[Bkite]

Thought I would come back for an update. I now have zero debt of any kind, two paid for vehicles, paid for camper, and an 806 FICO score.

Not bad for a guy who had exactly $2.52 just ten years ago when I first joined GPDO.

Damned good! Absolutely enviable from my perspective.

 

[Scout706]

My update.

Here's it is. in 2012 or '13 I used a modest inheritance to pay off all debt, including house. Worked steadily until May catching up with retirement investments, around 30% of gross income. Last May I lost my job. 12 weeks later, wife is still working, and getting full social security (though she's only 39 !) She wants to retire in September. For now, we are fine, I will have to find work soon so she can retire, but otherwise we are okay. We live frugally anyway. Trying to sell extraneous stuff around house/garage, no luck so far. 8mm ammo, an Ishapore Enfield (.308, china set. More for de-clutter than financial need.

Point is, with house paid off, and zero other debt, what could be a crisis is just inconvenient. Irks me I'm not contributing to 401(k).

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

What is your field of expertise?

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Thought I would come back for an update. I now have zero debt of any kind, two paid for vehicles, paid for camper, and an 806 FICO score.

Not bad for a guy who had exactly $2.52 just ten years ago when I first joined GPDO.

Cool! What is your savings rate?

Two links below discuss savings rate if you are unfamiliar with my question.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/01/26/calculating-net-worth/

and​

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/

 

[Scout706]

TYhought I sent a PM, anyway. . .

What is your field of expertise?

Drafting, 3D mechanical, mainly SolidWorks, but also Inventor, and AutoCAD. Am able to do civil and architectural. I teach Drafting 2 nights a week at a Technical College. I have so far been choosy about location - don't want to drive further southwest than Norcross (from Barrow County).

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Drafting, 3D mechanical, mainly SolidWorks, but also Inventor, and AutoCAD. Am able to do civil and architectural. I teach Drafting 2 nights a week at a Technical College. I have so far been choosy about location - don't want to drive further southwest than Norcross (from Barrow County).

It seems like that would be a skill in demand. You can't relocate for a good opportunity?

 

[Scout706]

Maybe in a few months if wife fully retires. Open to temp and contract work. Though the teaching gig currently keeps me here.

 

[45_Fan]

I’m surprised this thread has gone cold. It’s always been on of my favorites.

I’ve set a tentative goal to pay off my mortgage in April 2021.

After that, my remaining challenge to being fiscally retired early is healthcare (insurance) costs until I turn 65.

 

[Scout706]

Update: took a temp job last September, more $ per hour than I have ever made, but the longest commute. Dropped the teaching gig, new job and new campus location were difficult. Wife fully retired, MIL moved in, life is mostly good. All surplus funds diverted to car replacement.

 

[zetor]

Grinding away at the game. Maxing 401, HSA, and putting the rest towards mortgage principle. We got a pay cut this year......one of those that's disguised as an opportunity to earn more if you can jump a little higher than last year. My high jump isn't getting any better. I'm going to prioritize.....
1. 401,
2.HSA
3. extra principle payments towards house in that order. I got to get outta here as fast as I can. It's wearing on me.

 

[45_Fan]

I got to get outta here as fast as I can. It's wearing on me.

Yep, 3 rounds of layoffs in a calendar year...nobody is asking "do you know anybody that's hiring", everybody is asking "how much longer until you retire?"

 

[diamondback]

I'm surprised this thread has gone cold. It's always been on of my favorites.

I've set a tentative goal to pay off my mortgage in April 2021.

After that, my remaining challenge to being fiscally retired early is healthcare (insurance) costs until I turn 65.

You don't think AOC ( that crazy lady from New York) will pay it off for ya?

 

[45_Fan]

Necro-thread to share my mortgage saga:
2000 started a nice little IT job and began saving for a down payment.
2001 replaced vehicle (cash).
2003 20% down/borrowed $135k with a 2010 payoff goal ($1500/mo to cash savings, but not principal, for this purpose).
2004 got married (spent cash there...and increased monthly spending).
2005 payed off vehicle (loan came with marriage).
2007 replaced totaled vehicle (from marriage) with cash+other driver’s insurance.
2008 married savings rate finally established.
2011 refinanced to save $160/mo; 2015 payoff goal established.
2013 cash paid for land to build the next home; still on target for 2015 payoff.
2015 ghosted/served divorce papers, $105k->$1k cash reserve.
2016 divorce finalized; post-divorce savings rate established; 401k/HSA maxed; EOY 2019 payoff goal set.
2017 spent cash to replace vehicle from 2001 (head dropped a valve seat); goal slips to EOY 2020.
2018-2020 joys of home ownership: repair water line to house, replace water heater, repaint exterior/replace roof to meet HOA specifications; goal slips to EOY 2021.
2020 COVID-19 means no commuting, cancelled social obligations, and work from home which encourages bulk food purchase/prep...EOY numbers say the goal moved up to April 2021.

