Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Unfortunately I live in the southeast for now, but I plan on relocating back to Northern Illinois in a few years, and still visit there nearly every summer (and always get a license). So I wouldn't be a regular partner anytime soon, but perhaps on one of my visits we could arrange something. I'm a l...

Excuse Making (Thinking about Spending) For a number of reasons I find myself thinking about expenses this morning--and I really should say spending rather than expenses because expenses implies some sort of obligation. Spending sounds a lot more voluntary, which is more accurate as it applies to m...

Hi Chad, Yes, the stodgy indexing strategy has gained some popularity in recent years. It was actually through bogleheads.org that I ultimately found my way here, with MMM being a waypoint. I don't think I'm quite orthodox enough to be considered a boglehead proper myself, but awful close. I still p...

I like Jack Bogle's quote, which I'll paraphrase since I don't remember it exactly: " The stock market is a giant distraction to the business of investing. " In the long haul stock returns are driven by dividend payments and earnings growth. In the short run, 5 years or less, all kinds of ...

Well, I consider pub 590 "official guidance" when I do my taxes, but understand that ultimately the tax code proper must be followed if there are real or apparent conflicts. That the code spawns government documents hundreds of pages in length to help folks understand what the heck it all ...

Some More Introductory Stuff - On Investing I noticed a thread on a different forum (Money Questions) about investment trading logs, along with others on various investment tactics. I am a boring but reasonably successful investor. I've always been a buy and hold mutual fund guy, and as time has go...

What are your plans after the goal is reached? The overarching plan is that I'm going to move back "home" to Northern Illinois (from the Southeast US). Except for me and my two daughters, my entire family still lives up that way. It will also be about halfway between where my oldest lives...

Thanks, Jacob. Good to know the format is open and that I'm not completely the odd man out! The money part is important, of course, but for me it's the "inner journey" as you put it that has really energized and fascinated me. It's funny because once I sensed the transformation the financi...

No clue what to do with someone in serious debt. For that I might recommend Dave Ramsey. Having a support community is important to get started on chipping away. FWIW, the most impactful book to me (other than ERE, of course :D ) was Work Less Live More. Second this, Total Money Makeover is good fo...

That's a simple question with a complicated answer. The fastest and arguably safest way to do it is keep your expenses low and save/invest as aggressively as you can in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds. Many people use rental real estate as well, but depending on your definition of "...

Learning as I Go I've spent some more time exploring the site. Some things are apparent: 1. I'm definitely in the ERE-lite category. I'm not running anywhere near as lean/mean as many on here, and frankly I don't know that I ever will. I'll do my best though. 2. There appear to be some conventions/...

Mine's hard to pin down exactly because of the time sensitivity of a small retirement annuity I may get from my employer if I stay long enough, and some uncertainty in what my "retired" expenses will be. But if I assume no annuity and based on last year's actual expenses I get the followin...

I use a similar nutrition regimen, but not quite so restrictive as paleo. I encountered a lot of paleo enthusiasts in the Crossfit community. I basically follow something close to the Zone diet with some sensitivity to paleo principles I guess is the way to say it. I am not 100% strict in this, but ...

I was pretty well set in my path when I read this book, but it was a valuable read because it gave me some explicit ways to think about some things I knew and was following intuitively. It was also good for me at the time to know that what I wasn't the only soul out there with the desire to restruct...

Still Wondering if I Belong in this Community Where am I and where am I going? Hmmm. I'm afraid it will take a number of entries to really capture all of that. I'm writing here because I find capturing thoughts in writing therapeutic. Also, I read somewhere that writing engages a much larger portio...

So, I may be starting off a little presumptuous, but after a brief sampling of the site I concluded this is likely a community of kindred spirits to my own. I haven't read the ERE book, or even more than a sampling of the blogs--hopefully I'm not too far off base. I'll try to make a long story short...