In the vestibule at the fork in the road - Page 2

Khan · 09-26-2007, 03:12 PM

Spending $25,000/year while earning $75,000.

**SteveR** · 09-26-2007, 03:19 PM

1. Living in a home with Depression Era parents with a frugal mentality.
2. Divorcing a wife that spent 10X what we made and had no concept of saving for college expenses or retirement.
3. Had the drive to take a lot of crappy jobs in a lot of out of the way places so I could climb the Mega Corp. ladder as high as I could stand it and reaped the financial rewards for sticking to it for over 33 years.
4. Read as much as I could on the stock market and investing and after the divorce, started saving and investing. I learned a lot the hard way and I had some great years and some disasters.
5. Kept my spending lower than my take home income.
6. Learned to pay myself first with each check and keep increasing my savings percentage both inside my 401k and in my after tax accounts.
7. Married a woman who shared my dream of FIRE and helped make it happen.
8. Did my job well and exited my career under my own terms and when I wanted to do so.
9. Found John Greaney's Early Retirement site (Thanks a Ton John!!!)The Retire Early Home Page.
10. Had the guts to save when every one else was spending; to invest when everyone else was leaving the market; to stay in a high pressure low esteem job to gain more $$ so I could retire early.

twaddle · 09-26-2007, 03:31 PM

1) Being born in the US
2) Pretty good genes
3) Good school with access to lots of computers at the start of the PC revolution
4) Riding the tech boom
5) Selling before the tech bust

youbet · 09-26-2007, 03:49 PM

1. Not divorcing. Or, in other words, modifying my fun loving ways to incorporate the appropriate "family values" so that DW didn't throw my sorry a$$ out on the street. 37 years and I still have her fooled!

2. Maintaining a stoic attitude about jobs that allowed me to press on through decades of inner city factory night shift work, dangerous surroundings, long commutes, etc., with a big smile on my blue collar face.....

Eventually, I wound up with a day shift gig in the plush suburbs. What a relief!

3. Being too busy working to blow my whole paycheck....... at least not all at once.

Nords · 09-26-2007, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greg

Are there one, two, or three ideas or things you did on your specific path that significantly helped you, changed your experiences for the better?

1. LBYM.
2. Marrying a like-minded spouse and saving/investing from two paychecks for two decades.
3. Being forced to mature (temporarily) by parenthood.
4. Spending months on self-assessment and career-interest surveys & diagnostic exams. When they said that I'd make either an excellent nuclear engineer or a mid-level manager, perhaps both, then I knew it was time to ER.
5. FinancialEngines.com and, later, FIRECalc.
6. Bernstein's "Four Pillars", and for the very ~~masochistic~~ curious, "Intelligent Asset Allocator".

SoonToRetire · 09-26-2007, 04:34 PM

1. Avoiding the temptation to go for the home run in the market (and suffering big losses), instead being content with slow but sure accumulation at 6-8%, 10% in good years.

2. Cultivating a serious hobby (sailing), friends, and family relationships that reassured me there was a better life out there to prepare for.

3. Running FIRE and umpteen other retirement calculators, including my own.

Achiever51 · 09-26-2007, 04:42 PM

Listening (albeit reluctantly at the time) to my father when he insisted that I begin saving 15% of my take home pay...I was 16 and making a whopping $1.37 an hour at the time. Continued saving 15% after tax for remainder of my working life -- and NEVER missed it from my paychecks.
Signing up for contributory pension plan and maxing out the 401(k) as soon as I was eligible -- again mostly due to parents' advice (thank you, thank you!) -- and staying the course for 39 years.
Getting a good education that enabled me to get higher paying positions than my lesser educated friends/family -- and developing lots of outside interests/hobbies that are engaging my mind now!

Gotadimple · 09-26-2007, 08:38 PM

1. Saving 15% of my income every year (tax-sheltered or not)
2. Acknowledging that buying things does not bring happiness -- leading to LBYM.
3. Learning everything about how to invest and spend MY money.

