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Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

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Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#151

Post by charlesdm »

zen_boy wrote: post #142
charlesdm wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. If you intend to move back at some point, it doesn’t matter. Say you generate €75-100k a year from that million in the future, you’ll be paying 25k a year in taxes anyway. The more capital you have, the more you can generate, hence the more tax you can pay in the future. Pay 333k now vs 25k a year over the next 50 years. But building that first €500k-1m is hard, imo. 2. Always give back. For example, I gift €X,000…

Great points. Ultimately, it seems to boil down to deferring tax to the future instead of the present resulting in higher gains for everybody, and having the freedom to choose on how to give back. Both of which seem like the obvious after further consideration. I'm really curious about your story. Would you be interested in continuing this discussion over email?

Sure! E-mail address is on my HN profile.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#152

Post by charlesdm »

desdiv wrote: post #146
charlesdm wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Belgium (where I live), these gains are tax free. So that is one country you could potentially move to to avoid the tax. The same applies for the UK, Malta, Cyprus (non dom regime) and Monaco. If I were you, I'd consider doing the perpetual traveler thing for a while (i.e. while having a base in Malta, which is cheap) and cash out + reinvest in stocks. After a few years, move back, and then pay capital gains tax o…

>This is why certain people move to a country without capital gains tax to sell their company. Do you happen to have an example of this?

The easiest example I could find: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1132957/Piers-Morgan.... But there are plenty of these stories if you go looking.

Note: this does not apply to Americans, because they are taxed based on citizenship, not residency. But even within the US you can save taxes by moving states (i.e. by being based in Texas or Seattle when selling your company, vs California). I believe Mike Arrington did this.

Another example: - http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/12/10/cest-it-aint-so-gege-fre...

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#154

Post by aminorex »

maaaats wrote: post #110
aminorex wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that index funds will probably decline by about 3-4x over the next 10 years on the demographic cycle.

What do you mean?

There's a good San Francisco FRB white paper on it. Should be an easy Google whack. Boomers sell the world during their retirement burn.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#155

Post by aminorex »

whamlastxmas wrote: post #121
aminorex wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Super high burn rate. 200k is a slave wage in Manhattan, or in SFO bay for that matter.

#shitHNsays

It's just true. You live like a galley slave at that rate. It takes about 300k to approximate the lifestyle that 40k can get you in Omaha.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#156

Post by zen_boy »

repomies691 wrote: post #29

A mix of consulting, products and bitcoin. Happened to just be in a right place at the right time, and took (mostly) the right risks. Basically I went from zero net worth to 2-3 million liquid, within about 7 years. Also have some other illiquid assets which could be worth more or less. First I started with consulting, then slowly started developing different apps/products/services, and funded the development from co…

Are you also from Finland? Would love to share stories and insights! You can find my contact info on alexhanh.com, if you are interested to talk. :)

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#157

Post by morgante »

Jtsummers wrote: post #114
netman21 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first thought: you forgot medical insurance. But I guess if you are making under $10K a year you get it for free. I know I pay $11,500 for medical insurance with a $18K deductible, so could have as much as $30K a year in medical costs. Meaning you have to earn $50K just to cover medical (married 57 yrs old, self employed).

Medical insurance (pre-ACA, get it through my employer so I haven't researched it) was very inexpensive for pretty good policies as a mostly healthy twenty-something. In NC I had BCBS, a policy equivalent to my current one through work, with a $2k or so deductible that cost me around $1500/year. OTOH, pre-ACA you could go without and not pay any penalties if you were feeling lucky (I wasn't, and glad I didn't because…

The very cheapest medical plan I can find (as a healthy young person) post-ACA is $200. ACA definitely made health insurance more expensive for some categories of people and is a real burden on freelancers.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#158

Post by mywittyname »

anonu wrote: post #67

In the USA the surest and safest way to do this is to follow the American Dream... ie: buy a house. Specifically, buy a multi-family in a constantly in-demand area / big city. The devil is in the details on the economics of all this... how much you put down vs how much you borrow, etc.. etc... But within 30 years (assuming you get a 30-year mortgage) you will certainly be financially independent. The key is to manage…

The downside is that you need to be a landlord and this can be a risky proposition. You have to navigate a potential mine-field of tenant friendly regulations and pray that a tenant doesn't destroy your property.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#159

Post by mywittyname »

samsonradu wrote: post #147
maaaats wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just buy index funds. They have low fees, and beat most (if not all) managed funds long term anyway. Find a fond tracking S&P 500, one global and maybe some other markets, and you should be set.

Thanks, any brokers you'd recommend?

Vanguard is considered the best in the business.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#160

Post by mywittyname »

aminorex wrote: post #93
maaaats wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just buy index funds. They have low fees, and beat most (if not all) managed funds long term anyway. Find a fond tracking S&P 500, one global and maybe some other markets, and you should be set.

Keep in mind that index funds will probably decline by about 3-4x over the next 10 years on the demographic cycle.

Not a chance. Sure, it will almost certainly decline at some point in the next decade, but to predict the biggest stock market decline in history is really far fetched. Especially in an era when investment funds are holding onto record cash reserves in hopes of buying up cheap stocks during the next decline.
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