[fatty]

Today is my one year anniversary of registering at D-Pad. Been browsing much longer, but being a member here...it feels good man. I've done this post before at other places, but wanted to revisit this topic here with the community that I truly belong to.

What do I mean by Financial Freedom? The answer will be different for each person, but I define it for myself as being free from having to do a typical job for a living...instead living life the way I choose. I don't see myself retiring completely from earning an income, but it will be work that I look forward to waking up to each morning, and scheduling it on my terms. It's the ability to make life decisions without worrying about financial constraints.

It is not easy and to get to this goal with your finances will require sacrifice. The thing to remember is the work you do at your job is earning a paycheck, but it is not going to make you rich. It's the decisions you make with your time and money while not working that is going to determine if you become wealthy. How hard you are willing to work at it is going to affect the timeline to get there.

But here's the great thing. It is achievable by each and every person here. If you are willing to continually learn, stretch yourself outside your comfort zone and grow a little bit each day, you will obtain financial freedom.

What I (and I hope others) will do is share insights about lessons that we've learned along the way. Smart things that are working for us...and also those mistakes that we will never forget but are grateful for the learning experience.

This will be work in progress but here are some of the topics we'll be tackling in this thread:

• Debt
• Personal Growth and Development
• Taxes
• Frugalness
• Leadership
• Money and Financial Education
• Career choices
• Spending
• Giving

You need to have a reason, a specific goal to work towards if you are willing to make this lifestyle change. In my humble opinion if the goal is just 'to get rich' you will not find true happiness. There was a study done to determine much money does someone need to earn in order to be "happy" living in the United States. I've linked to the article but included a small section below:

Globally, the study found that the ideal income point for an individual is $95,000 for life satisfaction and between $60,000 to $75,000 for emotional well-being.

In North America, the individual income level for life satisfaction was found to be $105,000 per year.

There is a difference between emotional well-being and life satisfaction. That is why I want to urge you to really know why you are living the life you currently are, and what is it that you want out of it? For myself, after faith and family, I find that the ability to teach and serve others, my giving, has resulted in my life satisfaction being so high.

So please share your thoughts, advice and critiques. Ask your questions. Tell us how you are doing on your journey. I think if we all try to approach this with the willingness to learn new ideas, even if you may not agree, we will still get something meaningful out of it.

I made this thread for two reasons. One, I really do want to help others and show that it can be done. And the other reason is that it keeps me accountable. I hope to reach my goal in 3 years. I will share my journey in a future post. Let's get after it!

 

[fatty]

RESOURCES:

Recommended Websites

www.mrmoneymustache.com If you are serious about being financially free, just head over to this site. He has it all. When I first discovered this website it not only reinforced my way of thinking but provided a boost to make me want to reach my goals sooner.​

www.early-retirement.org Another great place to get info from others that have the same financial mindset​

www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence​

Books

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy by Dr. Thomas Stanley I was so inspired when I read this book. All my life I've been pretty good with money, having an aversion to paying interest and always scouring pawn shops and clearance racks for good deals on video games and movies. But this book reaffirmed some of the principles that I have chosen to live my life by, and not only that, but it brought to light that there are other crazy people like me out there.​

How to win friends & influence people by Dale Carnegie This book was originally published in 1936. Over 16 million copies sold later, its lessons are still as valid today. Don't let the ‘win friends' in the title turn you off, there is a great deal of guidance to help develop interpersonal communication skills, something that is required for personal growth.​

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey Another classic. This book helped provide perspective to different activities and their importance in my life (Covey's time management matrix). For example, many of us will perceive something that is urgent (like checking our phones every time we receive a text or off-topic call) as important when it is not. Whereas items that are important, but not urgent (like exercise), we need to plan and follow through to do them. This book teaches us how.​

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris While I am not following the path the author took, there are many great takeaways that I received that I'm trying to implement, such as finding ways to reduce or eliminate unnecessary tasks that consume our time. I really enjoyed Tim's approach to handling email. I also found the narrator to be very enjoyable.​

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi I lean on being on the more frugal side than Ramit (ex. advice on purchasing a new car where I now only buy used), but he has a lot of sound advice. He also does his own narration on the audiobook and does a great job, it is very easy to digest as a finance book.​

Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win Working toward financial freedom is more mental than anything, and this is a great audiobook to listen to​

Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds I bought this one due to the good reviews, looking forward to reading it.​

