Hi mxlr650,
Thanks for the response. I agree with your point about VSGAX/VSIAX (small cap growth/small cap value index funds). I considered small cap value as this apparently has had an outsized return over many years. Unfortunately it was a bridge too far for my Boglehead brain to be in just one part of the market. It was difficult enough to move into a total stock index from the safety of a checking account. I'm just not much of a risk taker!
At this point I think the most important things are to get the money invested and get my savings rate way up. I'll refine my investments as I go and maybe come back around to something more interesting.
Gilberto de Piento's Journal
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1950
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1950
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
Based on a suggestion from another thread I spent a lunch break putting together a spreadsheet so that I can model various possibilities for FIRE: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... sp=sharing. I'm sharing this here in case others want to try it and also to hopefully get others to let me know if there are any logic or formula errors.
Notes:
I'll post about what I've learned from this later. Let me know if you see any errors or have thoughts on this.
Notes:
- I work with data every day but not financial data. I know nothing about accounting.
The spreadsheet is very rough - there may be logic or calculation errors.
The cells in bold are settings that can be changed.
The whole thing is probably wildly optimistic.
I don't really understand inflation yet. It's supposed to account for inflation but I'm not confident it's right.
I'll post about what I've learned from this later. Let me know if you see any errors or have thoughts on this.
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
It looks like your F and K columns have hard-coded values (36900 and 406750). What do those represent? Wouldn't you like everything to be editable (just like your other assumption cells like the tax rates). I don't know what those numbers represent, so I can't comment on them.
Your model properly accounts for inflation in column B (though it will be lumpy and not smooth). In columns C and H, you increase your savings with the inflation rate. That is OK (as it holds real savings constant), but isn't necessary to 'account' for inflation. You only need to do what you did in column B. In other words, you may want to increase your savings at a rate higher than inflation, which would go in column C. But, if your assumptions is that you will increase savings with increases in salary and that salary increases with inflation, it makes sense.
And, while this is obviously a big debate, you are using a 4% SWR for a long period, but based on the value of your assets. This means that your actual withdrawals could fluctuate depending on the market. If you can ratchet down expenses in 3-5 years of poor performance, then that is fine. But, you might want to list that as an assumption.
Also, what is your logic on withdrawals that are over $406,750 only being taxed at 20% federal?
Your model properly accounts for inflation in column B (though it will be lumpy and not smooth). In columns C and H, you increase your savings with the inflation rate. That is OK (as it holds real savings constant), but isn't necessary to 'account' for inflation. You only need to do what you did in column B. In other words, you may want to increase your savings at a rate higher than inflation, which would go in column C. But, if your assumptions is that you will increase savings with increases in salary and that salary increases with inflation, it makes sense.
And, while this is obviously a big debate, you are using a 4% SWR for a long period, but based on the value of your assets. This means that your actual withdrawals could fluctuate depending on the market. If you can ratchet down expenses in 3-5 years of poor performance, then that is fine. But, you might want to list that as an assumption.
Also, what is your logic on withdrawals that are over $406,750 only being taxed at 20% federal?
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1950
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
Thanks for responding! I really appreciate it.
The 36900 and 406750 are intended to set the tax rate to the proper level for the amount of earnings. For example, if the FIRE earnings are 36900 or below, the capital gains tax is 0%. If it is 36901 to 406750 it is 15%. If it is 406751 or higher it is 20%. I hard coded these because they would only change if the law that sets tax brackets changes. I got this from http://taxes.about.com/od/Federal-Incom ... r-2014.htm.
Right now the same tax rate applies to all the earnings. Is this correct? Maybe the first 39600 is tax free and anything over that is taxed at 15%, like the marginal income tax brackets. This isn't clear to me from the websites I looked at.
Regarding inflation, I want to assume that my salary will increase to keep pace with inflation. I'm assuming I'll get paid more and then will be able to increase the amount I'm investing. It sounds like this is set up correctly.
