$1Mil Enough? Age 35

[daylatedollarshort]

Depends on how good you are at investing. A good investor makes money in both up and down markets. I don't buy funds and let my money sit only to watch it tanked three months later. I buy individual stocks after thorough research and watch them daily. In three years, I've bought and sold over 100 stocks and not lost a penny on a single one. I suspect you are buying funds/indexes and letting others make allocations/decisions for you.

Wow, then you are in a position to be giving advice to Warren Buffett instead of asking advice of us lowly thousandaires and millionaires that post here.

Buffett lost billions in the last financial downturn -

Warren Buffett loses £3bn in global financial crisis | Business | The Observer

Glad to hear you are much better at picking stocks than he is. I am surprised with your investing track record you aren't a billionaire, too.

 

[Letj]

Twinkies: the other white meat.

Lol, it's impossible to eat good non-processed food for cheap unless you grow your own fruits and vegetables and raise/hunt your own meat and always prepare your own meals. We prepare most meals at home but find that my children get bored with that and do want to go out occasionally like their friends.

 

[FUEGO]

Can you PM the link to your budget? Thanks

Done!

 

[Ready]

Lol, it's impossible to eat good non-processed food for cheap unless you grow your own fruits and vegetables and raise/hunt your own meat and always prepare your own meals. We prepare most meals at home but find that my children get bored with that and do want to go out occasionally like their friends.

Agreed. I was shocked to see that I spent over $6,000 for groceries this year for two people. But breaking it down, that really comes out to less than $3.00/meal, or roughly $8.00 per day. So I guess that's not all that bad for eating fresh non-processed food. If I had a large family I suspect economies of scale would allow these costs to go down a bit further.

And yes, I remember the Twinkie quite well from my childhood. I seem to remember they actually tasted quite good, although my tastes for sweets have evolved in the past 40 years or so.

 

[marko]

Oh my. If hubris could be used as currency, you'd be financially set for life.

After reading the whole thread here, I wonder if the OP actually has a question.

Seems to have all the answers to the caveats posed; doesn't need our help from what I see. That, or his "mind is already made up, don't bother me with facts"

Jus' sayin'

 

[Calico]

After reading the whole thread here, I wonder if the OP actually has a question.

Seems to have all the answers to the caveats posed. That, or his "mind is already made up, don't bother me with facts"

Jus' sayin'

I think the "don't bother (him) with facts" pretty much sums it up.

 

[Dager]

I think the "don't bother (him) with facts" pretty much sums it up.

I've thanked many here, acknowledged issues I hadn't considered and learned much from those who offered sage advice. Principally, I learned that my expenses will rise dramatically as the kids age. As to those who insisted my expenses couldn't possibly be what they are, I attempted to explain why they are what they are, which some considered hubris, or a refusal to accept facts. For those posters like yourself, who replied with doubt and offered solely criticism, I recommend a new hobby to replace your existing one of trolling message boards for the sole purpose of insulting people.

 

[Dager]

Dager, I don't think you are way off, but make sure to put together an all inclusive detailed budget that includes taxes, insurance, any extra healthcare or dental expenses, and capital replacement items (big house maintenance like roof/siding and new(er) cars for example).

I recently ER'd at age 33. I have put together a pretty comprehensive retirement budget of $32k/yr for our family of 5 (3 kids from age 2 to age 8). That number includes a paid off house and all taxes, insurance premiums, core expenses, and discretionary expenses. I'll PM you a link to my budget I've posted elsewhere (that also includes how I developed that early retirement budget). Obamacare subsidies will pick up most of our HI costs.

Kid expenses might go up during their teen years, but I bet they will drop off at some point a few years after they are no longer teenagers. It'll all even out most likely.

I haven't ruled out the possibility of picking up some cash doing a little hustling during my ER. Especially if my kids make an honest attempt at bankrupting my ER.

I'd appreciate the PM w/ your budget. Thanks.

 

[Dager]

So if you get your fruits and vegetables from your garden, and you don't eat steak or seafood, what are you buying at Stater Brothers? I haven't shopped there in years, but from what I recall, other than produce and meat/chicken/fish, just about everything there is just processed food.

If you haven't shopped there in years, why not Google them rather than post such a naive statement? Stater Bros is the largest grocer chain in SB County and sells about everything any typical grocery sells.

 

[Dager]

Lol, it's impossible to eat good non-processed food for cheap unless you grow your own fruits and vegetables and raise/hunt your own meat and always prepare your own meals. We prepare most meals at home but find that my children get bored with that and do want to go out occasionally like their friends.

So if you don't understand or cannot replicate someone else's spending habits, you simply label it "impossible" and insinuate that such person is a liar? Do you honestly believe people making under $40k/yr (a large percentage of the populace) is starving or eating solely processed food, or can you accept that middle America knows how to use coupons and shop at discounters?

