Will, you seriously need to read that book I mentioned above, "The Simple Path to Wealth", by J.L Collins
He is from New Hampshire!
My New Hobby, Investing (to Sail/Cruise)
- Thread starter CloudDiver
- Start date
He is from New Hampshire!
I will look into it, thank you. My wife read one years ago by a guy named Givens. His first piece of advice was, pay yourself first. Somewhere in there, he points out that more wealth has been made from real estate that any other path. Last I heard, years ago, he'd been arrested for fraud.
That, of course, doesn't mean he didn't give good advice, just that I have less faith in it than before.
- Will (Dragonfly)
A few things I want to point out:
1) If I remember correctly, you are counting on 18% APR. That may work now but doubt long term, especially as your money grows.
2) The markets, including housing, is going to be in the dumps in 5 years.
3) It is 100 times easier to make money when the market is going up; it will not keep going up all the time. Most expect it to tank just before or during the primaries for 2020 and some think it can be worse this time around.
My advice: make money while you can and have a goal and plan, but keep it private. By stating an aggressive (some may say far fetched) plan publicly, if it doesn't pan out you will feel like a fool.
1) If I remember correctly, you are counting on 18% APR. That may work now but doubt long term, especially as your money grows.
2) The markets, including housing, is going to be in the dumps in 5 years.
3) It is 100 times easier to make money when the market is going up; it will not keep going up all the time. Most expect it to tank just before or during the primaries for 2020 and some think it can be worse this time around.
My advice: make money while you can and have a goal and plan, but keep it private. By stating an aggressive (some may say far fetched) plan publicly, if it doesn't pan out you will feel like a fool.
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,037
One recommendation start a HSA as soon as you can. It will be a valuable tool in your adventure.
A little late for you maybe, but every kid once he gets an allowance should read and ocassionally re-read the book
"The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley. It does not tell you how to make the money, its more of a treatise on what millionaires have in common in their livestyle. It is very interesting and timeless.
"The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley. It does not tell you how to make the money, its more of a treatise on what millionaires have in common in their livestyle. It is very interesting and timeless.
So basically you did what 90% of young guys do.(myself included) The question is did you have fun? I did.
fun fact: you can marry more money in five minutes than you can save in a life time
Be careful, very careful. I thought I married money but after the wedding I found out everything was leased.
Excellent point... Using an HSA is a strategy that is mention in the book I cited above and in several of the financial management blogs I read. I am looking into it, but at the moment I do not use a High Deductible Health Insurance provider, so to start one would cost me some money. I have to do the math on what it will cost to fund the account and what it's long term benefit will be vs. other tax-sheltered investments that I could possibly make.
1) I certainly don't think I'm getting 18%, If I made a typo somewhere please point it out. I use 7% as a conservative growth estimate for my long term accounts.
2) I agree, the markets will dive at some point and I'm prepared for that. The majority of my holdings are long term, 20 to 30 years before I expect to tap into them. History has proven that over long periods the markets always recover. On the housing market, I plan to sell if I catch the right window. If I don't, I will stay put and re-align my plan. If the housing market takes a dump and I will still want to leave I can rent my property for a small profit, even if the rental averages slide a bit too. I will just have to wait to tap into the equity until a later time.
3) Agree and totally expect markets to slide post 2020, also post this years mid-terms. Old adage "when there is blood in the water, buy more". Again, all of my stock holdings are Dividends that Drip Invested. After markets slide I will by more shares at a handsome discount, they will recover in price eventually.
I don't see how I could look like a fool if the markets fluctuate, as they always have and always will. This is long term investing, not really different than most people do with managed retirement accounts. I haven't stated any specific funds or stocks (other than category types) or what percentage of my diversification I hold them in. So how is it that I will look foolish? The lessons I am trying to share with others are 1) have a plan and track the plan. 2) Pay attention to your Net Worth and the percentage of disposable income you invest or 'savings rate', and 3) This isn't about getting rich quick, it's about getting rich SLOW with mitigated risk.
IMHO, these are exactly the kinds of statements that prudent investors should avoid. NOBODY knows what might happen in the future, be it next month or 5 years from now. Just be assured that there will be bumps in the markets at some point, and have a plan to ride them out. Forget the timing part.
@CloudDiver ,
I did some satellite internet work for a cruiser in the Bahamas many years ago. He was paying his way through the Caribbean night trading the currency markets in Asia. He set up an alarm to get him up an hour before the Asian market opened. He then studied the numbers from the overnights, made his trades at market open, and then went back to bed. I set up a portable Vsat broadband system for him so that he could have high speed internet as he moved from marina to marina.
