The Guide to Financial Freedom

[mystang52]

I wish I heeded #2(brown bagging lunch) much earlier in my career. I knew it was the prudent thing to do, but I was lazy. I only started brown bagging for health reasons, and then saw in a very concrete way how much money I was saving.

Beyond that, I'll add 2 suggestions. Notwithstanding credit card rebates, pay for restaurant meals and gifts with cash or debit card. And, spend less than you earn, a la:
https://vimeo.com/199334296

 

[Amethyst]

I kind of backed into brown-bagging. Early on, I truly never had the money to spend on lunch from the employee cafeteria (no restaurants nearby). Eating from my brown bag during the day became a habit, as I used the 30 minute lunch break to go for a walk.

Mr. A. also never bought his lunch. Once, I did an envelope-back estimate of how much we'd each saved over a 30+ year career. This may sound hard to believe, but it was enough to make a serious difference in the kind of home we were able to afford!

I wish I heeded #2(brown bagging lunch) much earlier in my career. I knew it was the prudent thing to do, but I was lazy. I only started brown bagging for health reasons, and then saw in a very concrete way how much money I was saving.

Beyond that, I'll add 2 suggestions. Notwithstanding credit card rebates, pay for restaurant meals and gifts with cash or debit card. And, spend less than you earn, a la:
https://vimeo.com/199334296

 

[scrabbler1]

On the money making side..

- Pick a career you can excel in. Invest your time & effort in it. Learn to negotiate the best possible compensation.

In my career, I found a way to be the "big fish in a small pond," making myself as indispensable as possible by doing certain tasks others in my area could not do. This gave met the leverage, not so much to negotiate better raises (that did happen early on) but to be able to work part-time for the last 7 years and work from home some of those years.

 

[RobbieB]

I learned all I needed from Pops at a young age;

The important and loudest spoken was the statement "Son you can make a million a year but if you spend a million a year you ain't ever gonna have (S word for feces), so salt some away.

The rest was the step by step plan;

1) Save enough so that you don't have to buy appliances and car repairs with credit.

2) Save some more for a down payment on a house so you can build equity. Take advantage of tax benefits. The mortgage should be your only debt.

3) After you have recovered from buying the house, start buying stocks.

I've never made more than 80 grand a year while I was working but I retired a millionaire following his advice.

 

[6miths]

RobbieB your father must have read Dickens.

Mr Micawber's famous, and oft-quoted, recipe for happiness: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen shillings and six pence, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

 

[kimcdougc]

Made brown bag lunches for DH, DS and DD for all their school years and DH for around 25 years till I started putting $5 a day for him to buy a lunch. I always took my lunch.

Live below your means, always pay yourself up to the free match from your employer.

Have a budget and stick to it.

Don't loan money to others, even family, unless you consider it a gift.

 

[LOL!]

Our Ah-ha moment was back in 1982 when we realized that we could live off of one income and save the entire salary of the higher paid spouse. Once we decided to do that, all else pales in comparison since with less money to spend, one figures it out pretty quickly.

And before you jump on me, expenses eventually included day care & college for two kids, braces, etc. But there were no BMWs nor Mercedes.

 

[Midpack]

Here you go

https://youtu.be/JdUKhgW1gOo

 

[jollystomper]

Be fortunate enough to find a mate that feels the same way about saving and retirement. If one is pulling the cart with the brakes set, it doesn't go far. A great body is fine, but a great mind is much better!!!

+1

My pre-marriage "AHA" moment was when DW and I started dating in college. On one of our early dates, before becoming a "couple", I had planned to take her to some relatively expensive event that lots of our friends were going to. The day before the event, when I was to receive my campus job paycheck that I planned to use for it, some glitch had occurred and I would not be getting the check for several days. When I told future DW that I would not be able to take her, she could have gone with someone else (there was a line of guys asking her), asked me about coming up with the money by borrowing , etc. Instead she suggested no big deal, why don't we just get some food from the dining hall and go have picnic in a nearby park and hang out and hike.

It got thru my thick head that (a) her priority was to spend time with me and not necessarily go to this event, and (b) she did not think spending money was required to have a good time. And the rest is history...

 

[Dash man]

I have to disagree with the comment on putting Starbucks out of business. I understand your intent on reducing frivolous spending, but don’t pick on just Starbucks. They provide a ton of jobs and pay a lot of taxes supporting communities and the federal government. They pay for free education for their employees and also have good health benefits and contributions to 401k plans, along with restricted stock grants. As a stockholder, I’ve done very well with their stock over the years. My DS and DDIL are both employed with Starbucks and my son had his Bachelors paid for by them with DDIL soon to graduate.

