Living Stingy post on ERE

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jacob
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Re: Living Stingy post on ERE

Post by jacob »

JamesR wrote:Maybe more of us should start by going straight to the bare minimum Jacobsian lifestyle, ...
The bare minimum lifestyle is just a starting point for those with noob ERE skills. Shouldn't take more than 1-2 years of serious effort to build up the skills and assets to graduate from that level. As you get wealthier, you can leverage your skills more and thus put in less/rarer effort for the same absolute return. I left the minimum level 10+ years ago. The more you know, the less you need to spend. I've just kept spending constant.

See, viewtopic.php?p=99322#p99322

Nyioves
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Re: Living Stingy post on ERE

Post by Nyioves »

I think some of the math questions need to addressed with actual numbers and itemized detail lines for the budget.

You can't just dismiss it as personal incredulity blah blah. That is like saying: I've laid every playboy playmate since 1989 without setting foot in the playboy mansion. Don't believe me? Well that is personal incredulity complex.

The housing number sounds too vague and food number too low. I agree with the other poster -- it is not enough just to list what you rent an RV lot for, as your housing costs alone. Is it a new RV and was it paid for out of your nest egg? If so then depreciation needs to be taken into account since those depreciate more like a car -- therefore not a real asset -- and not like a house. Further, what about maintenance ? Esp. applicable if an old RV.

Further, I think Rob at LS is right on the money. He goes through the math. And makes the case that 7000 bucks / year is very difficult to pull off. Also, the fact that your spouse works so your half is 7000 but you double it to make it 14000 is baloney. There are plenty of housewives around who live on someone else's income -- or could if it ever came down to it. That is not retired. It would not be the same as having a roommate. Your roommate could and would kick you out. Your wife would most likely just support you.

While his 25000/year budget maybe off the mark -- he challenges and makes a good case for -- the BS with 7000 a year. And that is the point. Not his level of frugality vs. yours. Theoretically it is possible but why bother? Your strawman arguments are just specious at best. I don't see it as a strawman. Why not just live off welfare at that point? What would be the point of saving for the nest egg then?

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jennypenny
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Re: Living Stingy post on ERE

Post by jennypenny »

Go through some of the journals if you want to see proof of concept. Jacob isn't the only one living at that level. You'll also notice that there are almost as many ways of living very comfortably at that level as there are forumites who do so.

inchicago
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Re: Living Stingy post on ERE

Post by inchicago »

I just quickly reviewed this guy's article. I'll read it in depth later, but the first couple of paragraphs were so insulting to Jacob. I for one appreciate the fact that Jacob took the time to write his book and make it available. It's not like he made a fortune from it and I wouldn't care if he did, since it was his time that he used to create it.

cmonkey
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Re: Living Stingy post on ERE

Post by cmonkey »

Nyioves wrote:And makes the case that 7000 bucks / year is very difficult to pull off....

... Theoretically it is possible but why bother?
You want itemized, take a look at my journal, its detailed. Not counting our temporary renovation expenses my wife and I average ~14K per year in expenses, or 7K per year each. It's not that hard to do, I haven't even thought about it. I really don't think anyone should try to achieve 7K per year just for the hell of it. It should be something you achieve as a side affect of optimizing your life so as to just not spend money. That's how we do it.

You should also note that this doesn't mean jacob (or I for that matter) actually have outflows of 7K per year. If you have inflows of 5K (hobby, selling stuff, etc.) and outflows of 12K........it's still living on 7K per year. Just different accounting but the end result is the same - 7K in expenses annually.

Spartan_Warrior
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Re: Living Stingy post on ERE

Post by Spartan_Warrior »

Welcome to the forum, Rob. ;)

Did
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Re: Living Stingy post on ERE

Post by Did »

cmonkey wrote: You should also note that this doesn't mean jacob (or I for that matter) actually have outflows of 7K per year. If you have inflows of 5K (hobby, selling stuff, etc.) and outflows of 12K........it's still living on 7K per year. Just different accounting but the end result is the same - 7K in expenses annually.


What Jacob spends in a year is no concern of mine, but I did understand that his 7k figure was how much he actually spent. His inflows, according to his posts, exceed his pre FIRE income. I doubt his outflows do!

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: Living Stingy post on ERE

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

FYI: One technique covered in blogging for profit 101 is to write a post attacking a bigger blogger in the same space. It creates drama and ideally gets a response post from the attacked blogger and others. It falls under the "there's no such thing as bad publicity" theory of marketing. Don't feed the troll.

Nyioves
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Re: Living Stingy post on ERE

Post by Nyioves »

@Gilberto

Too bad Living Stingy isn't a monetized blog. And I have no dog in this hunt. I never met/ don't know Robert / don't really care...

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: Living Stingy post on ERE

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

Too bad Living Stingy isn't a monetized blog.
In Blogging 102 they tell you not to monetize your personal blog until you have significant traffic. Sounds like he's following the playbook.

I'm done talking to you, whoever you are.

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