Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I haven't tried racing on a VR headset yet and I know I don't need to. It'll do me in. Any first person "running around" game normally makes me sick, and that's not even in VR. And if I try to push through it like you did, I'll be nauseous for hours. The worst was growing up and not knowin...

I often have found myself in the "Look at those people / That's not fair!" trap. Ultimately you're not helping anyone by thinking those thoughts, especially yourself! If you're a decision maker in the situation, great, think it through and make the decisions. Otherwise, take the perceived ...

Interesting that Buffet did zero buying during this pullback. Well, he DID buy some airline stock...right before he sold it. I'm a huge Buffet fan and I'm very intrigued by his non-buying. I mean, there's NOTHING that's a good value to him for years now? Even today? That tells me he thinks there wi...

Being a "swap driver" for a new car dealership. Not exactly what you're looking for, but it goes like this: They call me a day or two in advance and ask if I want the job. I say yes or no. If yes I drive to the dealership to get the car the next morning and drive 50-250 miles to another de...

Basically, you take money out of asset classes when they aren't doing well and put them into something that is doing really good. If by "aren't doing well" you mean asset class has gone down in price and if by "doing really good" means asset class has gone up in price...isn't th...

For almost ten years I've been asking myself this. And for ten years, I haven't been able to figure it out yet because after all, there hasn't been a popping sound yet. I thought for awhile it was emerging market investments, but those didn't pop they just fizzled out a bit. My only current guess is...

Here's my conversation with my city regarding my "tall grass": Me: "You've sent me a letter threatening me with a $500 fine if I don't cut my grass. Are you kidding me?" City: "Your grass needs to be less than 12" high. And we didn't threaten you with a fine." Me: ...

Both my wife and I have used one in the past, just a simple over the counter unit. It does seem to feel strangely good while you're using it, but we differ about after effects. She thinks it helped after she stopped using it, I didn't notice much lasting effect. Both of us agree it seems to distract...

One thing that's missing from the "price" is the change in dividends/dividend policy over time. This brings up a simpler explanation: Dividend payouts have been going down over time. Now instead of payouts you'll see higher share price. If this chart is measuring just share price (not a v...

So much for the myth of getting rich by working hard, making sacrifices, saving and investing. None of that means zilch if you happened to be born and enter the economy in the wrong period and all your hard work, blood sweat and tears pays only a measly pathetic 1% p/a. The next decade is just one ...

If you love the car do what you gotta do, but it seems like it's possibly a fairly large expense (insurance, storage, depreciation, etc). I assume you have no interest in selling the car and buying another in a year? If you saved $1k in expenses by selling and rebuying a $5k car, it might be worth i...

I'll go weeks without a drink, and then weeks where I have a drink or two 4-5 days of the week. Usually late afternoon, and for no good reason other than "I want one". And I rarely have more than two. I also have found myself fond of straight whiskey, which is a tiny bit scary as that was ...

She dosen't have sex, in the traditional sense, as part of her sex work. Alright, alright, I can't be the only person thinking this. What exactly is sex work with no sex? Is she the sex clerk? "$20 for the oral, sir". Does she set up and then clean the room afterward? Is she just the whip...

Another factor might be that that for many investment services you investing 3-4x as much as you need means more money under their management earning fees... So not only is it easier, it's probably also more lucrative for the firms giving this advice. I've heard this before, and I think the other s...

Let's look at the big picture for a minute. The movement of the market in the short term (say, a year) is based much more on your fellow investors sentiment than actual value. Half your investments were held for less than six months. I'd never, ever sincerely put much credit in anything that made or...

Are you referring to some theme music that "feels like ERE/FIRE", or actual words? The podcasts above are pretty good (I listened to a couple of them today) and there are many more. RPF is probably my favorite overall, as it touches on many topics and the interview he does with Jacob is AW...

I couldn't get 1/4 of the way through the Fountainhead. I'm interested in re-reading Atlas Shrugged. So yeah. But it can be a bit...repetitive.

You can't keep borrowing money and kicking the can down the road regardless if you're a student or a government. I used to think this too, then I read Warren Buffet talk about how the national debt -is- sustainable. I hated to even contemplate it, but I think it's true. Making slowly growing intere...

This is also dependent on how risk tolerant you are. For example it takes a decent bit more to FIRE at the same standard of living at a 3% SWR than at a 4% SWR. While that's true it's also surprisingly easy to get to a 3% SWR. If you want $40k at a 4% SWR you need a $1m. Waiting to achieve a 3% SWR...

... but rather as putting together a portfolio to efficiently support one's lifelong financial goals. Exactly. What are you goals? That's all it comes down to. The FIRE community is so caught up with VTSAX! VTSAX! that rarely anyone stops to ask "Is this actually appropriate for me, or the per...