Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Good luck Zalo!

Good luck from China

Hi Olaz! How was your first day?

yea, seriously, how can Olaz leave humans and brute hanging like this?

Olaz is in the machine now. busy busy busy, a little gear turning in millions of circles.

Haha, it was great! Everyone is superbly friendly, good-looking, and ridiculously smart! A handpicked bunch indeed. Most of the Office is twenty somethings, with upper management being middle-aged. Day went in a blur. Got sushi for lunch with the Co-owner of the firm. After 6, we all played softball as a team and went to dinner. I successfully bat 3 out of 3 times! Not bad for the first time playing. They accommodated my WFPB diet, so fruit smoothy points for that.

An entire week has gone by very very quickly. I've been learning tons about financial planning software, client etiquette, portfolio strategy, etc. Also figuring out how to best optimIze commuter benefits, company offered insurance, an FSA, etc. Navigating the workplace social scene will take a manual or two lol.

I definitely feel like I'm in the middle class machine now! What with taxes and living expenses higher than 7K/yr, I am strongly feeling the urge to increase my income and decrease recurring expenses as much as possible.

Glad you are enjoying it so far.

If you can avoid lifestyle creep, almost everything else will take care of itself.

I agree, glad the company is a fit so far. The people you work with and for make the experience.

I'm definitely a little jealous of your opportunity to learn about finance from professionals in the field.

LATE JULY 2017

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Career: I'm officially 2 weeks in. The routine is kicking in. Time passes quickly. I get in the Office at 8:30, and it is 1:00 PM in an instant. Then it's 6:30. Go home. Re-heat dinner. Eat. Skype a friend, go for a walk, listen to an audio book, or watch a documentary. I'm in bed by 10, and I wake up at 7 the next morning to do it again. If I were to actually do the math, most of my week is either spent preparing for work or at work. I leave home at 7 and get home at 7. That's 12 hours, not 8. Time on the weekend is also spent preparing for the week. For example, doing laundry, ironing clothes, grocery shopping, cooking for the week, making lists of things I need, and getting those things.

Career Development: I"m considering starting the process of getting the CAIA and CFP designation. I'm also considering some kind of part-time gig on the weekends. Probably something outside to counteract the sedentary Office. On that note, I'd like to ask the upper management for a standing desk. Not sure if some amount of seniority is needed to make such requests. Some of the other staff at the Office have them. An under-desk treadmill would be nice too.

Relationships: RB in Hartford and I split whatever could've been. It looks like she fell head over heels monogamy-style with her primary partner as soon as he left to work on a cruise ship for 6 months. Thankfully I'm not much for long distance nowadays. I also really don't like one-sided connections. I am becoming much better at identifying when a connection is one-sided and at being able to let go. Yesterday I went on a date with a trans woman, C. It was lovely. She likes hiking, has piloted plains before, and knows some stuff about finance. Had ramen and watched Wonder Woman. Then went on a late evening walk through a nature-y bike path and kissed below an underpass. Ah, the 'burbs. : )

Loose Ends: It's been nice to put college behind me and start a new life in "urbia" and near NYC. Back in Amherst, one of my old roommates owes me $700. This is since June. I'm unlikely to go through the hassle of hiring a collection company or filing a small claim in court. It does make me feel relieved that this amount does not affect my life very much. A reminder of the power of wealth.

Taxes: Taxes are depressing. lol. I haven't gotten my first paycheck yet, but I learned at work that FICA taxes are 7% alone. This isn't even counting NY State taxes or Federal Income tax. No Local tax thankfully. Sadly I won't have a SIMPLE IRA until year 2. I do have my own IRA.

Other New Costs: I have switched over to Airvoice's $20/mo plan. It has unlimited calling and texting, and 100 MB of data/mo. This makes more sense since before I would run through the $10 prepaid plan and have to get more anyway. Groceries and the occasional eating out is coming out to about $200/mo. I'd like to get it down to $100/mo. A few people at work bring lunch in Tupperware to work. No one really eats out for lunch unless if they're invited by upper staff on the company's dime. I think I should start bringing in my own lunch.Train transport into the city can add up quickly, $110 this month. I think this cost will decrease now that I only have weekends off. My daily work commute costs $0. Rent is $700/mo. I will consider seeking a new place in Jan/Dec when the renting market is depressed. Either that or moving in with a partner into a 1 BR. I've bought some household items too. I think these will decrease as I settle in.

