Hi, I am 49 and semi-fully-sorta-retired

[johnhkc]

My name is John. I have been addicted to saving money since age 20 (but not before!) I'm not very good at investing but I'm great at saving. I am 49 years old and retired at 39. Then the financial mess pushed me back to work because I didn't want to tap savings when the valuation was half of what is was before. One quick three month contract took care of my expenses for a year or so. I've pretty much been following the same pattern for the last 10 years.

AA is 80/20 stocks, bonds. Some mutual funds, mostly ETFs and target date mutual funds now. Income is 90K, expenses $8820/year, no spouse, no kids.

 

[johnhkc]

Oh! And I have a 40 year supply of dryer sheets. So I'm not confused at all.

 

[street]

Sounds like you have done well. Your expenses are 735 a month now that is low. You have a car and home?

 

[Palmtree]

Congratulations on your high income skill set and your ability to live on less than $1000 per month. As long as you remain in good health, it seems you can enjoy your early retirement in 9 month sections. It is very unconventional but if it works for you, I say enjoy it.

 

[braumeister]

Oh! And I have a 40 year supply of dryer sheets. So I'm not confused at all.

Have you considered selling calls on them?

 

[flintnational]

I'm not very good at investing

Welcome to the forum. There is a lot of expertise on the forum if you have any questions about investing. And, the price is right!

FN

 

[johnhkc]

Have you considered selling calls on them?

Covered calls on dryer sheets is not something I had considered.

 

[johnhkc]

Sounds like you have done well. Your expenses are 735 a month now that is low. You have a car and home?

Toyota Camry 2002. Runs great!
House is 3 bed 2.5 bath, 2 car garage, 1920 sq ft.

All debts paid.

Monthly expenses:
HouseIns+Tax 277.07
MGE 47.65 (nat gas)
KCPL 28.30 (solar on roof)
Water/Sewer 64.90
TV/Net 4.17 (google fiber free plan expires in 4 years)
Food/Gas 156.00 ($129 for food, grow some myself)
CarIns 32.83
HealthIns 100.00 (health care sharing ministry)
DentalIns 22.98
Total 733.90

If anyone has ideas on how to go lower, I'd love to hear them.

 

[street]

Amazing! I don't know if I have seen one persons expenses that low.

 

[JBmadera]

If I could get gas/food $156 a week I would consider myself a hero. Great job!!

 

[38Chevy454]

Welcome to the forum. You certainly have done well to have your expenses low. Some budget items I did not see, although they are occasional and not every month: vacation or travel expenses, house repairs, car repairs or replacement, household items (furniture, electronics, etc)?

Your investment mix seems good for your age and requirements. With the income you have, could certainly spend more without any risk. JUst read up on here and you will learn a lot for the investing knowledge.

 

[eastnortheast]

If anyone has ideas on how to go lower, I'd love to hear them.

Amazingly low expenses! Congrats to you. 90K income and 9K in expenses is impressive.

You probably have been on the early retirement extreme website, but if not, here is link

https://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/

Lots of interesting ideas there - lots of things that I would not do (LOL), but an interesting perspective nonetheless.

 

[pb4uski]

....
HealthIns 100.00 (health care sharing ministry)
DentalIns 22.98 ....
If anyone has ideas on how to go lower, I'd love to hear them.

Is the ~$275 a year that you pay for dental insurance really worth the cost? We spend less than that a year for our dental care (one checkup and two cleanings a year). Not huge savings but still some perhaps.

Don't confuse health care sharing ministry with health insurance... they are not the same thing.

 

[johnhkc]

Welcome to the forum. You certainly have done well to have your expenses low. Some budget items I did not see, although they are occasional and not every month: vacation or travel expenses, house repairs, car repairs or replacement, household items (furniture, electronics, etc)?

Your investment mix seems good for your age and requirements. With the income you have, could certainly spend more without any risk. JUst read up on here and you will learn a lot for the investing knowledge.

$735 is core budget
I allocate $210 for non-monthly core expenses and another $175 for health expenses. Grand total is $1120 per month. Note that I don't typically spend the amount allocated. I need a better way to estimate.

 

[brucethebroker]

Well done. and welcome.

 

[DanP]

Toyota Camry 2002. Runs great!
House is 3 bed 2.5 bath, 2 car garage, 1920 sq ft.

All debts paid.

Monthly expenses:
HouseIns+Tax 277.07
MGE 47.65 (nat gas)
KCPL 28.30 (solar on roof)
Water/Sewer 64.90
TV/Net 4.17 (google fiber free plan expires in 4 years)
Food/Gas 156.00 ($129 for food, grow some myself)
CarIns 32.83
HealthIns 100.00 (health care sharing ministry)
DentalIns 22.98
Total 733.90

If anyone has ideas on how to go lower, I'd love to hear them.

Well, first CONGRATS you are far ahead of most!

But how can that be realistic budget - insurance deductible and co-pays alone. House maintenance? Car maintenance? Then you likely do your own yard but there is equipment for that. Plus plus plus.

Never mind a significant other coming into the picture.

You come across as a smart person, lots of good advise on this forum and best of luck.

EDIT: I just saw the post where you allocate extra $$, sorry on assumptions. FWIW more would be better.

 

[BreathFree]

That is an impressively small budget. Congratulations. I am now disgusted with myself for not being able to get my food under $400.00 a month.

 

[Yarnstormer]

Wow impressive! All good but I think you need a catastrophic health ins plan to protect your nest egg.

 

[johnhkc]

That is an impressively small budget. Congratulations. I am now disgusted with myself for not being able to get my food under $400.00 a month.

Aldi has pressure cookers on sale for $39.99 this week. It's digital so it's super easy to use. It cooks your food in less than an hour and does basically the same job as a crock pot would take 6 hours to do.

If I find a food I like, I grab a recipe off the net and cook it myself. By only buying the "raw materials" instead of the pre-packaged stuff, it cuts my bill and it's healthier. Plus, I can tweak it using the herbs/spices I like instead of just loading it up with salt and sugar like the big brands do.

One other idea: powdered milk. Use a Pur water filter to reconstitute the milk. You won't be able to tell the difference. If you use tap water, it's kind of yucky but the Pur water filter makes a huge difference. Brita would probably work too. The huge box of powdered skim milk I buy at Walmart comes out to be 67% cheaper than buying the liquid!

 

[johnhkc]

Also, buy your canned goods at Aldi or Save-A-Lot. They contract with the major manufacturers and re-sell the same products with a different label. If you buy elsewhere, you're paying double or triple the price for marketing campaigns and a different label.

I find that the basic canned goods are 1/3 the price at SAL compared to other stores.

 

[BreathFree]

I never buy canned food, only fresh whole foods, although I recently started buying some frozen. Most of my protein comes from fish and it has gotten really expensive lately, over twenty dollars a pound for grouper, snapper. Cod is about ten dollars a pound. Chicken breast is only about three dollars so I started substituting some chicken. I never buy milk, can't stand the stuff.

Also, I live near a touristy beach area, so our prices are jacked up. I noticed our prices are about 25% higher than up North when visiting family. Some items were over twice the price for the exact same branded items.

So, I know what my problem is, I have a love affair with the freshest, highest quality food.