You got something to complain about?
… today’s post is hot off the presses from our hotel room in Osaka, Japan, thanks to an unexpected surge in blog traffic. Warning: contains a healthy dose of sarcasm…
On a hot and steamy summer day 41 years ago, a young woman gave birth to a strikingly handsome and moderately intelligent baby boy. (That was me :P ) My Mother was 16 years old. High school is a luxury that few single mothers can afford.
A few years later my Mom got her GED, finished night school for nursing, and got married. 3 more beautiful and intelligent children followed. That is a lot of mouths to feed when the economy is down and it is hard to find work. I remember my teacher calling the class one-by-one to the front of the room so she could fill out a survey on parental employment. I barely managed to mutter “unemployed” from under my breath.
While I was doing my walk of shame, my future wife was watching her parents’ marriage fall apart. Divorce in 1980s Taiwan was much like divorce in 1950s America, and the burden fell heavy on women and children. Winnie would spend the next 2 1/2 years living in an orphanage while her Mom worked to get their life put back together. To this day, nobody knows where her father disappeared to.
Fast forward to high school graduation. Nobody in my extended family had been to college, but it seemed the ticket to a better life. I graduated 4 years later with ~$40k in debt. The second half of my Senior year I used credit cards to buy ramen. Adjusted for inflation and interest rates (my loans were 7-8%), in 2015 I would be in the top 5% of all graduates for debt burden.
What does childhood on the edge of poverty and burdensome student loans have to do with anything? If two kids with the odds stacked against them were able to overcome life’s challenges, then most anybody can.
Allowing that background to define our future would have been about as ridiculous as the mess happening in the comments of this recent Business Insider / Yahoo Finance article.
There is no need to read the comments, I’ll summarize them for you here
“The math doesn’t make sense! This is all bull$hit!”
To be fair, the article does include some inaccuracies. I’ll clear those up. But those are dwarfed by the magnitude of the complaining. I’ll address that too.
But before we get started…
I’m no philosopher, but if posting angry comments about why you can’t get ahead financially, on a random Yahoo article about two people who have… If that is your idea of a good time, might the two be related?
It seems that pausing and asking questions might produce a better outcome. This post is for those who are pausing and questioning. Welcome.
Saving Multi-Millions
In the aforementioned article, it states that we saved multi-millions in 10 years. That isn’t 100% true. It took 5-6 years to get out of debt, 10 years of saving like crazy, and another 3 years of being retired during a bull stock market to get there. Those last 3 years of post-college work (out of a total of 16) I was depositing my whole paycheck into the brokerage account.
When we started our 10 years of saving, net worth wasn’t zero. I had paid off student loans a year or so prior, and also had home equity and a 401k. While we presently spend about $4k per month, while working we were spending half that. Correct these assumptions, do some basic math, and boom… multi-millions. There is even a graph in this older post.
I have shied away from discussing net worth in the past because at best it is a distraction. (Note our absence on the Rock Star Finance Blogger net worth page.) It doesn’t really matter if our net worth is $2 million or $2 billion, our core annual spending can be sustained by ~$1 million (based on the 4% Rule.) You either have enough investments to fund your desired lifestyle or you don’t. This is what is important.
But then Farnoosh Torabi interviewed us in incredible Barbara Walters fashion, and I talked about net worth instead of just having enough. Good interviewers get you to open up. The BI / Yahoo article quoted this interview without speaking to us directly, and like the telephone game some info was lost along the way. But… focusing on this minutiae completely misses the point.
Saving a High Percentage of Income
To save a high percentage of income, we did unconventional things.
For years, my main form of transportation was a bicycle I bought on Craigslist for $50. I later sold it for $60. Owning a car sucks.
We lived in a walkable neighborhood. That wasn’t an accident. We will be renters for life.
Winnie could win Master Chef (Gordon Ramsay, if you are reading this…) Some of the best food in town comes from her kitchen. Case in point.
Not interested in doing unconventional things? Then math isn’t the problem.
None of this was ever a sacrifice. Why would we spend all of our money to buy a lot of versatile solutions for modern living when we could be buying our freedom instead?
Take this same approach and apply it to every expense category, and saving a high percentage of income is the natural and repeatable outcome.
For more on this philosophy, I recommend reading Your Money or Your Life
. It is available for free from every library, and can be purchased for as little as $0.01 on Amazon. (I also have a list of recommend books.)
The Miracle of Compound Interest
Saving a high percentage of income is only half the battle. You can’t just put fat stacks of cash under your mattress and expect to get rich.
Those fat stacks of cash are best exchanged for assets that produce an income that has the potential to grow over time. For example, businesses. Just like Warren Buffet. But for better or worse we don’t have enough money to buy whole businesses all at once, so we buy just a small part. That is what stocks are… partial ownership of real living and breathing companies.
Historically, American businesses have grown by an (oversimplified) 10% per year. More some years, less others. Stocks have fluctuated in value up and down by a much greater amount, but that is just the nature of a dynamic market place. Just like television, it is best to completely ignore it on a daily basis. The businesses themselves continue to innovate and strive for growth, and in the long run the owners of those companies do well.
How well?
Awhile ago my friend J Money invented a metric called the Lifetime Wealth Ratio. It even made an appearance in the NY Times. In short, the ratio is your net worth divided by total lifetime income.
Earlier this year I downloaded my Social Security statement and calculated our LWR, adjusted for taxes. The results surprised me
Even after 3 years of walking the Earth and making babies, 100% of every paycheck we’ve ever earned since the age of 15 is sitting in our bank accounts.
Every dollar spent on food and rent.
Every dollar lost forever to interest on a mortgage and student loans.
Every loss trying to invest in Real Estate and individual stocks.
It has all been returned to us through the ownership of businesses.
Here is another way to look at it
We could return to Seattle today and buy a house, fill it with furniture and flat screen TVs, buy a new Tesla to drive our baby to soccer practice and piano lessons, eat out for dinner a few times a week, and we would still be retired.
What would you do if every dollar you ever spent was magically returned to you? Would you still spend it the same way? Would you still be complaining in Yahoo comments?
That is the miracle of compound interest.
Investing is scary or confusing? You don’t know where to get started? This blog and others like it can help.
Complaints
Here are a few of the complaints that popped up. Perhaps these aren’t complaints so much as excuses.
You got lucky
If by lucky you mean we didn’t spend all of our money on trifles and instead bought index funds, you are correct.
They must have gotten some kind of inheritance
This is true. We both inherited a love of reading and learning, a streak of independence, and a desire to never again be poor. I also inherited US Citizenship.
They were able to graduate without student loans
Nope, not true. My student loan debt burden would put me in the top 5% of graduates today. Winnie’s debt burden was more modest because Taiwan has a more sane education system, but salaries are also much lower.
I used 0% credit card balance transfers to help accelerate my student loan payoff. An interested person could do the same today.
