Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 184 posts

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

#171

Post by nstj »

whatok wrote: post #137
nstj wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you provide some example names? I'm seeing returns of only 1.65% on the Barclays Muni Index[0] [0]: https://index.barcap.com/Benchmark_Indices/Aggregate/Bond_In...

You're looking at the yield; not the returns. You also cannot directly invest in the index but there are ETFs that track it.

Sure - so you're factoring capital appreciation in to the total return for your 4% after tax number? Which would imply that you're not holding these to maturity though right?

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

#173

Post by FTSI_Engineer »

pc86 wrote: post #104
artimaeis wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the core idea behind MMM just spend less, save more? Not sure how that's garbage advice. The particulars of some of the things he advocates aren't possible for everyone, sure. But reducing debt and increasing your savings is a goal that probably everyone who hopes to live another 10+ years should strive for.

Like most finance blogs, the core idea behind MMM (spend less, save more, retire early) is fine. It's the specifics that are either completely ineffectual (don't use AC because you'll get used to the heat anyway), or unrealistic for most people (walk or bike to work; spend $1k on a 20 year old Corolla and be your own mechanic). Edit: And (3) a lot of the advice is the same old thing rehashed in a different way (never…

MMM makes a lot more sense if you view it as an environmentalist masquerading as a early retirement blogger. Take a recent post that starts "If you’re going to become rich, you need to either earn way more money than you spend, or spend way less money than you earn." The rest of the post focuses entirely on spending less.

Arguments like point 4 are sort of silly to me. Most of what he preaches he was doing well before he had a blog that could be monetized. Also, he seems to be pretty up front about commissions on the "MMM recommends" (though he could be more explicit about referral v non-referral links).

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

#174

Post by renaudg »

lubonay wrote: post #27
embwbam wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just switched from Wealthfront to Betterment, because their software does a good job of helping you with this. It asks you what you're using the money for, when you'll need it, and about your tax situation. It'll automatically provide different investment options based on what you answer. So, for your situation you could put some of it into an income producing "goal", and put the rest into something more growth ori…

Both this and Welathfront only operate within the US, which is a shame. Anyone aware of a similar service operating within the EU?

https://www.nutmeg.com in the UK are quite good. I can provide a referral : you get 3 months fee-free (and an additional £100 if you invest >£15k) and I get a small bonus.

There's https://www.yomoni.fr/ in France too

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

#175

Post by renaudg »

vvvv wrote: post #89
lubonay wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both this and Welathfront only operate within the US, which is a shame. Anyone aware of a similar service operating within the EU?

EU criterion may drop away but... In the UK: http://www.wealthify.com/ https://www.nutmeg.com/ https://www.moneyfarm.com/uk/

I'm pretty sure Moneyfarm are based in Italy, so definitely in the EU !

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

#176

Post by QuarterReptile »

charlesdm wrote: post #58
chaostheory wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should check out Mr Money Moustache's approach with frugality then. He was able to pay off his house and 'retire' in his 30s. He was also able to make it work with a kid.

Lots of great stuff on there! There's always something about investing you don't know.

Ehh, honestly I'd say investing is where he says the least. His philosophy on that matter seems to be "invest so you don't have to think about investing".

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

#178

Post by gwbas1c »

doc_holliday wrote: post #34

Related, I am wondering if any of you have any tips on securing financial independence / passive income that will hopefully be Tech recession proof. I.e, best way to see yourself through a Tech downturn without taking a severe hit to your wealth. I say this because I've had recent experience with people losing huge amounts of their wealth, and almost going bankrupt during the Oil price crash. For instance I know Oil…

Investment-wise, everything has ups and downs. The only way to be recession proof is to diversify and periodically reinvest. For example, you could buy a sack of gold coins, but then you'd be subject to the ups and downs of gold's value throughout your lifetime.

Passive-income-wise, market forces will eat away at passive income. Easy ways to make money are copyable; or the customers will catch on and figure out how to lower their expenses and cut you out. (Think about how everyone stopped paying for CDs.) Those who do make passive income keep it a secret because they don't want competition!

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

#179

Post by JamesBarney »

artimaeis wrote: post #122
cmdrfred wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also if you are anything near minimum wage in most of the united states its useless advice. Saving that 9 dollars a month won't lift you out of poverty only growth will. Invest in yourself.

Sure, but given that the median income in the US is $51,939 (2013) I think it's safe to assume that most people (in the US) can gain a lot by following the simple tenant of spend less, save more. But even MMM has suggestions for people who make too little - I suspect most finance blogs do. MMM advocates getting into a profession where you can make at least the median income, because that's obviously the easiest way t…

That's median household income. Median personal income is $32,000
Post reply on HN