Result: FI now, just planning the RE 'date' -- and still surprised it all worked out.

-- Rita

bbbamI · 09-26-2007, 09:27 PM

Conquering my fear of leaving my home town, family, friends and everything familiar to me for a more prosperous life.

califdreamer · 09-27-2007, 11:58 PM

1. Purchasing my first income property, a fourplex in So Cal, in 1996.
2. Purchasing additional multi-unit income properties in '96-'97.
3. Selling and exchanging first group of properties into larger income properties.
4. In some instances, repeating step 3.

greg · 09-28-2007, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gotadimple

2. Acknowledging that buying things does not bring happiness -- leading to LBYM.

-- Rita

The real secret of it all.

tightasadrum · 09-28-2007, 10:41 AM

Marry right
Do as much travel & crazy stuff as you can before you marry
Pay yourself first, to wit, 15% of gross; invest for average return for the long haul
Forget the Jones’s. Make ‘em think you wish YOU could buy the new cars, big house & STUFF. (By the time they figure you out, it’ll by too late for them. Then give them a copy of The Millionaire Next Door.)
Don’t take vacations (Nah. I don’t recommend anyone do like me on this one)
Buy first house on GI Bill, nothing down, grow your income producing RE holdings from that for infinite return, if you’re masochistic.
Get paid more than you are worth
Marry right

CuppaJoe · 09-28-2007, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tightasadrum

Don’t take vacations (Nah. I don’t recommend anyone do like me on this one)

Perhaps a like-minded soul? I believe in vacations but not in travelling while working; three weeks would not do anyplace justice. I would add: live where you would want to be on vacation.

tightasadrum · 09-28-2007, 02:20 PM

cuppajoe,

That works for me. Of course my problem is that there have always been a lot of places I would like to vacation/live, at least for awhile. Now what will I do with all the pets ...

CuppaJoe · 09-28-2007, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tightasadrum

cuppajoe,

That works for me. Of course my problem is that there have always been a lot of places I would like to vacation/live, at least for awhile. Now what will I do with all the pets ...

Drum, Exactly! Fluffy does not cotton to travel. While standing still I met someone who REed from a long-term career in the Bahamas and set out to travel accross the county living in a few places along the way. I believe she rented an apt. here for a couple of years and then disappeared. That's one way. I wonder how many here have those kinds of plans?

Fred333 · 09-28-2007, 02:32 PM

Life it what you make of it. If you don't get out there and live life it will pass you by.

lazygood4nothinbum · 09-28-2007, 02:37 PM

dragging my mother away from her desk five years before alzheimer's killed her and thinking to myself that could be me in 20 years: i want 20 fun years without working.

finding this forum, learning that my cheap habits are actually a good thing and finally learning about finance should keep me unemployed forever just in case that 20 years turns into 40.

edit: i also like cuppajoe's idea of live where you want to vacation and intend to travel as such into my future. that is also why i did not replace my irreplaceable wolfpuppy. no parents, no kids, no pets, no clients, no boss, someday soon maybe even no home, nothing owed, everything paid: no encumberances. isn't early retirement all about freedom.

Khan · 09-28-2007, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum

dragging my mother away from her desk five years before alzheimer's killed her and thinking to myself that could be me in 20 years: i want 20 fun years without working.

finding this forum, learning that my cheap habits are actually a good thing and finally learning about finance should keep me unemployed forever just in case that 20 years turns into 40.

edit: i also like cuppajoe's idea of live where you want to vacation and intend to travel as such into my future. that is also why i did not replace my irreplaceable wolfpuppy. no parents, no kids, no pets, no clients, no boss, someday soon maybe even no home, nothing owed, everything paid: no encumberances. isn't early retirement all about freedom.

I'm moving that way myself. No parents, kids, clients, boss; still have a cat and a house.

