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How to Save for Retirement From Your 20s to Your 60s
Deciding how to save for retirement is confusing, but hereâs a guide to help you determine whether you should prioritize your 401(k) or your IRA.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
Early Retirement Extreme: The ten-year update
Today, I’m pleased to present a guest article from one of my favorite money bloggers of all time: Jacob Lund Fisker. Fisker founded Early Retirement Extreme in 2007. It quickly became an influential voice for the nascent FIRE movement. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that FIRE wouldn’t be what it is today with his work.
Fisker retired from blogging in 2011. Since then, he and I have exchanged long emails on sometimes arcane subjects. Occasionally I ask him for advice. Recently, I asked him if he’d be willing to update people on where he’s been and what he’s been doing for the past decade. He agreed.
Here, then, is Fisker’s story of life after Early Retirement Extreme (and extreme early retirement). Be warned: His story is not short.
Starting in 2007 (and largely finishing by 2011), I formalized a philosophical alternative to consumerism in the form of a 1000+ post blog and 100,000+ word book [J.D.’s review], which I mistakenly called “Early Retirement Extreme” (or ERE in acronym form). These days, I stick to the acronym form. 😛
Central to my philosophy was the renaissance ideal of spending your life mastering a productive level of competence in a broad range of subjects. This arsenal of “renaissance skills” would then be combined into a mutually reinforcing web-of-goals, which made living more interesting and balanced â but also more cost- and resource-efficient and resilient in the face of the growing complexities and uncertainties of the 21st century.
Being a theoretical physicist by training (and remaining one in spirit) compelled me to present all of this as a theory of everything, rather than the more typical format of a light non-fiction autobiography or overview. As I didnât really figure on a general audience â it was fairly non-existent back in 2008 â that also meant using graphs and equations when applicable.
The benefit of that format was that others could use the ERE design principles to construct their own particular plan according to their own individual circumstances and goals instead of retracing the footsteps of one particular individual.
Retiring from blogging
Eventually, I considered the problem of “How to escape the earn-buy cycle in order to live a more interesting life” solved and sufficiently “communicated”. In 2011, I stopped blogging. I continued to follow the ERE principles in the spirit of the renaissance ideal with the goal of solving other big problems. Being financially independent (FI), I no longer require any compensation even if I still appreciate it â if nothing else than just to keep score or divert the lucre towards more useful purposes (e.g. supporting people on Kiva or Patreon).
Career workers who don’t know me typically ask me what I do for a living, expecting an answer in the form of a job title. (That tends to get awkward and I still don’t have a clever response.)
Similarly, people in the FIRE community (and the media that now covers it since they discovered it a couple of years ago) expect a curriculum vitae in the form of instagram-friendly bucket-list of accomplishments. However, following the systems-based web-of-goals approach, it’s really hard to answer that in a way that satisfies linear formats.
I follow many different leads and do many different things â often concurrently â and sometimes in ways where they combine and result in new, unexpected opportunities (the serendipity effect). It’s therefore difficult to summarize the last ten years of my life in chronological order, so let me instead attempt it as a “skill” or activity-based resume in no particular order.
This format makes more sense since the ERE strategy is to learn something and add value to the process and its environment, a side-effect of which is that I usually don’t have to pay to solve problems and that I sometimes get paid. As a consequence, my spending also remains ridiculously low. (I’ll get to that near the end of this article.)
I apologize that this is long and boring, but ten years is a long time and one can get a lot done in ten years â not all of which might be as interesting to the reader as it is or was to me. So, for the sake of completeness and in no particular order, and perhaps with the hope that I don’t have to write another autobiography for the next ten years, here’s a first-hand answer to the question: “Whatever happened to Jacob Lund Fisker?”
Home Buyer Demand Bounces Back, Small Towns Become Hot
Well that didnât take long â demand to buy a home is now back above its so-called â¨âpre-coronavirus levels,â per a new analysis from real estate brokerage Redfin. The company said demand was a seasonally-adjusted 5.5% higher during the week ending May 10th than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, it would… Read More »Home Buyer Demand Bounces Back, Small Towns Become Hot
The post Home Buyer Demand Bounces Back, Small Towns Become Hot appeared first on The Truth About Mortgage.
6 reasons youâll want to book a balcony cabin on your next cruise
19 Tips on How to Save Money on Utilities
Weâve all heard the saying âItâs not easy being green,â but it can be if you follow these 18 clever tips and tricks for how to save money on utilities.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
A Beginnerâs Guide to Micro-Investing in 2023
What is micro-investing? Lately, I have been hearing a ton about micro-investing, so I thought an article on the topic would be great. My sister-in-law and editor, Ariel Gardner, has been using micro-investing apps for over a year, and today she is going to teach you all about this topic. I heard about micro-investing for […]
The post A Beginnerâs Guide to Micro-Investing in 2023 appeared first on Making Sense Of Cents.
Amazon Great Republic Day Sale 2023: 10 Stylish Curtains And Drapes To Enrich Your Home Interiors – PINKVILLA
Amazon Great Republic Day Sale 2023: 10 Stylish Curtains And Drapes To Enrich Your Home Interiors PINKVILLA
Should you be worried about turbulence? Hereâs what the experts say – The Points Guy
Rogue Waves, Rogue Markets
Until 1984, the sailing world dismissed the existence of “rogue waves.” Oops. It’s an interesting story, and relates to an important lesson about today’s stock market.