Howdy

[orthodoxcaveman]

Hi all:

New to the forum, somewhat new to the labor force and ERE concepts. Attorney, 28 years old, married, US Southwest. Wife also an attorney. No kids, two poodles.

Parents are extremely wealthy, but only lately - hoarded my cash growing up because they wouldn't pay for anything "unnecessary", which I guess is I guess how they got so goddamn rich in the last ten years.

Always been a frugal guy, but got suckered into massive loans to pay for law school, where I met my wife, who also got suckered. Now our loans are combined, monolithic, and monstrous. We both work and have a good income, thank God, which makes the huge loan number a little less scary.

Nevertheless, I'm very happy to have found communities like this one online and I plan to apply the principles outline here (which I have always known in some way, but had never really understood explicitly) to my life both to get out from beneath the student loans, but also because I have a fundamental moral objection the consumption-debt cycle that drives modern life.

[prognastat]

Welcome to the forums, hopefully reading the blog and forums will help you squash the debt and get a great start.

It sounds like you may have already had some lessons in frugality during your youth from your parents.

[wolf]

Welcome! The intro in your journal sounds really interesting, quite extreme in some aspects. Well, I am looking forward to read more about your journey. A SR > 85% would help you a lot, as you mentioned in your journal. Well done so far!

How did you find out about ERE?

[Hristo Botev]

Welcome from another attorney (there are at least a couple of us lurking around here). And good luck on getting the 6-figure student loans paid off. I still remember the day my wife and I finally finished paying off ours. It's a truly great feeling to forever remove from your budget an expense line item like a debt payment. Just speaking from personal experience, I've now made it a habit to give the "avoid lifestyle inflation" and "live well below your means" lecture to every fresh-out-of-law-school attorney I work with. And interestingly, it's pretty much the same lecture the judge I worked for out of law school gave to me and every other one of his clerks. The reason: if you don't have your financial house in order and are not living well below your means, then you're more likely to (1) get stuck in a miserable working situation because you don't have FU money; and (2) get yourself into trouble by putting your own interests above those of your client (Paul Manafort?). That you are starting your career and already fully aware of this means, in my mind, you are way ahead of the curve (at least as attorneys are concerned).

[prognastat]

Avoiding life style inflation is some of the best advice one can have as early as possible as it's harder to go back once you've already inflated your lifestyle than simply remaining satisfied with what you had int he first place.

[orthodoxcaveman]

Welcome! The intro in your journal sounds really interesting, quite extreme in some aspects. Well, I am looking forward to read more about your journey. A SR > 85% would help you a lot, as you mentioned in your journal. Well done so far!

How did you find out about ERE?

I'm drawn to communities that oppose monolithic modernity like a moth to flame. I also frequent various traditionalist catholic groups and keto/carnivore diet groups.

Welcome from another attorney (there are at least a couple of us lurking around here). And good luck on getting the 6-figure student loans paid off. I still remember the day my wife and I finally finished paying off ours. It's a truly great feeling to forever remove from your budget an expense line item like a debt payment. Just speaking from personal experience, I've now made it a habit to give the "avoid lifestyle inflation" and "live well below your means" lecture to every fresh-out-of-law-school attorney I work with. And interestingly, it's pretty much the same lecture the judge I worked for out of law school gave to me and every other one of his clerks. The reason: if you don't have your financial house in order and are not living well below your means, then you're more likely to (1) get stuck in a miserable working situation because you don't have FU money; and (2) get yourself into trouble by putting your own interests above those of your client (Paul Manafort?). That you are starting your career and already fully aware of this means, in my mind, you are way ahead of the curve (at least as attorneys are concerned).

Good to know. And thank you. I occasionally imagine the rush of satisfaction I'll have on that day. I appreciate that advice - I see my peers succumb to it constantly. Out of curiosity, what's your practice area?

Avoiding life style inflation is some of the best advice one can have as early as possible as it's harder to go back once you've already inflated your lifestyle than simply remaining satisfied with what you had int he first place.

Yep. So individually, so culturally. I am careful about what I add because of how hard it becomes to do without them. Imagine the societal pain and reaction to a ban on something like cars or cell-phones. It creeps me out.

[Hristo Botev]

Out of curiosity, what's your practice area?

IP. You?

[orthodoxcaveman]

IP. You?

Very cool. Would have been my choice if not for frittering my undergrad away on a literature major.

I'm in L&E.

[Hristo Botev]

I also frequent various traditionalist catholic groups and keto/carnivore diet groups.

Just out of curiosity, any particular traditionalist catholic groups you'd recommend?

[orthodoxcaveman]

Just out of curiosity, any particular traditionalist catholic groups you'd recommend?

Sorry for the late response. I go to a Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) church in my parish. They celebrate regular Tridentine masses and do spiritual direction, faith formation, etc.

Another generally decent option would be Eastern/Byzantine Catholic Mass, which are often around.

I'm not very active online, but Trad Catholic twitter is active. There are also a healthy range of podcasts aimed at different points along the spectrum from the paranoiac sedevacantist Novus Ordo Watch to the respectably yet genuine Pints With Aquinas.