Check out the 0% APR credit card offers available now.
They make money from their blog!
Yup. In 3 years of blogging, we’ve managed to earn less than half of the minimum wage on an hourly basis. That ain’t nuthin to aspire to, yo.
But maybe start your own blog.
But taxes!
It is possible to legally withdraw funds from your 401k before Age 59.5 without penalty, and tax laws are friendly to early retirees.
They want me to read their blog!
The horror! I bet JK Rowling wants you to read her next book too. Hopefully our example can help you gain your financial independence.
Last time you said you have only $1 million
Not really. We only need ~$1 million to support our lifestyle.
Speaking of last time, you complained about that too. Is this a pattern?
—
If you’ve made it this far, you probably aren’t a complainer. Welcome! I look forward to hearing about your journey to Financial Independence.
…Thanks for reading. Next week when we get back from our Travel Trial in Japan (it is going great!) we will return to our regularly scheduled program and normal level of sarcasm…
Questions? Let’s hear ’em
See All of Your Accounts in One Place
Track your net worth, asset allocation, and portfolio performance with free financial tools from Personal Capital.
It is sad that you had to clarify things for the trolls but I’m glad you did because it gave me a better understanding of the amazing wealth story of the two of you! The big take away I get from this is you need to be intentional with your actions to be able to do what you did. Obviously all your decisions came back to what you valued, growing your wealth and retiring early. Congratulations on the great success! I’m working to be able to join you two someday – Maybe just not as quickly :)
The last few weeks on the market sure aren’t getting me really optimistic on a quick path to Early retirement… I’m going to have to be more patient than I initially hoped
Lower prices may quicken the path
Road to FI is a long one. So enjoying what you are doing is important. Otherwise it’s like failed dieting… hhaaa.
Congrats in advance! Hopefully I can do that in next 7-10 years!
Awesome rebuttal guys! Love reading your inspiring articles, is helping me save money each day so that I can retire to a life of travel and mundane escape.
This is why I keep my “millionaire next door” info to myself. Too many people complain and don’t want to learn or fix their situation. :(
There are pros and cons to sharing. When people say our example has inspired them to make life changes, it makes it all worthwhile
I have a quick question. You indicate you had some equity but you are renters for life. Did you switch from owning to renting?
That’s right. I had a house in Chicago and another in Seattle, which is how I learned that home ownership is a terrible way to live.
I wrote about some of the details in this post: How I Made $102k in Real Estate and Am Poorer For It.
Complainers gotta complain. In article comments, specifically. It is required to maintain membership in the complainer club. But lets get to the real point here: Ohmygod that face! Little curry cracker is way too cute. Although if anything like my son that face means shit is about to hit the fan!
The fan definitely exploded about 10 seconds after that photo was taken
Fortunately for everybody, he gets his looks from his mother
I think when the haters have arrived to the party, that’s how you know you are doing something really really right! I’m sure they are all just jealous. Congrats on living the awesome life!
I actually saw that article on BI yesterday. While I believe it is sad that you had to clarify things for the trolls, I can see how it can be hard to believe everything they read on the financial news outlets as some articles seem to be click bait to get people to follow some terrible financial advice, most likely at the benefit of someone else. Thanks for the great transparency!
I can definitely understand the math critique
There are always negative people out there who are also usually losers. MMM has had his fair share of “complainypants” too!
Forget them!
Moving on, I am a Brit who, like you, has a Chinese wife who is also an excellent cook. We enjoy eating out occasionally but people often forget that when you eat out you never really know what you are eating. I learned that as a kid, when I worked weekends cleaning in a restaurant, customers really don’t know the half of it! So by eating at home you are saving money AND eating more healthily, assuming you are not just heating up supermarket fast food!
My FI story is different but also the same, very high savings rates, value investing and didn’t sell in 2007/8 – just kept buying! RMB/US$ appreciation also helped together with (still) high Chinese bank interest rates (circa 5%). I am 55 but I can’t retire, although I easily could, as I would soon be bored and my wife wouldn’t like to see too much of me :-)
Keep up the great posts!
Hey China Guy, awesome story, thanks!
Eating at home is definitely a healthier way to go. We should do more of it
I’m a long time reader so unsurprisingly find all of the troll stuff quite amusing. It’s probably to be expected though given how famous you are becoming!
What’s more amusing though is the picture of GCCJnr!
I’m irritated at the Yahoo Finance trolls without even reading a single comment! ;)
Count me in as another household of relatively modest means who managed to scrape up enough to retire in my 30’s. When a kid, I lived in a trailer, ate government cheese, WIC, relied on food stamps. My dad worked in a textile mill as a laborer. Eventually he worked his way through college and became a plant engineer (until the textile mill closed!). Briefly without a home and living in a tiny trailer camper at a state park, we eventually settled near Raleigh and life got better and better with a lot more opportunity.
My wife came to America when she was 7 with the shirt on her back, a complete lack of ability to speak or write any English (or write anything for that matter). The third of five children to a penniless immigrant family that fled the genocide of her homeland.
Fast forward 30 years and we have a seven figure portfolio (not quite “multi-millions” ;) ). More than enough to cover our simple lifestyle.
Our story is a lot like yours – high savings rate, good education leading to decent jobs, smart choices along the way. Resisting the consumerist temptation to constant have more, better, and best.
Thanks Justin. Great comment and it just augments this excellent post. Both of you guys and Uncle Jim have helped me a ton. Really look forward to all your posts – so for us that appreciate you guys keep up the good work!
Indeed, excellent comment and example of how to win at life
Thanks Justin! And thanks Mark!
A brilliant post, as always GCC…
and I’m honored you linked to my stock series. Thanks!
For any doubters who read this far, I can vouch for the truth of the GCC story. It is why I tagged him to be a speaker at our Chautauqua this year.
But then, if you don’t believe GCC, why would you believe me? :)
See you in Ecuador!
Only a few more weeks, looking forward to it!
Great article. Currently working my way towards financial independence and although I have a long way to go yet, it amazes me how negative and defeatist people seem to be about it. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
I like the Henry Ford quote, “whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right”
Sadly, most of those commenters are just projecting their own frustrations onto you in the comments of that article. Instead of reading your story, being inspired or taking some lessons to apply in their own lives, it’s easier to bring out the pitchforks. The more you appear in mainstream media, the more often that happens and that’s the ugly side of things. But for whatever it’s worth, there are many quieter folks out there who were inspired by your story.
Thanks Jim, your voice of reason is really appreciated
I was surprised at how many people actually came to the site and emailed me or wrote angry comments. So with this post, I thought maybe if I used the same snarky tone maybe a few would pause and question rather than get angry and attack. I don’t know if it worked, but it was worth a shot
The good news is that I received an equal number of positive and curious emails
Haters will continue to hate and this blog getting more coverage will bring out the crazies. ;)
Early retirement is so outside of the norm your average Joes will never understand how someone manages to do that. So they will just keep hating and keep bad-mouthing. Best to ignore them.
