NEW MEMBERS PLEASE READ: Overdue Thank You to this incredible resource.

[tednvon]

I hope newer members take a moment to read this. I am now 75, retired and enjoying a comfortable, not extravagant by any means, life style. Briefly, I found this board about 20 years ago or thereabouts. It was after seeing it recommended, I believe, on Motley Fool. I was a social worker who knew nothing about investing but fortunately had a nice TIAA-CREF plan at work that I pretty much ignored until then. Because, and ONLY because of the lessons learned here, I took 10 years to move everything to CREF, retired early at 62, and immediately moved everything to Vanguard. I used Firecalc (and donated every time).Folks may disagree, but I at 62, I put 45 in Wellesley, 40% in Wellington, and 15% cash, and never touched the allocation…BOOOORING!!!
I have fudged a bit and done 5%, plus 12K officiating high school and college, plus SS for 2. For you new folks, NOT A PROMISE BUT I HAVE 200K more now in my Vanguard than I did at age 62, and I did not start anywhere near a million.
My point…This board, these I incredibly smart people taught me the simple, “You can do this yourself”, ignore all the ads, and become a BORING investor model.
..and it has worked out just as they said. (Yes, it has been an unbelievable market, but the fundamentals have proven absolutely solid.)
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Ted in Iowa…now buying new dryer sheets!

 

[finnski1]

Great post. Thank you

 

[MichaelB]

Congratulations!

 

[pacergal]

Well Done!
And, yes, the forum here is wonderful. The amount of knowledge shared is so appreciated.

 

[tednvon]

Thanks Michael, but congratulations go to you and the incredible difference this board has made in my life…without this board, I could very well be collecting an Annuity that is nowhere near what I can count on today. Peace.

 

[street]

You summed it up well. ER is an incredible helpful site, being top notch managed and with outstanding people.

 

[mystang52]

OP: Congrats to you! This website is beyond-great on many levels. I joined a few years before my ER, and this site was invaluable to me then, and remains a great source of help and info. And it's not just the sage financial advice - many great examples of assistance here have nothing to do with finances.

 

[Alan]

Great post Ted, congratulations.

I joined a couple of months after you and have had a very similar experience. Great advice from the folks here helped me and my wife to retire at age 55.

 

[Love This Community]

Thanks Ted. Great post! Not just the new members but young dreamers like me take inspiration from these proof points. You proved one more time that time, patience and a boring portfolio are the key to success. I’ll jump on your bandwagon to thank the incredible members of this ER Community.

 

[walkinwood]

Your post made me go look at my join date - 15 years ago!


I would not have had the confidence to retire when I did without the knowledge I gained from this board and the success stories of other ERs here.



I'll join you in saying a big Thank You to the board members.

 

[whatnot]

Great post! I also am very happy I found this forum.
It was one of the sources I used to plan and execute our FIRE.

 

[Gumby]

Your post made me go look at my join date - 15 years ago!


I would not have had the confidence to retire when I did without the knowledge I gained from this board and the success stories of other ERs here.



I'll join you in saying a big Thank You to the board members.

In my 15+ years as a member (and a few years prior as a lurker), I have learned the answers to questions I didn't even know I should ask. I'm still learning today, thanks to all of you.

 

[CaptTom]

Good points all. It sounds like you (OP) are closer to what I once called "shoestring retirement" than to the "Blow That Dough" crowd.

Hopefully your words are an inspiration to others to follow this path, and not feel they're not wealthy enough to join the club.

59 posts in 16+ years? Wow. Nobody's ever been able to keep me that quiet!

 

[4legsgood]

Chiming in, with many thanks to the skilled and generous moderators and the many thoughtful regular posters. It's wonderful to have the anonymity to post personal financial thoughts, and have feedback from smart and familiar regulars.

 

[MuirWannabe]

Definitely grateful for all I’ve learned financially from this site over the years. I haven’t found any place better.

 

[Ronstar]

Thanks for the great post Ted! I know I couldn't have retired as comfortably as I have without the help of the folks here.

 

[kgtest]

Congrats! I used to think investing was "scary"...something "smart people" did, and "super complicated"...man was I ignorant. Once I found this forum, real people, with real results started identifying my ignorance with helpful tips, encouragement and good ideas.

It only takes one thing to retire early...

Trying.

You don't actually need to try hard. And its simple, not hard. Not only that, regular, normal people do it everyday as evidence with this forum.

Inspiring. You can do it!

 

[Octogirl]

Thanks for saying what I've been thinking: that I learn so much from the forum members on finances, taxes, and FIRE issues in general.

What I learned here gave DH and I the confidence to enjoy retirement.

 

[harllee]

I am also thankful for this Board--not so much for investing advice because I already had a pretty good handle on that before I joined-- but for a bunch of other issues for which I have received help from this board. Off the top of my head I had received good advice on this Board regarding: Social security, Medicare, several health issues, covid issues, being a caretaker, grocery shopping, travel, automobiles, RVs, golf, books, movies, TV series and many other things I cannot think of right now.

 

[NgineER]

I have to express my thanks as well. A separate thanks to the Mod's who do a great job keeping it civil. I joined the board after my wife "retiring" to SAHM/home school teacher nine years ago. It spurred me into looking at early retirement and finding this board.

This board has helped me pave the way to ER. At this point we've just reached FI, but don't want to risk it just yet. Another five years and I'll be FIRE, three years sooner than originally anticipated, with more resources than I think we'd ever have. I've learned numerous things and tricks like how move extra money into Roth accounts by doing after-tax 401k contributions and Roth conversions and recharacterizations. Currently following several threads around how to optimize withdrawals and conversions in retirement.

 

[Ally]

Thanks from me, as well. When I joined, both my husband and I were in extremely high stress jobs we could hardly stand much longer. Although we had been diligently saving in my 403b plan, and he had a governmental pension with health insurance for us both, we didn’t have nearly the assets members here seemed to have. Even so, we learned so much from you all. We paid everything off, then decided to retire a few yrs early. Thank goodness it has all worked out.

In fact, six and seven years later, I find that we have no trouble paying cash for home remodeling projects, travel in the US, entertainment, charity donations, 8 rescued pets, and all the things that make us happy.

 

[Dean56]

Ted, you are so right. This forum has so much valuable information. I too am thankful to all the people that post on this forum.

 

[F.I.R.E User]

This forum is the G.O.A.T.

 

[Perryinva]

Same same. So much learned, and better yet, so much USED to FIRE confidently. Far more in the portfolio than I ever expected. I lurked for a long time before I had anything reasonably intelligent to add!

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

I have to express my thanks as well. A separate thanks to the Mod's who do a great job keeping it civil.

Absolutely, I was on the original Retire Early Home Page Board on TMF in the late 90's before it became a sewer of politics and trolling (and ultimately split along semi-partisan lines). It was a great community and gave me a big jump start on my journey but without any control (self or imposed) the value was overcome by the garbage and bickering.



I'd lurked here and on other boards over the years but was digitally homeless until I finally signed up here near the end (or is it the beginning, of my FIRE journey). While I hate "censorship" I really appreciate the great job the mods to here to keep this a valuable resource and community based on our common interest in FI/RE.


Everyone here is great and respectful and when they get out of line, the mods step in quickly and decisively. I appreciate you all and hopefully some of my posts have been helpful to some as well.