 

[HI Bill]

My #12: Maintain balance in everything. Work/life balance, spending/saving. Living a life of frugality and never enjoying what experiences money can help buy can lead to an unfulfilled life. My one regret over the past 30 years is that I only took five liveaboard dive trips. Should have taken at least one every other year!

 

[imoldernu]

Wow...
36 replies in less than 12 hours...

I keep this on my desktop as a reminder.
.................................................................................................

STUFF WE DON'T SPEND MONEY ON

Life Insurance
New Clothing
Haircuts
Hair styling
Pedicures/manicures
Beauty products
Movies
Concerts
Sporting events
Restaurants (more than $8 meal)
Books
Music
"New" Computers (since 2002)... all refurb or reclaim
Software... (Twice in lifetime.. total $30) all other "free"
Car maintenance labor... all DIY except 3 times for major repairs
Brand vs. Generic foods
Premium meat or fish
Financial Advisor
Lawyer
Chiro/Massage/Tan etc.
Tatoos...
New Home Decor.. (all resale)
Cars.. since 1998...
Car Wash and wax... since 1989
Premium TV channels
New Bikes or Exercise equipment
Sporting goods
Cruises (so far)
Group trips
Flying (Airlines)
Lodging (more than 3 star)
Premium Gasoline
Tools (already have more than I'll ever use, including welders etc.)
Housekeeper
Carpet Cleaning
Window/Gutter/Furnace etc. Cleaning... all DIY
Premium booze/wine...
Jewelry
Organic foods
Brand sodas
Painting, remodeling
Weapons
Subscriptions (AARP only)
Gambling
Banking or Credit Card Fees
Appliance or Electonics insurance
Eye Glasses... except for $1readers (since 2000... maybe eye test this year.)
Pets... (except bird feed)
Healthcare maintenance... exercise equipment, pool, advisor etc... (all included in our senior community membership. (no fees)
Pest control... DIY
Only "fee for" is Activities Association (FL).. $6/year

.... for starters...

 

[Amethyst]

You subscribe to *AARP*?

They should probably be subscribing to you...

Wow...
36 replies in less than 12 hours...

I keep this on my desktop as a reminder.
.................................................................................................

STUFF WE DON'T SPEND MONEY ON

Life Insurance
New Clothing
Haircuts
Hair styling
Pedicures/manicures
Beauty products
Movies
Concerts
Sporting events
Restaurants (more than $8 meal)
Books
Music
"New" Computers (since 2002)... all refurb or reclaim
Software... (Twice in lifetime.. total $30) all other "free"
Car maintenance labor... all DIY except 3 times for major repairs
Brand vs. Generic foods
Premium meat or fish
Financial Advisor
Lawyer
Chiro/Massage/Tan etc.
Tatoos...
New Home Decor.. (all resale)
Cars.. since 1998...
Car Wash and wax... since 1989
Premium TV channels
New Bikes or Exercise equipment
Sporting goods
Cruises (so far)
Group trips
Flying (Airlines)
Lodging (more than 3 star)
Premium Gasoline
Tools (already have more than I'll ever use, including welders etc.)
Housekeeper
Carpet Cleaning
Window/Gutter/Furnace etc. Cleaning... all DIY
Premium booze/wine...
Jewelry
Organic foods
Brand sodas
Painting, remodeling
Weapons
Subscriptions (AARP only)
Gambling
Banking or Credit Card Fees
Appliance or Electonics insurance
Eye Glasses... except for $1readers (since 2000... maybe eye test this year.)
Pets... (except bird feed)
Healthcare maintenance... exercise equipment, pool, advisor etc... (all included in our senior community membership. (no fees)
Pest control... DIY
Only "fee for" is Activities Association (FL).. $6/year

.... for starters...

 

[Walt34]

I kind of backed into brown-bagging.

I did too, when my soon-to-be-ex-wife moved out of the house in 1983 and left me hanging on by my financial fingernails. I quickly figured out that I simply could not afford to buy lunches and bringing food from home was the only alternative. I did make one of my wiser investments: $15 for an Igloo lunchbox cooler. Rough calculations indicate that I've saved ~$15,000 in lunch expenses, not a bad ROI!

 

[pb4uski]

12. Marry a very rich woman/guy and skip steps 1-11.

My aunt always said that it is just as easy to love a rich girl as a poor girl.

Why didn't I take her advice?