Fingers crossed...

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

No such thing as a necropost for a thread like this. I hope it goes on for years to come.

45_Gun, thanks for sharing. That is a LOT happening over 20 years! Good and bad. That's life, but you keep planning and executing.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Interest never sleeps nor sickens nor dies; it never goes to the hospital; it works on Sundays and holidays; it never takes a vacation; it never visits nor travels; it takes no pleasure; it is never laid off work nor discharged from employment; it never works on reduced hours; it never has short crops nor droughts; it never pays taxes; it buys no food; it wears no clothes; it is unhoused and without home and so has no repairs, no replacements, no shingling, plumbing, painting, or white-washing; it has neither wife, children, father, mother, nor kinfolk to watch over and care for; it has no expense of living; it has neither weddings nor births nor deaths; it has no love, no sympathy; it is as hard and soulless as a granite cliff. Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you.

https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/dont-buy-stuff-you-cannot-afford/

Well worth the click . . .

 

[dhaller]

I developed my best insights into credit scores around 2001 or so: that's it's less a measure of how responsible you are, and more a measure of how good a banking customer you are.

I'd been living a number of years pretty much "cash basis". I had no payments of any kind - no car payments, no mortgage, no credit cards. I didn't even use credit cards; I had a debit card on the VISA network, and an Amex Platinum (the fancier card is good for international travel). I decided to rent an apartment in Buckhead just as a crash pad, since I was living in Cartersville at the time and sometimes it was inconvenient if I had meetings in Atlanta over a few days.

The apartment wanted a deposit. It kind of floored me, because I made a good income, had cash in the bank and healthy investments, and was Mister No Debt Ever (I made sure college was free, and had kept up the never-finance practice). It turned out that wasn't as good from a "credit score" perspective as having and keeping revolving obligations.

Once you understand that, credit score pumping becomes a matter of gaming the system... making sure you have loans, but hacking things a bit to minimize the bite of interest (for example, I do have a mortgage on a property currently, but I pay two extra months a year, which greatly reduces repayment time). I still use an Amex for pretty much everything (I can rack up 200k+ points per year, which I hoard like Smaug), and use a Visa for those quirky times Amex isn't accepted (paid in full monthly).

I monitor credit also; I HAVE found errors on mine (because of a relative with the same name), and I challenge them per whatever tools the reporting agencies offer.

DH

 

[45_Fan]

My score floats 80X-83X depending on who is doing the reporting and which day of the week it is. I pay off daily-use cards every month (cash-back awards essentially make up my annual clothing budget) and only carry a mortgage.

I briefly looked into what I could do to increase my credit score and got conflicting answers. Open more accounts vs close some accounts, pay down some debt vs take out more debt, spread the spending around a bunch of cards vs consolidate spending on a few cards. I kinda feel like there is only risk and expense to be had if my score is already over 800.

 

[Clark]

I'm much the same as dhaller, but I knew about the credit paradox going into it. I keep one credit card and treat it like cash, if I don't have the money in my account to pay for whatever right now, I don't buy it. I run the balance into the negatives about once every two weeks or so. When I bought my truck, I was able to get 1.99% interest on a 60 month loan, and I paid it off a year early. Through both my bank and the bank my Truck was financed through, I signed up for their regular credit monitoring widget and it was interesting to watch right after I bought the truck, my score dipped, then shot up and has stayed pretty high since paying it off.

 

[Savannah Dan]

I had forgotten who Smaug was and had to look him up.

 

[45_Fan]

Mortgage paid in full this morning. No more interest payments to anybody for anything!

There was no escrow so I was already managing property tax/insurance/HOA dues. My paycheck split direct deposit has been updated to move the balance (after accounting for tax deduction difference) from checking/bill pay to savings.