Videos (Motivational, for when you need that kick in the pants)

Question Madness ad by North Face​

Why Do We Fall​

Story of Dick & Rick Hoyt​

Videos (Educational)

Bogleheads® investment philosophy Very simple and helpful video series on investing​

How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio Economics 101 from one of the greatest investors of our time​

Podcasts

Radical Personal Finance​

The Dave Ramsey Show​

Eventual Millionaire​

The Tim Ferris Show​

Movies

The Pursuit Of Happyness​

Minimalism: a Documentary About the Important Things​

Software Tools

Every Dollar Budget App​

YNAB (You Need A Budget) Another Budget App​

Mint Web-based personal financial management service​

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

I truly appreciate the efforts you've put into these posts and I plan on checking out some of those links to see what's up but the whole time I was reading this I couldn't shake the thought that people sell pictures of their feet and that provides them "financial freedom". They don't even have to read any of those books or watch those videos or whatever. Snap some pics of their feet, bam. Financially free!

Have you though about selling pics of your feet?

 

[fatty]

I truly appreciate the efforts you've put into these posts and I plan on checking out some of those links to see what's up but the whole time I was reading this I couldn't shake the thought that people sell pictures of their feet and that provides them "financial freedom". They don't even have to read any of those books or watch those videos or whatever. Snap some pics of their feet, bam. Financially free!

Have you though about selling pics of your feet?

No, I think that might be the @teezzy strategy though.

 

[Franky Family]

Strong thread fatty

 

[Mirabilis]

Look forward to the rest.

 

[J-Roderton]

Nice. I'll give this a good read this evening.

 

[Dr. Farnsgoth]

Cool thread, fatman. I'm all about that FIRE lifestyle. The goal is 10k per month in passive income to be ready to retire and I'm on track to hit that by 50, providing there's no Great Reset.

 

[p_banned]

I started as FIRE now it's YOLO. You never know when you're gonna die. Enjoy as much as you can, while making as much as you can, in a job you can like.

 

[Chozofication]

Im 30, and im going to "retire" by 35 at the latest. I am like a possessed madman with my finances.

 

[fatty]

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words. And whoever gifted me D-Pad+, thank you from the bottom of my heart, this place has some awesome people.

@Chozofication, that is really great to hear. Would love to find out more about your journey and how you got to this point.

 

[ManofTwo]

Good idea about financial freedom I wish you the best of luck

 

[Chozofication]

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words. And whoever gifted me D-Pad+, thank you from the bottom of my heart, this place has some awesome people.

@Chozofication, that is really great to hear. Would love to find out more about your journey and how you got to this point.

I've always been really frugal and good with saving, and the most I've ever made in terms of wages, consistently, was $19 an hour. Never went to college.

Over the years I've just put money in stocks, nearly every penny i could spare, and did make a big chunk of change selling a house last year, which was invested, and i bought another house without even dipping into that… i just worked like 80 hours for a couple months to pay for the down payment.

I'm just a workaholic, I'm completely obsessed with financial freedom because I really can't work for anyone else long term.

I would say my end game is similar to what @Dr. Farnsgoth said, to have a paid off house/farmland, and have enough stock invested to live - and live well - on the dividends.

 

[TaySan]

Great thread OP I hope one day I can live a life of independence again.

 

[Dr. Farnsgoth]

Great thread OP I hope one day I can live a life of independence again.

What are you doing about it?

 

[TaySan]

What are you doing about it?

Saving and investing.

 

[teezzy]

I've always been really frugal and good with saving, and the most I've ever made in terms of wages, consistently, was $19 an hour. Never went to college.

Over the years I've just put money in stocks, nearly every penny i could spare, and did make a big chunk of change selling a house last year, which was invested, and i bought another house without even dipping into that… i just worked like 80 hours for a couple months to pay for the down payment.

I'm just a workaholic, I'm completely obsessed with financial freedom because I really can't work for anyone else long term.

I would say my end game is similar to what @Dr. Farnsgoth said, to have a paid off house/farmland, and have enough stock invested to live - and live well - on the dividends.