He had a nice 60'+ sailboat, so his method must have been working for him.
I did some satellite internet work for a cruiser in the Bahamas many years ago. He was paying his way through the Caribbean night trading the currency markets in Asia. He set up an alarm to get him up an hour before the Asian market opened. He then studied the numbers from the overnights, made his trades at market open, and then went back to bed. I set up a portable Vsat broadband system for him so that he could have high speed internet as he moved from marina to marina.
He had a nice 60'+ sailboat, so his method must have been working for him.
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I don't think I'm skilled enough to be day trading on the currency markets, LOL! As far as working while sailing goes, I've heard you can make a nice little bit of pocket change by editing academic papers for non-english as first language students. Depending on the length and importance of the paper, how much grammar/structure/format editing you have to do, it appears you can make up to a couple hundred bucks per paper for about a day's work on a laptop. Only low bandwidth required to download emails with MS Word attachments.
Speaking of SS, CloudDiver, assuming your defined benefit plan is through a US government job, does that mean you are not eligible for Social Security? My dad worked for the Us Forestry Service pretty much all his life, and I thought he said he was not eligible for Social Security. He has since passed away so I can’t ask him.
Defined benefit plans are very hard to come by these days, so it sounds great. But if it replaces Social Security, then maybe not.
Also, does it include lifetime health insurance? That is probably my biggest obstacle to retiring too early. I am 56, married to a wife with some medical issues. I will retire early, planning g on 62 at this point, but health insurance / medical costs are keeping me from getting out of the rat race earlier.
Also, I don’t think you mentioned if you were married or not...that makes a huge difference in how much $$ you need to retire.
Interesting discussion. You have started here!
Greg
Greg... no, not married. Pretty sure that is the only way I am able to achieve a nearly 40% savings rate, LOL. Yes, my defined benefit portion is for Federal service (combined military/civilian GS @ 20 years). I still get SS, but I am under the newest version of the FERS plan. I'm not sure, but under the old CFERS I think you didn't have to pay into SS so you didn't get SS (maybe, someone of that generation would have to speak up). I do know that CFRS was way too generous, thats why it tanked. You could serve 20 years on active duty and get your normal military pension @ 50% of your base pay, then you'd get a Federal GS position and you'd be credited with 20 years of service for your military time, work until 57 (12 to 15 years avg, depending on age you ret from military), and then retire again with a credited 30 to 40 years under the CFRS plan... they called that 'double dipping'. For me, I have 'buy' back my 10 years of active duty service which was $14K for me (still paying for it, but worth it).
That sounds about right...I don’t think my dad paid into SS.
How about health insurance?
Greg
Tally Ho,
Since my wife left her job and we are trying to build a business to become self-employed and self-sustainable, we currently have zero income (I think we have had a rough total of $2000 gross income and much much much more than that in expenses this year). We have been doing little but spending money on infrastructure. My wife's benefits ran out and we had to apply for healthcare on the marketplace. Because we have no income, the price of insurance went from unaffordable, even if we still made our old income, to almost free. There is a sliding scale for determining how much it will cost. There were a few hoops to jump through, but it wasn't that bad. The hardest part is learning to ask the right questions because information isn't always forthcoming. When we start actually making money again, that will change. I don't know what the future will bring in health insurance, but for now, it can be found for an affordable rate.
-Will (Dragonfly)
CSRS didn't pay into SS. FERS does, but you knew that. I get no credit for my military time - I retired from the Navy with 20 yrs and a few months, so get retainer pay. It would be too expensive to buy that back, but I was able to buy my 4 yrs as a midshipman. Half an Ensign's pay from '74-'78 wasn't much, so cost less than $500.
Health insurance I have covered for life, pretty lucky in that respect I guess. In the future I will try to find some type of 'international' coverage plan if such a thing exists because I doubt I will always be able to fly back to the U.S. if I need some medical care. On the flip side, in most travel videos I have seen that discuss health care while traveling or living abroad, you can pretty much afford to pay cash for most general healthcare needs in any country but ours! Also, fingers crossed that my general health remains in good condition so I won't need any consistent high level of procedures or care outside of normal bumps and bruises until I am at the age where I should retire to shore anyway.
I've been looking into starting a Health Savings Account, but I don't have a high deductible health insurance plan. Nothing is stopping me from getting additional health coverage, but it would cost me $75 a month just buy the insurance so I could contribute to the HSA. At this pint it isn't feasible since its already a challenge for me to make the maximum allowable contributions to my 401K and IRA each year plus Drip Invest and buy boat stuff... I'm kinda tapped out after that, LOL. If my salary were to miraculously double in the next three years I would definitely start an HSA.