Early Retirement Extreme Forums

My current employer might counter, which makes things interesting.

They asked what they could do to keep me, and I named an unreasonable amount of money. Ball's in their court.

Unreasonable offer approved and accepted. I rescinded my acceptance of the external offer.

No 4-5 hour daily commute!

...

Thank you C_L!

....definitely significant!

Congrats that's awesome! Especially since you described it as "unreasonable"

Thank you Viktor. Yes, it will result in a significant increase to cash flow between now and when I test out ERE. It also serves as a much better anchor point for what I will command from the market when/if I want to return to similar work to get to my final #.

We just got back from a road tip to Philly, I finished accounting for all of April expenses and for the first time ever have fully tracked SO's expenditure and income as well.

Our combined spending was just a hair shy of $3,000 for the month. It didn't include any emergencies or large one off purchases. I counted pretax health insurance costs as well as the imputed taxes I owe for her portion of benefits. Since we will have to pay health costs out of pocket, it seems silly not to count the spending now. Historically over the past three years, our spending has been averaging between $48-60k if you count health insurance and dental.

$36k/yr will be a pretty big stretch goal for us, given our HCOL area and lifestyle. It's approximately 1/3 - 1/2 of what an average family here spends. And to Jacobs point in the "Is Frugality only for the rich?" thread, combine that with an income that is 50% higher than an average family here you have the perfect storm for a 60-70% net savings rate and reasonably early retirement. I still feel like an amateur when I read about people here spending <$10k/yr(per person)

April Not

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Hey C_L, I've been loosely tracking combined net worth for almost two years now in a spreadsheet, "takes the edge off" at work

The past few weeks have been amazing. Spring is finally here in NY. I've been mountain biking several times a week, and this past week I got back into running a very hilly 10k course near my home. I also signed up for a gym that is very close to home. For $20/month flat I have access to all of the heavy weight lifting equipment I could dream of using. We have a gym at the office, but it's 12 miles away and I prefer to work from home when I can. Weightlifting is something I enjoy doing 2-3 times a week, and my tiny 450sq foot apartment just simply doesn't have the space to make a gym.

Churning more bank bonuses as well. Recently signed up for the Chase savings bonus of $300, and will be doing the $200 KeyBank checking bonus.

Additionally, it's time to start churning travel reward cards again. Those points will be super useful when it's sabbatical time, and I won't have the income to cover much CC spending at that time. This will be a fun little game between now and then.

Currently we have
~103k British Avios
~100k American Airlines Miles
~60k IHG Points
~75k Southwest Miles

I would love to beef those up as well as earning some flexible travel reimbursement points for expenses outside of the USA that are not particularly easy to get direct points for.

Between the miles and the reimbursable credits it should keep our initial flight costs lower than paying out cash.

Hey 2Birds1Stone, do you have a total for how much you've made off bank bonuses and the like? Also very envious of you taking advantage of so much outdoor time! That is something we definitely want to replicate when we move back to the US!

Hey Victor, I do have data on bank bonuses. Going back to summer of 2016.

$2,975 Total

For credit card travel bonuses it's more than that in miles/points. ~$5,500 between my fiance and I.

The bank stuff is taxed, most send you a 1099-INT

The CC's are not. They offer a statement reimbursement, travel reimbursement, or simply miles/points which you redeem for airfare/hotels. None of those are taxed.

That's a nice bonus! Thanks for the numbers. I am inspired.

My SO has started reading ERE blog posts, I think I'm falling in love all over again =D

We are 6 weeks into tracking out combined spending, and we should eek out another sub $3k month in May. This is pretty damn significant. It's still laughable compared to what Jacob and his wife spend, but a big improvement over our previous $48k/yr.

Due to work related shit, I am now targeting June 1, 2019 for my sabbatical or mini/semi retirement.

My boss is a bipolar prick. This is all assuming I last that long.....

It's always the boss in the end.

Sold my Motorcycle today.

$4,000 added to the portfolio

With my luck the stock market will tank next week and I will lose that $4k on paper.

You don't drive anymore? Or why do you sell it?
I thought about buying a motorcycle lately, but I am afraid of security. There are (many) traffic accidents with motorcycle drivers. But on the other side, it could add a little bit of mobility to my life. How was riding your motorcycle?

@wolf I used it primarily as a recreational vehicle, and the past two seasons didn't get out much. Last year I rode maybe 10 times totaling 1000 miles.

I do love riding, though my immediate area is very congested with car traffic and not the safest place to do so.

If I lived somewhere more remote with less car traffic, I would buy one again in a heartbeat.