Regarding 4% SWR, I'll be able to adjust expenses somewhat if the market tanks and I'm not planning on being totally "retired". I like working, I'd just like to have it be more on my own terms.
The 36900 and 406750 are intended to set the tax rate to the proper level for the amount of earnings. For example, if the FIRE earnings are 36900 or below, the capital gains tax is 0%. If it is 36901 to 406750 it is 15%. If it is 406751 or higher it is 20%. I hard coded these because they would only change if the law that sets tax brackets changes. I got this from http://taxes.about.com/od/Federal-Incom ... r-2014.htm.
Right now the same tax rate applies to all the earnings. Is this correct? Maybe the first 39600 is tax free and anything over that is taxed at 15%, like the marginal income tax brackets. This isn't clear to me from the websites I looked at.
Regarding inflation, I want to assume that my salary will increase to keep pace with inflation. I'm assuming I'll get paid more and then will be able to increase the amount I'm investing. It sounds like this is set up correctly.
Regarding 4% SWR, I'll be able to adjust expenses somewhat if the market tanks and I'm not planning on being totally "retired". I like working, I'd just like to have it be more on my own terms.
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
"Right now the same tax rate applies to all the earnings. Is this correct? Maybe the first 39600 is tax free and anything over that is taxed at 15%, like the marginal income tax brackets. This isn't clear to me from the websites I looked at. "
Yup, I think you're forgetting to add the standard deduction and personal exemption though...
10% Tax Bracket Up to $8,925
15% Tax Bracket $8,926 to $36,250
Standard deduction $6,100
Personal Exemption $3,900
Total $46,250 instead of 36,900
Yup, I think you're forgetting to add the standard deduction and personal exemption though...
10% Tax Bracket Up to $8,925
15% Tax Bracket $8,926 to $36,250
Standard deduction $6,100
Personal Exemption $3,900
Total $46,250 instead of 36,900
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1950
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
Thanks! I've updated the spreadsheet to use apply the marginal rates. For now I used 36,900 and 406,750 as the breaks just to get the formula in place.
Are you saying that the break where 15% starts should be at 46,250 due to the deduction and exemption?
Are you saying that the break where 15% starts should be at 46,250 due to the deduction and exemption?
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
Yup, because the standard deduction and personal exemption reduce your taxable income.
Sorry, I think the second your $.50 over 15% tax bracket, you lose the 0% tax rate on your qualified dividends and all of your qualified dividends become taxed at 15%. Are you assuming that all FIRE earnings will be from qualified dividends? This website (http://thismatter.com/money/tax/capital ... losses.htm) seems to show that you do get to use 0% tax rate up to your 15% tax bracket amount if your ordinary income is below the 15% tax bracket and 15% on the rest of the qualified dividends...
Didn't realize you were using 2014 tax numbers.
10% Tax Bracket Up to $9,075
15% Tax Bracket $9,075 to 36,900
Standard deduction 6,200
Personal Exemption $3,950
Total $47,050 instead of 36,900
Sorry, I think the second your $.50 over 15% tax bracket, you lose the 0% tax rate on your qualified dividends and all of your qualified dividends become taxed at 15%. Are you assuming that all FIRE earnings will be from qualified dividends? This website (http://thismatter.com/money/tax/capital ... losses.htm) seems to show that you do get to use 0% tax rate up to your 15% tax bracket amount if your ordinary income is below the 15% tax bracket and 15% on the rest of the qualified dividends...
Didn't realize you were using 2014 tax numbers.
