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Are cable TV and Starbucks worth having two income earners each work an extra eight years for??? Well, of course they are, for your values of "cable TV" and "S
by dionidium 14y ago
Are cable TV and Starbucks worth having two income earners each work an extra eight years for???
Well, of course they are, for your values of "cable TV" and "Starbucks". Here's a thought. Move to the Midwest. Get a couple roommates and eat simple foods. Never eat out and don't own a car. And don't buy anything else.
You could survive on less than five grand a year with that lifestyle. I'm sure a lot of HNers already have enough money in the bank to live the rest of their lives like this. But what's the point?
- hudibras 14y agoFive grand a year is probably too extreme, that's less than $15/day. But $15k/year is definitely doable with a $400K nest egg. 16 million households in the U.S. survive on less than that and most of them have to work to do so.
- dionidium 14y agoThat number was based on the prevalence of reasonable apartments in my city that rent for $450/mo or less. With a roommate that's $225/mo or $2700/yr. That leaves $191/mo for food and toothpaste and the like, which is doable for one person. (Clothes are essentially free if you don't care what you look like.) The example was meant to be extreme and you can adjust the dials a bit without missing my point, which is that of course it's easy to retire if you remove the requirement that you might want to buy stuff.
- hudibras 14y agoNo problem, I mostly agree with you. The only assumption I didn't like was living with a roommate who pays half the rent (not a spouse) for the next 50 years. That's a little extreme even for me.