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Welcome! Please introduce yourself

Started by Sam, August 04, 2018, 06:17:32 PM

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lepong02

Hi Everyone!

I'm Pong from Singapore.

Thanks Sam for setting up this forum. I come from a world where most people only believe in job security and retirement through savings. FIRE is more of a concept than actual reality. It's great to be in a like-minded community to share ideas and learn from.

I'm 44 this year, married with 2 teenagers of 13 and 15. My FIRE journey started 10 years ago. As a teacher in middle management in the education service, I had a comfortable pay check and assured employment till legislated retirement. It was a meaningful career but I felt there was more to life.

I finally left the civil service after 17 years, 2.5 years ago. I spent the last 2 years exploring new ideas, traveling, and trying to adjust to a new life without the structure and routine I was used to. It was not easy to find new purpose and create new structures.

My goal was to achieve FIRE by 45. I'm almost there. I'm probably at leanFIRE now as I plough back most of my passive income into investments and living on just enough to cover living expenses. In the meantime, I have been patiently and intentionally planting the seeds for fatFIRE next year onwards. I signed up for an options trading course, took up Muay Thai, started a farming social enterprise in Indonesia to support the children's homes there, and volunteering at community grassroots activities. I am also studying the feasibility of venturing into property development with a few partners in Australia and to build my dream designer home that faces the Indian Ocean. I doubt all these things would have been possible had I stayed in my job.

Thanks for taking time to read my intro and I look forward to growing together with everyone in this community.

Cheers!

Dario33

Hi Sam and everyone.  40-yo, married father of 2 in Minnesota.  Work for a consulting firm and have always been interested in investment and money management strategies.  Been a tutor of the Bogleheads investment mindset and have subscribed to Sam's blog for the past few years.  Always enjoy his posts on real estate and crowd-funding real estate which I'm currently exploring.

Looking forward to sharing ideas and insights with everyone.  8)

Sam

Quote from: jsmooth on September 10, 2018, 10:01:21 AM
Hi everyone:

I'm excited that Sam has finally put up a forum. I lurk frequently on Bogleheads, Early-Retirement.Org and MMM but I never quite fit in with many of the posters. I think the FS crowd will be the best fit!

My wife and I are early-40s with 1 young son currently living in a major European city and loving the urban lifestyle. We've live outside of the US on several continents for 10 of the last 12 years. We're basically FI but I'm still working since I have a fairly low-stress situation with my current employer.

JSmooth

Good to hear! I really am focused on trying to build as much wealth through investments, career and business. After a certain point, there's really only so much you can save. So, to continue talking about saving gets kinda of boring. We should all already be savers! Now for the fun stuff!
Regards,

Sam

rtysmith

Nice to have a forum to discuss!

I have sworn off "professional" advisors and learn along the way what is working best for me in investing. I love debt and focus most of my time and energy their (about 45% or my investments) with another 45% in robo equities and 10% cash.

As for work, I have a small marketing firm which serves as a "special forces" crew for FinTech startups. We have worked with many after starting with Prosper, lots of Merchant Cash Advance (most of which are gone), Real Estate, Payday, Trade Finance, Pawn, Home Equity, Early Pay, Big / Small we've talked with them all...

I quit FinTech marking in 2016 right before LendingClub's CEO issues (just had enough) and have slowly worked my way back in over the last year - just focusing on post-A round startups trying to understand/drive customer acquisition (we have the $, we have the tech, now what?).

My personal investing focuses on real estate (lending home and peer street), consumer debt (money lion), commercial real estate (money 360) and my current favorite Yield Street.

I work closely with "The Godfather of Fintech", building and consulting on presentations, blog posts and co-investing.

Sam

Quote from: rtysmith on September 11, 2018, 10:38:31 AM
Nice to have a forum to discuss!

I have sworn off "professional" advisors and learn along the way what is working best for me in investing. I love debt and focus most of my time and energy their (about 45% or my investments) with another 45% in robo equities and 10% cash.

As for work, I have a small marketing firm which serves as a "special forces" crew for FinTech startups. We have worked with many after starting with Prosper, lots of Merchant Cash Advance (most of which are gone), Real Estate, Payday, Trade Finance, Pawn, Home Equity, Early Pay, Big / Small we've talked with them all...

I quit FinTech marking in 2016 right before LendingClub's CEO issues (just had enough) and have slowly worked my way back in over the last year - just focusing on post-A round startups trying to understand/drive customer acquisition (we have the $, we have the tech, now what?).

My personal investing focuses on real estate (lending home and peer street), consumer debt (money lion), commercial real estate (money 360) and my current favorite Yield Street.

I work closely with "The Godfather of Fintech", building and consulting on presentations, blog posts and co-investing.

