Early Retirement Extreme Forums (est. 2010)

For stocks, I think Hussman (for all his failings in timing) makes some interesting points. Right now P/E:s do not seem all that bad if you take the forward E. But margins tend to mean revert (they've been high recently), and if the economy cools that will also lower earnings. I guess this is the va...

@Seppia: I guess there's also a lot of institutional investors (banks, insurance companies etc) who are compelled by regulations to hold "risk free" assets. Also central banks own 15-20% of Eurozone sovereign bond markets (as an example). As consumers we get treated a bit differently. In SEK I could...

I guess for me there's an internal ROI (I guess you call that vanity). I feel better wearing chinos/nice jeans + shirt + sweater + brogues/boots/nice sneakers, so I do. Because of buying quality where it's worth it (shoes, coats, bags, knit sweaters, jeans, belts), thrifting, maintaining/mending and...

I’ve been reflecting on my motivations for pursuing FI and where I am on the journey. Is it a worthwhile pursuit for me or simply a substitute for something else? When I started out, my aim was mostly to avoid financial disaster. I don’t really remember noticing the financial crisis as it happened (...

I guess workplace culture differs quite a bit between countries. Because of stronger social safety nets and long parental leaves (for both genders), here in Northern Europe it's likely not as big of a deal to take some time off. I have five colleagues (company size ~100) who are or have been on 3 mo...

I think it's natural that by volume, a lot more will be r-level. Otherwise you have a scientific journal (and even they seem to dedicate too much space to fluffy marginal issues). I wholeheartedly support your strategy. I would leave (yes, I understand the enormous weight this statement carries ;)) ...

This thread got to be about city vs rural/suburban, which is an interesting point of discussion. But that discussion doesn't capture the more interesting aspects of G.S and I don't think it's a fair description of his message, which belongs to the same realm as Permaculture/Emergent Renaissance Ecol...

I think you have to consider the "economics" of this type of journalism. Writing a put-down of a fringe movement is great for piquing your core readers interest ("who are these crazies?"), then you keep them reading with some anxiety ("do I have to completely change my life now!?"), followed by the ...

In my experience, if you manage to buy garments that fit your body, you're definitely a 10%:er. Add some basic sense of which textures, colors and patterns that go together well and you're a few percentage points higher. If you're not working in a field where appearances are very important, and you ...

To completely implement the passive strategy of “buying the market”, one would choose something along the lines of the GFAP (all financial assets by market cap): https://www.pragcap.com/is-the-global-financial-asset-portfolio-the-perfect-indexing-strategy/ He makes some assumptions and simplificatio...

I've bought some nice, durable things that amortize to very little considering their lifespan - the BIFL option. They still feel luxurious to me, and they make me not mind the simpler stuff. Even if the cheapest Walmart alternatives prove a bit cheaper, the cost would be worth bearing for the superi...

I made a stab at doing the math on this. Taking my native country as an example, Sweden's GDP/capita (in USD PPP) stands at 53400. The public sector comprises roughly 44% of GDP, giving us a public sector expenditure/capita of 23500. Of that 23500, 42% is used for "social safety" - pensions, unemplo...

If solar panels and energy storage continue to become cheaper, and grids cost more and become less reliable, I could see this happening, especially in rural areas and developing countries. And perhaps among us ERE-crazies. There are articles on LCAs on solar PV and storage on the site: https://www.l...

We used 157 kWh/month last year. Electricity is used for cooking, but not for heating (neither air nor water, there's municipal heating in our building). There are a few non-LED bulbs left (one striplight in the bathroom, a couple of halogens that are used sparingly), the fridge/freezer combo is old...

With regards to FatFIRE/LeanFIRE, it seems to me that the concept of highly paid professionals(like doctors, lawyers and dentists) saving and investing to retire to the golf course in their 50's has been a thing for quite some time? The Bogleheads forums says "© 2001-2019" at the bottom for example,...

WORK/MENTAL: The work situation spiraled out of control again during fall, with the associated long hours, lack of sleep and constant toxic stress levels finally getting the better of me just before Christmas, causing my to simply burn out. This is obviously a major event for me, and has changed my ...

There is a lot of variation in individual studies, but if you look at meta-analyses, most of it seems to simply be noise. There are a few consistent findings, like processed meat being correlated with bowel cancer, but most things are not clear-cut. People of course love to find the one study that s...

Health-wise, because SAD is so sub-optimal(a lot of calories from refined sugar, white flour and highly refined vegetable oils), deviating from SAD generally leads to big improvements. Whether your diet is vegan, paleo, Atkins or USDA's Dietary Guidelines, it probably improves your diet by removing ...

Agreed, the growth is not sustainable(too a large extent it’s simply pillaging stocks to get high flows, like giving yourself a generous salary from your savings account but ignoring the steady decline in your balance sheet). But mostly it’s used for more stuff, not more people, with the exception b...

Is really most of the world stuck in an Malthusian trap like that? Sub-saharan Africa seems to be* but that seems rather the exception. World population is growing at around 1%, with the world economy growing at 3.5% or so. US GDP per capita is about 2.5 times higher today than 50 years ago, in sync...