Early Retirement Extreme

Financial independence, frugality, self-sufficiency, ecology, capitalism, and voluntary simplicity

Can I retire with 2 million dollars?

Published in June 27th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in expenses, financial independence, investments

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!This, and various perturbations, is one of the most frequent google search term that hits this site. I think my very general answer would be, that if you have to ask that question then the answer is “PROBABLY NOT!”
If [...]

How to get a solid desk for free (this opportunity doesn’t last)

Published in May 24th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in budgeting, expenses, spending

2 Comments

When it comes to consumer durables, I rarely pay retail. These days stuff is generally well made (lasts for years), yet people have a desire to buy things as if they were going out of style — well, maybe they are, I wouldn’t know — so I prefer to pick through people’s overflowing garages and [...]

Is “cheap” the new “green”?

Published in March 4th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in ecological footprint, expenses, frugal

10 Comments

I just read an interesting post from Escape the cube asking whether we are part of a trend where “cheap” is the new “green”. My guess is a qualified yes. It is a co-opted kind of “cheap” that might be popular for a few years after which it will be replaced by another commercialized version [...]

On minimizing depreciation expenses

Published in February 11th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in anticonsumerism, consumerism, cost of living, expenses

10 Comments

We don’t pay for our furniture. I haven’t paid for my watch. Also I haven’t paid for my HiFi system. If I was a little bit smarter, we wouldn’t be paying for our car either. On the other hand I have paid way too much for computers. That is not going to happen again.
How much [...]

Cash flow diagrams for the poor, the middle class, and the investor class

Published in January 26th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in assets, compound interest, debt, expenses, financial independence, financial security, investments, money, personal finance

16 Comments

Being poor or unable to get credit 100% of the expenses must be covered with wage income. Schematically the cash flow looks like this

Thus you put your time into your work which gives you a wage income that is used to pay for stuff that goes back to you.People with a credit score can go [...]

Eliminating heating bills and cutting down on heating costs

Published in January 19th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in expenses, freebies, household

7 Comments

With the thermostat currently sitting at 55F(*), we hope to save a pretty penny this winter on heating - in fact, it’s been several days since the AC last switched on. Wearing layered loose clothing and getting up and lifting some weights from time to time, 55F is no big deal. Of course for those [...]

Dollar cost averaging at the pump for cheaper gas

Published in January 18th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in budgeting, expenses, freebies, transport

1 Comment

This may be taking it to extremes, but try dollar cost averaging at the pump for cheaper gas. Obviously this does not work if you have to detour to get gas, but if the gas station is on your route and you merely have to pull over, do this. Instead of filling the tank up, [...]

Do I need a million dollars to retire?

Published in January 7th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in compound interest, consumerism, cost of living, expenses, financial security, frugal, household, rat race, standard of living

7 Comments

People keep telling me that I need at least $1,000,000 to retire comfortably. This concerns me somewhat since I don’t have one million and because it would take about 10 more years to save for one. Now, one million would throw off a cost of living adjusted $40,000 a year in capital income if it [...]

How to get wealthy on minimum wage

Published in January 2nd, 2008

Posted by Jacob in budgeting, cost of living, expenses, financial security, standard of living

11 Comments

This is an interesting challenge which I believe I could do if I had to. To reiterate: This posts shows what I would do. As always, I am not you, and it is your responsibility to decide whether you want to and whether you need to hire a certified financial professional to consult before following [...]

How I became financially independent in 5 years - Part I

Published in December 26th, 2007

Posted by Jacob in compound interest, cost of living, expenses, financial independence, financial security, frugal, inflation, job, liabilities, motivation, personal finance, standard of living, voluntary simplicity

8 Comments

If you enjoy this post, please consider subscribing to the blog. You can subscribe by using one of the options in the upper right corner. Personally, I prefer readers, email and google in that order. Simply click on the links and things should happen automatically.

I posit that most people can attain financial independence in less [...]

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