10% Tax Bracket Up to $9,075
15% Tax Bracket $9,075 to 36,900
Standard deduction 6,200
Personal Exemption $3,950
Total $47,050 instead of 36,900
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1950
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
January 2014
Help! I'm being attacked by black swans! This was going to be my best month and instead it was my worst due to unexpected expenses:
1. My cell phone used to be on a very cheap family plan with a relative. Without airing too much dirty laundry, the relative has become someone that I can't trust with money. I had to move on to a different plan. This cost $300! Why? First, I found out that the relative hadn't cashed my check for the previous six months so I had to send another $90 for that (after making sure the first check was cancelled). Then I bought a $100 phone and $100 worth of pay as you go minutes/texts/data from tracfone. I could have gone cheaper on the phone but being able to access data through wifi and occasionally through 4G will be useful and it sort of replaces my dying mp3 player. The $100 worth of minutes will save me money in the long run because they are cheaper than buying smaller amounts.
2. My car wouldn't start and needed repair. Fortunately/unfortunately it needed a fuel filter ($20) but it was two hours of labor to diagnose ($180). Ugh. And it hesitated to start once since then so I suspect I'm not out of the woods yet.
Alcohol & Bars 84.21
Auto 213.72
Bills & Utilities 37.93
Business Services 28.48
Cash & ATM 160
Charity 10
Doctor 5.11
Gas & Fuel 77.33
Groceries 323.8
Gym 41.15
Mobile Phone 300.98
Mortgage & Rent 940
Restaurants 18.36
Shopping 41.19
Sports 8.36
Television 44.99
Total -FI 2335.61
Paycheck 2919.71
Amazon 92.18
Google 194.01
CD 17.54
Checking 14.34
Pay from my dad for sharing Christmas gift expense from last month 200.64
Total +FI 3438.42
Net worth: $74,702.66
ERE assets: $24,378.54
Monthly savings rate: 32.07%
So the savings rate this month is the worst yet. Why?
1. There's $500 in black swan payoff money. That's not totally unexpected as something is bound to happen once in a while.
2. $84 in alcohol & bars, seriously? That's not as bad as it looks since I'll get $25 back from a rebate. I put on a ski race every year that requires a good amount of alcohol. People really enjoy it so this is borderline charity.
3. $200 Cash & ATM and Bills & Utilities are still a bit of a mystery. This month I'm going to track everything I buy with cash and see where it's going. I suspect mostly food but there are always a few random things, for example this month there was a $30 for a trail pass for skiing.
Leaving out the black swans I would have had a savings rate of about 45%. Next month!
Goals for February:
1. 50% savings rate.
2. Put $3000 (required minimum) in Vanguard in Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Index Fund Investor Shares (VFWIX) to diversify my FIRE assets.
3. Find a new job and relocate to a state that I think will better suit me.
4. Keep working on web development. This hasn't been going well, I'm just not excited about it anymore since I'm not learning anything new.
5. Learn Python to hopefully be more marketable and increase my income. Programmers seem to earn a lot more than I do and they actually produce something useful rather than reports that get skimmed and junked.
Also, I finally got around to reading Mister Money Mustache. That guy is living my dream in terms of location and lifestyle.
Thanks for reading!
Help! I'm being attacked by black swans! This was going to be my best month and instead it was my worst due to unexpected expenses:
1. My cell phone used to be on a very cheap family plan with a relative. Without airing too much dirty laundry, the relative has become someone that I can't trust with money. I had to move on to a different plan. This cost $300! Why? First, I found out that the relative hadn't cashed my check for the previous six months so I had to send another $90 for that (after making sure the first check was cancelled). Then I bought a $100 phone and $100 worth of pay as you go minutes/texts/data from tracfone. I could have gone cheaper on the phone but being able to access data through wifi and occasionally through 4G will be useful and it sort of replaces my dying mp3 player. The $100 worth of minutes will save me money in the long run because they are cheaper than buying smaller amounts.
2. My car wouldn't start and needed repair. Fortunately/unfortunately it needed a fuel filter ($20) but it was two hours of labor to diagnose ($180). Ugh. And it hesitated to start once since then so I suspect I'm not out of the woods yet.
