Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I don't mean that nomadism is somehow "losing at ERE", but that the stakes are bit higher and require more flexibility and robustness. That it's harder and requires more tools to always "win". Yeah, housesitting has a lot of outputs that also become inputs. But you can't say, &q...

So you are liking it so far ? I do, but more aware of limiting factors and why many people can't pursue it. Assume age and health are the main limiting factors as traveling at times can be a drain. Really like certain places during particular times of the year and do not like or are unhealthy at ot...

When we were staying in Ubud I would regularly stop running in the rice paddies to talk with an elderly retired lawyer from San Francisco who was out for his morning stroll. He had an agreement with some locals to care for him for the rest of his life. I don't know what his plans were for when thin...

The key to cheap sporting activities is to become good enough to get paid to coach others. At his point, one can just show up anywhere in the world and play for free.

1. Skip driving at all cost. Bus, train, Uber, Grab, walk. If one must have transportation, arrange with hotel always. 2. Always have a place to stay as lodging is almost always a requirement for entry into any country, although rarely enforced when carrying US passport (but why take a chance). Also...

7-month update. Random factors below, please add any other experiences if anyone has done this longer than a year. Can see myself doing this for several years but trying to avoid any pitfalls. Travel = kind of a grind everywhere now. Went through 5 passport/boarding pass screening lines for a 2-hour...

OP: Target market is career changers and those who want to start their careers as analysts. I know several people who have all ___ designations. CFA is great for those who were in one field, let's say Biology, who have topped out and want to change careers. Anyone with a Biology degree and a CFA wil...

For anyone applying to grad school in the US, this provides excellent data on what to expect. Summary, Grad students have more debt, Universities charge more and students are no better off. https://lesleyjturner.com/GradPLUS_Feb2023.pdf I can't comment on every grad program but can attest that many ...

OP: Depends on you goals. Best way to determine correct grad program is to identify where you want to be, ask someone who is "there" how to get there today. "Best School" is 100% dependent on what you define as "best outcome". Most of the programmers I interacted with w...

I speculate that some of the FIRE "personalities" desire some kind of ego boost from bragging about how they don't have to work and other's do, but in my experience of sharing FIRE with piers, nobody cares and there is no ego boost. In order to get the dopamine for their egos, they must re...

OP: One can call SS and walk through several scenarios. Don't know if they calculator above is the one they used to estimate payments. I spoke to SS when just starting to pencil out IRA conversions and SS payments maybe two years ago. Rep could provide exact estimates for taking SS at 62, 67, 72, co...

Open Rollover IRA in destination firm. Ask destination firm if they can trade asset held in transferring firm. If Yes, do an "in-kind" transfer. If No, sell assets in transferring firm and transfer all cash to destination firm. Many odd rules and regulations with these transfers within eac...

Has anyone observed how much "easier" data analysis has become in the last 5-ish years? My first data analyst project was 20-ish years ago trying to minimize cost of call wait time for a financial firm that took at least a few weeks to do complete (was more cost effective to place low reve...

Always have a plan to return to work, learn a new skill that someone else will pay for. In the FIRE community there is still this belief that one just has to avoid a negative 50%+ return year and FIRE will work. What wrecks FIRE is a few years of small negative returns in a row, the longer the time ...

The inflation dragon had been dormant for 40 years, it's out and not going away quietly. The only way to hedge against inflation is to have a job that benefits from inflation, drug sales or insurance sales are the best examples as prices go up, commissions go up or be highly leverage with income pro...

I've seen this on a few FIRE blogs and have no idea how those with free time can't find something interesting to do? In just about every job, I would often daydream during meetings about how much I'd rather be doing almost anything else and always had a long list of activities if my current employer...

No routine, haphazard. Spend more time when market has fat pitches (2020-2022) do nothing otherwise. Check balances once a week at most, sometimes once a month. Set email alerts in all accounts, % up or down YTD, don't bother otherwise.

I would be equally worried that AI will significantly increase crop yields, producing so much food that 99% of the world's population will become obese. All technological advancements benefit some industries, crush some and create new ones. AI will be no different.

Anyone who thinks work provides more than a paycheck is delusional (sometimes work provides a catered lunch, but that perk will get cut shortly). It is like a farmer expecting more from the crops than food. My armchair psychologist hypothesis is these are sick depressed people who just blame the low...

"North Star" is a very baby-boomer answer. Gen X "follow your passion" younger maybe "save the planet". Greatest generation or older would laugh in your face or give you a binky to suck on if you whined about spending 40 hours a week in a climate controlled room typing ...