Great article, may need to pick on your brain some more later.
Another great article. Congrats on all you’ve achieved so far. You guys are an inspiration and have helped me refocus my efforts to achieve FI earlier. They say all publicity is good publicity, so even some troll comments will spread the word despite their negativity. Keep the great articles coming.
I had the fortune of having a couple of my articles appear on Yahoo! Finance a couple of years ago, and never did I realize that there were so many bridges hiding so many trolls.
Jim Wang put it best – it’s easier to pull out the pitchforks and deride those who put in the hard work to succeed than to actually put in the hard work yourself to make it happen. There are people who are always looking for a simple, easy answer and when they get told that the answer is hard work and intelligent actions, they look for reasons that the other person got lucky and that hard work won’t suffice in their situation.
Those aren’t your target audience. You can rebut them, but they still won’t believe you.
However, your rebuttals do work to prove to those who are willing to put in the hard work that it can be done and you’re living proof of it. Well done, sir!
Thanks Jason
I completely agree, I thought maybe if I was a sarcastic ass one or two trolls might see the light. Probably not, but what can you do…
I agree that there are a lot of negative responses, but there are a fair number of positive ones as well. The ratio is probably roughly the same as FIRE folks vs muggles in real life. It’s not all bad, and the rest of us got to learn a little more of your story and admire your beautiful GCCJr, so, Thanks!
The complainers make me laugh. It’s not even like it’s this crazy, unheard of thing anymore, either. As Justin, RoG, above, shows with his example, there’s other people doing this too, believe it or not. The wife and I recently FIRE’d at 30 on the salaries of two public school teachers (gasp!). Having graduated into the recession with tens of thousands of student loans less than a decade ago (no way!).
Of course all the complainypants will say we don’t have enough, or that we aren’t really “retired” because we own real estate (never mind that I’ve been in Europe for almost a month, and don’t plan to be back in the States for 9 months, or see my properties again for even longer), or that we got lucky (which, yes, we are very fortunate, but also put in lots of work), or whatever other excuse.
Someone ought to compile all of our stories.
A blog with a separate page for each early retiree, with a brief one page bio, and link to their various content. It’d be a great resource to show the naysayers, cause really, it’s not just one or two of us out there, it’s getting to be dozens and dozens (MadFIentist, BraveNewLife, LivingaFI, etc. etc. etc.).
Maybe I’ll do that as an ER hobby in a few months.
You are an awesome example, GCC, and I appreciate your shining a light for others. Hopefully soon there will be more and more.
Joe – great idea! Please put that together and let us all know. Talk about a huge pile of inspiration!
Congrats Joe! Enjoy Europe, you’ve earned it
I love the idea of compiling a collection of ER stories. Count me in
My husband and I also retired at age 39 last month due to years of frugality and then reading advice of many others like GCC and MMM which was able to clarify some of the early retirement techniques. We were planning to wait until age 50 so we had enough on our brokerage account to last until 59.5 until we read GCC’s income tax blogs and learned about Roth conversions (since the majority of our assets were saved in 401k/403b accounts). After that point, I ran the numbers probably 100 times using 30 different calculation methods and we were able to accelerate leaving our jobs by a full 10 years. So when the naysayers have you down, know that there are other quiet people like me who are using your advice in a positive manner!
Both of us also come from very modest means. My mom was a church secretary after us kids went to school and my dad was a mechanic. There were times in our 20s that my husband and i only had one income while one or another were in school, but we kept saving to our 401k and setting up the emergency fund even then. The emergency fund eventually turned in to the “no worry” fund since we soon realized that there were very few financial calamities that would be an issue.
Now we are just trying to sell our house so we can begin a life of being global nomads. We may end up trying the seller financing route if we need to because we are ready for the next chapter to begin!
I just don’t know if I can trust you any longer, there seems to be too many contradictions and I know the media, including Yahoo, are 100% honest and accurate with no click-bait headlines used, ever.
I think the saying no bad publicity may apply to blogs. Traffic brings naysayers, but they also generate lots of comment buzz. I recently posted in my year 2 blog goals that I hope to get a couple of angry emails this year. To date I have received 0. Why does that make me sad???
Oh, they will come Vawt. You have at least received some nasty comments from trolls haven’t you?
You receiving zero angry emails makes me angry. Something must be done!
Brilliant! That should put the naysayers in their place!
Unfortunately I think their place is at the office until Age 70
Even if one ignored your personal stories, the general ideas on this blog are enough to make one sit down, think and reevaluate one’s finances. That in itself makes this blog a great resource. Whether you have a million or a billion, as you say, is largely irrelevant.
A piece of art! I woke up very early this morning and checked my FB account and found your status update with a link to the article. As soon as I read the headline I thought to myself: “Oh s..t! This writer inaccurately reported that GCC retired with millions! Haters must be lining up!” And then I proceeded to read the article and most of the comments for entertainment purpose. Too bad most of the naysayers won’t stick around to read this response. They’re too busy moving on to criticizing others.
My FI journey really didn’t start until I was 50 years old and divorced my husband of 25 years who never met a credit card he didn’t like and juggled up to 10 cards at a time to pay bills. That is not why I divorced him . . . but it was good timing financially speaking. I now live on $2200 a month, will have my rental property paid off in a couple of years, have $300,000 in 401K accounts and will have $2000/month in social security at 66. Not wealthy, and not early reitirement, but a doable, $3,000 – 4,000 /month retirement when the time comes. Thanks to all the blogs that have given me good ideas for the FI journey. And probably the journey is the most fun part. Bicycle touring retirement here I come!
Congratulations Debra! Bicycle touring sounds like a dream come true
My favorite part were all the complaints saying that the article was only printed to drive traffic to your blog. And you didn’t even know about the article! You, sir, are a genius when it comes to marketing! :)
Haha too true! I woke up to an inbox full of angry emails and was like, WTF! Then I saw all the traffic coming from Yahoo and it all made sense
Powerful rejoinder to the Internet Everycomplainer/skeptic!
Haters gonna hate no matter what… but great rebuttal post! I have been following you for a while and even learned a couple of new things about the two of you. It is no accident that you are where you are today. You put in the hard work of keeping your spending down and savings a priority instead of succumbing to lifestyle creep and really that is what it is all it is about. I hope to be financially independent some day and stories like yours keep me going.
Just recently found, and subscribed to your blog. Fortunately it included a link to this article. Until recently, I was in the unbeliever category, there was no way what you have done was possible. Then I started budgeting. Now I see what you are talking about, realize it is possible.
Thanks for showing us what is possible, and what life looks like on the other side.
Thanks for showing some of the not nice parts also.