You talking about Ron Suber? If so, tell him I said hello. I had a coffee with him at the end of 2015 at the Four Seasons. Nice guy. Asked me what I wanted to do, and whether I wanted to do business development for Prosper and to contact a couple people. I didn't want to work, but I was happy to reach out since I was writing about Prosper at the time, but nobody got back to me.

Then the bottom kinda fell out with P2P lending and private companies within 12 months.
Regards,

Sam

Sam

Quote from: lepong02 on September 11, 2018, 12:46:52 AM
Hi Everyone!

I'm Pong from Singapore.

Thanks Sam for setting up this forum. I come from a world where most people only believe in job security and retirement through savings. FIRE is more of a concept than actual reality. It's great to be in a like-minded community to share ideas and learn from.

I'm 44 this year, married with 2 teenagers of 13 and 15. My FIRE journey started 10 years ago. As a teacher in middle management in the education service, I had a comfortable pay check and assured employment till legislated retirement. It was a meaningful career but I felt there was more to life.

I finally left the civil service after 17 years, 2.5 years ago. I spent the last 2 years exploring new ideas, traveling, and trying to adjust to a new life without the structure and routine I was used to. It was not easy to find new purpose and create new structures.

My goal was to achieve FIRE by 45. I'm almost there. I'm probably at leanFIRE now as I plough back most of my passive income into investments and living on just enough to cover living expenses. In the meantime, I have been patiently and intentionally planting the seeds for fatFIRE next year onwards. I signed up for an options trading course, took up Muay Thai, started a farming social enterprise in Indonesia to support the children's homes there, and volunteering at community grassroots activities. I am also studying the feasibility of venturing into property development with a few partners in Australia and to build my dream designer home that faces the Indian Ocean. I doubt all these things would have been possible had I stayed in my job.

Thanks for taking time to read my intro and I look forward to growing together with everyone in this community.

Cheers!

You'll have to give some more insights in the Family Finances side with two teenagers! I'm so jealous of all the good food y'all have in Singapore. Having lived in Kuala Lumpur for four years, I could eat roti canai, nasi lemak, chili crab, and indian mee goreng all day long!

Do you feel Singapore is very expensive now?
Regards,

Sam

Sam

Quote from: jeff on September 10, 2018, 10:10:12 AM
Hey Sam,
So glad this is up and running. I've been reading FS for about a year now after a colleague turned me on to it. I'm not living a FIRE lifestyle and 90+% of my portfolio is in my 401k. Still very much enjoy the posts and I look forward to the conversation here and being able to learn from others.
Cheers,
Jeff

Howdy Jeff, keep maxing out that 401k, but let's get that after-tax investment account eventually greater than your 401k. It's muy importante for being able to break free if you one day can't stand your job! So many of us love our jobs in the beginning. But after about 10 years of doing the same old thing... I strongly believe most of us want to do something else.
Regards,

Sam

Orphan

Hi Sam,
Been reading for a couple of years now, glad you have your site. I think this will be fun and educational for everyone..

Best Regards

gkc

Hi everyone from the beautiful northwoods of rural Wisconsin. I'm a 60 yr old  guy starting a new career after leaving the trading pits in Chicago. The financial markets have always been a passion of mine as well as a career, and I'm continuing that passion as a financial advisor so no specific recommendations from me!  ;) I have a strong background in technical analysis and many years of trading experience, and hope I can help folks learn about the markets going forward, as I hope to learn from you all!

numbers

I retired early, 6 months before my normal retirement age. I describe my self as having been a "white collar working stiff". Small fish in a big pond for half my working life, Big fish in a small pond for the other half. Never received stock options, never owned a piece if the pie, no pension.
I did live relatively frugally though, my only regret is not having taken more vacation time with my children when they were young, but I am making up for that now.
For the first third of my working career I paid no attention to investing but was putting small amounts into a 401k. Suddenly, even that number became, to me, significant and  I woke up - since then maxed out the 401k while  getting a 10% match. Wife worked for some of that time and also maxed out her 401k , but got no match. We have been 100% invested in equities for the last 25 years. That has us where we need to spend only 1.5% of our investment accounts each year and while still not extravagant, we can pretty much do whatever we want.
The decision to max out 401k's was enough to make our retirement free of money worries.
Thanks Sam, Its interesting to see how others are getting it done.




Ramona

Quote from: Sam on September 10, 2018, 07:12:45 AM
Excited you are coming to America from Romania! Which city? I think the move will be great for your daughter. I lived in Asia + Zambia for 13 years before coming to America, and I have found myself saying many times in my mind and out loud, "I love America and I'm proud to be American."

