Hello everybody!
I’ve been lurking around on this forum for about a year now, and have finally decided to introduce myself. Aged 26, I’m born, raised and have so far lived in an East European country. Graduated at 22 in Finance, I have been working afterwards in the same field.
My interest in FIRE has arisen, I guess, quite unconsciously during high school and college, but then it was just something very far away, for which I didn’t have any concrete plan, and thus no immediate goal. However, passionate about stock market investments, I have started saving and investing on the local stock exchange immediately after graduating and getting the first real job, at 22. I was putting money monthly into my account, although not as much as I could, or with a specific goal in mind. Then the revelation came about 2 years ago, from reading a maybe surprising book for the people here – David Korten’s “When Corporations Rule the World”. This book has really opened my mind, and structured many of my thoughts and feelings on work and the overall world that I didn’t yet consciously perceive. I have thus begun reading more materials and discussing with people on several topics, including early retirement. FIRE under the meaning of this forum (living from proceeds of your personal investments) is basically unheard of in the country that I live in. From then on, I started saving as much as I could (in 2006 for example I saved approx. 85% of my net salary), and focused even more on managing my investments. For the past 4 years since I begun investing, I have realized an yearly average return of approx. 100%, compared with around 40% for the overall market. I currently manage a portfolio of around USD 400k, of which my personal money is about USD 200k. I don’t have any other assets, and have never had any debts, so this basically is my personal net worth.
This has been significantly helped by my having a far above average paying job and frugality. Although many of my friends think that I throw away most of life’s pleasures by being that frugal, I have never felt that way. I find pleasure in enjoying the free things of life, like sports and nature, and am not at all attracted in having the latest car (or any car for that matter), watch, clothing or whateva. To give you an idea about my lifestyle, perhaps it is worth mentioning that I don’t own a car - cycle to work (cheapest, healthiest, most environmental friendly, and, in my city, fastest means of transportation), do not eat out, don’t go out to movies (always download them freely from the Internet and watch them home), don’t have memberships in expensive health clubs (used to do Karate, which was like USD 15/month – 12 lessons), always chosen the cheapest vacation types (backpacking, staying in tent etc.). This was very much helped by my current wife (known each other for 5 years now), which shares the same lack of attraction to the expensive pursuits of life. I am currently living in London for a limited period of abt 6 motnhs. Just to give you an example, my spending for food in the middle of this city is at around GBP 120 per month – perhaps this means something for those of you who are familiar with this city.
Anyway, having never been a fan of taking or giving orders, since my revelation I have started looking more into this FIRE matter. Once I return in the country, my wife and I will be living in our fully paid apartment, for what I approximate to be USD 400 monthly expenses (this includes everything – food, utilities, clothing etc.). I have thus conservatively estimated that we will be very much able to live on USD 1,000/month, even if we decide at some point to have a child. Btw, all schools here are free of charge, including universities. Being of course familiar with what average return I can expect over the long run, I thus plan to FIRE at end of 2008, with what will probably be a portfolio of USD 300-400k. I plan to remain involved in managing this portfolio after ER, since it is one of my passions. In terms of what else to do after ER, I don’t plan to change our lifestyle, maybe only in pursuing our current hobbies – for me Karate (plan to get black belt), cycling (plan to do some important tours, such as whole Europe), reading, chess etc.
Although I understand that my situation is highly different than that of most of you, especially since you live (and maybe work) in the US, I was interested in having any of your opinions on this plan.
Thank you!
I’ve been lurking around on this forum for about a year now, and have finally decided to introduce myself. Aged 26, I’m born, raised and have so far lived in an East European country. Graduated at 22 in Finance, I have been working afterwards in the same field.
My interest in FIRE has arisen, I guess, quite unconsciously during high school and college, but then it was just something very far away, for which I didn’t have any concrete plan, and thus no immediate goal. However, passionate about stock market investments, I have started saving and investing on the local stock exchange immediately after graduating and getting the first real job, at 22. I was putting money monthly into my account, although not as much as I could, or with a specific goal in mind. Then the revelation came about 2 years ago, from reading a maybe surprising book for the people here – David Korten’s “When Corporations Rule the World”. This book has really opened my mind, and structured many of my thoughts and feelings on work and the overall world that I didn’t yet consciously perceive. I have thus begun reading more materials and discussing with people on several topics, including early retirement. FIRE under the meaning of this forum (living from proceeds of your personal investments) is basically unheard of in the country that I live in. From then on, I started saving as much as I could (in 2006 for example I saved approx. 85% of my net salary), and focused even more on managing my investments. For the past 4 years since I begun investing, I have realized an yearly average return of approx. 100%, compared with around 40% for the overall market. I currently manage a portfolio of around USD 400k, of which my personal money is about USD 200k. I don’t have any other assets, and have never had any debts, so this basically is my personal net worth.
This has been significantly helped by my having a far above average paying job and frugality. Although many of my friends think that I throw away most of life’s pleasures by being that frugal, I have never felt that way. I find pleasure in enjoying the free things of life, like sports and nature, and am not at all attracted in having the latest car (or any car for that matter), watch, clothing or whateva. To give you an idea about my lifestyle, perhaps it is worth mentioning that I don’t own a car - cycle to work (cheapest, healthiest, most environmental friendly, and, in my city, fastest means of transportation), do not eat out, don’t go out to movies (always download them freely from the Internet and watch them home), don’t have memberships in expensive health clubs (used to do Karate, which was like USD 15/month – 12 lessons), always chosen the cheapest vacation types (backpacking, staying in tent etc.). This was very much helped by my current wife (known each other for 5 years now), which shares the same lack of attraction to the expensive pursuits of life. I am currently living in London for a limited period of abt 6 motnhs. Just to give you an example, my spending for food in the middle of this city is at around GBP 120 per month – perhaps this means something for those of you who are familiar with this city.
Anyway, having never been a fan of taking or giving orders, since my revelation I have started looking more into this FIRE matter. Once I return in the country, my wife and I will be living in our fully paid apartment, for what I approximate to be USD 400 monthly expenses (this includes everything – food, utilities, clothing etc.). I have thus conservatively estimated that we will be very much able to live on USD 1,000/month, even if we decide at some point to have a child. Btw, all schools here are free of charge, including universities. Being of course familiar with what average return I can expect over the long run, I thus plan to FIRE at end of 2008, with what will probably be a portfolio of USD 300-400k. I plan to remain involved in managing this portfolio after ER, since it is one of my passions. In terms of what else to do after ER, I don’t plan to change our lifestyle, maybe only in pursuing our current hobbies – for me Karate (plan to get black belt), cycling (plan to do some important tours, such as whole Europe), reading, chess etc.
Although I understand that my situation is highly different than that of most of you, especially since you live (and maybe work) in the US, I was interested in having any of your opinions on this plan.
Thank you!
