income for a lot of people. They have diverted a lot of revenues from traditional media such as magazines and TV programs.

Here's another example. A young couple bought a lot of land in the NW, and talked of living off the grid. They started out living in a travel trailer, while trying to improve the lot, put in a septic tank, a water storage tank uphill to catch rain water, a solar power system.

As the revenue came in, they changed the plan and built a large more conventional home, and it will be tied to the grid. Over time, they got a big pickup truck, an excavator, a backhoe, a sawmill, etc... while never talked about the source of the money.

I followed them on/off, and no longer found the story that interesting. Recently, the husband learned to fly and got a private pilot license.

- the trajectory follows same arc as Mr Money Mustache!

 

[Retch The Grate]

Sadly, I haven't been around long enough to know the history or what has transpired before.

I actually only found out about the acronym FIRE from new friends we were trying to help coach through the "leap". I was ecstatic to learn that there was a community of others out there striving for the same thing we had been working so hard for and expected a better fit.

Seems I stumbled upon the wrong FIRE forum as theres a clear "one way or the highway" view thus far.

Nah, not the wrong forum, in general this one is informative, you just need to learn the different personalities so you know what to expect from each poster. I think some of it is just over-reaction to the rise of the loosey-goosey approach of some of the FIRE-bloggers.

 

[Retch The Grate]

Good grief, crotchetiness and attacking people too.. Did you drop by to add some gas to the fire?

nope, I dropped by to let brydanger know that not everybody on the forum is as negative as a bunch of the posters earlier in the thread were, even if they personally aren't risk taking in that way (I'm aiming for 3% WR on a giant pile of money for the lifestyle I want, but I appreciate other people making choices that are cool for them too).

Mr I is hands down one of the most courtly, courteous, and considerate posters here..

indeed he is.

As for OP , he manages to pay for HI and hire professional managers for his rentals, so I think doth protest too much about being a have not and a risk taker. No kids to provide for and a portfolio of real estate, good on him but it's not that much of a high wire.

Where did OP claim to be a have not? His original post mentioned moving their money into real estate, making money from renting their house, and deciding to figure out how to make the numbers work so they could keep traveling.

 

[hilltide]

Great post! You are living your best life!

 

[Montecfo]

Brydanger-

Enjoyed your story as well as your patient and goodnatured responses. You are certainly welcome here!

I sent you a PM.

 

[kevdude]

I, too, enjoyed this thread and learning about your adventure.

I mostly lurk and enjoy reading threads more than posting comments, as can be seen by my comment total and time on the forum. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how many members get caught up in the minutae and will only focus on certain things that don't really add much rather than enjoying the spirit in which a post is made or a thread is started. Brydanger has repeated himself so many times in an attempt to explain his intentions, and yet people will focus on one or two words and just dig in. I, personally, don't get it.

Congrats on your success to this point, Brydanger, and here's to your (and your wife's and dog's) continued success.

 

[NW-Bound]

I wrote earlier about the young couple who managed to travel well on the income from their Youtube videos.

A few years ago, when researching various RV topics, I ran across a blog by a fellow who named it "How I Ruined My Life". It was certainly in jest, but the fellow took some risk in moving his wife and his kid into a motorhome and took off with not much money. He was not financially independent, but figured that he would find some work along the way, and that he will find a way to make it work.

He stumbled along for a couple of years, then stopped updating his blog. At some point it was deleted, or perhaps he did not pay for the Web hosting service.

I found these blogs interesting too, because it's more real and somber than stories from people who generate a lot of money by blogging and live well off it. Nothing is wrong with making money of course, but people should have a realistic expectation of success. It is not too different than workers expecting their 401k to return 20% each year.

PS. Come to think of it, I have read quite a few RV blogs like the one above. They have been mostly discontinued, and many when they ran out of funds and returned to the conventional lifestyle. A few ended up in separation or divorce, so one can imagine that it is stressful at the end.

 

[chris2008]

Thanks for posting.
Each of us has their own path to happiness and you seem to have found yours.
None of us knows what the future will bring and more money saved will not be able to buy us one more happy day.

 

[SlowlySaving]

The only advice I can offer is... don't wait for a "number" to decide your fate and don't risk being a story of someone who died behind their desk fighting for a retirement that never came.
It's important to remember that you still have control after retirement too... you can still make changes/decisions and live more frugally, you can still take projects or make money... but you can do so on your terms while making your own choices.

Turn your dreams into goals. Turn those goals into reality by setting a date and writing it on the calendar (in sharpie).
Life is far too short and can be far too good not to!


And certainly... if we can help in any way don't hesitate to ask!!

Congratulations on living the dream! I love to hear you are doing what you want to. I am semi-retired at 49 and even that is out of the norm for just about EVERYONE around me including my wife.

Enjoy and best of luck!

 

[ivinsfan]

Can you kindly point out where I ever claimed to be a "have not"?
I laid out very clearly the we CHOSE to do without as a means to an end. That is a VERY different thing indeed.

