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> TL;DR: Live on 35% of your after tax income and you're retired in 10 years. Get it down to 25% and you retire in 7. You might as well say: TL:DR; Move out i

by ebbv 12y ago

> TL;DR: Live on 35% of your after tax income and you're retired in 10 years. Get it down to 25% and you retire in 7. You might as well say: TL:DR; Move out into the forest and live off the land and you retire today! Come on, man. 35% of AFTER TAX income? I make good money and I'd have to live like a homeeless man for 10 years in order to do that. While working as hard as I do. That's absurd.

MrUnknown 12y ago
"live like a homeless man" is going to the extreme. But it's either retire in 10 years, or 30. You need sacrifices to get a reward.
- j_lev 12y ago
  Except it doesn't feel like sacrifice after a while. Netflix/Cable TV --> reading a book (from the library) or HN. Starbucks --> broaden your horizons and explore the world of "grind your own." Eating out more than once a week --> eating out once a week, and preparing healthy meals the rest. Sometimes having your friends over for dinner. Gym membership --> enjoy looking for new kettlebell and bodyweight exercises that you can do at home. Go for walks with your wife in the evenings, or incorporate walking/exercise into your weekly date. I'll admit that overseas travel is one area where I still overspend, so this would fall into the "sacrifice" category if I were to cut back. Even so, the skills in frugality that you learn while working your day job are useful on overseas trips. Haggling while jostling with old ladies at a wet market (in a language you don't understand) in order to buy ingredients for breakfast and a packed lunch is an experience that many travelers will miss out on. (full disclosure: last holiday was a "relax by the hotel pool/private beach" affair. But even then we had a trip to the supermarket to buy some beer, fruit and snacks instead of pay hotel rates). Anyway, it's not something that happens over night, rather a skillset you work on like any other. You find your own level of "sacrifice," your own groove, that you're comfortable with. Mr Money Mustache is just one guy but there are plenty of people who have entire sites dedicated to the movement who can talk about this idea of "sacrifice" better than I can.
Ecio78 12y ago
I don't think it's impossible to do it (I think I could be around that but I should run some numbers before confirming that.. and no, I'm not homeless :)), but it's also not that easy to do the calculation: it's easy for rent and maybe other expenses (internet access, bills) but when you go to one-shot expenses like furnitures or cars etc.. I think there's not an agreed methodology on how to split them over the years (5 years ? 10?) so those could easily spoil the maths.

by ebbv 12y ago

MrUnknown 12y ago

"live like a homeless man" is going to the extreme. But it's either retire in 10 years, or 30. You need sacrifices to get a reward.

j_lev 12y ago
Except it doesn't feel like sacrifice after a while. Netflix/Cable TV --> reading a book (from the library) or HN. Starbucks --> broaden your horizons and explore the world of "grind your own." Eating out more than once a week --> eating out once a week, and preparing healthy meals the rest. Sometimes having your friends over for dinner. Gym membership --> enjoy looking for new kettlebell and bodyweight exercises that you can do at home. Go for walks with your wife in the evenings, or incorporate walking/exercise into your weekly date. I'll admit that overseas travel is one area where I still overspend, so this would fall into the "sacrifice" category if I were to cut back. Even so, the skills in frugality that you learn while working your day job are useful on overseas trips. Haggling while jostling with old ladies at a wet market (in a language you don't understand) in order to buy ingredients for breakfast and a packed lunch is an experience that many travelers will miss out on. (full disclosure: last holiday was a "relax by the hotel pool/private beach" affair. But even then we had a trip to the supermarket to buy some beer, fruit and snacks instead of pay hotel rates). Anyway, it's not something that happens over night, rather a skillset you work on like any other. You find your own level of "sacrifice," your own groove, that you're comfortable with. Mr Money Mustache is just one guy but there are plenty of people who have entire sites dedicated to the movement who can talk about this idea of "sacrifice" better than I can.

Ecio78 12y ago

I don't think it's impossible to do it (I think I could be around that but I should run some numbers before confirming that.. and no, I'm not homeless :)), but it's also not that easy to do the calculation: it's easy for rent and maybe other expenses (internet access, bills) but when you go to one-shot expenses like furnitures or cars etc.. I think there's not an agreed methodology on how to split them over the years (5 years ? 10?) so those could easily spoil the maths.