Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Happy Birthday Augustus! I'd like the idea of meditating each morning. For some weeks now, I have been doing this irregularly.
What are the 3 things you came up today?

The beauty and simplicity of 8-bit music.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qNmSh6bd2xs

I was going to post this in the other thread where working on the beach was mentioned but I realized it was off topic. So I came to ask you here .

Can you actually work from the beach? Like how do you see the screen in the glare? Or do you have some kind of beach cabana thing that pops up? Or are we not talking literally the beach? Because I'd like to literally work from the beach. My ideal would be a beach house right on the beach but that is prime real estate usually. I'm going to shoot for this in Mexico but have wife and two kids so lots of juggling to make it happen (not a permanent thing, just a couple of weeks/months and see how it goes). Have to balance good internet with easy access to beach.

I plan on working from a beach hut in Bali/Laos at some point.

You can get something to cover the screen from above so it doesn't get hit with direct sunlight. It also helps to have a laptop that doesn't have a glossy screen. I work outside in my hammock in the sun pretty regularly.

Okay, I think I could see how this would work for me. Screen cover isn't enough for me. I'd need some solid shade. I'm thinking maybe beach veranda would be perfect if I could find a spot by the beach in Mexico that wasn't too populated but still had okay internet (even if cellular). Have to go on a short term vacation to scope out if such a place exists.

Augustus wrote: ↑

Wed May 30, 2018 10:56 am

My total costs rise to about 6300/mo. OMFG!

OMFG!

Augustus wrote: ↑

Wed May 30, 2018 10:56 am

In 30 years or less I'll have 3 fully paid rentals, bringing in 3300/mo or so of present day dollars.

Well at least the future is secure.

Well she has *3* months before she even starts chipping in, yes?

At what point does home care of children become more economical? $1700 for daycare and $2200 for your wife to chip in....so your wife is essentially working to make the $500 surplus value and strangers can raise your children? If she can’t bring more than $2200 I don’t see why she wouldn’t just raise the biological replacement units full-time.

Seriously dude, you’re spending 0.9 Jacobs in one month at this rate. An 11% expense increase and you’ll earn some kind of dubious ERE Raspberry Award.

I've advocated before that childcare spending should be considered an adjustment to income rather than an expense. For many dual-income households it's really a cost of employment. @Augustus - you probably already know this, but assuming your wife does W-2 work and is eligible for dependent care benefits, get them! It's like paying the first $5,000 of childcare costs with pre-tax money. Second best is to claim the childcare credit on Form 2441, which is capped at $1,000 (or 20% of $5,000 - your marginal tax rate is likely higher).

@MI - There are legitimate reasons for working even if it barely covers childcare expenses. 1) Easier to find or get promoted into more lucrative work in the future, 2) Fear of not being able to find a job with a gap in resume, 3) Earn SS credits, 4) Some parents simply need the break from their kids.

(Edited to remove non-productive comment regarding proper use of "Jacob" as a unit of spending. See viewtopic.php?p=155024#p155024 if interested. I give up. Trying to police this thing is like calling out mistakes in grammar or punctuation. It benefits no one, and the math was correct anyway in the frame of mind of the poster.)

@Fish

I have no children so these details are appreciated for future reference. I just like to bust Augustus’s chops. As long as he is still making the decisions at least some of the time.

Regarding the Jacob unit, I was unawares, thanks for the clarifying links.

If she’s pulling $90k and saving on top of the $2200 she contributes to monthly bills, that’s different.

I maintain that all else the same, not only raising the children at home but schooling them at home is a net positive. I would sooner show my children the multiplication tables and work through geometric proofs and have them read Plato and Machiavelli, rather than pack them off to the land of Common Core Math where everyone learns to be envious of the best dressed students and is prepared for an adulthood where they rack up credit card debt in the pursuit of status. I would hope Mini-Augustus gets the straight dope on everything from her pa, regardless.

The search for a worthy Missus Imperceptible is ongoing.

Augustus wrote: ↑

Thu May 31, 2018 9:34 am

It sounds like it's time for you to pony up and produce offspring. I'd love to see what happens to your plans when you make contact with the enemy.

Boom, I am looking forward to following your adventure!

Nice to hear from someone else with rentals! Best of luck to you in finding a tenant, SO and I are in the same boat from July onwards.

Are you making mobile apps? If so, are you going native or using something like React Native, Xamarin, etc. If native, Swift/Kotlin?

Ah! Whoops. I have mobile apps on the brain. That makes sense. There seem to be some really good opportunities with Shopify plugins and that kind of thing.

Ha ha ha. Way to water all the plants, man. Congrats. Always heartening to read of life's little successes while working towards what are sometimes considered bigger goals.

But yes Augustus you forgot to mention ‘what’s wrong’!

Congrats on finding your zen.

Given various circumstances, 2 years seems like a long way out to find the forever home. But regardless what happens, we'll all be aboard the train. How long do you expect to b in the forever home - 10/20/30 years? It seems that if prices go down interest rates may go up. Maybe you can limit to a few areas / neighborhoods and be ready to buy if a house that fits comes on market.

Good thoughts on compassion/ charity - while you don't want to "reward" bad decisions, helping people in need is worthwhile.

Kids and morals/religion are tough as hell, which is why I don't have any kids . My path regarding religiousity is very similar to yours. I have very fond memories of church and youth activities until teenaged years, when it turned to angst and bitterness. Now I'm a very mild agnostic, but the morals those childhood social activities instilled remained present.

If you are interested in monetary donations I've found Kiva to be a great option, although it's very nonlocal. It's great because it provides loans to people to help themselves. That is very much my mentality and yours, at least it reads that way. The other benefit is the majority of donations are paid back. So with ERE being a goal, one could make larger donations while accumulating, then much smaller ones once FI to maintain the principle as an ongoing fund for charity. Just a suggestion, this type of thing is very personal.