catman2020
Dryer sheet aficionado
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2014
- Messages
- 42
I've been a member for about six months, but this is my first post. I'm coming out of the shadows primarily to express my gratitude for the forum and how it’s helped me evolve towards FIRE.
I would say that I (and DW) were a high-earning/high-spending/OK-savings type of household. We had a good 'offense' in terms of income and decent savings by most measures, but we were on track for what would probably have been a comfy, traditional retirement in my mid-sixties (in about 10 years), so we didn't have a great 'defense' in terms of keeping our spending down and our savings up.
In the past few months, we've taken some major steps, including moving out of our (tasteful ) McMansion into a smaller, but more comfortable house in the same town (we still have kids in the local school system and didn't want to disrupt their lives too much). Overall we are much more content and comfortable in the new house - which is less than 1/2 the price and has less than 1/3 the property taxes of the old house.
The move along with some other changes has translated into pulling my FIRE timeframe from about 10 years to about 3 years.
Our housing costs are still kind-of high as we settle into the new house - it was a bit of a fixer-upper. So I am going to use 2015 as a new baseline for spending and revisit how quickly we can FIRE, or at least reach FI and keep working if that is what I want to do.
For anyone looking for some additional resources to help think through their priorities regarding money, etc., here are a few books that I found helpful:
- -- Stop Acting Rich and Start Living like a Real Millionaire by Stanley
- -- How to Retire Wild Happy and Free by Zalinski
- -- Retiring Sooner by Kirkpatrick
- -- The Power of Now by Tolle
- -- What Happy People Know by Baker and Stauth
I would say that I (and DW) were a high-earning/high-spending/OK-savings type of household. We had a good 'offense' in terms of income and decent savings by most measures, but we were on track for what would probably have been a comfy, traditional retirement in my mid-sixties (in about 10 years), so we didn't have a great 'defense' in terms of keeping our spending down and our savings up.
In the past few months, we've taken some major steps, including moving out of our (tasteful ) McMansion into a smaller, but more comfortable house in the same town (we still have kids in the local school system and didn't want to disrupt their lives too much). Overall we are much more content and comfortable in the new house - which is less than 1/2 the price and has less than 1/3 the property taxes of the old house.
The move along with some other changes has translated into pulling my FIRE timeframe from about 10 years to about 3 years.
Our housing costs are still kind-of high as we settle into the new house - it was a bit of a fixer-upper. So I am going to use 2015 as a new baseline for spending and revisit how quickly we can FIRE, or at least reach FI and keep working if that is what I want to do.
For anyone looking for some additional resources to help think through their priorities regarding money, etc., here are a few books that I found helpful:
- -- Stop Acting Rich and Start Living like a Real Millionaire by Stanley
- -- How to Retire Wild Happy and Free by Zalinski
- -- Retiring Sooner by Kirkpatrick
- -- The Power of Now by Tolle
- -- What Happy People Know by Baker and Stauth