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.
Things I would like to learn
- Keel boat sailing.
- Advanced first aid.
- Welding.
- Small engine repair/rebuilding.
- Bicycle repair/maintenance.
- How to repair watches or clocks.
- Precision machining.
- How to shoot a gun/rifle.
- How to build a house.
- Flying light airplanes.
Things I could teach:
- How to retire early.
- Advanced physics and/or astronomy.
- Swimming.
- Soldering and basic electronics.
- Danish.
- TeX/LaTeX for production editing.
- How to get in ass-kicking shape.
- How to make a good stir fry.
- Basic investing.
- Fortran/f90/f95/…
Now all we need is a swap[tree] system for this concept which is semi-localized. However, in case you’re in the East Bay area and see a possible “trade”, I’ll trade one hour of learning for one hour of teaching on a 1-1 basis, if you’re interested.
- Skillsbarter — A website where you can barter skills, services, and knowledge