20 years ago, I too was an unbeliever. Fortunately I was able to overcome my ego and shut-up and listen
I actually have been tracking a similar metric for years. I track unadjusted for tax net worth (just summing tax sheltered and taxable assets) divided by lifetime earnings from medicare portion of SS statement. Not yet at 100%, only in the 80s.
80% is awesome! Congrats!
I found your site through the yahoo article. I love your site, very informative and i learned a lot. The night i discovered your site, I was up till 3am reading your posts. I am very happy for you and your family. I am turning 50 and been retired for more than a year but my partner is not yet. But reading your site, it might be possible for my partner to retire too. So we are doing our numbers. We been travelling a lot for the past five years and this is what we plan to do or even staying for months in Asia. Thank you for all these information you are sharing. I will be continuing reading your site. Enjoy Japan!
Awesome Pedro! Please let us know what you conclude after the number crunching
What can I say – haters will be haters.
It believe it comes down to the fact of jealousness and envy. They feel there must be some other aspect to your story you are not sharing. You must be lucky, won the lottery, or somebody gave you money. How can an ordinary person retire in their 30’s without that happening? They want to find that elusive excuse to justify their own shortcomings financially.
These comments clearly demonstrate to me that they don’t read your blog, understand your story, or the FIRE crowd in general. They are trapped in their own beliefs and spending habits. They won’t accept that there is another way. It is difficult to help those that can’t help themselves.
You can lead a horse to water…
Haters are always going to hate.
I know this isn’t the order of Ghandi’s quote, but I think it makes sense in this situation.
First they fight you, then they laugh at you, then you ignore them, and then you mock them :)
The funny thing is that it doesn’t change the FACT that you have multiple millions and are early retired traveling around the world.
…and then we all get a good laugh!!!
Cheers
Ghandi was a big fan of mocking people, as am I. But as a former unbeliever, I do hope there are at least a few consumerism converts
Hi GCC! First time commenting… Just wanted to say that I found your blog about six months ago. I had been saving pretty good for the last few years in my 401k and IRAs, but didn’t know how I would fund my living expenses if I retired early. After reading your posts, I finally understood and went all in with the cash I had in the bank that was making almost no interest (I did keep enough cash to cover 6+ months of emergency funds). I now have about $40k in a Vanguard taxable account in index funds, and will try to add $1k monthly. I also have about $175k in my 401k & IRAs and I’m maxing out my 401k and my Roth. Hopefully this will end up being enough to retire in 10 years at the age of 50! Thanks for the inspiration!
Awesome, thanks Tracy! 10 years can go by in a flash
Christ, I wish it would. I am so over working. Love the blog.
Jeremy and Winnie, Hi love the post. It took me till I turned 43 till the bulb went off about financial freedom. Its never too late . I did the numbers and when I turn 56 I am there. I love Osaka , I am a flight attendant for a major airline. I get there 6 times a month. I recommend Osaka station area for food . Rent in Osaka is surprising inexpensive. 1000/month. You can buy a condo for 100,000 dollars too. food is great and not expensive too. Many places for about 2000 yen or 18 dollars or so you can go to eat out. Funny how you can tell many people about the way to financial freedom using yours and other bloggers such as Mr Money, and people say ” yeah yeah I know I know and they even agree with you and still do nothing about improving their situation. Its not too late in the game to save ,I am proof. In fact I feel like a millionaire already. Enjoy the city, My wife and I sure do. John from Hawaii
Thanks John! I didn’t realize property was so inexpensive in Osaka
After our visit to Kyoto, Winnie would definitely be down to spending more time there
I have thankfully not had to deal with truly irate commenters yet.
I get the impression that confirmation bias plays into our thoughts a lot more than we want to admit. If we think getting ahead is possible, we’ll look for examples and evidence that supports that view and, probably to our benefit, not be scared off by the examples that contradict that.
But if you don’t think getting ahead is possible…
Ahh, that is an interesting thought. I should add confirmation bias to the list of reasons we are lucky
Glad to have found your inspirational blog. I also came from Business Insider. My passion is to travel so I retired early at the age of 25 and travel about 2-3 times per year. However money seems to drain out and I had to look for a job….maybe a freelance writer or proofreader coz I love writing. And yeah, the student is a burden. Graduated from software engineering and still have 19k to go
Typo *student loan
Software engineering is probably an ideal degree for travel. You can program from anywhere!
Great to read as always. Not sure if you have addressed this before, but in case of a downturn i.e 2008 in markets, how will it effect your living standards ? you already are living well within your means, so I am interested to know about how you would adjust Thanks.
Hi Mike
It won’t really affect us at all. Even in 2008 when markets were down 50% or whatever, dividends were only down 10-15% or so.
We have a great deal of flexibility in our spending. Even in our current location, we could cut our spending by 25%+. More if we changed apartments
Or we could decide that next year we spend most of our time in Guatemala or Thailand instead of Paris or Tokyo.
I would actually appreciate another 2008
https://gocurrycracker.com/reminiscing-about-the-glory-days-of-2008/
Cheers
Jeremy
Thanks for the reply. Yes another 2008 would be nice from investing point of view. Your blog has lot to offer anyone willing to learn, hopefully we all can make the necessary changes. Never pay taxes is may favorite blog post.
Thanks for the post! Another interesting take on your journey. It’s fun to realize that every dollar you’ve ever earned and spent can come back to you through investment’s compound interest. That is about as concrete a demonstration of the power of compounding as you can give.
It’s not worth it to try convincing the whiners. We just have to let them whine while we retire to touring wineries.
You guys live a sort of modest/normal/non-flashy lifestyle and are set for life. They can’t make sense of it. Not when there are famous people (rappers! pro athletes! actors!) living like they’re rolling in dough, then taking the fancy cars/clothes back to the store and going bankrupt a couple months later. It’s confusing stuff!
So, yeah, never mind the complainypants. Most people have a really difficult time accepting the possibility of having an income without working week-in-week-out for it their whole lives. It’s way easier to say “I can’t,” which translates to “I can’t set myself up to live free while I’m young”
Someone shared the article with me and I’m glad I took time to read it. I’m even more inspired that I took additional time to venture to your blog and add my name to your email roster. There will always be doubters and the main reason they struggle is because they can’t accept that it’s possible for anyone that believes and put in the work. Oh how I wish that I knew this earlier in life but I know it’s not to late to get it right. Travel safe I look forward to spending my day browsing your site and learning
Welcome Vanessa! It is definitely never too late, thanks so much!
This path is not for everyone, and when people’s (bad) habits are challenged, many will get defensive and angry, but it’s really just directed at themselves.
Even from the comments above, you can see that the article reached many in a positive way. You’ve helped A LOT of people – that’s all you need to focus on.
This does touch on one of the more difficult sides of ER / FI. Most people don’t follow this way of living, so I find it hard to talk about without feeling like I’m insulting someone else’s way. That said, it’s such a powerful message, so it requires a bit of a delicate balance.
