Financially free but choose to work

[Millionaire Neumes]

I'm new to the board so I thought I should introduce myself.

My husband and I are financially free from a combination of frugality, living within our means, and investing. We choose to work because we enjoy what we do and my husband would be lost without his career. Being an investor, there is no retirement for me

[brewer12345]

Jeebus, another one!

You, um, might have missed the poop flinging contest firestorm last week with MMND, but you might consider dropping the reference to your blog and just tell us a bit about yourself on this board.

Other than a friendly heads-up that you might be stepping on recently-squashed nerves, welcome.

Why do you choose to continue working?

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

MN, welcome to the board. We all look forward to hearing your story, and you are among many, many members who have enjoyed the same success, each in their own way. Take some time to read through archived threads to get a feel for who hangs out here.

I sent you a personal message regarding board rules for linking to your own web site/blog.

Hope you enjoy the board.

[Millionaire Neumes]

Today is my first day at the forum so I'll have to find the thread to which you refer. Thank you for the heads up. I appreciate your advice to take some time to get a feel for who hangs out. I'm not looking to grand stand or throw gasoline on a thread fire.

We choose to still work because we are relatively young (mid 40's), have two dependent teens, like what we do, and enjoy the peace of mind my husband's medical benefits provide. His company has a path for a 32 hour work week with medical coverage. First he needs to consistently work just 40 hours. He is doing much better. He's never been a workaholic, but he is someone who will spend a couple of hours checking his email and keeping in touch with coworkers when off duty.

[Nords]

Quote:

"Investor’s Business Daily 101 - How I Make Money In Stocks Using William J. O’Neil’s Classic Book and Newspaper"

Sigh.

While you're at it, Neumes, take a look at this thread too: http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ove-32971.html

and please try to find some aspect of early retirement you'd like to discuss.

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Nothing wrong with working even when you don't have to. In your 40s, many people are "not ready to not work" for a variety of reasons.

I'm sure when the time is right to stop your normal jobs, you'll know it. One common question is what you have planned for health insurance, and you seem to have that under control. And two teens raise the wild card with lots of "what ifs" so waiting until they are fully launched adds another layer of reassurance.

[Marquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa Nothing wrong with working even when you don't have to. In your 40s, many people are "not ready to not work" for a variety of reasons.

Shoot... I just turned 30 and can't wait to hit 40 and not work. At least, not work in the traditional sense of work.

[TickTock]

I poked around the blog a bit. They're both retired military.

And they think a home mortgage is a good idea.

Let's not start gang-tackling yet.


Neumes,

The above statements are meant to contrast with MMND.

[Dawg52]

Welcome! Working is not so bad if it is something you enjoy. I have few friends that could retire but enjoy their jobs. Most here retired because we had other things we would rather do. Golf for me. Tee time in a couple of hours.

[Millionaire Neumes]

I seem to have a knack for showing up at forums and blogs after an MMND blowup. I realize it is always dangerous to comment on a flaming thread, but because it is the elephant in the forum room that has already made several cautious about me before I’ve even said more than hello, I feel I need to respond.

I am Neumes not MMND

MMND has done a great job marketing her blog to her target audience. She has lots of supporters, but they seem to sku heavily towards those early in their finanical lives, based on comments I’ve seen at other sites. She drives those with high net worths, myself included, crazy.

A prime example was her guest post on December 9th at Get Rich Slowly, a well respected personal finance blog.

How I Became a Millionaire While Working in My Pajamas ∞ Get Rich Slowly

I’ve provided the link above so you can form your own opinion. What happened there in the comments section was very similiar to the response she received here.

First it starts out fine, with most comments positive. Then a few self identified high net worthers, Harry (comment #29) and Alicia (comment #51), start getting stronger with specific critics. The whole comment board gets fired up, with sides being chosen. MMND fires off tons of replies, yet for Alicia she calls her a troll who has been harassing her site and encourages readers to see her post on Chauvinist, Troll, or Economic Abuser which she infers is Alicia in disguise (comment #54). The comment board becomes more split with the gender wars popping up. MMND ends it (comment #100) stating she will be on TV soon, to come to her blog for details, and she is “...frustrated by the blatant sexism I (and many others) experiences on a regular basis.”

