Wannabe's Numbers

[EREWannabe]

Hello everyone. I have been interested in early retirement for about 2 years and started using some of the practices of ERE about 1.5 years ago. Quick background information: I am 23 and my wife is 24 she just finished her Masters’ degree and began working full time in May 2020, we keep all finances together so all numbers posted will be our combined income/expenses, we both work at the same company and are salaried at 35,000 and 32,500 but also receive commission. I have been a long-time lurker and thought there was no better time to begin this journal than at the start of the new year. If you have any thoughts or advice, please let me know. I plan to be using this journal to keep monthly logs of expenses and income. Our numbers for December 2020 are as follows:
Expenses:
Rent: $576.45
Electric: $15.09
Internet: $45.00
Health: $46.19
Gas: $100.45-heavy driving month due to the holidays
Grocery: $166.93
Clothes: $30.00
Entertainment: $46.19
Eating Out: $156.48-biggest waste of money, we have both agreed that we cut this back to $0 for the foreseeable future
Total Expenses: $1,182.78
Savings:
Cash: $5,000.00
Retirement Accounts: $76,644.54
Taxable Accounts: $54,286.05
Total Savings: 135,930.59
Income: $4456.44 -after taxes, does not include $1040 automatically put in simple IRA or my wife’s pay as 100% of her income was put into her simple IRA since she just became eligible for it.
Plans for 2021 are to lessen up on the savings put into retirement accounts by dropping simple IRA contributions to 3% for the employer match.

[EdithKeeler]

Welcome! You have a great start, especially for your age.

[unemployable]

Cool, an ERE speedrunner!

You can cut your entertainment to zero by just running spreadsheets and watching your numbers all day

[Rags2Freedom]

Hello EREwannabee

Firstly, numbers look VERY GOOD from a frugal point of view , well done! (I can only dream of this at the moment)

Where are you based?

I’ll be starting a journal later this month , look forward to seeing our journeys unfold.

[Ontarian]

Wannabe's a taken name of a popular character here, don't you know? Ah well, you'll follow the path and have financial success. And if you're lucky, the OG Wannabe will bless you with points for consideration in a humourous wrapper re. the long-term health & satisfaction of your domestic life. Welcome aboard.

[Western Red Cedar]

EREWannabe - Welcome to the forum! You've got a great financial start. I think I was stoked to have a NW of $5,000 when I was 23.

There are some different opinions on the benefits of maxing out tax deferred accounts. I tend to prioritize maxing those accounts first, but part of that rationale is based on my plans after reaching financial independence. I'd recommend the Mad Fientist's writing on the topic if you haven't read it yet:

https://www.madfientist.com/traditional ... -roth-ira/

Best of luck on your journey!

[EREWannabe]

Hello everyone, thank you for the warm welcome. To answer some questions/comments:
@Rags2Freedom I am in the Mid-Atlantic region of the USA
@Ontarian no I wasn't aware of the OG Wannabe, I've never spent much time on the forum, mainly just the blog
@Western Red Cedar thank you for the link to that article, that has me really reconsidering how to distribute investments. I was completely unaware of the early withdraw options associated with IRAs

Again, thank you everyone for the welcome and the advice

[EREWannabe]

Numbers for January 2021
Expenses:
Rent: $576.45
Electric: $15.63
Internet: $45.00
Gas (Car): $21.15
Grocery: $0.00-Our end of year bonus was $500 worth of grocery store gift cards, we are aiming to have them last 4-5 months, if it doesn’t come out of the account, it doesn’t count. Also we go dumpster diving for fun once a week and usually end up scoring a decent amount of food.
Eating Out: $0.00 Nice
Car Maintenance: $24.13
Total Expenses: $682.36
Savings:
Cash: $5,000.00
Retirement Accounts: $87,421.44
Taxable Accounts: $54,108.41
Total Savings: $146,529.85

Income: $6,905.89 -after taxes, does not include $2080 automatically put in simple IRAs.
We have decided to max out the tax-deductible accounts at our disposal for the time being. We’ve started to ponder whether it may be better to buy in the near future rather than rent, we live in a small college town so it could also work as a rental. Saving is going well, we managed to get through the month with our lowest level of expenses ever. Our current goal is to hit 300k asap as we both strongly dislike our jobs, after that things are up in the air. As always advice or links to pertinent reading material is appreciated.

[classical_Liberal]

...

[EREWannabe]

@classical_Liberal Thanks for the reply.

For me 300k is absolute barebones FI. Right now we are unsure if we want to remain working at the same place after hitting that number or if getting more interesting part time work that pays less will be the route we go. I have been at my current company for 3 years and in that time have gone from 27500/yr. salary to currently 36400 + commission (gross for 2020 came to be 80k). My main concern is that if I pull the plug on this place too soon I will regret it as the work is fairly easy and I have no degree to make similar money in another field. Prior to working here I worked in construction for 2 yrs. and would like to get back into it as a part time gig after I am not working full time. Our current goal for hitting 300k is May of 2022, my 25 birthday. The why is definitely something we struggle with often because of our indecisiveness about what comes next.

[classical_Liberal]

,,,