If you're new here, this blog will give you the tools to become financially independent in 5 years on a median salary. The wiki page gives a good summary of the principles of the strategy. The key to success is to run your personal finances much like a business, thinking about assets and inventory and focusing on efficiency and value for money. Not just any business but a business that's flexible, agile, and adaptable. Conversely most consumers run their personal finances like an inflexible money-losing anti-business always in danger of losing their jobs.
Here's almost a thousand online journals from people, who are following the ERE strategy tailored to their particular situation (age, children, location, education, goals, ...). Increasing their savings from the usual 5-15% of their income to tens of thousands of dollars each year or typically 40-80% of their income, many accumulate six-figure net-worths within a few years.
Since everybody's situation is different (age, education, location, children, goals, ...) I suggest only spending a brief moment on this blog, which can be thought of as my personal journal, before looking for the crowd's wisdom for your particular situation in the forum journals.
If you enjoy the blog, also consider the book which is much better organized and more complete. You can read the first chapter for free, listen to the preamble, or see the reviews (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,Z). Subscribe to the blog via email or RSS. Get updates on the facebook page, join the forums, and look for tactics on the ERE wiki. Here's a list of all the ERE blog posts.
It is interesting how valuation is sometimes determined by things other than value. For instance, if a reader agrees with an author the reader will say that the post is well written and vice-a-versa (*). So with that in mind (given that I like myself), here are my favorite posts for February 2008, hmmm 😉
(*) See reviews on amazon.com for countless examples.
Here are my favorite posts of JanuaryHere’s the stuff budget for February:
- Outgoing: 15 pounds
- Incoming: 2 pounds
Overall I got lighter and minimized my footprint by 13 pounds by donating some things to charity and selling a couple of books on amazon. The incoming 2 pounds. Well, that’s some bike apparel I bought even though I said I did not need any. Oh, the shame! But after wearing out the seat of yet another pair of slacks (the third within a year), I figured that a pair of bike shorts (actually it’s a long legged bib) would be a more economical solution. I also got some socks since my regular socks have been dying left and right for the same reasons.
