jasonjp1016

I was watching Leo’s video “Expose yourself to more experience” and there was a lot of talk of developing skills so you’re not a wage slave. It got me thinking about my journey of financial independence that I’m currently working on right now. So I was looking thru the forum to see if anyone was talking about financial independence by aggressively saving and investing a.k.a “The F.I.R.E. movement. To my surprise I didn’t find anything. The basic premise is you invest enough money into index funds that you can live off indefinitely. So for example if you need $40K a year to live off, you would have to save up $1,000,000. This is called the 4% rule. Basically you could maintain always having $1,000,000 plus keep up with inflation through the years and never run out of money. $1,000,000 sound like a lot of money and it is but with a decent job it’s actually doable within 10 years for a lot of people. For example if you invested $5000 a month for 10 years you would be close to $1,000,000 at a 10% return. Yes, you will need a high paying job to hit your goals quick. Instead of having a fancy house and car you live a more moderate lifestyle, spending well below your means and saving the rest. I’m sure for a lot of people this seems impossible, especially if you’re living paycheck to paycheck. But for a lot of Americans, we waste so much money on stupid shit that it really is possible for mandatory work to become more of an option. For example instead of buying a BMW you could drive a Toyota. Even if you cannot do this in 10 years, if you consistently save thru your working years, most Americans could retire millionaires by cutting out the fluff and saving more. Thus reducing mandatory working years. So why is this relevant to the forum? Once you don’t need to work you can focus on what’s important to you regardless of outcome. The need to succeed no longer matters once you no longer need the money. So now you could write that book, write that song or whatever your passion may be without having to worry about basic survival needs because they’re already met. I can put in some links and answer any questions that people may have in this post generates any interest.

Hello everyone, just wanted to share some links that I thought could help some folks out here with money issues. I've attached an excellent video by Mr. Money Mustache explaining the title. And I've listed a link for more practical information on the subject. I've started this journey 3 years ago after lots of research and haven't looked back. https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/03/07/how-about-that-stock-market/

I wouldn't make the mistake that this is some be all end all philosophy. In fact this is probably really basic shit that should be taught in high school. But unfortunately this is not taught nor is it common sense. The best part is there is nothing to buy. You simply need to educate yourself on a few basic principles and put it to work. An example would be if you put away $100 a month from age 18 to 65 at 10% interest year over year (the S&P 500 index has a historical rate of 10%), you would have $1,046,369.82. And your total contributions in that 47 year span was only $56,400. That's the power of compound interest. Even someone with a really low paying job could probably come up with $100 a month to invest. Hell, even if you don't want to retire early or ever, most people are going to want to put money away for the future for unexpected events and life circumstances unless you have an obscene amount of money on hand. I'm actually shocked by the negative reaction from some posts. I'm simply sharing something that I think could help a lot of people along their journey. You could even look at as a type of fail safe if something doesn't work out. Thats my peace.

I’m investing 3k to 4k a month depending on what I have going on.

@flowboy I’m living it right now, everything you described cannot be further from the truth. Stop making assumptions. Spending less then you make, what a crazy idea!! Geez

@flowboy I would say everyone’s life is unique in where they are at. If you want to be an entrepreneur by all means do it. This is just one of many ways to get there. It’s something I discovered and have become fairly passionate about. I wished would have known about this a lot sooner in life. And I hope at least it helps a few people out in their journey. There’s a ton more information out there if do some research.

@Hello from Russia If these topics don't resonate with you that's fine, do what works for you. I'm just trying to share information with others that has greatly improved my life.

I think you have a big misconception about the topic. Snap judgement I suppose but nothing you said is the reality for many who are on this journey. It's anything but lazy, you essentially have to become an engineer of your life to make any of this happen. If it was easy or lazy everybody would be doing this. In fact it takes much discipline.

@Hello from Russia Perhaps you should actually watch the content before you post comments. There's quite a few nuggets of wisdom in there.

Everyone’s situation is unique but I feel being creative could be more fun and less stressful when you’re not worried about paying rent or worrying about whether you’re going to get paid. Not to mention whether you’ll be successful or not. How many good athletes never make the majors? To answer the analogy, not many. You can still live a really nice life while spending less then you make. It’s not that hard to make money if you have some type of skill. And this strategy is doable for many Americans whether they are aware of it or not. Most probably cannot balance their checkbook or keep track of their spending. To be honest what I’m proposing isn’t exactly a novel idea.

I'm aware of that point in time. If I understand correctly you could also put money in the bank and make some serious interest during those years. I remember in 2009 all the people losing their mind over potential inflation and nothing really serious happened and it's happening again right now. The bad thing about right now is you lose money if you save in a bank thru inflation, because of interest rates being so low. Who knows what's going to happen, I'm not smart enough to know. I used to get caught up in but try not to worry about anymore. Anyone who seems too confident about the future is probably full of shit.

Ha, I can understand that.

I actually have a really good career this is still moving forward 18 years later, but I want the flexibility if I want to change things in the future.

You need higher income if you want to expedite the process for sure. Also you might be surprised how far your money will go when you stop spending on things you don't need or things that don't make you happy. As far as hyperinflation, anything is possible I suppose but I wouldn't be so pessimistic. It happens in poor countries ie, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, etc but the U.S. is still an economic force in the world. Until that changes I have my doubts you would ever see hyperinflation anytime soon.