Keep up the great posts!
Thanks CF
Money in general is a taboo topic, and it can be hard to talk about with people close to you. In our lives we’ve broken that taboo so many times now that it feels normal though, and has helped the people that are most important to us
We stumbled across your blog back in March when Yahoo first did an article on you two. I’ve always been money savvy; I don’t like debt, I don’t like to spend frivolously (I only got a smartphone a year ago), and I enjoyed watching our savings grow. My husband was more of a spender when we met. Despite good financial habits, I still worried about retirement; I do NOT want to work until I’m 90. It was all so daunting.
In March, we were already on our way to paying our mortgage off. (We will have it paid off in 2017 after 5 years of ownership. Modest home, modest cost.) Your blog inspired us to do the same thing, 80/20, after the mortgage is clear. This will allow us to retire around 2026, give or take. We’re taking a different route, of course, but the bones of the plan are the same. We’re a little older (30/31), have an 11 year old child, and intend to keep our home for rental purposes and as a home base when we travel the world. We both come from lower, to middle, middle class. When we got married, we started out below the federal poverty line. No inheritance. Nothing was handed to us. In the beginning of our marriage, we were working 7 jobs to pay our bills and attend school full-time (while raising a family). My husband’s GI Bill covered his tuition, and his monthly allotment allowed us to pay for my tuition each semester. We have a farm, and grow most of our own food.
In a few months, I’m starting my own blog. I love to write. (I’m a planner, though. So, I’ve been creating outlines for months now. Haha) I always tell people who question what we plan to do: Everyone has excuses. Everyone has opportunities. Everyone has obstacles. It’s up to you to recognize which is which, and develop your game plan accordingly. Our blog isn’t (won’t be) about HOW to retire early, just how WE will retire early. Learn something, or don’t. It doesn’t matter. Everyone has a different circumstance, and so it’s impossible to present a one size fits all plan. People need to understand this to succeed. Heck, to even start.
We will retire in our early 40’s, with children, and we will travel the world. The people who are so ugly on these types of articles, are the ones that want instant gratification. They want all of the “fun” things in life, but they want to retire early too. People who make good financial decisions obviously had a rich mommy and daddy, are lazy, and stupid. Whatever, I promise I’ll ponder their criticism in 10 years. From a beach. With a drink in my hand.
Thanks for inspiring us to develop our own plan.
Thanks Marcia! I like your 10 year plan, especially the drink part :-D
I have been reading your blog here and there, and a few others like it. I find them inspirational but a the same time I am so hesitant to make choices with money. Let me explain – my financials, no really:
First: My husband and I both work, we make roughly 90k/yr between us. We have one child, he’s 2, and one dog.
69k in a savings account (so cash on hand)
20k car loan (2%)
16k student loan (6%)
96k home loan (3.5%)
~6k in a 401K (I don’t even know what to do with this)
This is our whole portfolio. For a while I thought we were doing so well because we saved so much! I put some money to bills and some to savings every pay period. We wanted cash on hand for job loss, unexpected medical, etc. But now I feel like we almost have too much on hand and I don’t know what to do with it! Do I pay down bills, do I leave it for “just in cases”? Do I keep some, and invest some… There are so many possibilities that I am stuck.
So what am I asking, well, I guess I am asking, what would you do? Any of you who may read this, what would you do? I am not going to hold anyone accountable for an opinion, so no worries on that. I am just curious where anyone would start.
Not advice, but what I would do… Because I was in a similar situation when I got started.
I would take some of that cash and pay off your student loan balance first. I know that’s a BIG check to write, but it’s so freeing. When I paid mine off, I still owed about $12k on it. I don’t even remember what happened, but I had to call the company holding the loan and they were extremely rude to me. That’s when I said, you know what? I’ve got the money, I’m done with you!
As far as the rest of your bills, I would pay extra on the car loan and home loan if you want to every month, but the interest rates are pretty low, so not a huge deal.
And for the rest of your cash, I would keep six months of expenses in a high-yield savings account and put the rest in a Vanguard taxable account in index funds. VTI is the easiest way to go. Then your money will be working a lot harder for you.
You didn’t mention how old you guys are, so I don’t know if you’re on track with just the $6k in your 401k. And it’s not clear why you don’t know what to do with it… But if you can increase your contributions to it, that’s less taxes you’ll be paying now.
That’s what I would do… But you know more about your situation than anybody. Good luck! :o)
Thanks for the suggestions! I appreciate you taking the time. We are both 43, so what we have in our 401k is not good at the moment. I think I will meet with HR about what I can do, and possible increase contributions. I also have to learn about Vanguard funds… this is my problem, when I say I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what any of that stuff is. I just know from starting to read these blogs that there is a whole world of finance out there and we are not taking advantage of it. So this was an attempt to get some suggestions on at least where to start, or even what to learn about through Google U. haha Again, thanks!
You mentioned Dunkin below, I SO miss Dunkin Donuts! I’m originally from Rhode Island, where there’s one on every corner!
Well, I feel your pain about not having a clue of where to start! I feel like I’m reading posts from myself from two years ago! I’m no expert by any means yet, but you can learn A LOT just from all the posts on this blog. I got started with a few other blogs, but this one put it in the most simple way and made it so easy to understand. GCC mentions where to get started above, that’s http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/ and it’s really excellent too. And, yes, contribute more to your 401k. The earlier the better, so your money has time to earn some of that compound growth. And the more you put in the less you pay in taxes!
I suggest Vanguard for opening up accounts because it has the lowest expense ratios, which you’ll start reading about. At other places, those can take too much of your money in fees. Also, Vanguard doesn’t charge you anything if you buy their funds. Other trading websites will charge you $6 or more every time you buy some funds. And then they’ll charge you again when you sell them! And Vanguard has some great index funds. I buy ETF’s which are index funds that buy & sell like stocks. You can buy as little as one share at any time the market is open. Index funds track whatever portion of the stock market that they are indexed to. So VTI is an index of the entire US stock market and has an expense ratio of .05%. VTI owns a little bit of almost every US stock, so when the US stock market as a whole goes up, VTI goes up. And that makes your money work for you.
One caution, make sure you read some of GCC’s posts about losing money. It is really hard the first few times the stock market goes down and that happens. You need to make sure you have the fortitude to stay the course and not get out when the markets drop. Just remember, if you don’t sell, then you don’t really lose any money. And as GCC says, the market always goes up!
Oh, and my rationale for not paying off your car and house before you start investing is because the interest rates are low. Your money should make more in the index funds than the 2-3% interest you’re paying. And the earlier the money is in the market, the longer it has to earn that compound growth and dividends. In my opinion, you can accelerate paying off the car & house, but don’t need to completely pay them off before you start investing some of your money into index funds.