Alcohol & Bars 84.21
Auto 213.72
Bills & Utilities 37.93
Business Services 28.48
Cash & ATM 160
Charity 10
Doctor 5.11
Gas & Fuel 77.33
Groceries 323.8
Gym 41.15
Mobile Phone 300.98
Mortgage & Rent 940
Restaurants 18.36
Shopping 41.19
Sports 8.36
Television 44.99
Total -FI 2335.61
Paycheck 2919.71
Amazon 92.18
Google 194.01
CD 17.54
Checking 14.34
Pay from my dad for sharing Christmas gift expense from last month 200.64
Total +FI 3438.42
Net worth: $74,702.66
ERE assets: $24,378.54
Monthly savings rate: 32.07%
So the savings rate this month is the worst yet. Why?
1. There's $500 in black swan payoff money. That's not totally unexpected as something is bound to happen once in a while.
2. $84 in alcohol & bars, seriously? That's not as bad as it looks since I'll get $25 back from a rebate. I put on a ski race every year that requires a good amount of alcohol. People really enjoy it so this is borderline charity.
3. $200 Cash & ATM and Bills & Utilities are still a bit of a mystery. This month I'm going to track everything I buy with cash and see where it's going. I suspect mostly food but there are always a few random things, for example this month there was a $30 for a trail pass for skiing.
Leaving out the black swans I would have had a savings rate of about 45%. Next month!
Goals for February:
1. 50% savings rate.
2. Put $3000 (required minimum) in Vanguard in Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Index Fund Investor Shares (VFWIX) to diversify my FIRE assets.
3. Find a new job and relocate to a state that I think will better suit me.
4. Keep working on web development. This hasn't been going well, I'm just not excited about it anymore since I'm not learning anything new.
5. Learn Python to hopefully be more marketable and increase my income. Programmers seem to earn a lot more than I do and they actually produce something useful rather than reports that get skimmed and junked.
Also, I finally got around to reading Mister Money Mustache. That guy is living my dream in terms of location and lifestyle.
Thanks for reading!
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
Programming is a good trade if it is something you like to do more than other activities such as marketing, brand management, systems engineering, biz dev etc. If you are good with big pictures, collaboration etc, you should try out other functions which pay equally well.Gilberto wrote:Learn Python to hopefully be more marketable and increase my income. Programmers seem to earn a lot more than I do and they actually produce something useful rather than reports that get skimmed and junked.
While learning a new programming language is important, what really pays is domain knowledge. If you have not done already, pick a growing/lucrative domain (finance, telecom, enterprise verticals etc) and try to become an expert. Problem with just learning programming languages is that, the barrier to entry is too low and a dude with little or no money can learn it well and compete effectively from remote parts of the world. However if you have domain knowledge (along with software skills) there is very little danger that outsourcing can pose.
Location is another factor - for Internet technology companies there is very little alternative to being in bay area. Yea, there is RTP, Boston, Seattle, Austin, blah blah blah, but nothing comes close to SF bay. If it is something you can handle, move to SF bay, live cheaply, save for few years, and you will be able land lucrative remote gigs easily.
Good luck!
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1950
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
Hi mxlr650,
Thanks for the detailed response regarding programming. I didn't do a very good job of describing the details. Mostly what I do now is program, I program in R to analyze data and create reports.
I agree with everything you wrote. Right now, the language that I program in is only useful for data analysis and I'm specialized in a domain that is notorious for low pay. I'd like to both escape the low paying (and uninteresting) domain and learn a language that can be used for a wider variety of projects. I'll probably end up doing something "big data" as that would allow me to use my existing stats knowledge. I'll still need to pick a new domain as you indicated - I'm not yet sure what that would be exactly.
Thanks for the detailed response regarding programming. I didn't do a very good job of describing the details. Mostly what I do now is program, I program in R to analyze data and create reports.
