Financial Samurai Can't Afford FIRE Anymore

[scrabbler1]

He did get one thing right, though:


"Retiring without children is like a walk in the park compared with retiring with children."

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

He did get one thing right, though:


"Retiring without children is like a walk in the park compared with retiring with children."

And as I used to tell my young troops in the Air Force who would complain that they didn't want to do a trip, "because of my kids!"...if the Air Force wanted you to have kids, they would have issued them to you!

 

[Rainbowdash]

Thanks for your clarification

That is not an accurate characterization of the system. If you live in SF, then your child will be able to attend a public school in the city; it just might not be the one that's down the street from your home. Nobody is required to pay for private schooling. Many parents choose to do so because they don't like the school that their child is assigned to by the system.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

That is not an accurate characterization of the system. If you live in SF, then your child will be able to attend a public school in the city; it just might not be the one that's down the street from your home. Nobody is required to pay for private schooling. Many parents choose to do so because they don't like the school that their child is assigned to by the system.

That sounds more like it. Public education is a right....they can't tell you, "go to private school." So, the author just doesn't want his kid(s) to go to a poor performing school. I get it, and I understand...but don't misrepresent it my samurai man.

If he got one of these and moved out of San Fran, I think he would be going just fine...

 

[cyber888]

You need a very minimum of $5 Million to retire in San Francisco, especially if you have a kid. I read his blog, and it's just not feasible to retire with only $3 Million in the most expensive city.

That's why I'm retiring in low COLA North Carolina

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

I dunno, so much to comment on in his article.

I don't know how much he had in the stock market, but the returns have been wonderful the past 7 years. And he's crying the blues about needing more money after 7 years. I wonder if his retirement plan included a possible market downturn, and how he would have handled that event. Or is he going to blog again in 2027 that he needs to unretire again since he had all his money out of the stock market and didn't account for inflation?

Does he really need to buy a medium priced house? Or travel to 20 countries in7 years?

Sounds more like he didn't plan to get so used to the "good" life. Maybe he should've changed the article title to "I tried to retire at 34 and didn't realize that's too early to Blow that Dough".

 

[cathy63]

"According to a report from the California Association of Realtors, you now need a minimum household income of $309,400 to afford a median-priced home in San Francisco, which is around $1.6 million. So even with our annual passive income of $250,000, we’re still short nearly $60,000 per year."

This part of the article is just stupid. They already owned a home (with a mortgage) when he retired, then they refinanced and lowered their payments enough to increase their cash flow by $13K (which, btw, would cover the costs for 6.5 months of that ridiculous pre-school he describes). Just because people who are moving to SF today need an income of $309,400 to buy the median home doesn't mean that people who already live there need that much to keep owning their existing home. By that logic, I think everyone in my extended family has to move, including the ones in SF.

"4. The bliss of early retirement didn’t last as long as I thought it would."

This right here is the real reason he "has" to go back to work. He needs it for his personal satisfaction and happiness. Nothing wrong with that and he could have said it in one sentence instead of throwing out a bunch of financial explanations that don't hang together.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

The Bay Area is a lot bigger than the city of San Francisco, which is only 49 square miles. There are many great public school districts in the surrounding suburbs. Most people with kids move out to the suburbs. There's always the light rail system to go into the city for the cultural activities and night life. Plus many of the suburbs have lower housing prices, more greenery and less crime and homeless issues than the city.

 

[griffithee]

Yes...
We are taking a 5 day cruise to try out another cruise company. Booze included, tips included, $200 SBC included (which I used to pay for excursion to Mayan ruins) AND a $25 costco card.
Total cost incl taxes & fees for 2 adults: $772.88

DANG!!!! That is cheap!!

 

[Teacher Terry]

My son found us round trip tickets from San Fran to Warsaw non-stop for 580 each.

 

[njhowie]

His current gig employment is as a financial journalist for CNBC and Marketwatch where he has written this same article approximately ten times over the past year. It's quite old already. Every couple times there has been a thread about the then current version. I'm extremely surprised he is getting so much mileage out of it.

 

[dixonge]

His current gig employment is as a financial journalist for CNBC and Marketwatch where he has written this same article approximately ten times over the past year. It's quite old already. Every couple times there has been a thread about the then current version. I'm extremely surprised he is getting so much mileage out of it.