Webzter · 09-30-2007, 02:03 PM

>Are there one, two, or three ideas or things you did on your specific path that significantly helped you, changed your experiences for the better?

1. Realizing that a nicer car, bigger house, and more stuff wouldn't make me happier.

2. Going to the ER and getting an EKG after several stressful years of work made me reproritize my work goals. The pay cut hurt a bit, but we could afford it because of #1, and I'm sure I bought quite a few extra years.

3. A short cancer scare made me realize that, if we stuck to our plan, I'd be free before I was 45. Re-evaluating that now, it might be worth working until I'm 55 if i work less and live more in the meantime.

09-26-2007, 03:12 PM	#21
Khan Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Greater Dayton area Posts: 2,663	Spending $25,000/year while earning $75,000. __________________ cold and drunk as I can be

09-26-2007, 03:19 PM	#22
SteveR Moderator Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 2,674	1. Living in a home with Depression Era parents with a frugal mentality. 2. Divorcing a wife that spent 10X what we made and had no concept of saving for college expenses or retirement. 3. Had the drive to take a lot of crappy jobs in a lot of out of the way places so I could climb the Mega Corp. ladder as high as I could stand it and reaped the financial rewards for sticking to it for over 33 years. 4. Read as much as I could on the stock market and investing and after the divorce, started saving and investing. I learned a lot the hard way and I had some great years and some disasters. 5. Kept my spending lower than my take home income. 6. Learned to pay myself first with each check and keep increasing my savings percentage both inside my 401k and in my after tax accounts. 7. Married a woman who shared my dream of FIRE and helped make it happen. 8. Did my job well and exited my career under my own terms and when I wanted to do so. 9. Found John Greaney's Early Retirement site (Thanks a Ton John!!!)The Retire Early Home Page. 10. Had the guts to save when every one else was spending; to invest when everyone else was leaving the market; to stay in a high pressure low esteem job to gain more $$ so I could retire early. __________________ Work? I don't have time to work....I'm retired.

09-26-2007, 03:31 PM	#23
twaddle Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,377	1) Being born in the US 2) Pretty good genes 3) Good school with access to lots of computers at the start of the PC revolution 4) Riding the tech boom 5) Selling before the tech bust __________________ I will work no more forever.

09-26-2007, 03:49 PM	#24
youbet Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 3,460	1. Not divorcing. Or, in other words, modifying my fun loving ways to incorporate the appropriate "family values" so that DW didn't throw my sorry a$$ out on the street. 37 years and I still have her fooled! 2. Maintaining a stoic attitude about jobs that allowed me to press on through decades of inner city factory night shift work, dangerous surroundings, long commutes, etc., with a big smile on my blue collar face..... Eventually, I wound up with a day shift gig in the plush suburbs. What a relief! 3. Being too busy working to blow my whole paycheck....... at least not all at once. __________________ Over all was the silence of the wilderness - Sigurd Olsen

09-26-2007, 04:42 PM	#27
Achiever51 Full time employment: Posting here. Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Southeastern Michigan Posts: 716	Listening (albeit reluctantly at the time) to my father when he insisted that I begin saving 15% of my take home pay...I was 16 and making a whopping $1.37 an hour at the time. Continued saving 15% after tax for remainder of my working life -- and NEVER missed it from my paychecks. Signing up for contributory pension plan and maxing out the 401(k) as soon as I was eligible -- again mostly due to parents' advice (thank you, thank you!) -- and staying the course for 39 years. Getting a good education that enabled me to get higher paying positions than my lesser educated friends/family -- and developing lots of outside interests/hobbies that are engaging my mind now! __________________ The best things in life....are not things. Last edited by Achiever51; 09-26-2007 at 04:44 PM. Reason: typo

09-26-2007, 04:34 PM	#26
SoonToRetire Full time employment: Posting here. Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Virginia, and Caribbean snowbirds in winter Posts: 853	1. Avoiding the temptation to go for the home run in the market (and suffering big losses), instead being content with slow but sure accumulation at 6-8%, 10% in good years. 2. Cultivating a serious hobby (sailing), friends, and family relationships that reassured me there was a better life out there to prepare for. 3. Running FIRE and umpteen other retirement calculators, including my own.