I am so happy I talked about my situation. It is so nice to get feedback. I don’t even necessarily want to retire early, I mean, obviously that would be nice, but at 43 I am not sure that is possible. What is possible is setting myself up for a better financial outlook when I do retire. For that I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you guys taking this time to talk to me. I live in NH, btw, Dunkins on every block…
You’ve made a start! You’ll learn so much from reading these blogs and you’ll make it happen. Maybe you won’t get to retire real early at this point, but maybe you won’t have to wait til 67 either. That’s something!
And I went to college at Franklin Pierce! Miss NH, especially this time of year… :o)
Not advice, but what I would also do :)
Experts only suggest having enough in savings to cover 6 months worth of bills in the event of an emergency. Some experts are even recently saying that that is not a good place for your money, that you should invest it somewhere that it will work FOR you.
I would pay of the car loan, and the student loan. (36k)
I would leave about 10-12k in savings for emergencies. (Calculated on $2000/month cost of all expenses in your household. However, keep in mind you no longer have car payments, or student loan payments.)
I would take the last 21k and apply it to the mortgage or invest it in index funds. (Of the two, I’d lean towards the mortgage.)
You indicated you save each month (and with 69k in the bank, I’d imagine you’d have to be :)… I’d redirect that money to a) early pay off of the mortgage and/or b) investment options.
The money you would have spent on the car payment and student loans each month should also be redirected. I’d personally redirect that money to a) early pay off of the mortgage and/or b) investment options.
Once your mortgage is paid off (you’d be surprised how quickly it will be paid off paying extra on principal, AND how much you will save over the years in interest.) I would then redirect the money that would have been spent on the mortgage, to an investment option.
Make your money work FOR you!! Good luck :)
Thanks so much! I so appreciate anyone that takes the time to comment. I know our money is not working for us, I just don’t know what to do about it. The replies I am getting are giving me a lot to consider regarding how to change that. It’s weird to think that we have too much money on hand, I mean, most people seem to be so far in debt, and we really aren’t if you compare it to a lot of our peers. I am just so happy to be getting ideas on what others would probably do. :) Once I did the math on how much I spend per year on a daily Dunkins coffee and sandwich, I was rather aghast! I started to think harder about money/retirement, etc. Now I am on a mission to make our lives more FI. We may not be able to retire any time super soon, but I hope we will be better off than the road we are currently on. :)
It’s all about deciding what you can (want too), and can’t (won’t), without.
I don’t need cable, or a new car every couple of years, fancy clothes, new material items, to go out to eat every night, etc. But, I DO need my coffee.
I am unable, unwilling, to kick my Starbucks habit. I tried. I really, really did. I tried brewing my own, but it just didn’t taste the same. It wasn’t worth the {literal} headaches I was getting :)
In all seriousness, my husband and I were the same. I was so worried about “what if” and having enough to cover that. Our money wasn’t doing us any good in a savings account. So, we paid down all of our debt. (Unfortunately, I was still worried about emergencies, so we just kept putting that savings-from paid off debt- into savings. Until we bought our home.)
The only debt we have is the remainder of our mortgage. It will be paid off in 2017, after 5 years of ownership. Not having debt is a really great feeling. Like, freedom. After it’s paid off, we will do the 80/20 + into retirement investments. We will be able to retire in about 2026, when we are about 40/41.
Good luck! Let us know what you end up doing :)
That’s so awesome! I’m 40 now and am SO ready to stop working! I got completely out of debt 10 years ago, but didn’t know what to do with my excess money. I wish I had known all this back then! I only started 2 years ago, so I’m just hoping I can stop working by 50!
Keep on your plan, sounds like you’re going to be great!
You’re still Buck! Have fun!
Continued thanks for all your wonderful, useful posts. I have learned a tremendous amount and am inspired by your story. My favorite detail from today’s post:
They make money from their blog!
Yup. In 3 years of blogging, we’ve managed to earn less than half of the minimum wage on an hourly basis. That ain’t nuthin to aspire to, yo
Thanks on behalf of your many readers for being magnanimous with your knowledge and expertise. It’s abundantly clear that you do this blog entirely as a calling, a way of giving back to others in an incredibly meaningful way. What better gift than freedom?
Thanks Fishbird!
I’m still surprised that the blog has made any income. But even if it stopped I would still write, it is a lot of fun. The comments are my favorite part
That was really great. I look forward to reading a couple of your links.
Some people really don’t like math and don’t do math. And they don’t think about the small things (or the big things).
One day, years ago, someone made a comment about me bringing my lunch. Which I do nearly every day. (I maybe go out to lunch once every 2 months, strictly for social reasons, not for not having food. Seriously there are days when I open the fridge, throw a fruit, a protein, a carb, and a vegetable in the bag). This was a common comment at my last job too.
There were 4 or 5 people there, and I just said: “Well, I did the math once. If I pack my lunch every day, and pack my husband’s lunch 18 times a month (because he likes to be social more than me), it comes out to being about $16,500 every 5 years. That’s a new car.” (And not coincidentally, this was about 5 months after our 8 year old car was totaled in an accident, and we paid for a new one, cash.)
Now, car-owning aside, I know…it’s not that hard of math folks. Some people for sure have an earning problem, I’m not going to argue that. But many just have a spending problem.
“…it comes out to being about $16,500 every 5 years. That’s a new car.”
This is a great example to show folks of how small amounts add up over time to something substantial and meaningful. It totally shoots down the “oh, it’s only $8, what difference does it make?” argument, doesn’t it?
As the guy who brought his lunch (and rode his bike to work) I’ve had this same conversation more than once
Just like Barbie says, “Math is hard”
Impressive and inspiring post as always. I am very glad to see that everyone can be a millionaire and enjoys the life fully by living within means and save and invest.
Thanks for sharing!
BSR
Great article again as usual Jeremy. I would see the posters as many that are unhappy in their own lives they’ve chosen and want to criticize or discourage others who have made ER a success.
I read the Yahoo and was amazed at all the negativity. But then again, you’re going against the American mind think of keeping up with the Jones’. I’m sure the majority of those folks will be working well into their sixties. I wish them all the happiness in the world. ;)
As planned, I’m turning in my retirement notice next week. The time is nigh, 12/31 will be here soon enough. See you in Equador.
BTW, the photo of GCCJr is great.
Yes! Retirement here you come! Finally ;)
See you in a few weeks
It’s easier to tell yourself that the other guy (you in this case) is lying than it is to take a hard look in the mirror and admit you’ve been financially foolish. I’m just glad that there are people like you guys out there explaining how it’s possible to retire early. I wasn’t a believer five years ago, and now I’m on the way.
Awesome pic of GCCJr! Looks like he’s about to Hulk-smash something. Cheers!
I love this post! I read the story on Yahoo when it came out and it was sooo vague. Luckily, I’ve been reading your blog for a while now ( and love it) so I knew more of your story.