 

[6miths]

I did too, when my soon-to-be-ex-wife moved out of the house in 1983 and left me hanging on by my financial fingernails. I quickly figured out that I simply could not afford to buy lunches and bringing food from home was the only alternative. I did make one of my wiser investments: $15 for an Igloo lunchbox cooler. Rough calculations indicate that I've saved ~$15,000 in lunch expenses, not a bad ROI!

I still take that very one to my volunteer j@b but mine is red and white.

 

[pb4uski]

This is good practice and something similar to what I published some time ago when we retired. I wrote them initially for Money Magazine when I was featured. (I think a few others here were too).

I call them my 10 rules..... as it was a catchy title.

10 Rules to Retiring Early

Yup... pay yourself first was a key for me. In my 20s, if money hit my checking account then it got spent... period. So I set up a savings account at a bank about 5 minute walk from work but in the opposite direction of my normal travels and each payday I would take over my savings and deposited it. No ATM card for that account either. I intentionally made it very inconvenient for me to take money out of it.... and it seemed to work.

 

[Amethyst]

But meeting a poor girl (or guy) is usually easier, because there are more of them around.

My aunt always said that it is just as easy to love a rich girl as a poor girl.

Why didn't I take her advice?

 

[Red Badger]

Our Fido 401K had a auto-increase feature. I knew that unless I F-d up big time, a 3% annual increase was "in the bag." So, I set auto increase at 2% (base was always 10 %). By the time I hit my (modestly) high income years, I maxed out well before YE.

So, I would encourage auto increase of 401K contributions. It was nice to have extra cash at the latter part of the year (but nicer to have a bigger 401K as a Christmas present).

 

[Walt34]

But meeting a poor girl (or guy) is usually easier, because there are more of them around.

That's what I did and no regrets at all. At the time we were married she actually felt bad that her income was a bit less than half of mine and it took a while for her to fully understand that I didn't care. All of the shared core values were there and that's what I cared about.

But I had to learn that lesson the hard way of course. In my first marriage the ex earned about the same as me so it never occurred to me that money would turn out to be an issue. One year our gross incomes were within $6 of each other. But when I refused to take out a loan to go on a trip, it was over.

 

[SnowBound]

11) Enjoy spending time with your one and only spouse. Some of the best memories have been things we have done together for free...

 

[brewer12345]

Be fortunate enough to find a mate that feels the same way about saving and retirement. If one is pulling the cart with the brakes set, it doesn't go far. A great body is fine, but a great mind is much better!!!

Yep. Don't stick your d$@! in crazy.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I am amazed at the things young people think they need. We lived below our means like others. But now in retirement is our time to enjoy some of those things such as travel, eating out, concerts, movies, etc. It makes no sense to deprive ourselves as we can’t take it with us. We love cruising which we never did before.

 

[Perryinva]

I dunno, seems like a lot of work and deprivation in order to have a good retirement. Of course I agree with pay yourself first, and LBYM, but the caveat was to earn more. It was a lot easier to just make sure the career you liked made a lot more money than you would spend and find one that had a pension. Then invest the extra in what you know and of course get company matches and leave retirement funds to grow. My biggest issue was not knowing what career to choose, so coming from a strictly blue collar family, and the first to attend college, with a math bent I chose engineering. I should have chosen finance but knew nothing about it at age 18. I’ve never not had a mortgage my whole working career, and the only advice I ever got was buy the most house you can afford, but make sure it is in the right place. You typically make money on a house based on percentages. The cliche of the 3 important things for buying a house is true. Buy in the location that everyone wants, especially if you can before they know it. The least I ever made on a house was the cheapest house I ever bought. The most was the one that forced me to be the most frugal because I could barely afford it. But a 100% profit on a $300k house is twice that of a $150k house, which doesn’t even remotely get eaten up in the short time I’ve owned the house. Taking inflation in to account, I still have a much smaller mortgage than I did starting my career, but live in a home many times nicer than that first one, and never used any money but that initial investment in the first home. (I will say I always was a significant DIYer so rarely ever paid anyone to do anything I couldn’t to improve the homes for resale. That line item I agree with a lot. )

Those made way more difference than brown bagging and not doing things I would enjoy because they cost money as the main criteria. And I’ve saved a lot of money using credit card programs for many years. I’d never pay $4500 each for business class to Europe but wise use of CCs gets me them for basically free. Sorry to be the counter thought here.

BTW, I love that SNL skit. I had never seen it before!

 

[RobbieB]

I made a bag (ice box) lunch once. For the bus ride to Caesar's Tahoe the Co. arranged for employees and guests. Caviar and prawns with sauce and crackers. The vodka was already on the bus.

I've economized in many ways, but brown bagging was never on the list.