This is super admirable dude

I grew up poor and was a real burnout/hipster/punk dipshit in my teens and twenties. Only recently got my head out of my ass and started buckling down

I have enough media to keep me occupied until I die at this point, and although theres definitely improvements to my house I wanna make, I really need to adapt a more frugal lifestyle in general. My groceries are cheap thanks to Aldi/Sams Club, and there isn't much left on my car note. I make between 60k/65k a year and live modestly enough

One of my favorite YouTube channels and video series is Caleb Hammer's Financial Audit





Much like Dave Ramsey's podcast, its a serious wakeup call for people who are dumb with money

 

[Chozofication]

@teezzy Ramsey generally has good advice, although he only offers the advice of the least risk path, that being mutual funds.

His advice on paying off your mortgage early doesn't apply to me because im not going to get an 100,000 a year job to build back my cash fast.

He also says never use a credit card, because you end up spending more than if it were cash. It's true for most people but I literally only buy what i need with credit, pay it off each month, and also I've probably gotten like 30 credit card welcome bonuses, then just turned the card off xD

But generally, and esp. regarding savings, his advice is solid. And if you're already in debt, his advice is pretty much as good as anyone to get out if that.

 

[Frito_Pendejo]

I'm pretty much there at 37. House is paid for and inherited paid-for land in another state from my dad. Have over $1M in cash in the bank with $200K of it in a 13-month CD. Have another $300K in investments, mostly stock. Plan to build a house on my land and rent out my other house which is in a very expensive neighborhood in Northern Virginia where rent goes between $4K-$5K a month. Plant to continue working however because I don't know what I would do if I didn't?

I will say however the majority of my financial situation is due to my parents setting me up for it. They've been/were incredible and I didn't deserve to have such a wonderful mom and dad.

 

[fatty]

A little bit of background on my journey so far.

For as long as I could remember, I loved finding a good deal. I grew up in the NES days and there was a local pawn shop that would sell used Nintendo games. They had a special where you could bring in any game in your collection and for $5 you could pick and trade for any game they had in stock. The manager was very proud of this deal he offered, but even as a preteen I knew how bad this policy would be abused, and that I did with all of my crappy games that I had. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one who did this and the gig didn't last long.

Growing up I've always looked for bargains, and with my skills leaning toward the math side (I'm terrible with the subject of English), I hated paying interest on things. I saw it as just wasting your money. My viewpoint has evolved some from then (there are good reasons for taking some loans), but for the most part I hate debt. It wasn't until later in life that I really thought about the possibility of retiring early, or at least being financially free.

I met my wife in my junior year of high school and we got married as seniors. It was tough at first trying to figure things out, but we decided that I would go to college for engineering and she worked at Walmart while I was working on my degree. I also worked as a pizza delivery driver at nights and we were able to pay my way through college without taking out any student loans. My GPA sucked from working so much, but C's still get degrees, right? I look at the student loan forgiveness situation going on right now, I have so many thoughts on that, but maybe for another time.

After getting married and during my first year in college we trying living with my parents, but we needed a place of our own. So we bought a tiny house, around 800 sq. ft., for about $53,000 USD. I see many people, right out of college, wanting to buy a big home. They may be looking at their parents' house, or other friends' and just trying to keep up with the Jones, but many times it is too much, too fast for the income they are bringing in.

We were at the small house for a few years and after we had our first child we decided to upgrade and buy a new home. We were able to sell that house for a bit more, $57K, and bought a new home for $157K. At this time I was starting to see what the corporate world was like and I hated it. I hated the traveling, having to wear a tie in the office, and the Kool-aid the management expected us to drink. It was around then that I learned about the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) and really tried to embrace it. At this time we now had 3 kids, my wife at the time had been staying home to home-school them, but they then went to public school at the 4th grade level and my wife worked on getting her nursing degree. During this time we were working to pay off the mortgage and finally became debt free when we wrote the last check on December of 2013.

So the next step was to build up some savings (non retirement where I wouldn't be penalized) and start working to retire...but something changed. During this time we had also been doing fostering and have had several kids through our home. We felt God called us to do foster care, so we started looking for a house with more bedrooms. An opportunity came up to buy some land (20 acres for $80k), I had $35k in savings so we took out a loan again. We then had to take out another construction loan to build a house on the land, and after it was all said and done the cost was $485k and I was back in debt again.

After construction on the house was finished and we moved in, we were able to sell the previous home for $200k and after fees we applied it toward the new balance. Now we are at $285k in debt. Started chipping away at this one, but with selling the previous home and building this current one from the ground up my wife and I got the real estate investing bug. Last year, a great opportunity came up to buy the a house on the same street as ours and we would use it as a rental. It needed a lot of work (in the kitchen she had a sticky note over the light switch that said "Do not use"), but structurally the house was very sound. Working with the neighbor everything was able to fall in place for a win-win situation and we bought it for $250k with the last $40k we had in savings for a down payment. We now rent this house to my two oldest children for an amount that is pretty much break even covering the mortgage, they get to have their own home and we get to see them more often, another win-win.

