Actually, we just moved here last year. I had a job lined up, but while waiting for a background check the it dried up and blew away. The same company called back the other day and I start Monday. I would have been able to find a decent job much easier, if I stayed in the exact same line of work, but I'm tired of running around on the streets, being called racist every other day, and receiving a small pay check.
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I'm tired of running around on the streets, being called racist every other day, and receiving a small pay check.
That sounds like an awful job! What were you doing? Congratulations on your new job and career change.
__________________ "Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harborless immensities." - - H. Melville, 1851
Re: Share: Age, Salary,profession, Total monthly expense, net worth, and stuff!
Dangerous, too! Thanks for your service as a Police Officer, though. What would we do without law enforcement?
__________________ "Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harborless immensities." - - H. Melville, 1851
Re: Share: Age, Salary,profession, Total monthly expense, net worth, and stuff!
That was actually the exact job that popped into my head when you gave your description. Our cops definitely get treated poorly by the population at large. A few bad apples, like those ones that killed the groom outside the strip joint in NY, tend to have a really negative impact on police in general.
But, thanks for having served. It's an important job and I'm glad people have the courage to do it!
Re: Share: Age, Salary,profession, Total monthly expense, net worth, and stuff!
I hold police officers and firefighters with the highest honor and respect. Much like our military who work so hard to protect this country, police officers and firefighters will lay their own lives on the line to save another person. The prime and unfortunate example was 9/11
Hey you resident thread highjackers , don't turn this thread into a political tailspin with my comments, 'kay?
Age: 37 (me), 31 (dw) Household Income: 120k Profession: software developer (me), massage therapist (dw) Total monthly expenses: 6,500 Net worth: 185k Location: Colorado Stuff: First kid on the way , One small rental property with negative cash flow , one 10-year old car, four very nice bicycles
Age: I'm 41; my better half will be 39 in two weeks.
Household Income: about $110,000/yr
Total monthly expenses: about $3,000
Net worth: about $625,000
Retirement saving rate: About $28,000/yr (including 401K, fully vested company match, Roth IRAs and taxable savings)
Other Stuff: Contributed 12% of pay to 401(k) since age 22 -- early money is like yeast! Almost 3/4 of net worth in retirement accounts
__________________ "Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
Age: 27
Income: less than half of the post above me
Monthly expenses: the whole paycheck- savings included
Net Worth: negative because of student loans
Location: OR
Stuff: one car for the DW and I ride a 2003 Bianchi Pista (fixed gear)
Age: 27
Income: less than half of the post above me
Monthly expenses: the whole paycheck- savings included
Net Worth: negative because of student loans
Location: OR
Stuff: one car for the DW and I ride a 2003 Bianchi Pista (fixed gear)
Hey at least you're honest! Judging by these posts I feel like I shouldn't even consider RE because I'd need to make six figures.
In that spirit, I'll let you know what I have so far
Age: 24
Income: $32,000 (Investor Services Rep, few weeks from my series 7, hopefully I'll be making more once I'm certified!)
Net Worth: $4011.59 (stupid student loans, but at least I'm not negative? )
Graduated in may of 2006, took the summer off except for a cake part time job, and then got my act together and fully employed (currently liking my work just fine) in October of '07
Hey at least you're honest! Judging by these posts I feel like I shouldn't even consider RE because I'd need to make six figures.
In that spirit, I'll let you know what I have so far
Age: 24
I doubt many of us were pulling in six figures at age 24. My income at 41 is about 3x what it was when I was 24. You're off to a way better start than almost anyone your age, just by thinking about it already!
__________________ "Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
I doubt many of us were pulling in six figures at age 24. My income at 41 is about 3x what it was when I was 24. You're off to a way better start than almost anyone your age, just by thinking about it already!
Thanks for the support ziggy! Out of curiosity, what age do you plan to retire at? How much are you going to retire with?
Currently I broke everything down and I'd only need $18.9k to cover my annual rent/food/emergency savings etc currently. This certainly seems pretty low, but I also don't have kids (or a car, all my siblings bought cars as soon as they got their first job, I avoided it like the plague, train works fine for me.)
Thanks for the support ziggy! Out of curiosity, what age do you plan to retire at? How much are you going to retire with?
Currently I broke everything down and I'd only need $18.9k to cover my annual rent/food/emergency savings etc currently. This certainly seems pretty low, but I also don't have kids (or a car, all my siblings bought cars as soon as they got their first job, I avoided it like the plague, train works fine for me.)
I don't know when I plan to retire, but I plan to be able to retire within 10-12 years. At this point, the health care situation is the wild card which could change that several years in either direction.
I'm shooting for a minimum income of about $40,000 a year in retirement (in today's dollars). In all truthfulness, I expect to "semi-retire" for a few years first -- working a few hours doing something I enjoy (or at least tolerate well) to add another $10K or so to my income stream at first. I assume my wife will probably do the same thing (depending on how her travel agency business is going at the time).
At your age, to be honest, it's way too early to project retirement income needs. You don't know what your future family status holds. Sounds like you're single (could be wrong) and you don't know your situation with a future spouse (assuming you're single) or how many kids (if any). And you probably no have no idea yet what your desired lifestyle will be like.
Once that aspect of your life is on firm footing, you'll be in a much better position to start tentatively "plotting a course" toward the *ability* to retire early. Note I said "ability" here. Not everyone who CAN retire wants to, and there's something to be said for the blessedness of loving your work (hard for me to believe, but some do!)