I would agree. It's not uncommon when people have no purpose after retirement they die sooner then later. Also it's true the money isn't gonna make you happy. For a lot of us, it's just the next stage of our lives to take a chance on something else and not worry too much about the outcome.

Also this doesn't mean you retire and do nothing it just means you're more flexible to do what's really important.

Market crashes typically don't last too long. You would need some money in safer allocations for when crashes happen to ride the storm.

One of the pioneers of this strategy.

It really depends on lifestyle. You have to carry no debt and live very efficiently. Your investments could lose you money in the short term. There are no guarantees in anything, but historical data suggest your return would average 10% per year if you ride the crazy rollercoaster of the ups and downs of the total U.S. stock market. Good investment means investing in broad index funds and not individual stocks. It could be argued you're leaching, but you're also are investing in companies that are moving technology forward. I'm not saying it would provide happiness, but it would free you from the rat race of the 9-5 allowing to focus on what's important to you.

@starsofclay Lets say they are not real and just part of the dream. Would you still be hesitant? Oddly enough I realized I would be hesitant.

Today I was pondering that if giving the opportunity to stop this life and start a new one clean slate as if this was a dream and be giving a new set of circumstances, I wouldn’t do it. I know I want to finish this one out even if it’s just a dream. I’m too attached to the things going on in my life to just drop it. I want to see where it all ends up. Then it dawned on me if this is the case that I need to accept everything just that way it is because I already accept my circumstances and I’m willing to keep going forward and see what happens. Why fight it? As I was showering and having these thoughts, I felt all my worries disappear and weight lifted off my shoulders. It felt so nice to accept what I have to deal with and it was really no big deal rather then resist things. It as a very peaceful and liberating feeling. We have to ponder this thought because if you think you’re looking for enlightenment but cannot even consider giving up your life even if you knew it was a dream then I don’t think you really want enlightenment. I realized I don’t really want it if it means the end of me. I want to keep moving forward and see where this all goes. Who knows where it all leads.. So for a good exercise ask yourself; would you be willing to give up your life as you know it if you knew it was a dream, start a new life with new circumstances, a new family, a new loved one, never knowing again the people and family in your current situation. That means realizing that all the people in your life are just dream stuff you may be creating. I'm not saying that I know this is the case, I'm just saying ponder it to see if you would really give it up if you knew 100% it was a dream for something different or would you want keep moving forward with your current situation. Again I'm not claiming any of this as true, but simply a good exercise to see what others would choose. I'm interesting in hearing anyone's thoughts.

Maybe I should have put this in another way. Would you let go of this life if you knew it wasn't real in exchange for the TRUTH whatever that may be? That's what I was really getting at in the original post.

@starsofclay I actually have a nice life. We all have regrets but I learned to let go of the past for the most part. I'm a little anxious about the future and finding my real purpose. When I thought about this I realized even if it was a dream I would actually still enjoy living in this life if I just let go and let life happen instead of being uptight about not being where I want to be right now. You don't know what's going to happen which makes it kind of exciting even if it's not real. Plus I realized I'm more attached to the people in my life then I originally realized after this exercise even if they're not real. My main purpose in the post was to see if others would let go of their attachments in this life if they new it wasn't real. I always thought I wanted enlightenment, but when I thought about it this way it made me realize I'm more attached to this life then I realized. And honestly when I saw it from that perspective my challenges were easier to accept. To answer your question if all my attachments had passed on I think it would make it much easier to start a new dream, but I'm sure they're so many things to be learned if you stick with your current. All of this being hypothetical of course.

I know in these circles people usually eliminate caffeine from their daily lives, but has anyone ever tried drinking a cup of coffee before meditation? I'm not a daily coffee drinker, but I noticed that sometimes it can really enhance a meditation session if you can still the mind. Just today I felt like having a cup after work and then did my daily 20 minute practice and it was super intense once I could slow down the chatter. I lost sense of where I'm at in relation to my body and my presence expanded in the blackness that I could see. Also for a few minutes it felt like I couldn't move my body. I had other experiences before but this was the most intense. Probably should mention I was using binaural beats and a blind fold. Just thought I'd throw it out there for anyone who wants to experiment with it. I guess your mileage may very as I'm fairly sensitive to caffeine. I look forward to hearing anyone else's experience.

Looking for some thoughts on why the attack on atheism, which means: disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods. I was brought up a Christian and gave up the idea of a personal god who lives in the clouds and all the dogma that goes with it years ago. But I thinks it’s funny when so called spiritual people don’t believe in this basic concept of god but don’t consider them selves atheists. I understand when people claim to be atheist there is a whole new package of dogma that goes with it and that’s what is being denounced. Claiming to not believe in religion or god, as far as I’m concerned can still put you in a state of not knowing. You can not believe in a personal god and not take the science thing to seriously and do consciousness work. For me the first step was giving up those religious limiting beliefs and things eventually fell into place on the spiritual path. I don’t think the word atheism needs to be used in a negative way. Just curious on if anyone else feels it could be handled better..