The Way to Financial Independence

While the downtown is pretty, there is a lot of crime which goes unreported and of course it is full of tourists and expats which to me is a big negative. Yes, I have been there. You could always take a bus to visit the colonial part of San Miguel on the weekends: Brandon, I did read the Harry Browne book you suggested.

Took some time to finish. Very interesting ideas, though several of the concepts were a bit much for me.

3 Ways to Achieve Financial Independence - wikiHow

Anyway, it certainly made me think and stretch my perceptions. Any new podcasts in the works? Hey, great to hear from you again, Jeff. I definitely agree some of the concepts in the Harry Browne book were a bit much but the book as a whole changed my mindset quite a bit.

I definitely agree with you when you said it made you think and stretch your perceptions. I actually read the Charles Long book you recommended but forgot to send you a message about it. I ordered it from my library when you recommended it to me and it came in just a week later. I enjoyed it and the conserver lifestyle he described is very appealing, albeit maybe not to the extreme that he described.

• Striking Out: A Memoir by Robert Matthews.
• Temple of the Lion: The Darius Chronicles Vol.1.
• 6 Steps To Get You On Track Towards Financial Independence.
• Shortest Path to Financial Independence.
• Judith - Verloren in der Zeit Historisch fantastischer Roman (German Edition)?
• 6 Steps To Get You On Track Towards Financial Independence.
• Step 1 – Get Control of Your Money.

I do have a another episode of the podcast coming up soon, actually. I finished the interview just over a week ago and finished editing the audio yesterday. Where do you think is the best place in the us to perform geographic arbitrage? If you can in the us…. You definitely can perform geographic arbitrage in the US. For example, I used to work remotely for a company in Boston while living in rural Vermont.

My expenses were about half of what they were when I lived in Boston but I was still earning a Boston-level salary. The scenario I described could be replicated all over the country. Find a job in a big city but work remotely a few hours away in a rural community. Thing is, I want FI more. No repair costs, insurance, gas, oil changes…no saving for a new car. You are really paring down expenses! Sorry to hear about your car situation—that is really a money suck. So I do carsharing—this is truly changing my life!

Living abroad for part of the year will allow me to enjoy a quality of life similar to the one I enjoy now but at a much lower cost. Did not realize that there is a huge community exist for FI online. A bit embarass at myself for still working when I have almost 1M USD and my living expense excluding travel is 1K per month. I spend maybe 8K a year on travel for mileage running, flying parents in business class etc from the miles game hobby.

This blog gives me serious encouragement to quit in a few years… When I do quit, I will move back come to cut my living expense further single , and I take my parents to travel using the miles and points I earn. You definitely have no reason to be embarrassed. Spent two nights at Longyearbyen Radisson Blu using club Carlson points. Also travel to Almaty and Bishkek, Tromso, Slovenia with them on the same trip. Then I traveled to Budapest, Belgrade and then Romania for one more week!

Most nights are hostels for me, or club Carlson, two nights using Choice points in Tromso. I derive utility by spending money wisely, I really see no point being wasteful even when I have money. I want to save up a bit more before I retire officially. Wow, that trip sounds incredible! I also took advantage of the 50K Club Carlson promotions in and If I do end up getting some benefits, it will just be a nice bonus. Impressed you manage to keep them so low,it requires optimizing and being happy with simple things. Like you I share costs with my SO. Utilities Groceries Transport Misc health ins-0 free here.

Still I convince myself,being able to have your passive income cover your basic expenses will be really worth it. I use that income for my discretionary spending. There are many fun jobs I can think of that I would enjoy doing part time so I may pick up some part-time work after leaving my full-time job this year. Multiply that times all the other expense categories…. Does she see the value of being able to live on air or close to it!

But planning only for your mandatory expenses makes sense. Actually that is really motivating because it prompted me to run the numbers again and if I use that assumption FI could be less then 10 yrs. Thanks so much I have recently caught up on all MMM articles and have been checking others out.

Oh I had a question you seem to be the tax guru for FI so. Can you tell me what the tax implications are if you invest in a regular stock account. My husband wants to know if you get taxes when you pull it out since you already get taxed on the gains. My thought was yes because it will be considered income but can you clarify. I agree that planning only for the essentials is very motivating though.

Financial independence isn’t the same thing as retirement.

To answer your question, you only get taxed on the money you make from the money in a taxable account. I guess I had it wrong. Thanks though my husband is now going to open a vanguard fund. It will be a taxable one but it still is better then letting his personal stash just sit in a savings account. So we really are banking my entire income.

Definition of Financial Independence

But really nothing is relying on it but every month I stick around is more head start to FI. However this new fire I feel about FI and personal finance is leaking into my job so maybe it will get better soon. If not I might have to call it quits. Heck, our house payment alone with taxes and insurance is more than your total monthly expenses.

Maybe I need to read Early Retirement Extreme and a few more blog posts to get my brain right. This article was more about the mental benefits of not having to work rather than actually retiring early on k. A lot of my money is in tax-advantage accounts but I plan to build a Roth conversion ladder so that I could access that money early, if needed.

If you need to cover years because of early FI it starts to get riskier. It is a commonly held misconception that the stock prices drops when a dividend is paid out. In fact, the dividends are already built in to the share price. Hundreds of stocks maintained and even increased their dividends through the recession. These are the types of companies that you want to invest in for dividend income!

