FIRE Starters (Financial Independence, Retire Early)

Jingo I like reading about how people have a go and make good. Sometimes it's a bit harder and others not.
As i said I always had people doing much better than me around me and that helped a lot.

The problem I have with some of these sites is "lie by omission".

If I won 2m on lotto at 21, bought houses then decided to move into shares.
And then decide to write a blog teaching people how to retire young and just like me reitre at 28.
What does that really teach people? How can that person show me how to make money and retire early?

Or...I have 5 million in equity and retired at 30, Give me your email and and I can show how you can do it too.
Q. So how did you make the money to buy the properties? I want to learn.
A. That's private.

Just like the other bloke who is a BA "retired at 28 with 32m" who's story keeps changing.
Am I the only one who remembers working and saving for years?
Did you peeps not have to work, save and always be counting how many weeks to go for XX amount in my account? $XX needed for the next deposit?
Granted I was never a "checkout chick" but I did sweep many floors.

3.5m is in the top 1%. "If this was easy nobody would be digging streets". But it is a whole lot easier than it used to be I reckon.
What you need to be in richest 1 per cent

These days "student" is the new black. Add in some Kev007 and Ben Franklin quotes and ya good to go.

 

That's what I don't understand. If he hates working soo much why doesn't he get a degree or get a trade in something he's interested in? I earn an average income but I enjoy doing what I do. When I first graduated uni I couldn't find a job in my field and ended up working in a meat factory. It was terrible work surrounded by migrants with minimal English. I spent the whole day just bored out of my mind looking at the clock waiting to finish. I would even calculate the amount of money I'd earned from 15 minutes to the next. I would come home soaking wet (after cleaning the machines) smelling like meat. In hindsight it was a great experience because these days if I'm having any problems at work I think back to those days and feel grateful that I'm not working in factory.

 

Mr Money Moustache coined the phrase 'internet retirement police' for people who argue that you are not really 'retired' because of xxx

All that really matters is that a person's passive income exceeds their expenses. When that happens they are financially independent.

But the other argument is that if someone is making claims publicly they should be able to substantiate those claims.

 

Ill give my 2cents on this. I am personally not a fan of all the online and media BS spruiking. This couple worked at McDonalds and now own 28 houses. Every second day there seems to be an article along those lines in the paper.

Though I am not sure that's what Dave is doing. He is sharing what he is doing and how he is doing it. I haven't broken down his numbers to question if his story adds up but from reading some of his stuff I don't see any really outlandish claims. For his lifestyle he believes he is financially independent. Sure the amount he lives of might not be sufficient for many who would not consider his passive income as being financially independent. Important thing is it is sufficient for him and the lifestyle he has accepted to live.

The numbers he talks about certainly wouldn't work for me, but respect him for making it work for his family and by all accounts he seems more than content to me.

 

The progressive type student is not interested in getting a job lol, only a student allowance.

And now we have the dictionary police!
independent definition: 1. not influenced or controlled in any way by other people, events, or things:
At 40k yr for >2 people you would be influenced and controlled by an endless amount of occurences and situations. Repairs, maintenance, dentist, medical, vehicles, fences, plumbing, roof etc etc etc. Your life is dependent on every dollar. When a tree root puts a hole in a pipe, the sewer is blocked, you tooth is sore, the gutters are rusting, tenants trash the place an do a runner, then you will be very much controlled and influenced.
Even your at break even, you still have to watch every dollar. Not exactly "financially independent".
Of people may want to adopt a fluid meaning of words just like genders, but that would be just gay.

On the opposite end of the FIRE spectrum, would you give even a sewer rats rear end about a 5k repair if you're income is 40k per month in the same situation?
There's a little more "not influenced or controlled in any way by other people, events, or things" at 40k per month.

That website looks like a commercial enterprise with an obvious purpose of making money and a profit imo. And that is very different to many other bloggers who are just sharing thoughts and experiences (real or not) without a commercial purpose.

 

Doable back then. Pre-APRA, long term IO loans. He bought at the bottom of the cycle.

 

'Employment liberated' might be a better term?
Liberated ones often call workers 'cubicle slaves'.