I read through the two MMND threads here after the moderators deleted the unaccetable content, so I don’t know the full scope of the Early Retirement story, nor do I want to. I do know that I cringe everytime a woman screams sexism when faced with strong opinions that can’t be changed.

What many posters at the Get Rich Slowy site seemed to overlook was MMND’s biggest critics were self identified high net worth individuals who have already walked the walk. Her tone, renting-is-the-only-way stance, and unwillingness to respond to the resultant strong critics, drives this group understandably bonkers. It is the same reason why she got the attacks here.

Based on what happened a week ago in this forum, I understand why frequent commentors are very wary and wondering if I’m “like her”. I hope you will eviscerate me on my own merits and not through the prism of MMND. When I start to see lots of real life examples of inviduals who become financially free by strictly renting and getting in touch with their feelings through scissor and paste collages, I’ll reevaluate my approach. Until then I’ll stick to owning a home and improving my investing skills.

The only other point is one of clarity regarding my husband and I. We are both prior service, not retired military. We got out after our initial tours, choosing to stay in our heavily populated military community for its quality of life and great schools for our future kids.

[Nords]

Interesting-- I wasn't aware that MMND has been making the rounds. It's the first time we've seen her on this board and apparently I don't read enough other boards to have noticed her "progress".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Millionaire Neumes The only other point is one of clarity regarding my husband and I. We are both prior service, not retired military.

I was wondering what I'd missed. Thanks for clearing that up, and it looks like you're off to a much better start.

[travelover]

Welcome. We look forward to your participation.

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Millionaire Neumes I seem to have a knack for showing up at forums and blogs after an MMND blowup...I hope you will eviscerate me on my own merits and not through the prism of MMND.

With a sense of humor and humility like that, I don't think too many of us will confuse you with any prior posters. Welcome.

[jdroth]

Hi. I'm J.D., and I run the site that Millionaire Neumes referred to above. I don't know much about MMND, but find what she writes inspiring. I don't know much about her, and don't know what happened here.

However, I can say that in her post at my site, she really was getting comments from a single user pretending to be different people. (The comments all originated from the same IP address.) It was strange. I've never seen that happen before.

Anyhow, it's curious that Neumes (what does that mean, anyhow?) linked to my site. I just mentioned these forums yesterday in response to a reader who was looking for info on early retirement. Actually, Bob Clyatt pointed me here. I sent him a piece of fan mail after reading "Work Less, Live More", and he said I should look in here. I haven't found much time to do so, but I hope to in the near future.

Finally, what's the self-linking policy around here? I see Neumes was scolded for it, but I can't find any rules on it. There was nothing in the sign-up info, and there's nothing in the FAQ.

I'm not exactly retired, but I am quitting the day job to write from home. In a way, that feels like retiring. It's exciting!

[Alan]

Community Rules can be found at bottom right of page

http://www.early-retirement.org/?page=rules

[nickel]

JD, I found my way over here from your site, as well. After hunting high and low, I discovered the Community Rules via a link near the bottom right of each page. It appears that signature links *are* allowed (within reason) but that blatant self-promotion within posts is not. Makes sense, though it might be helpful if the Community Rules were linked more prominently.

[TromboneAl]

Note to lurkers who have not yet registered: If you put "Millionaire" in your user name, you will start with one strike against you.

NameTag.jpg

[Marquette]

Lol. Love the name badge.

What happens if 'Chamillionaire' posts here though? (not that he would, but we should discuss it just in case. You never know, those rappers might want to eventually spit some tracks about LBYM)

[TickTock]

I'd still be interested in MMND coming back and posting here - do a reboot, see if we can avoid the nastyness.

So, piecing info from her blog, posts here, and the link MNeumes provided, DH charged $65-$85/hr, worked an average of 30 billable hours/week, and profit from material accounted for the rest. Gross was $250k / year.

$75/hr * 30 hours / week * 50 weeks / year (allowing for two weeks vacation) = $112,500 / year.

That leaves $137,500 in material profits. That's $2,750 in profit from materials per week.

OTOH, they also had an apprentice, and I assume they made some profit off of him or they would not have kept him.

Anyone have experience with running a small, independent plumbing operation? Are these numbers reasonable? In particular, is never working more than 40 hours a week reasonable?

[TickTock]

Interesting. Checking MMND's website, the links to her net worth are gone.