What do you do for a living?

[2017ish]

Wow, Dog. That is textbook, but nonetheless admirable. Congrats to the two of you.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Go Dog Go!

 

[haha]

Humanities major who ended up in retail. (retail everyone hates retail!)

Started at 17k a year 22 years ago.

Will make 350k this year. (many promotions)

Was saving a TON the last 4-5 years when my pay about doubled.

Just had my divorce finalized.

Ex-wife took half.

Need to save some more now.

Consider yourself fortunate that she only got away with half.

Ha

 

[Baldpacker]

Commercial and Contracts Manager (consulting) for a national oil company (NOC) in Yemen. If I can get a couple more years in out here and work extra days I should be on track to pull the trigger and FIRE before I turn 33.

 

[ReadyAimFired]

Me, police officer. DW is a customer service manager. Ages 40 and 36. Together we bring in about $130k but save 45%, basically her entire paycheck. Looking to ER at 53 and 49 together. No debt and on vacation as we speak in San Francisco for my 40th!!!!


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[MaddMaxx]

I went to Electronics Repair school after high school, worked ten years in a super low paying field of copier repair. I was able to get into the IT field in the late 90's when the field was taking off and worked for several IT contracting companies travelling the country working various projects. After that I worked in IT for a major beer company and now work in the Oil and Gas industry (Shale Developer) also IT, making more money then ever before with a good 401k match (15%). DW and I have three teen aged kids at home and she works a sub teacher, we are fortunate to be saving 35% of our income at this point.


My current job is very low stress and I hope to work another 12-17 years here, but I know in todays world, there are no guarantees, so I will work here as long as possible.

 

[Arif]

I started working with a painter when I was 13, then once I became a "legal" worker I took orders at the border (Taco Bell). The manager wanted to promote me and I immediately got scared and thought I would end up working there forever.

I joined the Army as a Supply Specialist and shortly thereafter was offered a scholarship to get my accounting degree and become a commissioned officer. I did a mix of Air Defense Artillery and Finance for roughly 9 years then had enough and moved to Panama for a few years. While we were in the Army we bought several rentals which allowed us to live in Panama without jobs. We were in our early 30s and enjoying life until I decided I wanted to own my own business.

We moved to San Antonio and bought a pool route servicing and maintaining commercial and residential pools. The recession hit and we lost quite a few residential pools so we shifted our focus on commercial HOA pools. We ended up growing the business despite the recession. We eventually sold our pool route and started selling other pool company's routes. Turns out I really enjoy selling pool routes and the commissions are great. Our household income is currently low six figures but the business is growing and the DW just finished her MBA so she's looking for another position more inline with her education and experience.

Our goal is to pay off our house this year and then funnel the extra income into retirement accounts and get back into rentals. I figure our savings rate will be over 50% at that point. DW works for the gov't and will be buying back her military service time to count towards retirement.

We're in our early 40s but we're concentrating on the FI rather than the RE. I've got plenty of flexibility working for myself so I don't see much changing when I retire.

 

[34rlsa]

Jack of All Trades, Master of None

I had a real job once... Didn't care for it.

 

[TomH]

I'm active duty Army and plan to retire next year.


I was fortunate to have someone tell me to invest when I joined the Army. Since then I've invested in stocks, mutual funds, real estate, precious metals and learned tax planning. In the last 3 years I was in Money magazine twice, one for on my way to million $ and told I could retire in 10 years. Then last year I was on MM online for a risky stock investment that paid off (I bought American Airline when it was bankrupt at .80 cents a share). I don't plan to work for someone when I retire and have a few side projects working now.

 

[papadad111]

as we are paying for expensive private schooling for the kids. But we are already more or less FIRE once we decide to quit/leave Beijing/sell current apartment, so while it is painful to pay those fees we feel it is worth it for what we are getting (kids doing very well both academically and socially).

ISB or WAB? I often wonder if in the long run it is worth the ridiculous cost ....

 

[lhamo]

ISB or WAB? I often wonder if in the long run it is worth the ridiculous cost ....

BSB, actually. WAB was a bit too unstructured for what we felt our kids needed, and ISB was too big/impersonal. At the time we were looking, both WAB and ISB were also more expensive than BSB, but that has now changed. Have been very happy with BSB, though -- more international than some of the other schools (Harrow was probably 70-80% Korean and Chinese) and they offer differentiated learning groups across the curriculum. My son is very talented academically, which is actually why we are leaving (he's been admitted to a special program back in the US), and his teachers have made a real effort to accommodate his needs/interests.

 

[Lakewood90712]

Currently, a part time Stand Up Philosopher

Pay is not so great.

 

[hnzw_rui]

I used to break stuff for a living. Now, I'm just pencil pusher.

 

[tmm99]

Nobody pushes pencils any more.... ;-)


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[John Galt III]

I was in IT for almost my entire career. Even though I felt like I worked hard and put in a lot of hours, I made a lot more money than I thought the job was worth the second half of my career (a lot more) and I saved large chunks (about half) of it the last 10 years.

I must admit I thought I was overpaid when I was a programmer making $80K in 2001, in an often stressful job.

Seems there are a lot of posters here saying they make 6 figures and their jobs are so low stress that they can't bring themselves to retire early. Nice problem to have, eh?

 

[LinCella]

Retired Librarian, but always a Librarian at heart. I made what I considered good money but then again I live in the San Francisco Bay Area so it was chump change, could never buy a house for one thing.

I get my money now from my city government pension fund that I paid into for 28 years and from a 457 account that I cashed out so I could have ready cash to put a down on a house/townhouse/condo at some future date in some other location.

Was able to retire early (54.5) because of my decision to become a manager (higher pay, therefore higher pension) for 3 years prior to retirement and for the incredible, unheard of fact that employees from my period of employment get 100% paid medical for life.

Lucky and grateful.

 

[behindthedimes]

I am a Systems Engineer with the US Dept of the Army. I also co-own an SAT/ACT test prep business with my wife. She is a high school history teacher. This keeps incredibly busy.

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[dallas27]

SAP consultant at a startup specializing in virtualization, part owner, plus still have my own LLC 100% owned


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[CloudNine]

Software Dev

 

[eta2020]

Engineer married to Engineer.

Money are mighty fine and we save about 40%.

 

[Taxman59]

CPA - tax planner (hence my handle).


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[Ally]

My husband retired over a year ago from a university management job. I just retired from directing a nonprofit.


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[REWahoo]

Collect SS and Wellesley/Wellington dividends.

 

[NoiseBoy]

Started my working career with a paper route and progressed through the usual assortment of part-time student jobs. Traditional college graduate with a B.S. in a field that I never worked in. Two careers. First 9 years working civil service and then professional positions at two different state universities. Still have the pension and most of the 401k money from that period. Loved the atmosphere of working on a college campus, but pay and hours weren't the best.

Went back to school for computer science in late '90s. Got an internship at my current megacorp, received a job offer at roughly twice my previous salary and took the money, never completing the second degree. Generous benefits package when I started in '98 which has seen steady cuts during my career. Lucky to still have pension plus small 401k match and possible access to retiree health care subsidy if I can hang on until 55. Base salary of $125k now as an IT project manager with highly variable annual profit sharing on top of that. Like other singles, my budget is roughly 1/3 taxes, 1/3 savings, and 1/3 spending. Best year was saving 41% of gross.

 

[NYEXPAT]

Former Alchemist, now spending down the balance of my Mojo.