Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Can you get to a grocery store or drug store and get a 12 pack of soda? It would probably be $2.50 or so, especially if you can find generic brand.

$1.80 isn't a lot, but if you buy one everyday that is going to add up.

I'd fill up the 401k first. You only need 5 years of expenses in a taxable account. You can then use 72t or Roth conversions to get your 401k money early without any penalty.

Assuming you are in the 25% bracket, you'll save 25% on your 401k contributions. When you withdraw, you'll pay much less on ...

riparian wrote: didn't get much in the way of exciting rewards that were advertised.

Why didn't you get the advertised rewards?

If you have a high FICO score, you can get a couple thousand dollars a year in statement credits or free travel with rewards cards.

Have you ever looked into airline credit cards? A few sign up bonuses would cover your flights to Japan.

I just plugged in Seattle to Tokyo in July and you can do it for 65,000 United miles.

You and your SO could each get the United Mileage Explorer card and get 55,000 points each after spending ...

How much do you hope to have between your 401k and taxable by 2017 to ER?

If you go into your Amazon Payments account you can link a credit card. You then choose Pay for Goods/Services (otherwise it will count as a cash advance) and send up to $1000 to someone elses Amazon Payment account. I normally go with $950-990 and write "X Month Rent" in the comment field. They can ...

Fair enough, but to dismiss the possibility of early retirement because there aren't any "guaranteed" 5-7% returns is a bit ill informed.

@GTOO - Interesting how there are almost no complainypants arguments in the comments of that article.

You may have spoken too soon.

"The whole article is based on a premise delivered in passing as a simple throwaway.

Please explain where one can get 5% over inflation on a safe investment. And ...

It is a way to hit the minimum spend for cards to get the sign up bonuses. For example, with Chase Sapphire Preferred you get $400 for spending $3000 in 3 months. You can just send a friend or family member $3000 over the course of three months for free, have them transfer it back to you and you get ...

Right now you can send $1000/month to someone using Amazon Payments and a credit card. There is no fee. Makes it easy to hit minimum spends.

I've gotten about $3500 worth of flights, hotels and statement credits this year so far by signing up for credit cards. Should be close to $5000 by the end ...

Assuming you are ok with risk and have a long time horizon, I would go with something like this:
20% Spartan 500
25% Extended Market
20% International Index
15-20% Emerging Markets (unsure of your choices here)
10% US Bond Index
5-10% Foreign Bond Index (depending on fund choices)
5-10 ...

Well I just put the orders through for the S&P and Extended market funds. I forgot to factor in the minimum investments for the funds, which is $2500 for each one. So I'll slowly be getting into each fund and then I'll finally be able to adjust to allocation after I have at least $2500 in each one.

I'm jealous of how good your 401k options are; I've never had a 401k even close to as good.


The even better part is that they contribute 15% of my salary without any input from me.

I appreciate the input in this thread. I think I'll go with the allocation I outlined above, and in a few years ...

It is a specific sport/outdoor activity.

It was around 200 books. No idea about the traffic, and sorry but I do not want to reveal the subject.

About 2 years ago I created a list of books on a particular subject and posted it to a message board. The links were Amazon affiliate links. Took me about 2 hours to put that list together, and I've gotten $30-75 a month for the last 2 years from it.

I see. I was thinking about going with no bonds for a few years, I might do that. My plan was to just have them there for rebalancing purposes.

Interesting about the experience you've had with small caps. If the expense ratio was the same, as mine would be, would you recommend utilizing them at my ...

I am finally eligible for my 401k at my job, they have just deposited their match from my first 6 months of working. The 401k is a Non-Prototype account with Fidelity. Basically they just deposit money and I put it where I want it. I am looking at the Fidelity Spartan funds to keep the fees low.

I ...

<t>It isn't really based on current and future tax brackets. A 401k contribution saves you your current tax bracket, and then your withdrawal is taxed at your effective tax rate. So even if your tax bracket is the same, you'll save money on taxes, assuming no other income.<br/>
Right now my 401k ...