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

How I live on $7,000 per year

earlyretirementextreme.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 222 posts

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#141

Post by asr »

nirvana wrote: post #10

I've been living on $13,754 per year for the past 4 years. (Average as of last month.) There are two of us, so, double that and you have the average cost over that period. While we've been doing it, we've been traveling full time, spent the last year in europe living in AirBNB pads, and doing our startup. We buy a MacBook Pro each year and an iPad or iPhone each year as needed, with the old one going to the other per…

I think where I disagree with you (and the blog author) is your attitude toward work: Money is just a medium of exchange, right, but have you ever wondered what it is you're exchanging? It's life.

Work isn't a waste of life. My goal in life is not to get to the end having worked as little as possible. Travel is fun, and educational, and good for you, but it's not the only thing. By all means live cheaply enough to allow yourself to do what you want to do in life. But if all you want to do in life is retire, then I don't really understand your goals.

(Living cheaply to do your startup is great. But a startup is not an inherently cash-poor activity, it's just risky. If you knew in advance that your startup would never be successful, and your product would have minuscule adoption, would you do it?)

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#142

Post by nhangen »

nirvana wrote: post #30
scarmig wrote: post #28

Depends on your goals in life. $7,000 is definitely doable. But I don't want to live in an RV. Indeed, I want to live in a walkable neighborhood with groceries, low crime, and easily accessible entertainment. The site probably isn't a convincing case for a general audience. Which is a real pity, because a lifestyle of $10,000 to $12,000 a year is very doable, even for a single person, even in the Bay Area, even with…

Do you want to start a startup? Or do you want to live your life in the burbs?

I want both, and both are achievable.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#143

Post by ohashi »

colanderman wrote: post #96
rorrr wrote: post #25

Sorry, but this story is garbage. Rent/mortgage, retirement completely ignored. Plus he has the shittiest $82 health insurance plan he could find, and he doesn't calculate the costs of what will happen if he gets sick. On average people after 65 spend $2,920 per year on medical out of pocket expenses (Source: http://www.newretirement.com/Planning101/Rising_Medical_Cost... ) Then his food comes from his garden, which…

Then his food comes from his garden Not all of it. You obviously missed the link in that article to his FAQ answering every objection you raised: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/frequently-asked-questions ...a max of $1200/yr on food which means he has to work on that Right. His point is that you don't need income , not that you don't need to work . and he conveniently didn't calculate the opportunity costs Zero if…

I suppose my biggest objection is I hate his lifestyle. I like going out, I enjoy activities which are more often than not paid, I don't have a girlfriend who sits at home and cooks for me all the time. Just because one person is happy with a certain way of living doesn't mean everyone will be. I could do it like he does and simply be miserable.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#144

Post by sayemm »

This is an amazing blog, just ordered his book - thanks for posting this.

I love the overall theme of his blog, which is that society brainwashes us, or most people, to derive utility out of life through consumerism and materialism.

Jacob Fisker, the blogger behind ERE, I think is far richer than what his finances and personal budget indicate because he's actually living life for himself and optimizing it for maximum utility (spending the time wisely to do what he really loves doing).

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#145

Post by fennecfoxen »

rubashov wrote: post #61
nirvana wrote: post #10

I've been living on $13,754 per year for the past 4 years. (Average as of last month.) There are two of us, so, double that and you have the average cost over that period. While we've been doing it, we've been traveling full time, spent the last year in europe living in AirBNB pads, and doing our startup. We buy a MacBook Pro each year and an iPad or iPhone each year as needed, with the old one going to the other per…

> eating out more, because I realized it was relatively cheap. Relative to what? My experience is that eating out is extremely expensive.

In San Francisco, you can go to a place like Greenburger's and get yourself a really fine burger with fries, and it will run you about $11. In North Carolina, you can go down to the Steak and Shake, get an okay burger with fries and a shake for around $3.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#146

Post by fennecfoxen »

nirvana wrote: post #104
jim_h wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's awesome that you lived on a boat and only paid $300/month on marina fees. How much did the boat cost?