My buddy Jim over at jlcollinsnh. At the end of the day, you just have to do what makes you happiest and lets you sleep best at night so if dividends do that for you, absolutely keep going down that path. Finding this a couple of years later, I had been thinking in the opposite direction regarding post-FI expenses.

Yes, I read Mr. Either way, the concept of FI — and the shortest path to it — continues to rock my world. Hi, I have been reading some of your posts, and jlc and mmm, and I have no idea exactly where to post this question or to whom.

Anyway, I am wondering if you or anyone knows how to calculate the impact of this lifestyle on children who reach college age? My husband and I both paid most of our way through college, with a little help here and there, and my kids already understand that they have to work for what they want—we do not give them money, so they know that if they want money they go out into the neighborhood and work odd jobs for people who are willing to pay. The idea that they might have to pay their own way through college would not be a surprise to them, but I still want to proceed with knowledge of how all these factors fit together.

Any direction you could give us on where to look for how to calculate these factors and their balance would be a huge help. I like the geographic arbitrage suggestion as you are right that can massively reduce living expenses and also keep life interesting and fresh.

Make investing a priority. I had never considered renting housing forever. It would be a lot cheaper than buying a house. I would really like to have the American Dream and own my own house eventually. I wonder how much the American Dream is played up just to get people to buy homes and not rent. Do you have any tips for cutting down spending? Thanks for aspiring us with the ways of getting financial independence But I guess following these steps practically a bit harder as it looks in reading. Your email address will not be published.

Join over 84, others on the Mad Fientist email list and start tracking your progress in the FI Laboratory! Join over 84, others on the Mad Fientist email list to get access to exclusive content and software! Shortest Path to Financial Independence 65 Comments. What else would you give up if you instead had to give up ten things? Never having to work again is very different from never working again. So how can you achieve financial independence as quickly as possible? List Current Essential Expenses The first thing you should do is list your current essential expenses. To keep track of your expenses and calculate how each expense impacts your time to FI, click here to download a free copy of the spreadsheet I used on my own journey to financial independence!

The Perfect Life After Financial Independence Visualizing what your life will be like after achieving financial independence will allow you to plan more effectively and can help you reach FI sooner. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter. Learn How to Travel for Free!

Now just check your email! There was an error submitting your subscription. What withdrawal percentage do you use when planning for retirement? We make the beds we lie in. Be responsible for yourself. Hey Prob8, good to hear from you again! I like your thinking about retirement as a state of happy affair.

Hi Jeff… Yep, walkability and being car-free are definitely part of their charms. While I am into FI, but my personal goal is to travel to every single country in the world. Do u keep track of your Social security benefits? Would u count on that for FI? Let me know if you start planning another amazing trip! Wow this post just clarified so much. Right now the number is about 14 yrs. Link your financial accounts, and Personal Capital will pull in all of the information.

This not only lets you see how much you make and spend, it shows you on what and gives you a 1,foot overview of your finances. Having completed Step 1, we now understand where our money is going. The other half is slicing out the fat. No one becomes wealthy by spending all their money. If it seems overwhelming, choose one category a week and focus on pairing that down. Food is always a good place to start because so many of us overspend on it. Bringing lunch to work is an excellent first step. Let Trim and Billshark do some of the heavy lifting. Trim will cancel recurring expenses for things like subscription boxes, gym memberships, and music services.

Billshark will negotiate lower prices for things like your cable and internet bills. Although you should really cut the cord, no one watches cable anymore! Start where you are, ask for a raise. Know how much people in similar jobs in areas with a similar cost of living are making on Glassdoor. Know the number you want. Lay out all of the reasons you deserve a raise. Job hopping, long frowned upon is going to be a big part of your path towards financial independence. Americans watch an average of five hours of television a day, 35 hours a week which is nearly another full-time job!

A criminal waste of time. Take some of those hours and use them to do something that will aid in your journey to financial independence. Drive for Uber, babysit with Sittercity, sell stuff on eBay or Poshmark.

Shortest Path to Financial Independence

Everyone should have more than one income stream, but that is doubly so for those trying to become financially independent. At some point, you have no more time left that can be used to make more money. When you invest your money, it makes money for you.

1. List Current Essential Expenses.
2. Shakespeares Foreign Worlds: National and Transnational Identities in the Elizabethan Age.
3. Здесь живёт XEvil!.

There are many ways to invest and build your nest egg — opening retirement accounts like a Roth IRA or k , investing in the stock market, mutual funds, index funds, rental properties — the list goes on. Instead, we will leave you with links to our best beginner investment posts. Everything in here is low risk and low effort. We want you to have the peace of mind knowing that your money is safe and growing while you focus on other important things like your family, Xbox, etc.

There are plenty of tools that you can utilize to help you smooth your path to financial independence. These tools can budget for you, help regulate your investments automatically, find you savings when you do spend or even challenge you to increase your savings by rewarding you with cash for doing so! Betterment is the ideal investing tool for beginners. You can use a huge percentage of your retirement money to fees over time.

Personal Capital can help you find and eliminate unreasonable investing fees. You are going to love Fundrise! Fundrise allows investors to liquidate any amount of their holdings quarterly. For people that are ready for a more hands-on approach and a bit more growth potential , this section is for you! Just remember, take the risks seriously. When you are ready to further diversify your investments and take on a little risk, take a look at our list of the best Vanguard funds.

A retirement account is a tax-advantaged account. If you have retirement accounts you should! Gather up any ks from previous jobs and roll them over into an IRA.