FIRE is not for me, mainly because I have missed the 'early' part. But I can understand those wanting to break their slavery asap.

 

Joanna seems to be getting along on $18k per annum just fine

How I retired early as a single woman and live on just $18k a year

NAME: Joanna Jones*, 63
RETIRED: At 51
INCOME: $18,000 per year
INVESTMENT STRATEGY: Switching from direct shares to diversified index funds, increasingly in different parts of the world.

Joanna has been retired for 12 years and, remarkably, she still isn't eating into her capital. In fact, her invested amount has grown by 20% over the past decade as she takes a limited income stream from her savings.

 

Wow $18k a year. That’s impressive. I’m happy if I stay under $18k a month.

 

$346 a week, even the pension is around $434 per week, isn't it?

This couple, who are doing well on the savings/investing front, amaze me with their expenses

How much have our living expenses changed over 5 years? - HisHerMoneyGuide

 

Wow.

So someone who saved and invested for more than ten years, so they can live the type of life they want, without welfare or handouts or support from others, is "not much better than someone living at home with their parents and receiving a disability pension and then claiming they've retired."

That's just gob smackingly, arrogantly, judgmental. Have you considered that others may have different values and priorities than you and that a household income "only slightly above welfare levels" may actually be quite sufficient for them? Not everyone wants or "needs" the next shiny bauble the marketing gurus have convinced the masses will make them happy.

 

If you actually took the time to read the site you'd find that Dave gives details of how he did it. Working in a warehouse as a forklift driver, saving a high percentage of his income, and being satisfied with a simple inexpensive lifestyle.

Will that work for everyone? Nope, most people believe the BS that says the next shiny bauble is what they need to live a happy life. No matter how much they earn, they will not save much, they will not invest much, and they certainly won't be happy with a simple, inexpensive lifestyle.

Does that mean that the advice, whether BS in terms of what Dave actually did or not, is bad advice or can't work? Not at all. The advice is a completely doable, even simple, way to achieve financial independence.

 

Money Talks: They laid out finances on their first date. Then they retired at 38 and 41.

 

By the dictionary definition it is impossible to ever be independent. Everyone is influenced or controlled in many ways by many people, events or things, regardless of how much money they have.

The person with $40k per month may be less influenced but by the dictionary definition they still are not independent unless they want to take a fluid meaning of the word.

Dave has never made it any secret that he earns a small amount from the website through ads and affiliate deals and such. He even spoke about it with figures on a recent episode of his podcast.

 

You really can't fathom the idea that others have different values, priorities, goals, interests, and motives than you do, can you?

A very sincere "good on you" for finding a job you enjoy doing. Not everyone wants to be tied to a job. I enjoy my job too, but I'd "retire" from it tomorrow if I didn't need the money and then spend my days doing whatever interested me at the time. I'd rather not be reliant on any job just because I needed the money to buy the next shiny bauble and be able to tell myself my income is $X above welfare levels in some sort of effort to make myself feel important.

 

This person has written a book that sounds interesting
Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way
Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way

 

Haven't dipped in to look at this thread for a while. By heck. So let me get this straight.

There seems to be one view if a person has a blog on finance/retirement, they are obliged to spill their guts on the exact nature of their sources of income and level. Well, on that basis, posters on this forum will obviously be quite happy to post their tax returns for all to see.

Then there is another view, a bloger should get a job they enjoy. Maybe the person has a partner who has a job and they are content to work out their own arrangements which suit them, their finances and their life . If so, it is nothing to do with anyone else and the last issue is a very important aspect for a number of people.

Those who read any blog is, I will assume, inteligent enough and able enough to ascertain if its worthwhile to continue to read it and what aspects maybe able to be adapted for their aims and objectives. If that is the case, then the blog has done it's job. If some think it's BS, then don't read it and start your own.

 

I gather you like challenges and always up for one.

Well how about taking the one above.

Come on we know you can do it.

I will help you get started $18000 is $1500 per month or approx $50 a day.

Cheers
Oracle

 

Right now, I can hear a distant wail of "But, but, but, but...."

Where there is a way, there isn't a will maybe.

 

Perhaps there was a will - undisclosed but there is nthing like a windfall to get you started.