I agree with everything you wrote. Right now, the language that I program in is only useful for data analysis and I'm specialized in a domain that is notorious for low pay. I'd like to both escape the low paying (and uninteresting) domain and learn a language that can be used for a wider variety of projects. I'll probably end up doing something "big data" as that would allow me to use my existing stats knowledge. I'll still need to pick a new domain as you indicated - I'm not yet sure what that would be exactly.
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George the original one
- Posts: 5406
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
- Location: Wettest corner of Orygun
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
Big data and "something interesting" smells like GIS to me... not sure how widespread Python is in GIS since ArcGIS products are de riguer.
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1950
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
Hi George,
I'm familiar with GIS but I won't be going in that direction. I'm sorry I can't provide more detail about my situation but I'd like to stay anonymous here for the time being.
I'm familiar with GIS but I won't be going in that direction. I'm sorry I can't provide more detail about my situation but I'd like to stay anonymous here for the time being.
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1950
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
Well, it's only the 10th of February and my savings for the month are already f#$&ed. I ended up having to pay in about $1000 for my federal taxes and only got back $200 from the state so I'm down an extra $800. I need to have my real job take out more in taxes next year so that this doesn't happen (assuming I continue to make side money). This is good problem to have since it means I'm making more money but it's frustrating to put a lot of work into making more and have the government take about 30% of it.
And the car wouldn't start again yesterday morning, though it did start later on in the day. I think it needs a fuel pump. I could fix it but I don't have anywhere to work on it (it was -10 outside this morning) so the repair will probably cost about $600 (on top of the $200 I already paid to have it misdiagnosed and "fixed" with a $20 fuel filter).
And the bank sent me a letter saying that my card was compromised. Thankfully nothing was stolen.
Oh well, it could be much, much worse, but I'm finally starting to understand where all the money goes. It is always some damned thing!
And the car wouldn't start again yesterday morning, though it did start later on in the day. I think it needs a fuel pump. I could fix it but I don't have anywhere to work on it (it was -10 outside this morning) so the repair will probably cost about $600 (on top of the $200 I already paid to have it misdiagnosed and "fixed" with a $20 fuel filter).
And the bank sent me a letter saying that my card was compromised. Thankfully nothing was stolen.
Oh well, it could be much, much worse, but I'm finally starting to understand where all the money goes. It is always some damned thing!
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
Hi Gilberto,
How do you get that revenue from amazon and google ? (sorry if already asked / explained)
Thanks
How do you get that revenue from amazon and google ? (sorry if already asked / explained)
Thanks
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1950
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
Hi archi,
I haven't been working on it lately but about a year ago I was into building websites. Once you've got a website built you can become an affiliate with Amazon and Google (and thousands of other companies) and put their ads on your pages. You make small amounts of money when someone clicks through an ad and/or buys something. It works but it's risky - you can put a lot of work into a site and no one comes to it or no one clicks the ads or Google changes their search algorithm and suddenly you get no traffic.
Thanks for reminding me that I need to get back at this once I've got some other things taken care of.
I haven't been working on it lately but about a year ago I was into building websites. Once you've got a website built you can become an affiliate with Amazon and Google (and thousands of other companies) and put their ads on your pages. You make small amounts of money when someone clicks through an ad and/or buys something. It works but it's risky - you can put a lot of work into a site and no one comes to it or no one clicks the ads or Google changes their search algorithm and suddenly you get no traffic.
Thanks for reminding me that I need to get back at this once I've got some other things taken care of.
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1950
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
February 2014
OK, so things weren't quite as dire as the February 10th post made it seem. I ended up paying in about $1000 in taxes to the feds and getting $200 back from the state. Having to pay taxes is a good problem to have. The car is still off getting fixed and the hacked credit card was resolved, thanks to Visa and the credit union.
Somehow, despite the taxes this month I managed a slightly above normal savings rate of about 37%. If there was ever a month with nothing unusual I could hit 50%. I suppose that having something unusual is actually the usual and the reason why budgets never really work.