__________________ "Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
I don't know when I plan to retire, but I plan to be able to retire within 10-12 years. At this point, the health care situation is the wild card which could change that several years in either direction.
I'm shooting for a minimum income of about $40,000 a year in retirement (in today's dollars). In all truthfulness, I expect to "semi-retire" for a few years first -- working a few hours doing something I enjoy (or at least tolerate well) to add another $10K or so to my income stream at first. I assume my wife will probably do the same thing (depending on how her travel agency business is going at the time).
At your age, to be honest, it's way too early to project retirement income needs. You don't know what your future family status holds. Sounds like you're single (could be wrong) and you don't know your situation with a future spouse (assuming you're single) or how many kids (if any). And you probably no have no idea yet what your desired lifestyle will be like.
Once that aspect of your life is on firm footing, you'll be in a much better position to start tentatively "plotting a course" toward the *ability* to retire early. Note I said "ability" here. Not everyone who CAN retire wants to, and there's something to be said for the blessedness of loving your work (hard for me to believe, but some do!)
That's what I find a bit frustrating. At this point all I can do really is save as much as humanly possible, since I can't really measure how much I'll need at this point (especially healthcare, ow!). I'm not married but have lived with my GF for about a year. We've talked a lot about kids and currently don't have plans for any.
In terms of lifestyle I tend to be pretty simple. We share a car (thank God for that, money pits that they are). I don't need a giant house or big screen TV or a new Lexus (Buying status seems a lesson in futility). Most of what I do doesn't cost very much money, as I love going outdoors and hiking/fishing. My only expensive hobbies are skiing and console gaming (I have a 360 and Wii). The company I work for has a fitness center so thankfully no gym memberships to pay for either.
A good start, I guess, but I'm nowhere close to RE..one of these days
--I am 39, DW is 34
--Combined income of 60k
--I work in a retail job, DW works for the state
--Total monthly expenses around 2k
--Net worth (not including house) around 200k in total assets
94k in 401k
63k non-retirement mutual funds
25k Roth
13k savings account
10k state retirement
When many of us started, there was no internet or message boards. I had never even heard of FIRE until a year ago. We just saved for the future, and had a vague notion that the savings would come in handy and perhaps even allow us to stop working alittle early.
I think this was good because while the savings grew over the years, I never worried about where we were and what was our goal, since there was none. At 24, you have to accept that this is all in the distance future. For the vast majority of people, even those on this board, you have a number of decades to go.
Live your life, LBYM, but enjoy at the same time, as it sounds you are doing. I remember the first few years after making a few annual $2,000 IRA contributions, thinking this will never amount to much. 10 years later, it had grown some, and now after having worked about 20 years, we are comfortable, and probably even FI. But this all happens over time, and it will for you, but there is not a get rich quick thing. It is slow, steady growth and reasonable investments.
If I posted on this thread back when it began, I am sorry. But I don't think I did...
Age- 36
Income $110,000 (wife makes more of it than I do. And frankly we both work very long hours and I don't know if this will keep going for much longer. She likes her job better than I like mine. While the getting is good, we're trying to save a lot, but in two years our income could be significantly less than it is now)
Profession- Me: Web Editor Her: TV Show compositor
Total monthly expense: Fluctuates, but roughly $3300
Net Worth- $470,000
Stuff- No kids. None coming. No house, renting a nice place realtively cheap in LA (where shacks still cost $700,000). Me: getting close to another job burnout. Would gladly trade part of my salary for normal hours, less stress, and the ability to take my vacation time.
We've been saving for about 9 years now, and I'm amazed at the progress we've made. And how the money itself generates more money. I think by 50 we'll be ready to downshift. But right now both of our cars are a mess and we're considering buying a new Prius. After tax & insurance that would cost about half of my annual salary. That is insane. I'd love to try to get by with one car, but I am worried it would be very difficult here.
Just out of curiosity, and this has been mentioned previously, but how many of the net worth figures here constitute "family" or "husband AND wife" total net worth? The reason I ask is that some of the numbers being thrown around sound darned impressive for the ages of the INDIVIDUAL people posting them.
__________________
He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it . . . It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. -- The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Hey at least you're honest! Judging by these posts I feel like I shouldn't even consider RE because I'd need to make six figures.
In that spirit, I'll let you know what I have so far
Age: 24
Income: $32,000 (Investor Services Rep, few weeks from my series 7, hopefully I'll be making more once I'm certified!)
Net Worth: $4011.59 (stupid student loans, but at least I'm not negative? )
Graduated in may of 2006, took the summer off except for a cake part time job, and then got my act together and fully employed (currently liking my work just fine) in October of '07
Just a few words of encouragement to those who recently graduated (less than 5 yrs ago).
1) Keep busting A$$ paying of those student loans, it's amazing how easy saving $ becomes when $500-1000 monthly payment disappears. Of course, when I had to pay my ~$30k student loan debt off, the interest was not deductible so it was a no brainer.
2) you do not have to make 6 figures to RE. I've been out of college for over 10 years, started out making ~ $35k in Silicon Valley (translates to crap wages). Still not making 6 figures and still plan to RE before I'm 50.
The same company called back the other day and I start Monday. I would have been able to find a decent job much easier, if I stayed in the exact same line of work, but I'm tired of running around on the streets, being called racist every other day, and receiving a small pay check.
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, One small rental property with negative cash flow 
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