what brought you out of the closet?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I was retired for almost two years before I did a google search and found the old retire early home page, with a link to this site.

I dont know why, but while I figured a lot of people wanted to retire early, I figured few actually did aside from people getting big inheritances, lottery winners and the occasional small business owner that got bought out.

That there were entire communities of people doing it and talking about how to get there soon for some reason never seemed plausible. Again, I dont know why. I figured those among us who had lucked into becoming financially independent rarely bumped into each other and just went through their lives hopping from private jet to yacht to parties on the riviera.

It sort of screwed me up a little bit though. I had never heard of or contemplated a Safe Withdrawal Rate. I had never considered finely tuned multiple asset allocation strategies, buckets, or never ending discussions about mortgages, annuities and social security.

It was all pathetically simple to me: make more than you spend and when you dont, stop spending so much until you are, dont put all your eggs in one basket, dont carry around a lot of debt in case something bad happens, dont give all your money to an insurance company thats going to keep it and give you little bits back until you drop dead, and grab your dang money from the government as soon as they'll let you.

How little I knew and/or worried about...

[FIREd]

After my wife and I decided to get really serious about early-retirement, I started looking for resources to help me come up with a plan. I found references of this website in 2 places: the MSN money board (which has now become a giant farce) and Bob Clyatt's "Work Less, Live More". So I checked it out and enjoyed the quality of the information and the level of discussion I could find here. I also liked the fact that I could learn from people with real FIRE experience.
But for a few years I remained a lurker mostly because I thought that, as a young punk, I had nothing to contribute to the board. So what brought me out of the closet? Well one day I had a question and I needed an answer. So I asked and as it turned out I enjoyed posting here so much that my wife now thinks I am addicted. And when I see that I wrote more than 800 posts in just over a year, I am starting to think she might be right... Well better that than drugs...

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREdreamer I also liked the fact that I could learn from people with real FIRE experience. ... for a few years I remained a lurker ... I enjoyed posting here so much that my wife now thinks I am addicted.

I do not remember how I stumbled across this forum. What attracted me was discussions over FIRE experience, though I later discovered some investing ideas. But I only lurked for a couple of days. To tell the truth, had I surfed the Soapbox, I would have been turned off.

About being addicted, my part-time work is more like a consulting work, i.e. as needed, and not has a fixed schedule. I would not go to this forum while I am at work. I do not multitask that well...

[Moemg]

I asked a question on MSN money about retirement and was lead here . I love the everchanging cast of characters and the never ending bacon .

[shoe]

I think I found this place after Trombone Al mentioned it on Simple Living. I stayed because I loved the back and forth with John Galt, OAP, and the rest of the cast of characters. I've learned ALOT!

[donheff]

I just looked back and saw that I sorta came out the day I joined. I replied to a mortgage thread. I pretty much lurked for a month after that and then posted an intro describing myself as a lurker:

Quote:

Hello, I have been lurking for awhile... ...and have enjoyed many of the posts I have read. By and large you seem a very welcoming and tolerant bunch so I am anticipating this will be a nice place to visit...

I still agree with my early observation about the nature of this board's regular participants so I my visit has become an extended one.

[Khan]

I registered almost 2 years ago, already retired. I think I found this from REHP, which I found from TMF, which I found from Yahoo financial back when mammoths roamed the web.

I don't recall exactly, but I probably registered because I wanted to comment on something after viewing for a week or 2.

[Sarah in SC]

Lazy, in thinking back, I wouldn't be all that interested in reading something like this forum without contributing my paltry thoughts at the same time. It is the interactive nature of this medium that makes it so compelling.

I have no insight into those folks who lurk forever. I think I read for a week before I posted my first time. But until lately, my posts were few and far between, as, unlike CFB and Nords and the other wonderful resources here, I have knowledge of but a few things, and find this forum to be my best resource for everything from fire ant control to muscle car pictures! Plus, I love the annuity discussions. jk.

[donheff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC until lately, my posts were few and far between, as, unlike CFB and Nords and the other wonderful resources here, I have knowledge of but a few things...

I never let that stand in my way. If you don't know what you are talking about just raise your voice

[Purron]

I found this forum when I was pretty sure I wanted to ER by just "googling" about retirement. I lurked for a couple of weeks then joined in. Even though I was pretty sure I was on solid ground, I needed some support and found it here.

[Bestwifeever]

Thread title is hysterical, Lazy!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC Lazy, in thinking back, I wouldn't be all that interested in reading something like this forum without contributing my paltry thoughts at the same time. It is the interactive nature of this medium that makes it so compelling. I have no insight into those folks who lurk forever. I think I read for a week before I posted my first time. But until lately, my posts were few and far between, as, unlike CFB and Nords and the other wonderful resources here, I have knowledge of but a few things, and find this forum to be my best resource for everything from fire ant control to muscle car pictures! Plus, I love the annuity discussions. jk.

I like this post, Sarah--I feel like I really don't have much to contribute--so many people here are smart and witty and also have such varied backgrounds and points of view that sometimes I'm intimidated, but I like to throw in a boring stupid post now and then just to see if I can kill a thread.

