Piracy
Being born into a rich western country.
Not having kids.
A literal move actually. 20 years ago I moved from America to a country with universal health care. That has saved my family probably close to a quarter million bucks in health care fees alone.
Not to mention the headache. It feels like every time I get treatment I have to argue with my insurance until they eventually cave (assuming it’s something they actually cover). I asked my mom if this is how healthcare is really like and she said “yeah it’s just the culture, it’s normal” acting as it having to beat the fuck out of a metaphorical piñata to pay for life saving treatment is ok or acceptable. Like why the fuck can’t you just pay for the treatment that I fucking pay you to cover?
Oh god, I hear ya. A long while back I needed some serious treatment and ended up in a hospital for two weeks. It was the first time I had ever gotten truly sick, so I was dreading the final bill. But when the docs said nah you’re good, it’s covered, just take your meds and come back in a week for your follow-up, I damn near died a second time :P
Did you move to Vietnam?
Close, it was Japan
I’ve heard the Japanese have extreme xenophobia these days. How do you survive? Is it hard to make local friends?
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I would love to hear your story if you’re willing to share.
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Thanks for sharing.
Most of the things mentioned in this thread are mostly dumb luck and not necessarily active financial decisions.
Kind of the point. A lot of financial “success” is nothing but dumb luck.
Yeah, half of these comments are just: I bought a house.
damned Reddit immigrants
- Not having a car (always living/renting in walking or biking distance of my work)
- Moving in with my partner straight out of college so we could split expenses
- Moving (with partner) to a low-cost-of-living city for the first 5 years after college
- Putting most of my medium-term and long-term savings into low-expense-ratio, passively managed index funds starting in my early 20s
- Buying almost exclusively second-hand clothes, furniture, and cookery
- Borrowing all desired books (and many desired movies and TV shows) from the library
- Only buying games when they are bundled or otherwise on steep discount years after release
- Pirating any other media in which I’m interested if its distributors make it even remotely difficult for me to buy it at a reasonable price
- Planning all dinners in advance every week before grocery shopping (leads to almost never eating at restaurants or ordering takeout, and almost no food waste because grocery list is based on actual meals)
Now, if I had to choose the best financial move out of that list? Probably the index funds. Though not having to pay for a car (or car insurance, or car registration, or car repair and maintenance, or parking, or fuel) is a close second.
In 2017 my landlord raised my rent from $1k to $1100 a month for the place I rented with my daughter because I finally broke down and got her a dog. I was annoyed because this wasn’t in the lease but I was month to month by this time and figured I could probably get a house around me for the same cost and at least I’d be building equity. I closed in 2018 on a $120k fixer upper on 12 acres. I got a $30k rehab loan and my mortgage/insurance/property tax payment ended up being just over $1100. I spent 7 months in major renovations.
Fast forward to today, I have a 2.875% mortgage rate with just over $1000 a month all in payment (early COVID refi saved me about $100/month), my house was just appraised for $415k, and I was able to sell 5 acres of the land for a total of about $160k.
A free shelter dog ended up turning $150k into $575k. 10/10 would recommend.
I was gonna say buying a house too. Mortgage payments are 1/3 what my rent was, and rents have doubled since then.
Life changing circumstances, but big props on you for having the confidence to go through with it! Life presented you with the opportunity and you seized it!
This is wholesome sorry. I am happy for you both anons and that you have doggo a great loving home <3
Learning about long term index fund investing in my early 20s.
Are there any resources you’d like to recommend?
Bogleheads Guide to Investing - First Edition PDF
Book Summary on Bogleheads Wiki
This is somewhat of a speed run of the book.
The Bogleheads philosophy is basically to buy everything with a 2 or 3 fund portfolio.
- Total Stock Fund
- Total Bond Fund
- Total International Fund
The linked documents will explain those in more detail, but the concept is to buy everything so you always have bought the biggest winners, not to bet on a handful that will all lose or win, but at bigger expense to you.
They’ll tell you how much to buy of each and what type of account to keep it in to max tax effectiveness.
It’s not complicated once you read the source, and anyone should be able to understand it, it’s not written to be cryptic or to sell you something. You can put your money anywhere you choose and it works the same.
I’ve followed it for about 15 years or so and have been very happy. There’s no checking on stock news or any of that BS, you just develop a plan you’re comfortable with, and then stick to it. The more hands off you are, the better honestly.
Wow, thank you!
