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Balancing Savings vs Fun Living
Old 04-25-2019, 07:45 PM   #1
Confused about dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
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Balancing Savings vs Fun Living

Hello,

tl;dr 33, hate working, love life outside of work, hoping to retire as early as possible.

I'm 33 and been wanting to 'retire' since I was 16. I have a constant battle with myself between saving every penny and going out and living life.

Early 20s I was really into poker, did pretty decent and ended up living abroad for a year until I decided it wasn't for me anymore. Ended up getting in an accident shortly before coming back home, and ended up in a decent amount of debt from medical bills and making other irresponsible choices.

Since then, came back home, paid off the debt, got a degree (well, associates), and got into IT which I thought I would like.

I've hated every job I've ever had, and tried a lot of things. I've been able to progressively get more tolerable jobs, but there's not much of anything I want to do 40+ hours per week. Hence, why I'm trying to increase earnings and savings, decrease expenses, and be able to do whatever I feel like.

Currently contributing 17% to 401k, goal is to make that 20% by year end, and hopefully max (25%) within the next couple years. Aside from 401k, I have a few other 'experimental' or 'fun' investments I dabble in, but this is around 5% or less of my income. A couple of those have done quite well and rolled over into bigger investments which are currently doing well (not very liquid at the moment though). My reservations for saving more mostly come from wanting to travel and have more experiences in life. There are so many places I want to see, concerts/festivals I want to go to, and other experiences I want to have.

Income is probably considered upper middle class? Anytime I use tools to figure out what I should be making, it's considerably more than I'm making now, so looking to fix that soon (likely just getting a different job).

Anyways, that's my journey so far. Current expenses, I live fairly comfortably on 24k/year (after tax) including some vaca/fun stuff, so shooting for $1M net worth with the 4% SWR of 40k (before tax). If all my experimental investments fall through, I'll probably reach that in my early to mid 50s. If things continue to go well, I might hit that when I'm 40 or sooner. I may need to adjust expenses due to inflation, but for now shooting for $1M, then I'll see where I'm at.
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Old 04-26-2019, 03:00 PM   #2
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Welcome! Sounds like you're on the right path! Best wishes! BTW, the extreme savers here sometimes save up to 50% of income! Something to shoot for as your income rises!

At 33, I had less than $10K in emergency savings, and only $34K in a 401(k). At 53, I'm north of $2M. It can be done!
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Old 04-26-2019, 05:08 PM   #3
Confused about dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HNL Bill View Post
Welcome! Sounds like you're on the right path! Best wishes! BTW, the extreme savers here sometimes save up to 50% of income! Something to shoot for as your income rises!

At 33, I had less than $10K in emergency savings, and only $34K in a 401(k). At 53, I'm north of $2M. It can be done!
Thanks! That's roughly where I'm at right now, but happy considering where I've come from
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