Vagabond2020
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2014
- Messages
- 53
I figured it would be great for accountability, as well as motivating other young-in's in the process to keep a journal of sort and posting how well, or not so well things are going. So a little background on me, I started working full time toward the second half of 2010 in retail management. After leaving college sans degree I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. Retail was a good fit for me at the time, the hours were extremely flexible as long as I hit 40 a week, the pay was decent for someone without a degree. As soon as I paid off some consumer debt and had a little money in the bank I quickly began researching investing and how I can start building a nest egg so that one day my money can make more than my job. I read about the magic of compounding, and started playing with different calculators. I began by maxing out a Roth IRA, in 2012 I started contributing 5% into my 401k to get the employer match, kicking myself in the ass for not doing it sooner. I slowly increased my contributions there until I hit 20%. I thought I was doing well until.......
.........in Jan 2014 came across this site, I realized I should be maxing out tax deferred accounts. I realized I have been gambling inside of my Roth instead of sticking to index funds. I rebalanced my portfolio, attempted to bump my savings rate. I started scouring the internet for personal finance and ER blogs. Budgetsaresexy.com, financialsamurai.com. mrmoneymustache.com, livingafi.com etc. all opened my eyes to the double effect of cutting spending and increasing income potential. I took a leap of faith back in October and applied for a new position, it would mean a slight initial pay cut but much more room for growth and the potential after the first year to make substantially more $$. After SIX interviews I got an offer. I started working there at the end of 2014.
I realized that while I originally planed to FIRE by age 50, I have the potential to cut that by nearly a decade. I started playing with Firecalc, its going to be a stretch but the new goal is FIRE by 40 with a $1mil nest egg.
Currently This is where I am at.
Mid to high 40’s salary plus some incentive compensation (variable)
20% 401k Contribution (Max allowed by company despite IRS Limit)
Maxing out Roth IRA $5500/yr
Maxing out HSA $3300/yr
Saving $250/month Cash
Effective Savings rate 52% of Net Income
Budget is $1650/month in HCOL area.
Currently at $88,000 Investable Assets
Currently at $0 Debt
With my current portfolio and current rate of contribution, SS estimates, spending goals. Firecalc gives me a whooping 14.6% success rate of FIRE at 40.
I look forward to updated this thread with progress!
.........in Jan 2014 came across this site, I realized I should be maxing out tax deferred accounts. I realized I have been gambling inside of my Roth instead of sticking to index funds. I rebalanced my portfolio, attempted to bump my savings rate. I started scouring the internet for personal finance and ER blogs. Budgetsaresexy.com, financialsamurai.com. mrmoneymustache.com, livingafi.com etc. all opened my eyes to the double effect of cutting spending and increasing income potential. I took a leap of faith back in October and applied for a new position, it would mean a slight initial pay cut but much more room for growth and the potential after the first year to make substantially more $$. After SIX interviews I got an offer. I started working there at the end of 2014.
I realized that while I originally planed to FIRE by age 50, I have the potential to cut that by nearly a decade. I started playing with Firecalc, its going to be a stretch but the new goal is FIRE by 40 with a $1mil nest egg.
Currently This is where I am at.
Mid to high 40’s salary plus some incentive compensation (variable)
20% 401k Contribution (Max allowed by company despite IRS Limit)
Maxing out Roth IRA $5500/yr
Maxing out HSA $3300/yr
Saving $250/month Cash
Effective Savings rate 52% of Net Income
Budget is $1650/month in HCOL area.
Currently at $88,000 Investable Assets
Currently at $0 Debt
With my current portfolio and current rate of contribution, SS estimates, spending goals. Firecalc gives me a whooping 14.6% success rate of FIRE at 40.
I look forward to updated this thread with progress!
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