So that now brings me to where I am now. Opening my bank statement my current mortgages are at:

* Primary Residence - $104,688.53 (2.375% interest rate)
* Rental Property - $191,101.89 (5.5% interest rate)

My plan is to be debt free by January 1st, 2026. This will be a bit before I am 50. At my current income I won't be able to hit that so I am looking at different side hustles. This past year I have been selling off my video game collection (NES generation up to SNES). That brought be about $6,000 but you can only sell so much stuff until you run out of things to sell. I still have PS1 to sell next up, but I am holding off for now. To look for another side hustle I am now learning to trade stock options on the side. It has not been profitable yet, but I feel I am starting to turn the corner.

That's my goal, guys. Things could change but I wanted to put this out in writing as something I can work towards. I see other people in this thread who are close to it like @Dr. Farnsgoth and @Chozofication , or are already there like @Frito_Pendejo , and that is so great to see. It really motivates and lights a fire under me...reading your stories helps me keep focused. So, we will see how this goes, but thanks for reading and helping me with this journey.

 

[fatty]

Cool thread, fatman. I'm all about that FIRE lifestyle. The goal is 10k per month in passive income to be ready to retire and I'm on track to hit that by 50, providing there's no Great Reset.

Timestamped at 45 seconds:



"You just messed up big time FATMAN!!!!"

10k per month in passive income is unbelievable. Would that be from stock investments, rental income? (if you don't mind me asking)

I've always been really frugal and good with saving, and the most I've ever made in terms of wages, consistently, was $19 an hour. Never went to college.

Over the years I've just put money in stocks, nearly every penny i could spare, and did make a big chunk of change selling a house last year, which was invested, and i bought another house without even dipping into that… i just worked like 80 hours for a couple months to pay for the down payment.

I'm just a workaholic, I'm completely obsessed with financial freedom because I really can't work for anyone else long term.

I would say my end game is similar to what @Dr. Farnsgoth said, to have a paid off house/farmland, and have enough stock invested to live - and live well - on the dividends.

That is crazy. I went to college and got the typical white collar job. Took my kids to "bring your kids to work day" and when they saw what I did they didn't want anything to do with it, lol. I have told them they don't need to go to college to succeed, they just need to know how to save and prioritize their money. They are now all on different paths in their lives but none of them are interested in college at the moment.

I hear you about not being able to work for anyone else long term. I will always work, that is how I am, but it will be for myself and if I don't feel like working, then I don't have to. At least that is the goal. Congrats on being able to hit your goal so young in life.

I'm pretty much there at 37. House is paid for and inherited paid-for land in another state from my dad. Have over $1M in cash in the bank with $200K of it in a 13-month CD. Have another $300K in investments, mostly stock. Plan to build a house on my land and rent out my other house which is in a very expensive neighborhood in Northern Virginia where rent goes between $4K-$5K a month. Plant to continue working however because I don't know what I would do if I didn't?

I will say however the majority of my financial situation is due to my parents setting me up for it. They've been/were incredible and I didn't deserve to have such a wonderful mom and dad.

That's great to read. My parents were not in a financial position to help me but helped me in so many other ways and I am very blessed. I hope to teach my kids and set them up for the future financially similar to what your parents have done for you.

 

[teezzy]

.

 

[teezzy]

Another awesome episode

Brand new

 

[Chozofication]

Another awesome episode

Brand new

Watched 5 minutes, that kid doesn't have 3 brain cells to rub together

 

[fatty]

Another awesome episode

Brand new

Thanks for the video, but boy was it hard to listen to the young man and all of the bad decisions he has made.

With that in mind the first issue that Id like to tackle is DEBT:

8 out of 10 Americans are in debt. Today, the average household with credit card debt has balances totaling $14,231, and the average household with any kind of debt owes $96,371, including mortgages.

It doesn't need to be this way. I feel that we are in an instant gratification society where we are addicted to the consumerism that constantly bombards us. Many people who are struggling and living paycheck to paycheck consider luxuries to be necessities and expect to have these things now, when before their parents were saving years to acquire them.

