I've been a long-time lurker of this forum and a proponent of financial independence ever since reading Jacob's book a couple years ago. I have always been frugal, but have become much more conscious of my finances as a result of joining this community. I owe many of you a debt of gratitude for all of the advice you have freely given on this forum. I hope one day I can pay it forward and be as helpful to the next generation of FI'ers.
A little about me: I am a 28 year old single male living and working in Northeast Ohio. (I am mostly single by choice, although my introversion and history of illness do not help matters, but I digress - maybe more on that in another post.) I studied accounting in college and have worked in corporate accounting for the past 5 years.
Now for my financial situation (all numbers are monthly figures):
Gross pay: $4892
Net pay: $2750
401k contributions: $1223 (my employer only allows 25% of gross pay, otherwise I would max this out)
Expenses (avg of last 6 months):
Rent + utilities: $430
Food: $300
Car costs (fuel, maintenance, insurance): $80
Travel: $80
Bus pass: $65
Doctor visits: $100
Cell phone: $10
Gym: $10
Misc: $200
Total: $1275
Assets:
Savings: $16,000
Checking: $500
HSA: $3,233 (cash; I contributed the max in 2014)
Investments:
Taxable accounts: $125,530 (made up of $102k Vanguard stock index funds and $24k individual stocks).
Roth IRA: $27,100 (50% bond index fund and 50% individual stock. I no longer contribute to a Roth.)
Traditional IRA: $5,736 (bond index fund; I contribute the max)
Rollover IRA: $35,540 (50% bond index fund and 50% stock index fund)
401k: $11,743 (80% stock index fund and 20% inflation-protected securities)
Total Assets: $225,382
Credit card debt: -$800 (I always pay balance in full each month)
Total net worth: $224,582
Regarding my income situation, I just changed jobs this year and started at a company that likes to promote from within. I actually took a slight pay cut to make this change, but I expect to get promoted in 2015 and fall back in line with what I previously made. My income could probably be higher at this point in my career (5 years experience), but I don't play the corporate politics game.
My spending has been pretty consistent since I started tracking on Mint in 2012 aside from inflation. I would love to cut my food costs to $100-150 month like many people on this forum, but I try to follow a Paleo diet due to the health issues I have. I take the bus to work, but also own a car since bike riding is extremely uncomfortable 6 months out of the year here. The physician costs will hopefully go away in 2015. All of these costs were completely worthless in fixing my situation, so I am going to be my own doctor in the future. The miscellaneous costs are comprised of a lot of expenses from moving into a new house and getting new furniture, as well as buying new clothes for my job. I expect that category to diminish in 2015. As for the gym, I don't go enough to justify the cost even though it is only $10/month. That's what New Year's Resolutions are for though, right?
For investments, I try to maintain a lazy portfolio of mostly index funds with low expense ratios. I have some individual stocks that I picked back when I thought I could outperform the market. Needless to say the index funds have been more successful and require much less work.
My parents paid for my college, so I have no debt other than the credit card I pay in full each month. My only other asset not included here is my old beater car.
Thanks for reading my first post - I would love to hear any feedback you may have! In the next posts I will go into more detail about career and FI plans.