I bought the boat with grander ambitions than to use it as a place to live, and so I spent more on it than I would have if I was just looking for housing. Worse, in the last years I had it, the marina really jacked up the rates. If you're looking to save as much as possible, you can get boats for $1,000-$7,000 that a single person can live aboard fine (or two people towards the higher end of that scale)... and by goi…

Also, if you borrow to buy the boat and you use it as your primary residence, the interest payments are tax-deductible.

(That means if you have a decent interest rate and reasonable risk tolerance, you can invest the cash elsewhere and make more money than you would save by buying the boat outright.)

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#147

Post by 0x12 »

joezydeco wrote: post #139
rick888 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but you won't go bankrupt like so many people claim you will without health insurance. Why don't more people get this $80 plan?

Some people get married and start families. There's no way this plan costs $80 for anyone other than an under-40 single healthy nonsmoker. Add kids and a pregnant wife and see where it goes.

Maybe move to a country with more decent healthcare?

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#148

Post by fennecfoxen »

rorrr wrote: post #128
msbarnett wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not talking about him, I'm talking about why these $85/month plans aren't the blanket answer to the question of solving medical bankruptcies among the uninsured.

Because most people get denied. $85 is only for healthy and relatively young, no pre-existing conditions.

Not surprised. This is insurance. You don't get car insurance after you've gotten in a wreck, and you should expect to pay more for it if you're more likely to get in a wreck (e.g. lots of speeding tickets, etc).

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#149

Post by erejacob »

ohashi wrote: post #143
colanderman wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then his food comes from his garden Not all of it. You obviously missed the link in that article to his FAQ answering every objection you raised: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/frequently-asked-questions ...a max of $1200/yr on food which means he has to work on that Right. His point is that you don't need income , not that you don't need to work . and he conveniently didn't calculate the opportunity costs Zero if…

I suppose my biggest objection is I hate his lifestyle. I like going out, I enjoy activities which are more often than not paid, I don't have a girlfriend who sits at home and cooks for me all the time. Just because one person is happy with a certain way of living doesn't mean everyone will be. I could do it like he does and simply be miserable.

You could just do something else then. I'm not saying "everybody copy me". There are paid versions of my activities, but I eventually found the versions there were free or almost free. This holds for almost everything unless you insist on a particular paid version. For instance, when it comes to going out. Lots of people like that, but why are they really going out? Probably not to sit in a particular restaurant and pay money. Maybe more about not having to cook and meeting friends? If so, this could be accomplished by taking turns inviting each other for dinner at home. If the cooking isn't great, that's something that can be learned. Just an example.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#150

Post by gnosis »

blrgeek wrote: post #85
tryitnow wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It disappoints me, but I have to agree with you (at least in part, I wouldn't call his story garbage). I say it's disappointing because his blog really inspired me to make some changes and I agree with the overall thrust of what he's saying. But the problem I have is figuring out how he accumulated his wealth. Of course, being a former physicist you'd think spelling that out in a simple spreadsheet would be a trivial…

Of all the blogs, this one does a great job of explaining how they built up their wealth! Where's the magic? Save 80% of your net for 5 years. At a 3% return you will match what you spend now. That's EASIER than a spreadheet.

The math does not work out for that.

Let's say you make $100,000 per year. Saving 80% would mean saving $80,000 per year, and living on $20,000 per year. After 5 years you would have saved $400,000. 3% of $400,000 is $12,000, which is only about half of what you need to equal what you'd lived on for the past 5 years. You'd need a 5% return in order to make $20,000 per year from $400,000.

And this doesn't even take taxes in to account. Good luck saving 80% of your net when taxes alone eat away more than 20% of your net. You're also going to wind up paying taxes on the 5% return, effectively requiring maybe a 6% return (or probably significantly more, considering how much you lost in income taxes in the first place).

Post reply on HN