Let's look at the student loan crisis as an example of that:​

​

Yet she purchased a 1.1 million dollar home. There needs to be accountability.​

And while most Americans are not purchase a 7 figure home, there are many expecting something along the lines of what their parents currently have, not considering the time it took for them to get to this point. You don't need to buy that really nice house for your first home. My first home cost $53,000. Tiny little thing with one and a half bedrooms at 750 square feet. But it was enough, plenty enough for my wife and our first child. Don't go into debt buying more home than you need.

But what if you don't have a home and are renting, and are still struggling? Look at other areas of your life. Do you have a budget and know where all of your money is going? You might not think eating fast food here and there is much, but that quickly adds up. Find out how much you really spend and do a budget. I use a simple Excel spreadsheet, but there are also apps out there like YNAB and Every Dollar that make the process easier.

Compared to the rest of the world, we have it very good here in the United States (and chances are it is the same in the country you are reading this from if not the US). Despite what the media tries to tell us, I still consider this the land of opportunity. Don't fall for the massive onslaught of consumerism being shoved down our throats. Trust me, I've been there. I used to collect so many games and DVDs:

Yeah, I was having some fun with my posts back then, and most of them were purchased on clearance or used, but how many have I actually played? A very small percentage. All collecting dust and now the NES and SNES games were sold on eBay to help pay off my mortgage debt. Now I try to get only what I will play soon and never pay MSRP. And I find that I don't miss it.​

If you are finding yourself struggling with your finances ask yourself these questions?

*Are you paying for a cell phone plan that you don't need? You can easily spend less than $200 a year and get a usable phone.

*What are you spending on eating out and other entertainment out? If you're broke the answer should be zero.

*What about at-home entertainment? This can be significantly reduced. Take advantage of your local library to get free books, movies and video games, and don't pay for streaming subscriptions. Be content with the TV and other stuff you have until you can afford more. And if you are serious about your personal growth more of your free time should be spent reading and learning, and a minimal amount consuming.

*What about clothing? Let's do a little experiment. Take everything you have in your closet and once you wear it keep it separate from all of your other clothes. After a month is over look at everything you haven't worn. Chances are you are buying too many clothes. When you actually do need new clothes go to consignment shops, Goodwills, or buy on clearance. Best way to pay for clothes is once a season is over and the store is putting the clothes on clearance to make way for the new seasonal items, buy the 'older stuff then.

*What kind of car do you drive? I made the mistake of buying two new vehicles while I was in college (one for me and a truck for my wife). Technically the one for me was a few months after graduating college. Don't buy a new car that will require car payments if you can't afford it. Luckily those vehicles I bought were lower end models but they still set me back some at the time. Now, because I have saved over the years, I can buy a new car with cash but I still buy used. Please don't get yourself in debt with these car loans.

*Groceries, how much do you actually spend? My family of 5 averages about $700 a month on groceries. We could actually spend quite a bit less if needed but that is very comfortable for us. Whatever you think you are spending on groceries you are probably spending much more. Again, you need that budget.​

I type all this out to only try to encourage those of you who are struggling to work toward financial freedom. It is truly possible. Don't buy into the blame game of blaming a certain political party or a group of people. You truly do control your own destiny. Maybe you are not struggling and that is great, but are you hitting your retirement goals? We all have to find the level of sacrifice that we deem is worth the reward, and be disciplined to hit that goal.

I grew up in a pretty rough neighborhood. By society's standards it would be considered low income (the house I grew up in later became an abandoned drug house). But I never considered my life lacking for anything. The first time I probably considered that we didn't have a lot of money was when a friend who lived across the city came over to play and looked at my house with a disgusting gaze and said "You live here??". He wasn't my friend for long.

But my parents worked hard and I learned from them. I got married in high school and my wife worked at Wal-mart while I worked as a pizza delivery driver to pay for my college. With a couple of grants due to our income situation and the hard work from our jobs I was able to graduate college with no school debt. My grades were not good. But it was good enough to get an engineering degree.

Again, I only say these things to encourage those who are struggling because it can be done. But you need to work hard and get a financial education.

Three resources that I would recommend to help people get started if they are serious about being financially free:

1. www.mrmoneymustache.com From here you will learn many valuable ways to be more efficient with our resources and time and why not to fall into the hype of many common media myths.

2. The book The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy by Dr. Thomas Stanley. I love this book. This will teach you about the habits of those who are truly rich and how you can emulate these habits.

