Greetings from the Rust Belt

[PA Hiker]

Hi Folks,

My story is fairly typical.

I’m 50 YO. INTJ personality type. I worked an IT job for 16 years with a large Industrial manufacturer until April of 2016. From 2000 to 2008 I was unaware of the possibility of ERE but was saving aggressively and paying down debt (student loan and mortgage).

The Great Recession was a real wakeup call for me (employment in domestic manufacturing is tenuous in the best of times). After surviving several rounds of layoffs, I began looking for a way out. I started tracking my net worth every month. At first my goal was simply to save enough money to bridge the ~20 year gap to social security retirement age.

Around 2011/12 I discovered ERE, MMM and other sites. Over the last few years the ERE community has helped me slowly evolve from a passive, albeit frugal, consumer/wage slave to a considerably more self-reliant and empowered person. After being let go from my job last April, I decided to embark on my ‘retirement’.

Currently my net worth is around 580K USD.
On average, I spend about $1620/month (this number keep dropping as I get better at DIY/life hacking etc).
It still amazes me that many folks think they need 3, 5 or even 10 times this amount to retire!
We’ve attained the Keynesian dream of a 15hr work week but most of us never got the memo!

Anyway, ERE has done a lot for me and I hope I can contribute to this forum going forward.

Best Regards.

[saving-10-years]

Welcome and congratulations. I am in the UK but can report similar experience of (already frugal compared with others) costs of living continuing to go down since 'retirement' with enjoyment of life going up. Isn't ERE great.

[Kriegsspiel]

I am a fan of the Rust Belt.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Welcome! I'm also from the Rust Belt.

Great job setting yourself up to be self sufficient.

[PA Hiker]

Thanks for the welcome

saving-10-years - ERE/FI definitely is a better way to live IMO. I'm very glad to have finally achieved it although it was an awful long slog to get here. For me FI was such an abstraction that once it arrived I didn't know what to do with it. I still tend to "overbook" myself time-wise but I am learning to slow down and be mindful of what I am doing. There is a lot more time now-a-days but certainly no time to waste.

I have divided my expenses up into 3 broad categories
1- required e.g. taxes, insurance.
2- important/useful e.g. internet service, time savers (like the nail gun I bought for a renovation project).
3- discretionary e.g. travel, entertainment, gifts.

Currently the breakdown is roughly 1-60%, 2-15%, 3-25%. I would like to change this ratio to favor category 3 a bit more.


Kriegsspiel, Gilberto de Piento- Yah, what’s not to love about the US Midwest!
Actually it is a great place to live. COL is very reasonable and there are a lot places to go and things to do, especially if you like the outdoors. I live in a small town, population ~5000. So virtually everything I need is within walking distance. However, I have to drive at least 30 minutes or more to get to anywhere “interesting”.