Expenses
Alcohol & Bars 9.72
Auto 98.45
Business Services 8.99
Cash & ATM 140
Doctor 15.47
Groceries 9.5
Gym 41.15
Hotel 22.08
Mortgage & Rent 940
Parking 18
Restaurants 36.93
Taxes 794.99
Television 47.46
Total -FI 2182.74
Income
Paycheck 3137.82
Amazon 120.33
Google 168.15
CD 15.87
Checking 6.95
Total +FI 3449.12
Savings: $1266.38
Net worth: $78,528.71
ERE assets (declared the 457b ERE based on my new understanding that it can be withdrawn with no penalty at any time so this is a big change from last month): $78,528.71
Monthly savings rate: 36.72%
I think something's off in my spreadsheet. It doesn't seem right that net worth increased by $4000 in the last month but I don't have time to look into it right now. If I had a free hour or two I would automate the whole thing.
I'm currently focusing my efforts on upgrading my job and location but that may take some time given that I seem to be in too small a niche. I either need to get a PhD (no more industrial learning for me) or broaden my skills (what I'm working on now) to move up. Until something changes I don't think these journals are going to change a whole lot.
Thanks for reading!
OK, so things weren't quite as dire as the February 10th post made it seem. I ended up paying in about $1000 in taxes to the feds and getting $200 back from the state. Having to pay taxes is a good problem to have. The car is still off getting fixed and the hacked credit card was resolved, thanks to Visa and the credit union.
Somehow, despite the taxes this month I managed a slightly above normal savings rate of about 37%. If there was ever a month with nothing unusual I could hit 50%. I suppose that having something unusual is actually the usual and the reason why budgets never really work.
Expenses
Alcohol & Bars 9.72
Auto 98.45
Business Services 8.99
Cash & ATM 140
Doctor 15.47
Groceries 9.5
Gym 41.15
Hotel 22.08
Mortgage & Rent 940
Parking 18
Restaurants 36.93
Taxes 794.99
Television 47.46
Total -FI 2182.74
Income
Paycheck 3137.82
Amazon 120.33
Google 168.15
CD 15.87
Checking 6.95
Total +FI 3449.12
Savings: $1266.38
Net worth: $78,528.71
ERE assets (declared the 457b ERE based on my new understanding that it can be withdrawn with no penalty at any time so this is a big change from last month): $78,528.71
Monthly savings rate: 36.72%
I think something's off in my spreadsheet. It doesn't seem right that net worth increased by $4000 in the last month but I don't have time to look into it right now. If I had a free hour or two I would automate the whole thing.
I'm currently focusing my efforts on upgrading my job and location but that may take some time given that I seem to be in too small a niche. I either need to get a PhD (no more industrial learning for me) or broaden my skills (what I'm working on now) to move up. Until something changes I don't think these journals are going to change a whole lot.
Thanks for reading!
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Gilberto de Piento
- Posts: 1950
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
How do you keep the stoke for ERE going day to day?
I don't feel like I'm making much more progress towards ERE than I was a few months ago. I'm definitely still saving money but I haven't been making many new improvements. I might even be backsliding since it's not winter so there's more to do outside.
I've read almost every ERE related book I care to read. I spend a few minutes each day on this site, MMM and bogleheads. Back when I was trying to get out of debt I listened to a lot of Dave Ramsey but I don't think there are any ERE podcasts (there's a business idea for someone).
When I was working on my student loan I told all my friends about my progress and had "parties" at major milestones. People for the most part were supportive about escaping student loan debt but I haven't come across anyone in person who supports ERE. In fact, most people look at me like I have a third eye if it comes up, even amongst my friends who are generally not big spenders.
Any suggestions?
I don't feel like I'm making much more progress towards ERE than I was a few months ago. I'm definitely still saving money but I haven't been making many new improvements. I might even be backsliding since it's not winter so there's more to do outside.
I've read almost every ERE related book I care to read. I spend a few minutes each day on this site, MMM and bogleheads. Back when I was trying to get out of debt I listened to a lot of Dave Ramsey but I don't think there are any ERE podcasts (there's a business idea for someone).