3. Enroll in a Dave Ramsay Financial Peace University class. It does not matter if you are religious or not, you will learn to master your financial situation. You can go through the audio/video program but going to an actual class with other people will offer encouragement from others going through the same things you are. His book "Total Money Makeover" is recommended as well.​

And trust me, I get it. There are some people who are doing everything they can and still hitting hard times. These are the people we need to reach out and provide help. WIth inflation going the way it is, at some point I really feel that we are going to hit some hard economic times. Housing costs are going up, at some point people are not going to be able to keep up.

On the flip side there are many out there who can control their situation. Our family has been a foster family for years and I couldn't tell you how many times the parents of the children we have just blow their money on crap entertainment but still claim that they have no money to take care of their children. My wife was working at a WIC office one day and many of the people that came in had an expensive cell phone. One in particular had her nails all nice and pedicured and her baby wearing expensive Nike high tops. Expensive shoes that may be worn for only a couple of months! These types of situations happened regularly, yet they still needed government assistance for food. It can be very frustrating for me at times. But that is also why I try to help and educate those who are willing to learn, especially all of my children.

I read that legal immigrants in the United States are 4 times as likely to become millionaires compared to those who are born here. Why is that? I believe that they look at their situation in the eyes of a different lens. As an opportunity instead of finding a reason why things are bad. For the most part, we control our situation.

 

[teezzy]

Do you guys use a budgeting app at all?

Recommendations welcome

I have a torr... legally obtained version of You Need A Budget on my PC

Maybe ill just keep using that

 

[Ascend]

I'm working towards Financial freedom myself, so this is a great thread.

 

[Rock And Roll]

Generally speaking, I put half of my money into savings with each paycheque. The remaining money goes towards house bills/car bills/internet + phone/groceries. After all those expenses are taken care of, I coast with the remaining money in my chequing account for the rest of the month. I usually don't spend it on anything, but I might grab fast food once or twice, or pick up a game if there's something I'm interested in. Then when the next paycheque comes in, I take what was left of the previous month and throw that into savings. Rinse, repeat.

When I was in my early 20s I was pretty shit with money, but that's because I was going to the bar a lot with my friends. You're only young once, and I knew this, so it's not something I really regret. I'd also buy a lot of games that I'd never end up playing, or albums that I would listen to once or twice. It really does burn a hole in your pocket, I used to put maybe 10% of my earnings into savings. Once I cut all the excess out, I started saving over 50% of my pay.

That being said, I really should start looking into investing. Since I work as a musician I'm basically a self employed contractor, so there's no retirement package. I'll never retire, but I know that when I'm in my mid 50s/60s I won't have the energy to teach all afternoon then go play at night, come home at 2am and do it all over again the next day. On top of that, there's no way to know what the live music situation will look like in 10/20/30 years. Bars run into tough times, they stop hiring musicians and start using a jukebox instead. So I need to make sure that as I age I have money I can fall back on. Investing in stock index funds is something I will take a look at. Thanks for the articles/resources and great thread.

 

[p_banned]

Do you guys use a budgeting app at all?

Recommendations welcome

I have a torr... legally obtained version of You Need A Budget on my PC

Maybe ill just keep using that

It's built in with my bank, all transactions are sorted out and you just need to define a fixed amout per month per the categories you choose. I used to do everything by hand in Excel. And before that by hand. I've been doing a strict budget since I was 10.

 

[teezzy]

It's built in with my bank, all transactions are sorted out and you just need to define a fixed amout per month per the categories you choose. I used to do everything by hand in Excel. And before that by hand. I've been doing a strict budget since I was 10.

Yeah i actually saw Chase offers similar features online

Maybe ill play around this weekend with it

 

[Dr. Farnsgoth]

10k per month in passive income is unbelievable. Would that be from stock investments, rental income? (if you don't mind me asking)

Sorry for the late reply. Would be a mix of rental income from investment properties and dividends from stonks. Currently have 2 IPs earning around $6200/month in rent. Interest payments were around $2000/month prior to the recent rate rises. Now around $4500/month. Still positively geared but a bit of a setback. I guess the other side of that coin is the inflation that is driving the rate rises reduces the value of our debt so our overall position probably isn't really affected too much.

