Early Retirement Extreme Forums

You're well on your way, particularly if you keep on the low end of your expense range!

You're doing a fantastic job so far! If you don't mind, how did you save up so much at such a young age?

Have you ever looked into airline credit cards? A few sign up bonuses would cover your flights to Japan.

I just plugged in Seattle to Tokyo in July and you can do it for 65,000 United miles.

You and your SO could each get the United Mileage Explorer card and get 55,000 points each after spending $1000 in the first 3 months. Then one Chase Sapphire Preferred card between the two of you would get you the rest of the miles (45,000 sign up bonus), leaving you enough points for a night in a hotel.

scriptbunny wrote:Hello! I'm ScriptBunny, a 22 year old techie from the Northeast looking to reach a 4-5% SWR stash so I can semi-retire before 30. My monthly spending tends to be anywhere from 1500-2500 USD. About 900 of that is rent (two roommates), and in general, I'm in a high CoL area. My current assets total 72,937.29 USD and include:

• 14,423.85 Roth IRA
  7,842.89 Other IRA
  32,609.94 Brokerage
  18,060.61 Emergency Fund + Checking Account + Short term Savings

Hello scriptbunny,

everytime I see these high Emergency Funds, I ask myself, which Emergency will cost that much.
If you would take this money (down to let's say $5.000) and invest it, you could earn an extra income of approx. $500 per year.

> Groceries 268.39
> Restaurants 158.61

If this is typical, then your cost of meals is out of balance, where 37% of your food budget is restaurants.


> Probably the most efficient way to cut my expenses would be to move into a cheaper apartment

As you point out, moving would have a ripple effect with many negatives. I think, however, you're approaching it from the wrong perspective. If your location is good, then start looking for opportunities to drive down the cost without moving (or moving very far).

I'm going to assume NYC so I think $200 sounds reasonable. Even if you cut this in half, you're only looking at a $1200 yearly increase in net worth. Given your current savings rate on such a high income already, I don't see a reason to limit restaurant spending right now while you're young. You could possibly shop smarter for groceries though, that would make a bigger difference.

As for the renewal, I would only personally do it when I had the time.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells is a good book!

scriptbunny wrote: At some point though I feel like I should be living in the "present" a bit more. Especially when I'm at work. I hate that whenever my SO asks me how my day at work was I always answer, "Well it was work." Not the worst day. Not the best. Just another mind-numbing day, another 8 hours of my life slipping by me in this amorphous haze. If I'm not "present", though, how much of that is really living?

You're not alone in this. I think the question from YMOYL is applicable here, "Are you making a living, or making a dying?"

Even for those of us on the path to FI -- a firm commitment to not spend the next 40 years "making a dying" -- those 5-10 years of asset building can still wear heavily. I suppose the reason this is bothersome might be part of the ERE mindset; if you're tuned-in enough to spend less/save more than what is typical, it's also natural to not want to accept daily drudgery as "the way it is".

While I'm aware of this feeling, I haven't really solved it myself. I just distract myself with the expected euphoria that will come with post-work life. But that's not living in the present, that's living in the future.

I fully agree with this challenge of "living now". If I tell my wife, like "in 2 years we can reach ER comfortably", she always replies, "but do not forget to live now, who knows what will happen in 2 years ...." Even with a reasonable exciting lifestyle (e.g. for us we are 15 years living/working around the world), then things get normal, you get used to the lifestyle, and your mind start wanting more from life.... It is the art of living.