Early Retirement Extreme Forums

@CL - Responding to this entry: I think we already have the terminology for ERE types 1/2, the first being "FI/RE" and second being "semi-retirement." It seems a sufficient condition for pursuing FI/RE is to possess one or more of the following character traits: extreme, patient, hate work. If you're extreme, you'll get there quickly; if patient, you don't care how fast you get there; if you hate work, full retirement is the goal. Semi-retirement is much less common because it requires that none of the sufficient conditions for FI/RE be met, i.e. not extreme, impatient, and tolerate if not enjoy work.

Nice YMOYL wall chart. I like how the trends on both the spending and passive income curves suggest a crossover point that's not too far off in the future.

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Why is it that having 5 nurses on the floor is great, but having 1 patient on the floor is an emergency?

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I used to be that guy that delivered pharmaceutical prescriptions to nursing homes and places like that. I noticed that sometimes they would say they had three nurses on the floor and they were happy about it. But sometimes they would say there was a resident on the floor and then everyone would take off running in a panic. I always wondered why the difference?

@Fish: I would note that if you are extreme in your frugality, very impatient and/or highly risk tolerant, with tendency towards being intermittently amused/engaged by paid employment, then it may happen that FU attitude will fill much of the gap of FU money.

I want to be the latter. How do I get there from here? Oh, wait, the first part allows you to be there, right?

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I think it's apparent to anyone that's tried it, that buying used is harder than buying new, and furthermore it's a skill.

When buying new, you are buying a standardized good, i.e. it is undifferentiated between the multiple sellers offering it (new is new), and the terms of sale are usually completely identical between sellers. It's an immediate transaction and the only differences are price and shipping. Therefore, there are very few degrees of freedom. Search for the best price and you're done. Very easy and only requires the ability to determine the smaller of two numbers and swipe a credit card. Even if you mess up the number comparison you still get the item.

For used goods, you also have to deal with the condition of the item, your ability to appraise its quality (e.g. used cars), the seller and their responsiveness and reputation. Price is just one dimension among several (and furthermore it's also often negotiable). Transactions may not be immediate either, I'm thinking of craigslist flakes. Fortunately, thrift stores like Goodwill add a lot of convenience to the experience of buying used, and make it nearly as easy as buying new. But the best deals are usually found elsewhere. I like to think that I'm getting a lower price not because I'm getting an inferior or pre-depreciated product, but for the effort that I am putting into the transaction and the risk I am taking. But in reality both are true.

I was also impressed that you chose to start your fast when going on the road trip (where food is more expensive due to being away from home). You get web-of-goals points if that was a deliberate side effect. Also, I wouldn't be too hard on the GF about the eating out, when she was willing to sleep in the car. Are your concerns about long-term prospects mostly financial in nature? If so, I would say that things are going really well. You can always choose to waive that contingency.

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I just watched the film "Tracks" last night with my SO........the conversation SHE instigated afterward caught me by surprise......"what do we have to do now in order to be able to do something similar in the future". This morning she commited to tracking her spending in categories so we can start a combined budget and financial picture.

My fears around SO are almost identical to yours, she's 4 years my junior and her NW is 25% of mine. I'll either have to wait for her to catch up, or subsidize her lifestyle to match my own.

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Missed all the financial porn on page 1!

I also watched “Tracks” with my DW (ESFJ, mid-30s, children) after reading about the wonderful effect it had on @2Birds1Stone’s SO. Fair movie, but did not get the same results. Absolutely zero PF discussion resulted.

She sensed there was some ulterior motive and so I shared the 2B1S review prior to watching. It’s likely any chance of success was destroyed even before the movie started. But I do think the personality and life-phase differences outweigh any effect that may have had.

Just wanted to share my experience to temper expectations in case anyone else was going to try it as ERE conversion material.

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Interesting thought experiment. I would co-sign on your experience from my same/opposite perspective of having recently wandered into teaching as my primary gig. Every day I get at least one small validation of "meaningful" or "making a difference", but I hit burnout on all the other stuff and bother that comes along with the job any week I devote more than 20 hours max to this endeavor. There's also a bit of trade-off in variety vs. community. For instance, this week I was the guest teacher for a kindergarten that I had already covered on several other occasions, so the children all greeted me by name and some ran up and gave me a hug when I walked in the door.

I think teaching young disadvantaged children has a good deal of overlap with practical nursing, since every day I have to decide whether somebody really injured themselves on the playground, direct somebody with running green snot to clean up and thoroughly wash hands, and maybe check a head for lice. In my mind, both of these occupations also share a good deal of overlap with homemaker/gardener vocation, because you might check a head of cabbage for infestation and/or turn it into a pot of soup to nourish the health of a human.

At the other end of the spectrum would be endeavors I've engaged in "just" for money or fun, such as retail arbitrage (moving goods from clearance aisle of retail stores to internet venue), where all I was likely accomplishing was change of eventual landfill location for plastic crap. Obviously, one could go even further down this spectrum and engage in activities that were worse than meaningless, like unto "Glengarry Glen Ross."

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Kiva is great! My extended family opted a number years ago to start donating to Kiva instead of giving each other Christmas presents to create a sort of legacy fund for our family...It has since petered out as family members have passed away, but the idea was good! I also attempted to create something through the business school I attended as well, however the infrastructure to being a charitable legacy fund of MBAs became quickly overwhelming and my lack of desire to work hard was it's downfall...maybe, I'll take a crack at it again some day with renewed vigour.

It's cool to see your money/FI philosophies evolve as time goes on.

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