 

[brewer12345]

Its like a male MMND! Sweet. Christmas may have come a bit late, but it came,

 

[Dager]

Agreed. I was shocked to see that I spent over $6,000 for groceries this year for two people. But breaking it down, that really comes out to less than $3.00/meal, or roughly $8.00 per day. So I guess that's not all that bad for eating fresh non-processed food. If I had a large family I suspect economies of scale would allow these costs to go down a bit further.

And yes, I remember the Twinkie quite well from my childhood. I seem to remember they actually tasted quite good, although my tastes for sweets have evolved in the past 40 years or so.

It's interesting that you offer so much whimsical critique, yet your grocer bill is not too much higher than mine. While I'm a family of four, the breastfed twins aren't adding much to the grocer tab yet (others enlightened me that those kids will-for many reasons-increase my overall expenditures), thus, I'm technically two people and spend possibly $350/mth to your $500/mth. I'll bet the coupons and shopping at a discounter narrows the gap considerably.

 

[Dager]

Its like a male MMND! Sweet. Christmas may have come a bit late, but it came,

Very mature. Must make you happy that you can entertain yourself. Now go back to playing solitare.

 

[brewer12345]

Very mature. Must make you happy that you can entertain yourself. Now go back to playing solitare.

Hey, funboy, you are the one barging in, asking dopey questions and then pissing on the virtual carpet when people are foolish enough to take you seriously. If you want to become momma's little helper with your portfolio and a sugar-momma, knock yourself out. Just have at least a little politeness if you cannot manage humility.

 

[Calico]

Hey, funboy, you are the one barging in, asking dopey questions and then pissing on the virtual carpet when people are foolish enough to take you seriously. If you want to become momma's little helper with your portfolio and a sugar-momma, knock yourself out. Just have at least a little politeness if you cannot manage humility.

 

[JacqJolie]

Michael Burry of Scion is the only person I've read of that could consistently earn in excess of 40 percent returns (50 percent on average I believe) regardless of market conditions. And even he had some losers. And he's brilliant. Maybe Seth Klarman too. Also brilliant and extremely humble in interviews I've seen.
I have about 40 pages of his Strategy Lab notes (Burry's) circa 2001 if anyone's interested.

Hmm. I've never heard of anyone referring to infants as pre-teens before. I take back what I said. Your grocery budget is much higher than mine when I'm in frugal mode and I don't coupon. Budgetbytes.com might give you some ideas for lowering that bill once your kids start eating solid food.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

A lot of the given information by the OP isn't really adding up here. If I had 100% uncanny stock picking abilities, I would be deciding which major university endowment fund or hedge fund manager offer I should accept, not trying to figure out how to live on a budget below federal poverty levels for the rest of my life.

 

[Bestwifeever]

The OP mentions "First, my food budget doesn't include restaurant meals; I've actually allocated that expense in the "entertainment" category (any luxury/excesses are in that category)." I don't think the "Entertainment" category is called out in his posts here, so I would guess that his $12k budget is like several others have claimed as their expenses but really is a barebones budget that someone believes he could live on if necessary, but who actually spends more in "discretionary" or "entertainment" or "uncommitted" categories. If this family of four is really spending only $12k a year but earning 40 percent a year in the stock market and one spouse works part time apparently (the OP describes himself as semiretired I believe,and while I don't know what that means to him, to me it means he is earning some money but less than a full time job would bring in) and the other spouse is an executive for a hospital, I am sort of surprised that there is not more than $1 million in the nest egg after paying off the $170k mortgage. Where is all the money going?

Wait, your wife is breast feeding preteens while she works full time? Speechless here.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Oh my. If hubris could be used as currency, you'd be financially set for life.

I think we should invent hubris-coin currency--much more fun than those bit coins.

 

[marko]

For those posters like yourself, who replied with doubt and offered solely criticism, I recommend a new hobby to replace your existing one of trolling message boards for the sole purpose of insulting people.

One more serious piece of advice: If you find some of the comments and posts here "insulting", maybe you should keep working.

Early retirement requires a thick skin. You'll be challenged, critiqued, second guessed and dismissed every step of the way. You'll also need to make new friends and maintain new acquaintances which by default requires a certain level of diplomacy.

This is the area I'd focus on if I were you.

If ER was easy, everyone would be doing it.

 

[FUEGO]

I'd appreciate the PM w/ your budget. Thanks.

I sent it again.

 

[brewer12345]

Wait, your wife is breast feeding preteens while she works full time? Speechless here.

Breastfeeding only gets awkward when they are old enough to drive.

 

[Alan]

Breastfeeding only gets awkward when they are old enough to drive.

I think breast feeding while driving is as dangerous as texting while driving, the sooner the driver can feed himself from a fast food drive-through the better.

 

[Mulligan]

Breastfeeding only gets awkward when they are old enough to drive.

I don't know Brewer. No expert in this area, but I did see the Adam Sandler movie "Grownups". It look pretty awkward once they were doing it standing up!

 

[Ready]

I don't know Brewer. No expert in this area, but I did see the Adam Sandler movie "Grownups". It look pretty awkward once they were doing it standing up!

Hey, whatever it takes to keep those grocery bills down so low!