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.
Believe or not, but the human body is perfectly capable of skipping breakfast without starving to death. If you are used to not eating breakfast, you will not feel hungry and your blood sugar will remain stable as long as you keep in an easy aerobic state.
Hence, unless, you’re going for a sustained aerobic workout that lasts more than 2 hours, you do not need to eat breakfast.
[Breakfast is important if you will be engaging in heavy farm labor during the day, but if you’re just going to push papers in an office or walk around and push buttons, then no way jose!]
Still, many feel the need to eat for social reasons and perhaps more are addicted by habit(*). Here I suggest a cheap and superior solution to all the sugary breakfast cereals. Simply use uncooked oatmeal, sprinkle some raisins on and nuts and seeds if you have—note that the main ingredient is oatmeal—and soak the mixture in water. You can cook this in the microwave if you prefer; I hate the taste of cooked oatmeal, so I prefer to eat it raw.
(*) If you are used to eating at certain times, your body will trigger an insulin response at certain times. If no food is forthcoming, your blood sugar will drop and you will be hungry/run out of energy…
Anyway, this is what I ate for years and what I still eat if I have something physically demanding coming up in the morning, like a 50 mile ride before I gave up on breakfasts.
