Early Retirement Extreme

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

Quo vadis?

Published in April 30th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in blogging, financial independence

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!In many ways I consider the problem of early retirement solved. I [think I] have shown what kind of choices that must be made, how to make them, and what it takes to reach financial independence in a handful [...]

Why this early retirement blog continuously talks about cycling and cooking?

Published in April 28th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in budgeting, cost of living, financial independence

14 Comments

Financial independence comes from the combination of having enough money and spending sufficiently little so that interest from the former covers the expenses of the later. The biggest sources of personal expenses are generally

Children
Housing
Transport
Food
Taxes

Reducing expenses in these areas will make a much larger impact that token efforts such as using CFLs, turning the thermostat down, [...]

Why I won’t join the middle class

Published in April 15th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in financial independence, rat race

14 Comments

Mrs Micah asked what’s wrong with being middle class focusing on not working enjoyable but not too stressful jobs and still having the time and money to live comfortably. Lazyman talked about the upper limit of trading time for money and made some comments about the poor choice of working overtime just to buy unsatisfying [...]

The Early Retirement Path

Published in March 3rd, 2008

Posted by Jacob in financial independence, frugal, household, standard of living

6 Comments

In this guest post Tim from Canadian Dream: Free at 45 shares his path to early retirement at 45. If you like to read more about the road to early retirement you can subscribe to his RSS Feed here.
I like to think of myself as fairly ordinary. To outsiders I seem to [...]

A plan to financial independence at 35

Published in February 25th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in financial independence, freebies, frugal, saving

14 Comments

This is a guest post by Elizabeth from Working for Rachel. Elizabeth is starting her savings and plans to gain financial independence in 8 years at 35. If you like to read more please consider subscribing to her RSS feed.
I’m 27, and I want to retire at 35. I live in a big midwestern city [...]

No need to save millions - here’s a quicker way to financial independence

Published in February 18th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in budgeting, cost of living, financial independence, standard of living

22 Comments

With a name like early retirement (extreme) I get a lot of inquires about how many millions one needs to become financially independent. A brief search in the personal finance blogging world reveals several bloggers that are aiming for the millions. Not this guy.
The idea that you need to be a millionaire is predicated on [...]

How I became financially independent in 5 years - Part IV - the investments

Published in February 10th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in compound interest, culture, economy, financial independence, financial security, investments, net worth, personal finance, saving

14 Comments

I posit that most people can attain financial independence in less than 10 years and in less than 5 if they are truly determined. I also submit that many people are not willing to make the necessary changes.
Read part I here
Read part II here
Read part III here
By cutting all expenses to the bare [...]

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 [...]

Wealth is not about the money

Published in January 24th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in economy, financial independence

3 Comments

In the past few weeks I have written a lot about about wealth and how I became financially independent (part I, part II, part III, part IV). One of my posts, Stranger in a Strange Land, elicited a response from Lily over at The Honest Dollar. Of course I had to write my own response [...]

Am I cheap?!?

Published in January 20th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in anticonsumerism, consumerism, ecological footprint, financial independence, standard of living

17 Comments

Sometimes I’m accused of being cheap or living in squalor because I prefer to ride a bike, eat at home, and because I generally don’t buy very many things. This does not sit well with the prevailing consumerist attitude in this ownership society. I suspect ownership society means that people are owned (pwned!) by their [...]

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