Don't have too many stonks right now. Only around 25k plus about 12k of crypto. Stonks are all on DRP for now but obviously will turn that off upon retirement. Also have a heap of unvested shares with my employer, like probably close to 100k and growing by 50-60k each year, but I won't count them until they hatch.

 

[teezzy]

Muh Yu-Gi-Oh cards

 

[fatty]

Do you guys use a budgeting app at all?

Recommendations welcome

I have a torr... legally obtained version of You Need A Budget on my PC

Maybe ill just keep using that

It's built in with my bank, all transactions are sorted out and you just need to define a fixed amout per month per the categories you choose. I used to do everything by hand in Excel. And before that by hand. I've been doing a strict budget since I was 10.

Yeah i actually saw Chase offers similar features online

Maybe ill play around this weekend with it

Sorry for the delayed response. I just use a simple spreadsheet:



There are a lot more efficient programs, but I have used it for years and I am stubborn to switch since it works well for me. I use Chase for my credit card and download the transactions to import them into my spreadsheet, but haven't taken advantage of the other features that they offer.

Some other popular ones I have hear positive things about are Every Dollar and Mint. I found a couple of short videos that give a good overview, if either seems something that would be interesting to use please do a little more digging to find some detailed reviews.





The biggest advice I can give is to just jump in and do something. Anything that gets you to start tracking your spending. You want to know where your money is going, because there are purchases that we are not aware of that will quickly add up. Hope you find something that works for you! I also appreciate the finance videos you post, it is crazy the financial shape some of these people are in.

 

[fatty]

Sorry for the late reply. Would be a mix of rental income from investment properties and dividends from stonks. Currently have 2 IPs earning around $6200/month in rent. Interest payments were around $2000/month prior to the recent rate rises. Now around $4500/month. Still positively geared but a bit of a setback. I guess the other side of that coin is the inflation that is driving the rate rises reduces the value of our debt so our overall position probably isn't really affected too much.

Don't have too many stonks right now. Only around 25k plus about 12k of crypto. Stonks are all on DRP for now but obviously will turn that off upon retirement. Also have a heap of unvested shares with my employer, like probably close to 100k and growing by 50-60k each year, but I won't count them until they hatch.

No problem, sorry that I didn't respond to this sooner. I love the idea of using rentals for income (I only have one but want more). That interest payment change you mentioned is crazy. I did a little research and it seems like Australia does not have long term fixed rate mortgage options:

Banks do not offer 30-year fixed-rate residential mortgages in Australia, unlike the United States (US). At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–21, a substantial number of Australian borrowers took note of the ultra-low interest rates caused by loose monetary policy, and sensibly locked in fixed-rate mortgages, with fixed-rate periods typically lasting from 1 to 3 years. As interest rates have increased over the past 12 months, these borrowers will likely experience large increases in their minimum loan repayments when their fixed-rate periods end.

With the way that interest rates have been increasing, yet the overall stock market is still going up, I just don't see it sustaining itself. But I thought this at the beginning of the year, and here we are. To me it just seems like it is built on a house of cards, and at some point there will be a lot of people not able to make their mortgage payments. It probably doesn't help that I watched 'The Big Short' and 'Margin Call' recently, but it seems like the situation with 2008 will happen again.

 

[p_banned]

Sorry for the delayed response. I just use a simple spreadsheet:



There are a lot more efficient programs, but I have used it for years and I am stubborn to switch since it works well for me. I use Chase for my credit card and download the transactions to import them into my spreadsheet, but haven't taken advantage of the other features that they offer.

Some other popular ones I have hear positive things about are Every Dollar and Mint. I found a couple of short videos that give a good overview, if either seems something that would be interesting to use please do a little more digging to find some detailed reviews.





The biggest advice I can give is to just jump in and do something. Anything that gets you to start tracking your spending. You want to know where your money is going, because there are purchases that we are not aware of that will quickly add up. Hope you find something that works for you! I also appreciate the finance videos you post, it is crazy the financial shape some of these people are in.

Yeah, that is a waste of time now. A good bank will do al' of that automatically and you can still tweak the info.

 

[fatty]

Yeah, that is a waste of time now. A good bank will do al' of that automatically and you can still tweak the info.

The main thing that is time consuming is separating individual purchases shown on a receipt to the different categories and I don't see how a bank would be able to help with that.

