a 29 year old retiree wow

So we are back to square one.............:)
 
Nords said:
Yeah, except that a bunch of Money readers are beginning to reconsider their subscriptions...
Click to expand...

:D:D

I still find it interesting that the writer of the Yahoo coumn came on here to defend Madison. Of course, we can't prove it was her anyways, so that's why the Internet makes everyone an "expert".......:D:D
 
haha said:
What a 29 year old who lives off her husband has to teach anybody about retirement is beyond me.
Ha
Click to expand...
it is very rare for me to comment like this, but i have to agree with Ha.
i myself am a self made woman, so i can assure you all that no real or perceived sexism will come from this direction.

FIRE - being retired early RE is all about being financially independent FI, is it not? and FIRE refers to an individual's status? for example, I am FIREd but dh2b is not ?

i don't recall FIRE including using another person's income or benefits to define one's OWN retirement or did i also miss something?
 
There are a couple of things I don't really comprehend, however they apply to many more than Madison.

First, if you are part of a committed couple and one spouse is working and the other isn't, why draw on your retirement savings? Why not just live off what the working spouse is bringing in rather than leaving your 401k to grow for another 30 years?

Being a SAHM to me doesn't automatically qualify Madison as a FIREd. I can't recall the full contents of the article but didn't it state they could afford to both retire? If so, would that mean they could only do so if they withdraw from their retirement accounts as that is what Madison is doing now?
 
DangerMouse said:
First, if you are part of a committed couple and one spouse is working and the other isn't, why draw on your retirement savings? Why not just live off what the working spouse is bringing in rather than leaving your 401k to grow for another 30 years?
Click to expand...

Maybe Madison can clue us on, that didn't make much sense to me either.

Being a SAHM to me doesn't automatically qualify Madison as a FIREd. I can't recall the full contents of the article but didn't it state they could afford to both retire? If so, would that mean they could only do so if they withdraw from their retirement accounts as that is what Madison is doing now?
Click to expand...

I am guessing the access to health insurance is the big reason Madison's husband is still working. For folks in their late 20's, the cost od good qualit health care would be staggering for them...........
 
After spending some time reading Madison's blog, I am more convinced than ever that she is certainly well on her way to FIRE but that, right now, she is no different than the legion of young dreamers (including me) frequenting this board.

Madison goes into the details of her 14 year "dollar plan" and says they are only in year 5 of the plan (the plan expires when her husband turns 40). The plan involves growing their 2003 net worth ("the starting point") by 4560% before the end of 2016. The growth will come from "savings" and "return on investments". Their "starting point" was somewhere between $1 and $1M according to the blog. It seems to me they still rely on healthy contributions to their retirement accounts to achieve their 2016 goal.

2008 Financial Resolution
Our Net Worth Increases: October 2007

Obviously, if they both stopped working and started paying for their own health insurance, it would negatively impact their dollar plan as they would not only stop contributing to their retirement accounts but they would also suffer from lower net returns on investments because of withdrawals.

Also, the last update I could find for her net worth was 08/2008 (she had updated it every month since 01/2008 but the updates seem to stop in 08/2008 ). She had a very ambitious goal of growing her net worth by 20+% in 2008. It seems doubtful that she will achieve anything close to that goal given the net worth growth she posted so far this year. Yet she doesn't seem to acknowledge that this could have a lasting impact on their plan.

Net Worth | My Dollar Plan

And there are a number of funny things in her 29 steps, for example:
1) don't underestimate a college education. With a graduate degree, she probably got out of school at age 24 or 25, so she made use of that valuable degree for... 5 years?
2) save aggressively... "I saved like crazy after I graduated from college, often more than 50% of our salary. Once our money was compounding really well we began decreasing our contribution percentage without much effect on the portfolio.". She graduated from college around 2001. So she basically invested the bulk of her money during the 2003-2007 bull market (like me). I wonder if her money is still "compounding really well" (especially now that is taking money out of her retirement accounts) and if it is, could she give any good investment advice...:p My wife and I have consistently saved 35-45% of our income since 2001 and we are nowhere near our FIRE goals...

But overall, I think she and I are following similar paths, but I would say I am a bit more conservative in my assumptions.
 
FIREdreamer said:
After spending some time reading Madison's blog, I am more convinced than ever that she is certainly well on her way to FIRE but that, right now, she is no different than the legion of young dreamers (including me) frequenting this board.

Madison goes into the details of her 14 year "dollar plan" and says they are only in year 5 of the plan (the plan expires when her husband turns 40). The plan involves growing their 2003 net worth ("the starting point") by 4560% before the end of 2016. The growth will come from "savings" and "return on investments". Their "starting point" was somewhere between $1 and $1M according to the blog. It seems to me they still rely on healthy contributions to their retirement accounts to achieve their 2016 goal.

2008 Financial Resolution
Our Net Worth Increases: October 2007

Obviously, if they both stopped working and started paying for their own health insurance, it would negatively impact their dollar plan as they would not only stop contributing to their retirement accounts but they would also suffer from lower net returns on investments because of withdrawals.

