Early Retirement Extreme Forums

HI, I'm a 23 year recent graduate (just finished this semester!) from a military college in Charleston, SC. I'm happy with the fact that I got to go through a very unique experience while there, but unfortunately it cost me and my family a ton to go there. Personally, I'm in student debt at 30k, but thankfully that's the only form of debt that I've got.

So, I've got a bit of work ahead of me. Fortunately, I've managed to land a sweet cyber security job at my school that pays about $13/hr, which isn't much, but it's what I want to do and I'm in a pretty cool city. I've also managed to get a nice little room in the downtown area for about 500 a month, which compared to what most people pay (lowest I've seen is 650) it's pretty good. I recently finished Jacob's book for the second time now (A great book to go back and reference too) and I'm all in as far as wanting to retire early. Once Jacob started talking about the Renaissance man philosophy, I was so excited that there were people out there that had that same ideology. I had always been a really crafty and creative minded person who loved solving problems, but my issue was when it came time to devote myself to something (namely when I was at my accounting internship) I realized how unsatisfying it was. I felt like we (all people) were going about life all wrong. I wanted to be all the things ( an artist, scientist, writer, philosopher, craftsman, and fighter) all at the same time. I didn't want to be seen as the accountant, or any other specific title which also entails the stereotype which follow.

Anyways, I could rant and rave about what other stuff I've done or what I think, but this should suffice as my intro haha. If there are any of you in the Charleston area, I'd love to meet and talk. Also, if anyone has any great book recommendations about living simple or that pertain to a similar philosophy as this let me know

Welcome!

Cyber security at a military college? I now have images of Robocop running through my head instead of a desk job monitoring firewall logs.

Haha, quite original there George

Yes, and the sad thing is that the school is lagging in that department. But we'll be fixing that soon! It would be quite embarrassing if a military college with a prospering cyber education were to get hacked.

@TheRedHare
Hey RedHare, we went to the same school. I'm out here in Honolulu now though, for work. Just had to say hi as an 05 grad on the forum.

@ellipsis_has_expired

Wow, I'm surprised....it's a small world after all. I'm from Papa '17, you?

I'm assuming you're Navy judging by Honolulu, but correct me if I'm wrong. Send me a PM if you'd like; love to chat.

Columbia, SC reporting in!
Work hard and learn a lot.
In a couple years your skill set will command three to four times what you're getting now.

Ya that $30,000 of student loan is a ton of debt to chip away at. Luckily I hated school and found it to be extremely boring and unprofitable so I left early and looking back now it was a very wise move for myself because looking back I think that its what retired me at only 39. Your probably going to have to become an extreme cheapskate to knock it out. I highly recommend going to Youtube and type in Jeff Yeager the ultimate cheapskate and look for his debtors amnesia video, and Dave Ramsey 7 baby steps. Good Luck.

Yep, I've got quite a bit to work on. I realize my mistakes and just have to accept that. None of my family ever went to college so they were really pushing me to go and had invested a lot for me to get a good education. I plan on living as cheap as I can. So far I'm saving over 60% of my income, and plan to try and pay off my debt in about a year and a half.

Your debt is low enough that it might be worthwhile to pay it back, but do consider whether it is better to avoid it.

I know only of this guide: http://strikedebt.org/drom

It is very long and verbose because it is written for people who are embarrassed about their debt and spends a long time telling them that they are legitimate humans. You can skip all of those sections and just read the technical methods.