Isn’t there a saying that goes something like, “Any publicity is good publicity”?
It generated traffic to your blog, and hopefully new readers will get to read the rest of your story.
I love your “inheritances.” Haters gonna hate. But you know they want to be exactly like you. We all do. You guys are rock stars. You walked the walk. You made the sacrifices (which, as you say, are not sacrifices when you figure out what they can become!), and you’ve earned your world-traveling retirement with baby in tow. I hope we get there so I can show my kids this wide world as well!
Thanks to you, I also have been putting away more then 50% of my income into 100% equities!
I’m curious, it seems like you invested during one of the worst periods of investing, but still managed to hit your retirement number.
Judging from your age, you probably started working in 1996 and I think you said you stopped working in 2012. I was curious how I would have done if I started in 1996.
Let’s say I went back in time and invested 50% of my income every month from Jan. 1996- Jan. 2012. I didn’t buy extra shares or sell any shares at any time, just sock away 50% my income every month into S and P 500 fund. The results don’t look good.
From Jan 1996- Jan 2012 the annual return was only 3.559% according to the S and P periodic investment calculator where you invest each month. How could I hit my retirement number with this kind of sad return? I think you said you hit your retirement number it in about 10 years!
I don’t doubt you did it but perhaps the selling of your stocks and buying/selling your Real Estate jump started your savings? Also you mentioned you tried to buy more shares after the crash of 2008. This also helped jump start your savings?
Experts don’t recommend trying to time the market to sell or buy however.
Hi Andy
When you are saving a low percentage of income, say 5%, investment return and time are the most important factors in determining total net worth
But when you save a very high percentage of income (50%, 70%, more) most of the short term total comes from accumulated savings as opposed to investment return. The rate of return, while still important, is less of a factor. It can be the difference between building up 25x your annual spending in 12 years instead of 10, for example
I didn’t sell stocks and my real estate investments were a wash at best
While market timing in general is seldom an effective strategy, there is a difference between jumping in and out of the market and recognizing a buying opportunity. We did benefit from buying more in 2008/2009, but as a total percentage of net worth this is probably about a 10% benefit
Make sense?
cheers
Jeremy
Yes makes sense. I’m a couple years younger then you and graduated in 1998. If I invested $5000 every month from Jan 1998-Jan. 2012, I would finally hit 1 million. The annual return was only 2.962%! Those are pretty tough years.
If I kept working through through Jan 2015, then my return would be 7.41% and I would have close to 2 million.
I’m just hoping the S and P will go up more then 2.962% for the next 15 years!
Yeah, those were tough years. And yet it still worked
I too would appreciate a better return going forward. At least for the first 10 years of our retirement
Your very first article on yahoo truly inspired me to try and achieve early retirement. Thank you!! My only wish is I had seen this earlier, so I would have started earlier. When I reach my goal I will let you know :)
I look forward to hearing of your FI success. Thanks Sarah!
Don’t worry about the haters and trolls. I discovered your blog a few days ago via that same Yahoo Finance article and it may very well have changed my life! I stayed up all night that evening reading many of your posts and then spent the next day reading through the entire stock series on the jlcollinsnh blog you link to!!! I think I drove my fiancé crazy trying to show her all the cool ideas and possibilities highlighted on here. My only regret was that I didn’t know about this stuff during the 6 years I was single in the military making 50k/yr. All of that is gone now and I’m at UCLA living off of VA money and scholarships, but as soon as I graduate and start making money again I am putting your methods to the test and seeing just how fast I can save and start our early retirement! Thank you guys so much! And if jlcollinsnh sees this comment, thank you to you as well! You both have made our future a whole lot more promising!
Awesome, thanks Randy! My apologies to your fiancé ;)
One idea while you are still in school – if you and your fiancé can each have $5500 of earned income and contribute that to your Roth IRAs… with low income you will pay 0% tax today and those funds will grow tax free forever
Forget about the haters, bro! They didn’t read your blogs and your endless days in corporate America where you didn’t take vacation. You were so high strung and stress out that you almost lost the love of your life (Winnie). You wouldn’t get to where you are today without hardwork. Looking back, things were easy, but nothing was easy. Seattle winter is cold, biking all those year in the cold rain takes a lot of determination. Anyhow, great job to the both of you. Thank you for inspire us all.
Thank you Vivianne, you are too kind.
Both of you have been an inspiration to my family. We are saving 45% of what we earn and the rest goes straight to Vanguard index funds. Pretty simple! Thanks so much
Wonderful! You are on the fast track, congrats!
I completely admire what you and your family has accomplished. I think people attack because they don’t want to make the sacrifices or it just doesn’t ‘seem’ attainable for a variety of reasons. In my current situation FI does not seem attainable (lower end income, a husband that isn’t completely on board with the ideas and a lot of confusion when it comes to money and the stock market) but I would never attack others that figured it out. It inspires me (and admittedly sometimes it depresses me when I think I’ll never figure it out ;)). I read the book you recommended and am saving as much as I can and it’s actually more than I thought was possible to save but it still isn’t enough to get me to retirement early. The job market isn’t too great for my job skills but I’ve been looking and applying. I figure that’s what I need to work on, making more money but avoiding doing anything I’ll hate. Anyway, while I don’t agree with anyone that attacks, is suspicious or is negative about where you have gotten, I understand people that are trying to save and better their situation and are sacrificing but are getting tired and are still finding it difficult to get out out of their rut, but regardless no reason to lash out at others. I so appreciate you sharing your experience and being so open with all of your knowledge. And on that note I’ll get back to reading your blog and trying to figure out the stock market :).
Atta boy, GCC! Nothing like a single finger salute to troll nation that is Yahoo commenters by and large. I picture many of them hunkered down in Mom’s basement…perhaps even yelling/demanding for “meatloaf” ( hat tip to Wedding Crashers ). Your blog continues to get better and better.Plutus Award worthy :) Thanks for what you and Winnie do…GCC Jr. too!
Funniest hater thing I have seen in a while happened to my sister. She has been busting her butt working out over the summer and posted before and after pics to her Facebook page. She received a ton of positive comments but the trolls also came out. One was a cousin of ours who knows her and he said that the photos were obviously three different people.
Too many people don’t think, don’t read, don’t recognize their own power. However, there is a power in this internet-thingy that does allow the collective wisdom to be put to good use whether it is for my fantasy football team, FI bloggers, or home cooking. The world my kids have access to is way more powerful than what the pre-internet folks could ever imagine.
They have to choose to use this power for good or evil.
Keep it up, GCC! Winnie! and GCCjr!!!
I love it!! Did the same thing (similar: retire 45, raised 2 kids with wife home, used IRA +401k…before the days of qualified int and cap gains or ROTH)…no one ever thinks like us!!