Also, the last update I could find for her net worth was 08/2008 (she had updated it every month since 01/2008 but the updates seem to stop in 08/2008 ). She had a very ambitious goal of growing her net worth by 20+% in 2008. It seems doubtful that she will achieve anything close to that goal given the net worth growth she posted so far this year. Yet she doesn't seem to acknowledge that this could have a lasting impact on their plan.

Net Worth | My Dollar Plan

And there are a number of funny things in her 29 steps, for example:
1) don't underestimate a college education. With a graduate degree, she probably got out of school at age 24 or 25, so she made use of that valuable degree for... 5 years?
2) save aggressively... "I saved like crazy after I graduated from college, often more than 50% of our salary. Once our money was compounding really well we began decreasing our contribution percentage without much effect on the portfolio.". She graduated from college around 2001. So she basically invested the bulk of her money during the 2003-2007 bull market (like me). I wonder if her money is still "compounding really well" (especially now that is taking money out of her retirement accounts) and if it is, could she give any good investment advice...:p My wife and I have consistently saved 35-45% of our income since 2001 and we are nowhere near our FIRE goals...

But overall, I think she and I are following similar paths, but I would say I am a bit more conservative in my assumptions.
Click to expand...

Maybe YOU should start your own blog..........:D
 
FinanceDude said:
Maybe YOU should start your own blog..........:D
Click to expand...

Maybe I should! :D

I should make a correction though. In September 08, she reported a 5.6% drop in her net worth, bringing her cumulative return to 862% from the "starting point" on 2003. I wonder what October did to her net worth. I know what it did to mine and it ain't pretty!:eek:
 
Last edited:
FinanceDude said:
I am guessing the access to health insurance is the big reason Madison's husband is still working. For folks in their late 20's, the cost od good qualit health care would be staggering for them...........
Click to expand...

Bingo. Especially with a maternity rider! I think it's going to be a common thing that all of us face.

FIREdreamer said:
Maybe I should! :D

I should make a correction though. In September 08, she reported a 5.6% drop in her net worth, bringing her cumulative return to 862% from the "starting point" on 2003. I wonder what October did to her net worth. I know what it did to mine and it ain't pretty!:eek:
Click to expand...

I'm working on mine right now... and it isn't pretty either!
 
I retired at 30, but I don't think I would ever do a blog or anything, I still just tell people I am a disabled veteran. It is annoying enough with people asking us to do stuff all the time since "we have all the time and stay home" without having people bug me for money.

My wife does not work, but I think she is getting the itch too after having almost a year off. Thankfully this downturn didn't hurt me as I am 100% invested in CD's and live of their interests and my VA pension.

BTW Nords Hawaii was utterly amazing. I loved it, and the wife and I are considering selling our home when the housing market turns north a tad, and moving to the Big Island.

I would like to see the other islands though before I make a major change. Would hate to move to one island and then wind up wishing I lived on another.

What really suprised me was that with the inflation we have had here in the mainland, living there as far as food and gas was about the same, with the exception of like milk.

And wow those Hawaiian Sun fruit drinks are so freaking good. We went through like a six pack every other day and drank hardly any soda. I miss them so bad. And my allergies are driving me insane now that I am back in TN.
 
FinanceDude said:
On the Internet, EVERYONE'S an expert, EVERYONE...........;)
Click to expand...
thank you, thank you...you are too kind.
i'll pick my own area of expertise...hmmmmm...how about designing a certain type of detector? i'm a FIREd engineer, and engineers DO design ___ detectors (fill in the blank and please PM me if it's crude) ;)
 
freebird5825 said:
thank you, thank you...you are too kind.
i'll pick my own area of expertise...hmmmmm...how about designing a certain type of detector? i'm a FIREd engineer, and engineers DO design ___ detectors (fill in the blank and please PM me if it's crude) ;)
Click to expand...

I only need TWO types of detectors:

BS detector

When is the s--t going to hit the fan detector

:D
 
You’re seeing this reaction because there are a lot of people on this board who worked hard and lived frugally for a long time to be able to retire early. They resent people who appear to be selling an image that there is a quick and easy way to early retirement. I’m not saying that was the intent, but it did come across a little bit that way. As you can see from Nord’s response above, there used to be quite a bit of debate, and some hard feelings here over who is a “real” retiree.

Also, since we are the experts on early retirement, anyone who dares to write anything on it without our permission deserves nothing but scorn :)
 
Bigritchie said:
BTW Nords Hawaii was utterly amazing. I loved it, and the wife and I are considering selling our home when the housing market turns north a tad, and moving to the Big Island.
I would like to see the other islands though before I make a major change. Would hate to move to one island and then wind up wishing I lived on another.
What really suprised me was that with the inflation we have had here in the mainland, living there as far as food and gas was about the same, with the exception of like milk.
Click to expand...
Glad you had a good time! The entire Hawaii Visitors & Conventions Bureau wishes you a speedy return. The state's tourism industry is circling the drain this month with the lowest hotel occupancy in over seven years.