Risk taker is a very broad term, which I continue to learn. I went through most of my life thinking we were extremely risk adverse. We never took a bad loan, we never used hard money to make an investment, we never put more on our credit card than we could pay off in a month (all things that others around us were doing often) and compared to them we looked risk adverse.

Then, you run in a different crowd or try to start a business with someone who either is terrified of all risk whatsoever or afraid to roll their sleeves up and get their hands dirty when it matters... you realize real quickly that you might not be so risk adverse as you think.

But compared to you and others here.. I don't know where we fall because nobody has been willing to entertain the conversation.

Nobody including yourself. I'm not sure why you are taking potshots at some posters here. You post an intro saying come on in the waters fine, don't be afraid or be like everyone else it's working for us, but then no real meat on the bones. When people ask followup questions, you don't really answer and act like they are dissing you.

Here's a conversation,7 years ago you talked about not having money to pay bills, living in your van, and used the term "dire need".

Now you've mentioned adding to your RE holdings.1) where did that money come from, did you earn it? Take it from your 401? With no regular income it seems you would need to pay cash, yet you talk about still having payments. So you make payments, hire a pro manager for rentals, pay taxes and insurance and have enough left over to live in a 500K boat? And this all happened in around 6 years...

You leave enough gaps in your story to drive a truck though and when people naturally have questions, say wow I didn't expect those responses I was just saying what worked for us. Well, how does it work for you, if you don't explain it people won't have much faith they can do it.

No one said you have to explain anything but you say "I want people to know they can do it too". If they ask how your actually did it, you wont give anything more then vague details. I'm very muddy of the details of how much time your spend working, if you are actually retired, or spending lots of time earning and managing money. No one is picking on you despite your apparent feelings to the contrary and no one is green with envy either.

 

[ivinsfan]

I, too, enjoyed this thread and learning about your adventure.

I mostly lurk and enjoy reading threads more than posting comments, as can be seen by my comment total and time on the forum. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how many members get caught up in the minutae and will only focus on certain things that don't really add much rather than enjoying the spirit in which a post is made or a thread is started. Brydanger has repeated himself so many times in an attempt to explain his intentions, and yet people will focus on one or two words and just dig in. I, personally, don't get it.

Congrats on your success to this point, Brydanger, and here's to your (and your wife's and dog's) continued success.

Somehow most people don't think the details of how your support yourself is minor. The OP present himself as an example of a desirable lifestyle and didn't flesh anything out. There no question in his original post he presented himself as scrambling for money to retire and simply do life without the burden of a job. Just living the life and getting by with enough. Five pages in and 6 years later he's living on a half a million dollar boat. but it's just details, details I guess.

 

[Moemg]

He did explain it in post 63 .They have real estate and several small businesses .If you click on his profile there is a link to his web page .

 

[ivinsfan]

He did explain it in post 63 .They have real estate and several small businesses .If you click on his profile there is a link to his web page .

...so he isn't retired then, he's self employed? Him describing himself as broken isn't too accurate.

 

[NW-Bound]

... we realized we were "broken" and would do absolutely anything to avoid going back to the lives we had before...

By "broken", the OP meant that they had been spoiled by the freedom, and would not go back to a 9-to-5 job.

How does one pay for living expenses, if not yet at FI level to live off his investments, or have a pension?

These young people either have a side job to generate income, or monetize their lifestyle via blogs and Youtube. That's how they do it.

 

[kgtest]

By "broken", the OP meant that they had been spoiled by the freedom, and would not go back to a 9-to-5 job.

How does one pay for living expenses, if not yet at FI level to live off his investments, or have a pension?

These young people either have a side job to generate income, or monetize their lifestyle via blogs and Youtube. That's how they do it.

Well, I know a couple on YT that sold there home, then dropped the earnings into some stock market vehicle...

and were living off of whatever little equity plus investments + YouTube $ and affiliate marketing money they were getting. Hard to say if they had LBYM lifestyle. Once my home is paid off, It's paid off. I can live in it forever. Boats get holes, they need to be upgraded...I own the house, it's paid for, and I don't need to move.

Roots vs non-roots is really the discussion, some desire strong roots, some could care less.

 

[jollystomper]

These young people either have a side job to generate income, or monetize their lifestyle via blogs and Youtube. That's how they do it.

It boils down to "finding work that you enjoy doing"... to support the adage "if you work at something you like, you'll never work another day in your life".

Not really different from those who found a Megacorp job that they truly enjoyed, was more like a hobby, for which the pay was an incredible bonus - which is what happened to me.

 

[Nemo2]

Boats get holes, they need to be upgraded...

As has been oft repeated: "A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money."

 

[ivinsfan]

By "broken", the OP meant that they had been spoiled by the freedom, and would not go back to a 9-to-5 job.

How does one pay for living expenses, if not yet at FI level to live off his investments, or have a pension?

These young people either have a side job to generate income, or monetize their lifestyle via blogs and Youtube. That's how they do it.