Someone hit me over the head with the 4% swr (the lightbulb went on over my head when I realized in simplest terms that that rate would make your $ last 25 years assuming no inflation, no growth). They recommended FireCalc about 4 years ago, and that led to this website.

[kumquat]

I thought I knew the answer, lazy. So, to verify these thoughts I searched my posts starting from the first. Got the true answer which is:

Damned if I know.

[laurence]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever Thread title is hysterical, Lazy! I like this post, Sarah--I feel like I really don't have much to contribute--so many people here are smart and witty and also have such varied backgrounds and points of view that sometimes I'm intimidated, but I like to throw in a boring stupid post now and then just to see if I can kill a thread. Someone hit me over the head with the 4% swr (the lightbulb went on over my head when I realized in simplest terms that that rate would make your $ last 25 years assuming no inflation, no growth). They recommended FireCalc about 4 years ago, and that led to this website.

I feel the same way at times, that the expertise and drive for knowledge of some of the posters makes my contributions a little pointless. But I think the "everyperson" posts really help flesh out a community and give you a sense of the median/average member on the board, and what's working for them.

[calmloki]

Think i was surfing around checking out Vixen motor home travel after one went on Ebay locally. Somehow went from there to the old trailer park down in S. Arizona: Welcome to the Shady Dell! . Then trailerparks in the southwest, then the Kaderlis, then the Early Retirement home page, then here. Or something like that. Had asked a question on the Fatwallet board about ways to improve our money utilization and was ratpacked by a bunch of little no-money kids that found me too much of a braggart. Rude. This seemed more civil, more of a peer group.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny It sort of screwed me up a little bit though. I had never heard of or contemplated a Safe Withdrawal Rate. I had never considered finely tuned multiple asset allocation strategies, buckets, or never ending discussions about mortgages, annuities and social security. How little I knew and/or worried about...

I know, I know, it can all be terribly confusing... so I recommend you do a keyword search for "annuity"!

[W2R]

Personally I wasn't really looking for an EARLY retirement forum - - I already knew that I would be at least 61 before I could retire.

When I googled on something like "retirement forum", I came up with the usual bunch. I lurked at Morningstar Diehards for a while (before the splinter off to make the Bogleheads). At that time it cost $5 to join so I could post, though, and I was too cheap thrifty frugal pennypinching LBYM'y to pay that much. Kept reading and reading, but sitting quietly was a bit of a challenge and I wanted more.

Eventually I decided to try this forum. The reason I focused in on this one, was that it was about the right size with about the right number of daily posts to be interesting. I really don't like those boards that just get 5 posts a day, y'know? And then if there are too many posts, it is difficult to keep up. Plus, the board seemed to have a good mix of educational posts versus posts sharing personal experiences. Initially I thought I might be too old for the ER forum, but CFB assured me that I probably wouldn't be booted off.

I am not shy about posting, so it didn't require anything special to draw me out of the closet. I have enjoyed participating in message boards, and before that, usenet, for a long time. My usual procedure upon first arriving at such a site is to read intensively for a couple of weeks or so, to try to get a feel for what is going on, and then post. So, I did. I think my first post was on a thread asking if we cut back on spending for retirement. Nothing new or earthshaking. It was time.

[Cattusbabe]

Great thread Lazy. We never outed because we were never in. DH and I found this site just before my MIL passed leaving us with enough money to FIRE. We did not want to blow it. We had cleaned up our financial acts prior to the inheritance. Had gotten out of debt and had the emergency fund and budget down. We set about saving and figured with our SS and a small pension we'd be ok. When caring for my MIL during her final years we learned something was coming and it was an order of magnitude from what we were used to handling so we had to smarten up fast. But who do you talk to who would not try to take you for all you have. There is a lot of bad advice floating around out there. When looking advice on financial planning I stumbled into a link to firecalc. The rest is history. The advice here has saved us from making poor choices and given us the confidence to FIRE and know that we can manage our money and stay comfortably retired for the rest of our lives.

[bbbamI]

I need to add one more thing...I was searching for a forum that not only talked about finances, but bacon as well. I feel at home now.

[unclemick]

I was dinking around with this webtv thingy I bought on sale at K Mart and ran across Dory36's - 33% That's My Story article via his forum on The Retire Early Homepage.

Got me to thinking - if Dory would would tighten a tad - he could almost be as cheap an SOB as my SO thought I was in our fish camp over Lake Ponchartrain.

Been downhill ever since. Every time this forum begins to get too classy - I try to loosen em up.

Although I will be the the first to admit the pancake stacks are sheer elegance/genious?

heh heh heh -

[rogersteciak]

I was stressed out from an assignment and decided to take a sabbatical after it ended (I was just crossing the 4% SWR threshold at the time, which meant I could afford to take my time to get my head together before deciding what I wanted to do next).

Then I read Bob Clyatt's newly published book Work Less, Live More and decided I was in early semi-retirement instead. It was from his book's Web page that I found this site. I had also been following The Retire Early Home Page and other resources for many years, so the concepts about financial freedom and independence were not new to me.

Then I got some assignments again (they just fell into my lap) and decided I was in a working sabbatical and early semi-retirement both at the same time. But I don't care what I call it because being able to FIRE and accept only those assignments I like gives me financial and career alternatives I never had before.