You could do an urban shopping vacation in Waikiki for your next trip, but I'd recommend Kauai or Maui. I think that for a combination of retail outlets (Home Depot, Wal-Mart), manageable traffic, and affordable living, though, the Big Island is easier. If you want really really inexpensive living, though, Molokai land is about to get very cheap compared to the rest of the state. If you need regular visits at a VA facility, though, you're going to want to start on Oahu. Many residents of neighbor islands end up commuting for levels of care that they can't get on their island.

Or you could plan your next trip with the advice of the residents. When the Tennessee winter weather turns really really crappy, you could log on to this discussion board: HawaiiThreads.com - The Hawaii Forum

A shipmate has been planning a Big Island move for years, but he's going to be on the Mainland for some time with his aging parents. I don't remember if he's actually bought land or if he was still in the research stage. PM me if you want to contact him or his realtor.
 
Nords said:
Glad you had a good time! The entire Hawaii Visitors & Conventions Bureau wishes you a speedy return. The state's tourism industry is circling the drain this month with the lowest hotel occupancy in over seven years.

You could do an urban shopping vacation in Waikiki for your next trip, but I'd recommend Kauai or Maui. I think that for a combination of retail outlets (Home Depot, Wal-Mart), manageable traffic, and affordable living, though, the Big Island is easier. If you want really really inexpensive living, though, Molokai land is about to get very cheap compared to the rest of the state. If you need regular visits at a VA facility, though, you're going to want to start on Oahu. Many residents of neighbor islands end up commuting for levels of care that they can't get on their island.

Or you could plan your next trip with the advice of the residents. When the Tennessee winter weather turns really really crappy, you could log on to this discussion board: HawaiiThreads.com - The Hawaii Forum

A shipmate has been planning a Big Island move for years, but he's going to be on the Mainland for some time with his aging parents. I don't remember if he's actually bought land or if he was still in the research stage. PM me if you want to contact him or his realtor.
Click to expand...

yea it has been cold and my allergies have drove me insane since I got back. Why is Molokia about to get cheap? I miss the vibrant colors there so much, it was like I could see better there for some reason.

The Mantra Ray night dive was utterly amazing. I felt blessed my eyes got to see something so awesome and beautiful. Went to the top of M.K. to the observatories and watched the sunset. The entire Island is just utterly amazing with so much to do and see and so many land types.

The vog was pretty bad, but it cleared every morning, and I actually got used to it and liked it as it kept some nice shade up.

OOO and I had a dive trip where we were going through lava tubes on the Kona side and caverns, and this one small cave had about 4 foot white tip reef shark, which didn't worry me much, until Momma came around the corner to check me out. Was in a cave with about a 10 foot mamma with really rough current, it was pretty freaking.

Then she looked at me like "you woke me up...stupid tourist" and swam off, it was so awesome!

I have been kinda sad since I got home because I miss it so much, it really felt like I was leaving home. And I want a Pineapple/Orange Hawaiin Sun drink!
 
I missed the original article, as the link in the OP doesn't seem to work anymore.
 
Bigritchie said:
yea it has been cold and my allergies have drove me insane since I got back. Why is Molokia about to get cheap?
Click to expand...
One of the island's biggest employers, Molokai Ranch, shut down due to flagging tourism and obstacles to their development of a luxury-home community.

It's a very small community, but the surfing is incredibly uncrowded... sort of the 1950s Hawaii that people fantasize about. One of these days I'll get there too.
 
UPDATE: From Madison Dupaix's My Dollar Plan personal finance blog: "We asked Laura that the interview at Yahoo be removed. Unfortunately, the discussion turned negative and the focus shifted from personal finance to personal attacks and harassment, which isn’t what My Dollar Plan is about. It will not be tolerated here in the comments, either. Now let’s get back to personal finance!"

Gee, that is strange, Madison Dupaix requested Laura Rowley to remove the yahoo finance article that drew negative comments from over a thousand people because of its misleading characterization of a person they portrayed as being a "29 year old retiree". The article is now gone, so it is hard for us to really criticize what we can't read.

Hey, if we mention terms like " Madison Dupaix ", " Laura Rowley ", and " 29 year old retiree " a bunch, would that impact the ranking of search results for google?

Anyone think Madison Dupaix will stick around the board for long? She didn't really clarify a lot of the misquotes and misrepresentations and misinterpretations from the article. Maybe the myth of a 29 year old retiree is better for publicity than the truth of not being a 29 year old retiree? ;)
 
I don't have problem with it, that is what I was hoping for, it is to her benefit and to the benefit of any new reader that important information like that is accurate. I was concerned about people just starting out getting confused about what it takes to actually retire early, rather than switching to a lighter workload, so I am glad it has been fixed.
 
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