09-26-2007, 08:38 PM	#28
Gotadimple Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 201	Three Things 1. Saving 15% of my income every year (tax-sheltered or not) 2. Acknowledging that buying things does not bring happiness -- leading to LBYM. 3. Learning everything about how to invest and spend MY money. Result: FI now, just planning the RE 'date' -- and still surprised it all worked out. -- Rita __________________ Only got A dimple, would have preferred 2!

09-26-2007, 09:27 PM	#29
bbbamI Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Dallas Posts: 1,303	Conquering my fear of leaving my home town, family, friends and everything familiar to me for a more prosperous life. __________________ I put myself on ignore, but I still keep getting in my face.

09-27-2007, 11:58 PM	#30
califdreamer Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 430	1. Purchasing my first income property, a fourplex in So Cal, in 1996. 2. Purchasing additional multi-unit income properties in '96-'97. 3. Selling and exchanging first group of properties into larger income properties. 4. In some instances, repeating step 3.

09-28-2007, 10:41 AM	#32
tightasadrum Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: athens Posts: 428	Marry right Do as much travel & crazy stuff as you can before you marry Pay yourself first, to wit, 15% of gross; invest for average return for the long haul Forget the Jones’s. Make ‘em think you wish YOU could buy the new cars, big house & STUFF. (By the time they figure you out, it’ll by too late for them. Then give them a copy of The Millionaire Next Door.) Don’t take vacations (Nah. I don’t recommend anyone do like me on this one) Buy first house on GI Bill, nothing down, grow your income producing RE holdings from that for infinite return, if you’re masochistic. Get paid more than you are worth Marry right __________________ Can't you see yourself in the nursing home saying, " Darn! Wish I'd spent more time at the office instead of wasting time with family and friends."

09-28-2007, 02:20 PM	#34
tightasadrum Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: athens Posts: 428	cuppajoe, That works for me. Of course my problem is that there have always been a lot of places I would like to vacation/live, at least for awhile. Now what will I do with all the pets ... __________________ Can't you see yourself in the nursing home saying, " Darn! Wish I'd spent more time at the office instead of wasting time with family and friends."

09-28-2007, 02:32 PM	#36
Fred333 Dryer sheet aficionado Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 44	Life it what you make of it. If you don't get out there and live life it will pass you by.

09-28-2007, 02:37 PM	#37
lazygood4nothinbum Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 3,355	dragging my mother away from her desk five years before alzheimer's killed her and thinking to myself that could be me in 20 years: i want 20 fun years without working. finding this forum, learning that my cheap habits are actually a good thing and finally learning about finance should keep me unemployed forever just in case that 20 years turns into 40. edit: i also like cuppajoe's idea of live where you want to vacation and intend to travel as such into my future. that is also why i did not replace my irreplaceable wolfpuppy. no parents, no kids, no pets, no clients, no boss, someday soon maybe even no home, nothing owed, everything paid: no encumberances. isn't early retirement all about freedom. __________________ "life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901 Last edited by lazygood4nothinbum; 09-28-2007 at 02:50 PM.

09-30-2007, 02:03 PM	#39
Webzter Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 330	>Are there one, two, or three ideas or things you did on your specific path that significantly helped you, changed your experiences for the better? 1. Realizing that a nicer car, bigger house, and more stuff wouldn't make me happier. 2. Going to the ER and getting an EKG after several stressful years of work made me reproritize my work goals. The pay cut hurt a bit, but we could afford it because of #1, and I'm sure I bought quite a few extra years. 3. A short cancer scare made me realize that, if we stuck to our plan, I'd be free before I was 45. Re-evaluating that now, it might be worth working until I'm 55 if i work less and live more in the meantime.

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