Well as someone who married a guy who didn't want to do 9 to 5 and decided to share his vision, 47 years later I can tell you that this route can involve many years of more then 9 to 5 to be successful. That's why I'm curious about the OP's actual road to success and the 500K boat and it's just curiously not dissing or doubting.

 

[candrew]

I suspect the OP took another poster's advice and has dropped himself from this thread. Can't say that I blame him.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Nobody including yourself. I'm not sure why you are taking potshots at some posters here. You post an intro saying come on in the waters fine, don't be afraid or be like everyone else it's working for us, but then no real meat on the bones. When people ask followup questions, you don't really answer and act like they are dissing you.

Here's a conversation,7 years ago you talked about not having money to pay bills, living in your van, and used the term "dire need".

Now you've mentioned adding to your RE holdings.1) where did that money come from, did you earn it? Take it from your 401? With no regular income it seems you would need to pay cash, yet you talk about still having payments. So you make payments, hire a pro manager for rentals, pay taxes and insurance and have enough left over to live in a 500K boat? And this all happened in around 6 years...

You leave enough gaps in your story to drive a truck though and when people naturally have questions, say wow I didn't expect those responses I was just saying what worked for us. Well, how does it work for you, if you don't explain it people won't have much faith they can do it.

No one said you have to explain anything but you say "I want people to know they can do it too". If they ask how your actually did it, you wont give anything more then vague details. I'm very muddy of the details of how much time your spend working, if you are actually retired, or spending lots of time earning and managing money. No one is picking on you despite your apparent feelings to the contrary and no one is green with envy either.

One of our kids' friends is basically retired in their 20s with a million dollar house. Their roadmap to success was being born to .1% parents. I agree with you the money part for me is the main story behind the FIRE blogs. I don't really get what worked for the OP either. Where did the boat come from? Two weekend jobs? Start up stock options? A gift from the parents? Is it something other people could do or did it involve luck or genetics?

The OP said they pay a lot for health insurance. We pay $2 a month for a Bronze plan. Does that mean their MAGI is over 4 X the federal poverty level, around $65K? Health insurance and how to pay for it is probably the biggest issue for early retirement in the U.S.

One of our kids has low overhead expenses (used car, multiple roommates or studio apartment living) and has a job that can be done from home, a boat or actually anywhere in the world with Internet access but he isn't retired because he needs the income from the job for living expenses.

 

[Vacation4us]

I have found this thread very interesting. My husband and I cut the cord to cable and watch YouTube videos on sailing often. Gone with the Wynn’s, Sailing Nahoa, Follow the boat, just to name a few.

We enjoy watching dreaming, and wondering how they get their $$. Personally we are not the kind to donate our hard earned money so someone else can live the dream. Patreon is a joke to us but there are people who pay to support others dreams.

There is one Cat video blogger without a working heat (toilet). They live lean and nasty (dirty) in our book. Can stand to watch them anymore.

We don’t even know how to sail, but the videos are intriguing. The cost of a Cat is tremendous and a lot of work.

We will stick to our fat fire plans 15 months and counting and continue to watch this genre while dreaming.


Thx for posting.

PS I have found this forum to be quite friendly but the attacks this poster received early and often has been quite shocking. Jealousy definitely came to mind.

 

[NW-Bound]

It boils down to "finding work that you enjoy doing"... to support the adage "if you work at something you like, you'll never work another day in your life".

Not really different from those who found a Megacorp job that they truly enjoyed, was more like a hobby, for which the pay was an incredible bonus - which is what happened to me.

I did enjoy my work, and would have stayed a lot longer if the megacorp Dilbert environment did not upset me. But I stayed employed long enough to get a 7-figure net worth when I was 40. Then, I worked some more after leaving megacorp to do my own things.

I have found this thread very interesting. My husband and I cut the cord to cable and watch YouTube videos on sailing often. Gone with the Wynn’s, Sailing Nahoa, Follow the boat, just to name a few.

We enjoy watching dreaming, and wondering how they get their $$. Personally we are not the kind to donate our hard earned money so someone else can live the dream. Patreon is a joke to us but there are people who pay to support others dreams...

I do not subscribe to any channel, let alone sending in my money. I get motion sickness easily, and my wife is afraid of the ocean, so we would never dream about this lifestyle. They are having fun, but it is not for me. I watch a bit out of curiosity, but am not keeping up to date lately.

My interest changes from time to time. Right now, I am more curious in something other than sailing.

 

[Amethyst]

I was shocked, as well. I mean, the site's symbol is a scissors, for cutting the ties to the demands and expectations of work. OP never attacked those of us who took a more cautious path toward that goal. He only urged "courage" on those who might be considering the big jump but afraid they couldn't do it.

I wanted to ask how he could make money on rental properties, while paying a manager to run them, and now my chance is gone. Any time we hired a manager it was loss city for us....

I
PS I have found this forum to be quite friendly but the attacks this poster received early and often has been quite shocking. Jealousy definitely came to mind.