Poll: Average Income Before FIRE

[wstu32]

like most on this sight ... i make a lot, but live on a lot less! i thank God for making me a "simple person.

 

[tiredofwork]

Wouldnt pay fifty cents I didnt owe.

CFB, I share your sentiment exactly.

 

[sgeeeee]

I'm surprised you all did all that work to calculate your average income. Checking income for every year since you were 15 years old, adjusting for inflation, dividing by the number of years...

That's kinda what I was thinking. Average over what time frame? When I was in high school, I worked Summers and had some years with no more than a few hundred dollars income. The last several years were significantly more than that.

 

[sgeeeee]

Wouldnt pay fifty cents I didnt owe.

Hmmmm. I'm not that stubborn. I would gladly pay $0.50 to avoid hours of stress . . . even if I really didn't owe it.

 

[Helen]

That's kinda what I was thinking. Average over what time frame? When I was in high school, I worked Summers and had some years with no more than a few hundred dollars income. The last several years were significantly more than that.

I read the title as average income for the board. I answered this question, "What was your income level before FIRE? "

I just wasn't sure if it meant individual or household income.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Hmmmm. I'm not that stubborn. I would gladly pay $0.50 to avoid hours of stress . . . even if I really didn't owe it.

Whats that old saying? A soldier dies but once, a coward dies a thousand deaths?

Thinking about paying someone elses bill because a big company didnt want to do the right thing? Would have irritated me for the rest of my life.

 

[FinanceDude]

You guys who did it on modest incomes are inspiration to all...........

 

[Nords]

Whats that old saying? A soldier dies but once, a coward dies a thousand deaths?

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once." -- William Shakespeare (or Francis Bacon)

But I prefer:
"No dumb son of a bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. Your job is to make the other poor dumb bastard die for his." -- General George S. Patton

 

[Andre1969]

I own a 2005, 37' Motorhome (which I admit was a mistake, but I've also had a lot of fun with it)

I think the most important thing here is that you've gotten a lot of fun and enjoyment out of the motorhome. So even if it was a large expense, it might have still been a worthwhile one.

 

[sgeeeee]

Whats that old saying? A soldier dies but once, a coward dies a thousand deaths?

Nords: "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once." -- William Shakespeare (or Francis Bacon)

But I prefer:
"No dumb son of a bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. Your job is to make the other poor dumb bastard die for his." -- General George S. Patton

Yikes. What's all this talk about death. I was talking about two quarters.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

General George S. Patton

Patton is my hero. We have an awful lot in common.

Yikes. What's all this talk about death. I was talking about two quarters.

Thats fine, we can put them on your eyes after you're dead. No quarters...well...what the hell ya gonna do now?

 

[Spanky]

Patton is my hero. We have an awful lot in common.

What is it?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Big nose.

 

[dusk_to_dawn]

10 years ago, my wife and I had a combined income of about 140K. We saved a lot and lived off about 50K per year. Then a kid came and we went to one income for several years. Today we are at about 70K and still manage to save a good bit of our income. Regardless of how much we made, we always lived off about 40K to 50K, LBYM. Now that the kid is in school from 8 to 4, DW is planning on going back to what she was doing and I plan on both of us maxing out our retirement accounts for a few years. If we max out our retirement savings for 5 years, I may be able to put a retirement countdown gaphic on the bottom of my posts.