Long time lurker from the midwest (US)

[Rerun]

Good day everyone!

I'm a long time lurker of this forum for a few years now. I discovered the idea of early retirement and financial independence in 2017 when I was paying off a ton of consumer debts. At this time my consumer debt was more than my annual income. I was active duty US military at the time and was surrounded by folks who knew when their retirement date was coming but time after time I saw them NEEDING to find a job ASAP because they didn't properly plan. I knew I didn't wan this to be me which is what pushed me towards the idea of financial independence. At the same time I saw junior members making a fraction of what the soon to be retirees were and able to maintain a home with a spouse and some kids. Often with just the service members tiny income. This helped me realize that it's possible to live off way less than I was used to. I downsized my life, moved out of my ridiculous townhome, sold off my "fun" cars and moved into an all expenses included tiny one bedroom apartment with no A/C. Life was simple.

Books like ERE helped me slim down my lifestyle to a point where my income was almost triple my expenses. This allowed me to save up and leave the military without worries of being homeless due to not being able to find a job. I left the military in the spring of 2020. Luckily my military skills transferred to the civilian sector and I landed a solid career making more than I ever dreamed I would while the world was falling apart for others. This lead to what I call my "lost years" on my path. Times were great, instead of saving up money I spent it. That nest egg I had went towards sports cars and motorcycles, I'm a huge motor head, I ended up going through 4 different sports cars and 6 motorcycles during this time period. When really I should have seen my great job as a blessing and an opportunity to invest that nest egg helping me reach Fi.

So here we are at the end of 2022. I realized the error of my ways. Luckily I still ended up with a higher net worth going into 2023 than I did going into 2020 thanks to automated investing in my TSP (only did 5% to it) and my Roth IRA. The reason I am here is to help me stay off of the work/spend cycle. I'm getting married next year and we have cash flowed all the costs. The only debts we have is our mortgage and a motorcycle loan. Ive recently started working towards gathering multiple income streams. I now have two of them. One is a government position as a technician with a pension (40hour work week), the other is as an education courseware developer (20-30 hour work week). The education courseware development job doesn't even feel like I job. I love it and its kinda like a hobby that pays me versus feeling like a second job.

[sky]

*midwest fistbump*

[AxelHeyst]

Interesting story, thanks for sharing. Welcome!

[mountainFrugal]

Welcome. I look forward to following your journey here.

[unemployable]

Welcome. I do wonder why you felt the term "midwest" was ambiguous and needed to be qualify the country. Does Uzbekistan or somewhere have a midwest? I spent 14 years in Chicago btw.

Think of it this way, you spent most of your money on cars and motorcycles and the rest you just wasted.

[IlliniDave]

Welcome from another Midwesterner.

[M]

Welcome to the forum from yet another Midwesterner!

This seems like a popular area on this forum.