Of course! The hardest part is usually just getting started, so there’s no need to overcomplicate.
For those also saying “well look at this rich person with money to invest over here,” you can also read this stuff and be a step or two ahead when you do get to invest, because one of the first things it explains is prioritizing where to put money. Fill up one level before moving on to the next, but by reading ahead, you know what to do when you get there so you are prepared.
Money for us non-uber rich folk works best with time, so the sooner you get in the game, the more success you should have overall. They call this “getting rich slowly” which doesn’t sound exciting, but that’s the point. Most people don’t want to be on an emotional roller coaster with their money, they’d rather be on a lazy river ride that gets then where they want to be.
The nice thing is that, physically it’s the easiest thing in the world. The only complicated part is not trying to game it or convince yourself that you need more than the 2 or 3 fund portfolio.
Just buy a Total market index fund, some sort of bond fund and maybe some total market international stock fund
Bogleheads is great. There’s also a book called “common sense on mutual funds”
Thanks
As 2023 was beginning I set a goal that I would have $5k in the bank no matter what.
Up to this year I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck. But resolving to save up $5k pushed me out of that for the first time ever.
I never did hit $5k. But I stopped living paycheck to paycheck. I haven’t checked my balance before paying rent since february of last year. I always have enough, and I just pay the bill.
The amount of stress that immediately goes away when you are able to stop the paycheck to paycheck cycle is priceless. Nice work!
It also helps that I’ve got a little financial system going.
I get paid every two weeks. My rent is about 1200. Each paycheck is about 1200 - 1400. Paid every two weeks. Each paycheck, 1000 goes into my “bills” account, and the remainder into my “spending” account. So each paycheck I get about $300 for groceries, coffee, entertainment, whatever.
All the bills are on auto-pay to draw from that bills account, and the 1000 per paycheck is enough to cover all my bills plus save some. So my savings is accumulating in the bills account.
I also got myself a credit card for the first time in twenty years, and now my phone bill’s being auto-paid from that, with the CC being auto-paid from the bills account.
That structure helps too. But I wouldn’t have been able to start it without a lump of cash on hand
Deciding not to get a car; it saves ~400.000 euros in my lifetime which at 40k net a year income means 8-10 year earlier pension
Ahh, European public transportation. Not an option in the US unless you live in NYC and rarely leave the city.
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I legit can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic. lol
I can’t imagine being ok with a 4-hr daily commute in a private car with all the amenities, much less one on a public train.
You’re way tougher than I am, if you’re serious, I’ll say that!
A public train or bus is a way nicer commute than in a car. In a car you can’t really do anything but drive. On a train you can do just about any seated task. I wfh now but when I didn’t I would login and start work during my commute.
Fair enough. I’ve only had to use a train in one city when I would go to the airport and that shit was terrifying sometimes. Also, I can just listen to an audiobook if I’m trying to be productive in the car
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I’m so jealous. My work is only a mile away, which in a perfect world I could walk in 10 mins, but because of many slow crosswalks and busy intersections it’s like 30 mins freezing my balls off. Plus there’s a section of road that’s 40mph (64kmh) with no sidewalk, and a bridge that forces pedestrians onto the high speed road. It’s both slow and basically suicide if I tried to make a habit of walking.
There’s another route but the intersection I would need to cross is excruciatingly slow. I had to sit for 15 minutes before I could cross. Plus it’s another 40mph road and if someone runs a red I basically die.
40mph is 64kmph not 93kmph but yeah that’s still uncomfortable to bike besides if it’s busy. I’d say instead of posting it here, send a letter to your local government.
My bad, I have changed it now. Thankfully my town is already working on it, I’m just waiting for the pedestrian infrastructure to spread beyond the town square.
Not buying a boat
Choosing to be child-free.
Same here! Spent about $100 for my vasectomy after insurance. Best $100 I ever spent really, saved me hundreds of thousands.
I decided to basically stop buying anything unless I absolutely needed it for about two years. I put everything I had towards paying off my car and student loans. I had holey socks and shirts, torn up shoes, etc. Refused to spend money.
As a result, I was able to invest the money I was paying on my car and loans and eventually worked enough for a down payment on my current house.
God bless those clothes.
Haha, thanks for catching that.
Paying off my fucking car. New cars are a scam guys, don’t be stupid like me 6 years ago.
Doesn’t have to be if u keep it long enough. The problem is folks usually get upselled long before it sarts being a good deal.