Orthodontia/Orthognathic Surgery: Seeing a great local orthodontist next week. Will send their Office the health and dental insurance offered by my firm. I have no idea what the cost will come out to yet. I do know I"d be wearing braces for a year and then taking around 2-4 weeks off to heal after the surgery. Vacation time well-spent? lol

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Recurring costs/mo:

$700 Rent/Utilities
$200 Groceries/Eating Out
$100 Public Transport/Household Items
$20 Phone
$4 Gym (work)
$0 Health, Life, Disability, (work)


Expenses: $1024/month, or $12,288

Recurring income/mo:

$4666.00 gross, don't know net yet

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Networth: 56K

Have you calculated how much you earn per hour ymoyl style?

I haven't yet! But that sounds useful. The ultimate goal being to reduce the hours of prep between work and not-work.

SEPTEMBER 2017

New expense level:

Rent and utilities: $550/mo
Health insurance: $193/mo
Food and eating out: $150/mo
Transport: $10-20
Phone: $20
Gym: $4

Further optimizations: Will try to find a room at $400 in Jan. Unlikely to do research on HDHP. Food is probably capped. Transport is mostly repairs/bus fares. I may switch to Republic Wireless because they're a much better company to work with than Airvoice. May drop the gym since I don't use it at all.

Orthodontia/Surgery: went to oral surgeon and took all scans. Great guy from a top school and hospital. Been doing this for decades and does ~60 orthognathic surgeries a year. Insurance is likely to pre-certify. Orthodontist and dentist are great too. Looking at $6-10K total cost. 1-2 weeks before I can return to work. Yay, vacation lol.

Real Estate ventures: bailed on the rental property idea for now. My guess is that property taxes and random HOA fees/rules would kill all profit.

Taxes: crippled my starting savings by a few thousand. Govt. is holding lots of my $$ which I won't get back until March.

Romance: still going great with C. Lots of bike rides, swimming, and cooking together. Talking about sailing around in a few years. I figure it'll all go to hell in a few months.

Work motivation: I struggle with this one. I like what I'm doing, I just hate sitting desks, fluorescent lighting, and not having as much of a choice. It's stressful at times too. I hope to get use to it or something. Or maybe write a how-to-survive work post to make it better.

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Networth: $60K

Sounds like internship this past summer: best part of it was the field work and data collection. The worst part was the data management and desk work.

...

Felipe wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 04, 2017 5:39 am

Congratulations on the health, romance, and wealth.

Why the pessimism on the romance? It sounded like a good match from your previous posts.

Thank you!

Mostly because she's monogamous. Otherwise well fitting monogamous people I've dated have not been able to hurdle committed polyamory. Even if it's only on my side and their needs are being met. In any case, this is really nice for now and time will tell! I do know having a partner makes working a lot better : )

Will write longer post. Decided to take 7K severance on mis-matched career. Will apply for unemployment because potential free money.

Considering new living and work options through RPF's career course. Brother suggested working for a bicycle company in a place like portland, seattle, or boulder. I really like that idea! Bonus points if there is no "ivy league" culture at the company. Just "regular" or "slightly above average" people with a helping of "alternative."


Onward!

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NW: 61K + 7K over next 5 weeks

Sorry to hear about your stressful work situation THF. Maybe it is a blessing in disguise. Sounded like a horrible job.And I am sure you have loads of other opportunities to pursue.
You are well positioned to deal with this kind of risk though. Most people your age are likely $30k or so negative net worth with an annual spend of $25k/30k with absolutely no concept of personal finance. I know I certainly was. You have lots of leverage to work with.

What is Radical Personal Finance's career course? I didnt know such a thing actually existed. Is it based in Florida?

Despite the career misadventure, past 12 weeks have seen a 5k increase in NW + another 7k in severance to trickle in over the next few weeks. ERE really works. You can’t lose!

I’m really impressed by how you’ve made use of this forum to help guide your life decisions. I imagine it’s like the difference between playing chess unassisted, and with a powerful engine telling you what the best moves are in real time.

Sorry that your first real job didn’t work out, but I’m sure at some level it must be a relief not to have to grind your way to FI in that kind of environment.

I think you made the right decision.

The one thing I'd advise now is not to assume that all companies in the same industry are like the one you just experienced. You're clearly talented in finance, so be on the lookout for a good company where you can play to your strengths both professionally and personally. They're out there!

I think you did the right thing Mr. Fox. Good luck deciding what to do next. Better to make a move than slog along in something that isn't right.

i'm not so sure about the RPF thing though: radical.mykajabi.com/store/fFCU9V3Q.

Why Boulder? It's a great place but the prices are sky high and I don't think that trying to keep up with the trustifarians is going to help you achieve your goals. My impression was not of "regular" or "slightly above average" but rather "California transplant college kid driving mom's Benz SUV." That said, a fair number of dirtbag outdoors types make it work somehow so it is possible. I think someplace that is developing instead of moving past its prime might be better if you can find it. Just my opinion though.