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I live in Vancouver Canada, married with 2 kids. We own our house. We save 48% of our take home pay, so spend 52%. We live the extreme early retire lifestyle
by iamjdg 11y ago
I live in Vancouver Canada, married with 2 kids. We own our house.
We save 48% of our take home pay, so spend 52%. We live the extreme early retire lifestyle, not for everyone. Some extreme early retire people would laugh at our savings rate (only 48%!).
The breakdown of the 52% spend is
- 27% goes to housing (mortgage, property taxes, house insurance)
- 5% goes to fixed costs (car insurance, life insurance, internet, cell phones, utilities, Skype phone, Netflix, VPN service, etc.)
- 20% goes to variable costs (groceries, gasoline, supplies like toilet paper, light bulbs, entertainment like restaurants, bars, movies, sport league fees, etc.).
I know variable costs are big, but we only loosely keep track of this. We control it by only allowing ourselves so much spend cash per month for these variable things and we stick to it, if we get low, we don’t do it or we have a serious discussion. We’ve tried to lower it more, but this seems the right level for our lifestyle.
I know I know, we own a house in Vancouver. Hey, we bought fixer upper years ago and got lucky with the market. I don’t count house equity in our extreme retirement plan, as far as I am concerned, it will be icing on top of the cake. Our only debt is mortgage (student loans paid off, 1 car that we paid cash for).
- mrfusion 11y agoThat's awesome. When are you planning to retire? What will you do with your time? Will you stay in Vancouver or move somewhere cheaper?
- iamjdg 11y agooh retire has many meanings. i should say work by choice. not worry so much about salary, try new fields/areas, etc. we are still 13.5 years away from work by choice, 10 years if my wife goes back to work. not sure, if there is interesting work i would stay in vancouver. mrfusion as in General Fusion? Or Andrea Rossi ecat?
- mrfusion 11y agoShoot me an email if you want (in profile). I'd love to chat more about this.
- kohanz 11y agoIn Vancouver, of all places, that's impressive. How are you housing costs so low?!
- iamjdg 11y agoMy housing costs are low in Vancouver because I bought several years ago before prices were too crazy. So my starting mortgage was much lower than it would be for a first time home buyer today. I also made accelerated payments on my mortgage. So timing and a bit of luck. I could not afford to enter the Vancouver housing market today. When they speak about the percent income required to own a house in Vancouver, they only speak about first time home buyers entering the market today. The housing costs for current owners who have been in the market for some time (like me) or current owners selling and buying are not as high because their starting mortgages were much lower and they have lots of equity for a down payment. But I do sometimes feel the pain of people trying to enter the market or renters. For example, I’ve had a couple great job offers in the SF bay area in the last few years, but I turned them down because the cost of renting would have eaten away more than the salary increase. I was not willing to sell my house in Vancouver to remedy this (i.e. have a big down payment for a house there).
- mistermann 11y agoWould you mind sharing how many years ago it was that you bought, and what your estimated % increase is in your house since then? > I don’t count house equity in our extreme retirement plan, as far as I am concerned, it will be icing on top of the cake. If that turns out to be true, you are doing very well indeed with your saving. For typical income in Vancouver vs typical housing price (and even in other parts of Canada, but to a lesser extent), your house is the cake and everything else is a rounding error. There is a vast net worth chasm in this country between those who purchased before housing started going nuts vs those who did not, regardless of your saving level.
- kohanz 11y ago> There is a vast net worth chasm in this country between those who purchased before housing started going nuts vs those who did not Housing has gone up nation-wide, but not everywhere is nearly as crazy as the major urban centers (Vancouver, Toronto, etc). For mid-sized cities or smaller, I don't think the gap can be called a "chasm".
- bliti 11y agoIm with you. I save about 55%-60% (depending on month) because it provides me with peace of mind. I enjoy the simple life and have always shunned away from luxury. But dont confuse me with a penny pincher. I make sure to enjoy life.
- cblock811 11y agoWow, if I end up moving to Vancouver next I should get advice from you. That's awesome. What's the tech scene like in Vancouver btw? I am visiting again in a couple months and am curious.
- iamjdg 11y agoIts a mixed bag, not as good as san francisco. lots of small outfits. ea is here. microsoft started an outpost here.