undecyphered
Confused about dryer sheets
Hello everyone,
I’ve been lurking on this forum for many years, so I thought I’d drop by and give you a view of what an “upper middle class” situation can look like.
Like everyone on this forum, I am pursuing “early retirement” and to this end am living a “rather frugal” life, but in a very expensive country (Switzerland).
By “rather frugal” I mean that I am not indulging in any luxuries, as those would not provide me with any kind of enjoyment. I however never scrimp on essential items (food, etc.) but purchase them when I really need them.
I am not looking to actually retire but rather be financially independent, in order to stop caring about my corporate job and perhaps launch my own venture eventually.
I am working a “rather easy” job, effectively working no longer than 30 hours a week, for a very cool company in a non-competitive environment. My wife is in a very similar situation. We both are in our late thirties.
Besides work, we have 2 young kids to take care of, so life is pretty busy ?
The numbers below are for my household (wife + myself). I will assume CHF 1 = USD 1 (actual number are in CHF, and CHF 1 = USD 1.1 at the time of writing).
Revenues:
Expenses:
Savings:
Net worth (excluding future social security pension rights):
I failed at getting rich because I didn’t take any business risks and didn’t invest much in my corporate career.
However, I am pretty satisfied with where I stand today, considering that I enjoyed a pretty low-stress life.
Going forward, I look forward to becoming financially independent (within the next 5-10 years) while kickstarting my own venture (perhaps on the side, to begin with) in order to unlock more value and have more fun with my professional life. As I said initially, I want to pursue financial freedom rather than literal "retirement".
I’ve been lurking on this forum for many years, so I thought I’d drop by and give you a view of what an “upper middle class” situation can look like.
Like everyone on this forum, I am pursuing “early retirement” and to this end am living a “rather frugal” life, but in a very expensive country (Switzerland).
By “rather frugal” I mean that I am not indulging in any luxuries, as those would not provide me with any kind of enjoyment. I however never scrimp on essential items (food, etc.) but purchase them when I really need them.
I am not looking to actually retire but rather be financially independent, in order to stop caring about my corporate job and perhaps launch my own venture eventually.
I am working a “rather easy” job, effectively working no longer than 30 hours a week, for a very cool company in a non-competitive environment. My wife is in a very similar situation. We both are in our late thirties.
Besides work, we have 2 young kids to take care of, so life is pretty busy ?
The numbers below are for my household (wife + myself). I will assume CHF 1 = USD 1 (actual number are in CHF, and CHF 1 = USD 1.1 at the time of writing).
Revenues:
- From our salaried jobs, monthly: ~$22K paid out + ~4K going directly to our retirement accounts (equivalent to the 401(k) in the USA).
- From our financial investments: on average around $80k per year. We invest mostly in bonds and stocks, very conservatively (no fancy stuff).
Expenses:
- A little over $2k /month for renting our apartment.
- Around $2k / month for food.
- Around $2.5k /month for the kids’ daycare.
- Around $3k / month in tax.
- Another say $1k / month for other various expenses (health expenses are already mostly taken care of by my employer, which saves me a lot!).
Savings:
- We save around $180k / year, on average (a little less than 60% of our revenues).
Net worth (excluding future social security pension rights):
- Around $1.7m of net worth, exclusively in financial assets. We do not own any real estate – other financial assets offer much more attractive (and safer, because less concentrated / more diversified) returns.
- They currently stand at around $2k / month, in real dollars. Those will be paid out when we reach 65 years old.
- Those rights will keep being adjusted for inflation year after year, and will keep increasing if we keep working (up to around $5k / month toward the end of our career).
I failed at getting rich because I didn’t take any business risks and didn’t invest much in my corporate career.
However, I am pretty satisfied with where I stand today, considering that I enjoyed a pretty low-stress life.
Going forward, I look forward to becoming financially independent (within the next 5-10 years) while kickstarting my own venture (perhaps on the side, to begin with) in order to unlock more value and have more fun with my professional life. As I said initially, I want to pursue financial freedom rather than literal "retirement".