When I was working on my student loan I told all my friends about my progress and had "parties" at major milestones. People for the most part were supportive about escaping student loan debt but I haven't come across anyone in person who supports ERE. In fact, most people look at me like I have a third eye if it comes up, even amongst my friends who are generally not big spenders.
Any suggestions?
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
There are (at least) two ERE podcasts:
1 - Mad Fientist (http://www.madfientist.com/podcast/)
2 - Radical Personal Finance (http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/joshua- ... -budgeting) (it looks like this link is missing the first 5 episodes)
They are both on iTunes. It appears both have stopped updating them. (edit - Mad Fientist is still making more)
Other things I do:
- Used a day counter for a while. I estimated the number of work days left to FI. I put the number on a dry erase board on my refrigerator and would reduce it by 1 each day when I got home from work. I'd still be doing this if I hadn't ruined the dry erase board when taking it off my fridge.
- Look at my charts.. Gives me reassurance that I'm making progress
- Daydream or plan about things I could do when ERE. (for a while I was doing research on Ecuador. That opens up the need of learning spanish)
- Dividend stock research
- Work on a hobby that is money-making
1 - Mad Fientist (http://www.madfientist.com/podcast/)
2 - Radical Personal Finance (http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/joshua- ... -budgeting) (it looks like this link is missing the first 5 episodes)
They are both on iTunes. It appears both have stopped updating them. (edit - Mad Fientist is still making more)
Other things I do:
- Used a day counter for a while. I estimated the number of work days left to FI. I put the number on a dry erase board on my refrigerator and would reduce it by 1 each day when I got home from work. I'd still be doing this if I hadn't ruined the dry erase board when taking it off my fridge.
- Look at my charts.. Gives me reassurance that I'm making progress
- Daydream or plan about things I could do when ERE. (for a while I was doing research on Ecuador. That opens up the need of learning spanish)
- Dividend stock research
- Work on a hobby that is money-making
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
How do you keep the stoke for ERE going day to day?
Visualize what a perfect day would look like (guarantee it's not "commute to job, work, get home, sleep"
Then,
From Monday to Sunday, when you're at work ask yourself "what would I be doing if I didn't have to be here."
On Sunday when most of us are dreading work, think "If I was already FI, I wouldn't feel this dread of having to go into work."
On Saturday, think, "Wouldn't it be nice if all my days were Saturdays?"
Sounds silly but it really puts a fire in my belly.
Visualize what a perfect day would look like (guarantee it's not "commute to job, work, get home, sleep"
Then,
From Monday to Sunday, when you're at work ask yourself "what would I be doing if I didn't have to be here."
On Sunday when most of us are dreading work, think "If I was already FI, I wouldn't feel this dread of having to go into work."
On Saturday, think, "Wouldn't it be nice if all my days were Saturdays?"
Sounds silly but it really puts a fire in my belly.
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George the original one
- Posts: 5406
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
- Location: Wettest corner of Orygun
Re: Gilberto de Piento's Journal
> How do you keep the stoke for ERE going day to day?
This is the year of capital expenditures in preparation to switch households, so contributions to savings are zilch. It means my investing skills have to be honed as sharp as I can make them since negative volatility in my stash will mean delaying the exit date.
Spending time at the retirement house reminds me how drama-free retirement will be. Especially compared to certain drama-queen coworkers! That time also tantalizes me with the opportunity to do as I wish, not having to serve anyone but my wife.
This is the year of capital expenditures in preparation to switch households, so contributions to savings are zilch. It means my investing skills have to be honed as sharp as I can make them since negative volatility in my stash will mean delaying the exit date.
Spending time at the retirement house reminds me how drama-free retirement will be. Especially compared to certain drama-queen coworkers! That time also tantalizes me with the opportunity to do as I wish, not having to serve anyone but my wife.