Yeah, I just found one from Forbes:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryande...ired-headed-back-work-heres-why/#4f3fd5a4484f

Money quote: "And while some in the FIRE community would question why he doesn’t find a cheaper strategy or cut expenses, it’s not his view on early retirement. “Why would you want to live near abject poverty, just so you can retire early,” he questions."

 

[dcoy]

Kids are super expensive and he underestimate the expense. I did too, so I can’t criticize the guy for his oversight. You want the best for your kids and that means $$. Really interesting topic!

 

[RobbieB]

I know that I didn't want a scrimp & save retirement, I wanted to live large!

 

[Maenad]

Yeah, I just found one from Forbes:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryande...ired-headed-back-work-heres-why/#4f3fd5a4484f

Money quote: "And while some in the FIRE community would question why he doesn’t find a cheaper strategy or cut expenses, it’s not his view on early retirement. “Why would you want to live near abject poverty, just so you can retire early,” he questions."

That's my problem with the guy - his complete lack of perspective. There's a loooooong way between how he wants to live and "abject poverty", and it's insulting to poor people to ignore that.

 

[RobbieB]

At least he's upfront about it unlike that fraud Mr dough on lip

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Yes...
We are taking a 5 day cruise to try out another cruise company. Booze included, tips included, $200 SBC included (which I used to pay for excursion to Mayan ruins) AND a $25 costco card.
Total cost incl taxes & fees for 2 adults: $772.88

Looking for deals like that is part of the fun of retirement for me, though we're more into staycation kinds of stuff. I just bought an another Bay Area winery passport for 2 for next year for 40 wineries for $130 on a Christmas special. That's $3.25 a visit for two. And California has annual passes for all the state parks, around 270, for $125. There's tons of stuff to do here that doesn't cost a fortune. Tastings at a couple of nice wineries and a hike at a state park is a fun outing for us.

 

[38Chevy454]

More like "financial stumbler" than "financial samurai"

 

[kgtest]

I think he mentioned he went through a divorce. Alimony will kill the best of anyone's FIRE plans from what other members have said. The biggest luck I had in life was the gal I married happened to be more frugal than me. We make a good team.

Then again, was he EVER really FIREd if he was maintaining a finance blog that reaches the entire world?

 

[Bestwifeever]

I think he mentioned he went through a divorce. Alimony will kill the best of anyone's FIRE plans from what other members have said. The biggest luck I had in life was the gal I married happened to be more frugal than me. We make a good team.

Then again, was he EVER really FIREd if he was maintaining a finance blog that reaches the entire world?

The Mustache blogger is recently divorced—is this one? This article doesn’t mention it.

Bloggers—smh. I wonder what the real reason is or if he really does intend to take a traditional job. I predict he will still call himself a RE genius.

 

[COcheesehead]

I think he mentioned he went through a divorce. Alimony will kill the best of anyone's FIRE plans from what other members have said. The biggest luck I had in life was the gal I married happened to be more frugal than me. We make a good team.

Then again, was he EVER really FIREd if he was maintaining a finance blog that reaches the entire world?

I didn’t see anything regarding divorce in the article, but yes they are hard. I went through one at 39. Took half my wealth, but here I am at 56, 6 months out from FIRE with more money than I could ever imagine. So obstacles are just things to overcome on your way to your goals.

 

[Dtail]

I didn’t see anything regarding divorce in the article, but yes they are hard. I went through one at 39. Took half my wealth, but here I am at 56, 6 months out from FIRE with more money than I could ever imagine. So obstacles are just things to overcome on your way to your goals.

Amen +1
Gave up close to 600k cash/house in alimony, but still managed to FIRE at 57.

 

[COcheesehead]

Amen +1
Gave up close to 600k cash/house in alimony, but still managed to FIRE at 57.

 

[COcheesehead]

So far this thread has listed at least two things that can kill FIRE: international travel and divorce. NOT!

 

[mrfeh]

No one forces you to live in San Francisco.

Didn't read every word of the article, but this seems to be their primary problem.

If they had moved somewhere less expensive, they would've been fine.