Early Retirement Extreme Forums

<t>Real hyperinflation, like the 50% per month kind of thing just doesn't seem all that realistic in the US, or even Japan.<br/> A substantial inflation problem, like 10% per year, with stagnant wages-- well that seems much more possible to me. But, just as 'stagnant wages' in a country doesn't mean...

<t>@SW, I think I get what you're saying, and I agree to a certain extent-- people are willing to pay more for things based on emotions. On a broad scale, it seems the key is just having emotional responses that are similar to other people, thus if my wife becomes attracted to a house, a car, or pie...

<t>@sshawn, "I doubt the regulatory committees will permit such a place stateside." Obviously depends on the state. However much of the regulation is ultimately driven by compliance with government funding-- that is to say if you don't follow the regulations the real penalty is that you won't get me...

<t>Interesting to see how you guys try to wrangle with the costs of owning vs renting. <br/> I've developed a semi-complicated spreadsheet to help me figure it out-- I say semi-complicated because I'm sure most of you would undertand it, but it's more complicated than Jacob's formula.<br/> The input...

<t>Seems that there might be a hard to describe element to the deal-- sounds like you want to buy this house. Sounds as though were it not for the unpermitted addition this house would be a good deal for you. <br/> It's easy for others to say 'walk away'-- particularly if they're not trying to find ...

<t>@nico33 I did this last year. It was a great idea. I was able to get basic SD (i.e. not HD) cable channels and only pay for internet service. All that was needed was a standard coaxial cable splitter and some coaxial cable, though that may not be true for all cable services. Buy a splitter in the...

<t>@bbqguy; Wouldn't it seem that money magazine is written to a certain target audience? As Seneca suggested, things like the ERE blog/book are on a different level.<br/> Perhaps the most important thing I learned from the blog was the importance of reducing expenses in planning for financial indep...

<t>Interestingly some of the best advice in these fora seems to pertain to relationships rather than numbers/money. <br/> In the numbers and money realm: sometimes it's helpful to list your monthly expenses from largest to smallest. The low hanging fruit is often seen to be things like sirius-- but ...

Seems like it could be a good thing.
Joe Moglia resigned as CEO of TD Ameritrade, with a reported 9 figure net worth. to pursue coaching. Great story. I'm doing this mobile, else I'd post a link.

<t>Kinda seems like almost any hobby can be made expensive these days. Almost every activity has some sort of gourmet gear producer(s). For most folks, top of the line gear is just another form of consumerism rather than a technical necessity. As an egregious example, a friend of mine shoots an $80k...

Maus, why can you put 1917 into a 457, whereas I can only put in 1458- is it catch up money?

<t>Thanks for all of the input.<br/> My electric + gas bills are currently around $170/mo, but that's in a different house, different appliances, gas and electric and so on... <br/> I don't know if there is solar leasing in the area, I'll have to look into that.<br/> I don't think the system has a b...

<t>Many moons ago onebag was the starting point for me that lead me to ERE.<br/> Something I have since discovered, one-bag travel with a young child-- forget it. I can still travel with one bag, but a toddler complicates things. We can go out to a restaurant with one bag for the baby, but a 4 day t...

<t>I am a long time advocate of renting in most situations. <br/> I am considering buying a house. There is a zero-energy option-- solar panels and heater to offset electric costs, but the option is $30k. Is that a good deal, or bad deal?<br/> How do you even approach all of the various ramification...

<t>If you don't use or care about the airport lounge benefit, then maybe you can do better. If you want that benefit, probably not. <br/> A key factor here is you need a card that allows you to spend over $25k per month (possibly even more if your expenses aren't evenly spread). In my experience, if...

<t>As many have suggested, a lot of the costs are up to the parents' wishes. There must be a minimum value, and no one really knows what that is-- probably for a number of reasons, but mostly because most folks don't see the primary goal of raising a child to be achieving minimum cost. <br/> There i...

<t>Seems like you're doing pretty well-- saving greater than 50% of income with an income of $60k and 4 kids is pretty far above the norm. <br/> I actually like your initial 10 year plan. It isn't the earliest possible retirement date, but it seems pretty bulletproof. If I understand right, your hus...

<t>People debate this issue a lot, and I think it's a good debate because it exposes a lot of issues relevant to investing an planning. <br/> The common response is if you can earn more than your mortgage interest rate then you should invest. I've never liked this response. First, it seems that most...

<t>@RealPerson, your comments have been interesting to me in this thread. I am a surgeon who has run his own practice and worked for large universities. I'm sure you can imagine a bit what it's like to run a medical practice-- to me it sounds similar to your business. The most remarkable difference,...

<t>This is a great thread, very enjoyable. <br/> I made a transition to more mediocrity in my career a few years ago. It's not that I decided to do mediocre quality work (as a surgeon that would be an obviously bad choice), but I did transition from working for a "top of the tops, most competitive, ...