 

[fatty]

INVESTING

This post just pertains to long term retirement investing. For short term, we have other threads that I would recommend checking out:

Global Economics - Inflation News, GDP, Employment, AntiWork Commies.
Stonk Market |OT|

There is a lot of discussion out there on which is the best way to go about it (Traditional 401k vs Roth 401k, actively managed funds vs index funds, etc.), I will just share what I do as I like to keep it very simple and not have to constantly watch over my portfolio. If you disagree or have other recommendations, by all means share, I am just showing what has worked for me and providing a pathway for those who haven't gotten started. The most important thing is that you should be doing something. Below are my thoughts for those of us in the U.S., for those in Australia I would check out this post in this MMM thread and for our Canadian posters this post in the same thread.

1. Emergency Fund - As for the order of investing, I do agree with Dave Ramsey in that you want to have some type of emergency fund set in place before you start investing. He recommends a lot more steps before investing but I will let you decide on that.

2. 401k Company Match - Contribute to your 401k (traditional or Roth) up to the company match. The company match is one of the best investment returns you can get with your money. After that you need to decide if you are going the traditional 401k or Roth 401k route, it all depends on if you think your tax rate is going to be higher now or when you are in retirement and where your income will be at that tax rate in retirement.

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Myself, I started with traditional 401k but now I am doing Roth. I don't trust the government as it is so I try to minimize my future exposure as much as possible.​

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One thing you will need to watch for is the type of funds you pick in your 401k. Some companies will pre-select certain funds for you that may have very high fees or poor rates of return. Review them and choose the best option available. If you have questions, post them in here as I am sure there are a lot of people willing to help but I would recommend choose an index type fund with low fees and expense ratios.​

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3. Traditional IRA or Roth - Now that you were able to take advantage of the free money your company is offering, the next step is to reap the tax benefits of these retirement vehicles.

From Fidelity's site:

An IRA is an account set up at a financial institution that allows an individual to save for retirement with tax-free growth or on a tax-deferred basis. The 3 main types of IRAs each have different advantages:
Traditional IRA - You make contributions with money you may be able to deduct on your tax return, and any earnings can potentially grow tax-deferred until you withdraw them in retirement.1 Many retirees find themselves in a lower tax bracket than they were in pre-retirement, so the tax-deferral means the money may be taxed at a lower rate.
Roth IRA - You make contributions with money you've already paid taxes on (after-tax), and your money may potentially grow tax-free, with tax-free withdrawals in retirement, provided that certain conditions are met.2
Rollover IRA - You contribute money "rolled over" from a qualified retirement plan into this traditional IRA. Rollovers involve moving eligible assets from an employer-sponsored plan, such as a 401(k) or 403(b), into an IRA.
Whether you choose a traditional or Roth IRA, the tax benefits allow your savings to potentially grow, or compound, more quickly than in a taxable account. Our Roth vs. Traditional IRA Calculator can help you determine an appropriate option.

For 2023, the annual IRA contribution limit is $6,500 for individuals under 50, or $7,500 for 50 or older. Take advantage of this if you can. A big benefit of a Roth IRA is you don't have to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) while you're alive. In contrast, the IRS requires holders of traditional IRAs to start taking RMDs by April 1 of the year after they reach 72. With a Roth IRA, your money has more time to grow tax-free.

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If your income is too high to contribute to a Roth IRA, you can still do a Backdoor Roth.

4. Maximizing your 401k - If you are still looking at the investment route, this would be another option to consider, especially considering that you can only contribute so much to an IRA. Personally, I am using my spare money for real estate investing, short term investing and day trading (more on these later), but if you want to stick to a more conservative, hands-off approach, this is certainly a viable route. One thing to make sure is that you are comfortable with the choices your employer is offering (fees, good rate of return, etc.). You may also have the option to purchase company stock, but if you do don't put this as your only option. You want to diversify your portfolio as much as possible.

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Noting that this is all retirement investing, there will be penalties for accessing some of this before 59 1/2 (you can access what you paid into the Roth but not the gains). The way you are able to access it before then is the Roth IRA Conversion Ladder. I am not there yet so I don't know all the details, but wanted to include a video to provide some additional details:

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[Concern]

Awesome thread. Im good with managing my money. Cleared out my credit cards and make a decent living. Just trying to find where to put some money in to watch it multiply.

Down here in Miami everything is stupidly expensive. So property is kinda rough but that's I've been looking for.

 

[TaySan]

Finally got a 401k again after a decade. After a year my company will match 6%. Getting my spending under control and saving.

 

[teezzy]

HOLY SHIT