Never wasted money and always invested in financial assets. Owned nice houses (never money losers) and new cars for cash (drove them over 100K).
If I were starting today, I would approach it like you…no house or tiny house, new tax rules, bike…etc.
The hardest part for most people is leaving the idea that work defines their life and worth. A cultural trap. Work is really a task which no one would do, unless paid.
Love your statement…
“I also inherited US Citizenship.” – The Left will hate you!! You must be an independent, self reliant person to think like you do..like a traditional, free spirit American. You do not exist in today’s media.
My advice to you is not to trust the Stock Market. It is a sick and crazy game that can quickly separate you from your money. Examine Japan in recent decades. Cash out while the returns are in hand (in a tax wise manner). Do not let greed spoil it.
Congratulations for figuring out what no one in BIG GOVERNMENT/MEDIA or CORPORATE AMERICA wants you to know!!
Congratulations to all that escape the hamster treadmill!!!
Congratulations on your early retirement. Nicely done.
I’m afraid I won’t be able to follow your investment suggestions. I’m in the stock market for the long haul.
I try to avoid political references like Left and Right, because they are very divisive. I do know that I was educated in government schools, had government subsidized student loans, ate a lot of food as a child that was paid for with food stamps, ride my bike on government built roads and trails, etc… We are all independent in many ways, and in many others we are all in this together.
All the best
Jeremy
Thank you! Inspiring!
nothing to say but awesome, and thanks for sharing your inspirational story,
Thank you for sharing your journey. Very encouraging. My husband and I have 2 young kids. We are in our early 40’s and are looking to relocate. Now that you have a baby, have you both found a place that you can see raising your family and permanently residing? We are of course looking for a place not too far off from the modern luxuries we are accustomed to in CA, great education for the kids, safe, politically and economically stable. Such place exist in your travels so far?
That sounds like almost every place we have traveled.
I’m glade I came across this. Thanks for the post
Followed the link from JLCollins and really glad I read this today. I find your story inspiring. Few of us learn to use painful early life experience to choose a better path as adults. So many with similar backgrounds grow into adults with crushing addictions, and lives spent with a refrain of ‘woe is me’ in what they imagine to be dead end paths. (I work in Behavioral Health, so these folks are my daily bread and butter). It is life-affirming to hear of how you took a better way.
As for my own life of complaining, I have to admit that too often I look out at the world with the binoculars on in the wrong direction. These binoculars magnify all that is wrong, and all that hurts now, and in the past and in the future. They also make small all the gifts of my life, passing over the wealth of relationships and experience as if tiny ants that I can step over on my way to more important things. When my head is in this space, I need a kick to remember that all life is a gift and I am just looking at it wrong. Thanks for sharing your story as it has been just the kick I have needed to get my head right this morning. Merry Christmas.
Welcome, Aperture.
I believe that hugs go a lot further than kicks, so here is a virtual hug to help get your 2016 started with positivity and gratitude.
Jeremy
Hi, Love your posts! So inspiring! What if we are late in the game for doing RRSP’s due to employment issues. My husband was in passenger car accident 1 1/2 years ago. We could potentially receive quite a bit of money. Say we receive enough to pay off debt, mortgage and then max out RRSP’s contribution which we have never contributed in the past, then hopefully if we don’t have any further money left over from this money, I can contribute to investments. In this case, although we are starting fresh, how long should it take us or your opinion or suggestions? I would need probably the $1,000,000 or more to sustain us. Not sure if we could travel like you since daughter in university but the option to travel whenever. The unknown is my husband’s income since we don’t know when he will return to work but if debt free with some money socked away plus I make $55,000 year Canadian, I hoped it should not take too long..Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!
Starting from zero, it depends on what percentage of after-tax income you were saving.
If you were savings 50%, it would take 15 years plus or minus.
Hello, thanks for sharing your Life Journey! its inspiring.
Thanks for the post. I’ll keep reading. Already being in my 50’s and my husband in his 40’s my trick is moving my stash with $60K in unrealized capital gains into the total stock index fund without having all those cg taxed. . . . .
Personally, I love your blog. I find your story a complete inspiration and have learned so much from you guys already. I hope you continue with your generosity and time in sharing your knowledge. No kidding when I say you have changed my life for the better.
Man, I’m not even sure if your life is the one that I would want, but three slow claps to you guys. An amazing life, world travel, and an impeccable plan to make it happen. BRAVO! I am curious about how you got a hold of your Social Security statement. This sounds like a useful tool to slap myself around a bit and straighten out my finances.
Awesome lifestyle choice!
Haters mean you are doing something right! Congratulations, you were one of my first FI inspiration stories!! I will always be grateful to you :) Now if only I could get to the 0 tax spot but that pension gets in the way…lol
We were under the same scrutiny when we would tell people that we were both full-time college students with a child, and still managed to pay our own bills. Many people would comment that we must have had help, or our parents were paying our bills, all because they couldn’t understand how we could possibly do it all without any financial assistance. We learned to be frugal early on, because we had to be. Many people don’t want to accept stories like yours because then they would have to accept responsibility for their own financial situations. It’s so much easier to make excuses or complain.
Hi Guys. Just want to say thank you for all the great information and inspiration. I appreciate you tackling criticism. Good luck and enjoy
Great article. I don’t think it should surprise you though that comments on yahoo finance article would be negative. Yahoo finance target audience probably isn’t the passive investing, high saving rate crowd. It is people reading about individual companies, trying to beat the market etc. Certainly you two realized that your savings rate is way more important than your market return. Matching the market return coupled with a large savings rate is the easiest path to wealth it. The complainers just refuse to do the work to increase their savings rate. Good for you guys, don’t worry about some people that don’t want help or don’t want to do the work. But do keep making great posts for people who want to follow your path. I know I appreciate it greatly.
Things like this are the reason I refuse to read the “yahoo finance”, etc types of sites. They are just full of negativity and trying to bring others down. Just like facebook. I’ve actually read quite a few articles recently about people who are self made are generally optimistic and those who aren’t, are pessimistic. It seems to have a good bit to do with looking at obstacles as opportunity instead of roadblocks as to why you will never be successful. Anyway, as I have stated before, congrats on your success. I aspire to be where you are one day (hopefully in about 10-12 years)
I have 5 to go, and don’t think I will aspire to being a millionaire, but this has inspired me to direct my children, who are both in
University next year, both taking Engineering. With COOP’s and a Education Savings plan, they will have no student debt, and will be educated in finances. Something I never got until much later in life. Thanks for all the advice. I just wish I could get MRS Spaceman on the same track (also Taiwanese). She wants to spend like there is no tomorrow, we argue about saving money all the time.
cheers
spaceman
Thank you for this post! My husband and myself are also from Minnesota! We are trying to get him out of the military as life is giving us panic attacks and the days with our three boys are numbered. Hoping to figure out what all f this means and apply it to our life!