We are coming to New York City at our friends house, where we stayed 18 months previously. We liked the US a lot and thought we'd move, if given the chance. Since I won a spot, we are moving forward. The education system in my country is almost a joke, so I hope daughter will study at some decent schools. She is also in love with Halep, our tennis champ and started training 3 months ago. Apparently she's quite good, so, living few miles from Flushing Meadows might give her the boost she needs, if she's to pursue this.

America is not perfect either, there are things I like more in Romania, but there's no perfect society anywhere. We do consider it's a good place to raise our kid, hence the moving :)

tahoeguy

Hi All,
I have been enjoying Sam's post for a few years now. Make my living from tennis (so Sam's interest caught my eye) live in the beautiful East Bay in Northern California and yep, am a guy and spend as much time in Lake Tahoe as I can.
Not as smart as Sam, as I am still working at 64, but......not much longer!

lepong02

#52
Quote from: Sam on September 11, 2018, 12:54:17 PM
Quote from: lepong02 on September 11, 2018, 12:46:52 AM
Hi Everyone!

I'm Pong from Singapore.

Thanks Sam for setting up this forum. I come from a world where most people only believe in job security and retirement through savings. FIRE is more of a concept than actual reality. It's great to be in a like-minded community to share ideas and learn from.

I'm 44 this year, married with 2 teenagers of 13 and 15. My FIRE journey started 10 years ago. As a teacher in middle management in the education service, I had a comfortable pay check and assured employment till legislated retirement. It was a meaningful career but I felt there was more to life.

I finally left the civil service after 17 years, 2.5 years ago. I spent the last 2 years exploring new ideas, traveling, and trying to adjust to a new life without the structure and routine I was used to. It was not easy to find new purpose and create new structures.

My goal was to achieve FIRE by 45. I'm almost there. I'm probably at leanFIRE now as I plough back most of my passive income into investments and living on just enough to cover living expenses. In the meantime, I have been patiently and intentionally planting the seeds for fatFIRE next year onwards. I signed up for an options trading course, took up Muay Thai, started a farming social enterprise in Indonesia to support the children's homes there, and volunteering at community grassroots activities. I am also studying the feasibility of venturing into property development with a few partners in Australia and to build my dream designer home that faces the Indian Ocean. I doubt all these things would have been possible had I stayed in my job.

Thanks for taking time to read my intro and I look forward to growing together with everyone in this community.

Cheers!

You'll have to give some more insights in the Family Finances side with two teenagers! I'm so jealous of all the good food y'all have in Singapore. Having lived in Kuala Lumpur for four years, I could eat roti canai, nasi lemak, chili crab, and indian mee goreng all day long!

Do you feel Singapore is very expensive now?

Yeah, will try to drop a note in the Family Finances side. Food in Singapore and Malaysia is to die for ... literally. Every corner there's great, delicious and affordable food. If only we can eat as much and whatever we want and don't have to worry about getting fat or unhealthy. KL is a wonderful city for food.

Singapore is expensive but the cost of living isn't as high as other developed countries like Australia and certain European countries. (I can't say anything about USA as I haven't been there since  I was 8 years old). My government tries to keep costs of daily staples low and provide financial assistance for the lower income workers whilst creating platforms for training to upgrade their skills. With economic growth, wages and consumption spending will grow as well. Naturally cost of living goes up, so my government is mindful to ensure the income gap doesn't become too wide. Compared to our neighbouring countries, our Singapore dollar is also much stronger. So it would seem that things are expensive. The moment we go over to KL our spending power goes up 3 times. A Malaysian would be paying similar prices in a restaurant in Malaysia to a Singaporean eating in restaurant in Singapore.

nycrite

Great idea on the FS forums! I don't comment much on FS articles, but I read almost all of them. FS strikes a good balance on both sides of the savings equation.

[Income] - [Expenses] = [Savings]

I find far too many personal finance sites focus on one or the other but rarely both. Thanks for creating a place where smart minds can exchange good ideas!

Bonsai

Add me to the pile.  I am almost retired, just doing the things at the day job I want too and like (law firm).  I live in the Pacific Northwest.  I always enjoyed managing my assets and look forward to reading more in the topics and hopefully have some community resources.  I have been following Sam for about 1.5 years.  I have four separate asset areas I manage - 1) stock portfolio that includes long term holdings with naked puts and covered calls; 2) retirement portfolio - all in Vanguard index funds; 3) LLC to hold real estate of 3 single family homes (I "rent" from the LLC) and small office building and 4) miscellaneous with some coins - Walking Liberties, Morgans, and St. Gaudens and weekly lottery ticket.  My first area of investigation will be crowd sourced real estate.  I am a little nervous sharing this much about myself and do it for the purpose of establishing credibility for future comments. 

Westy

Hi all, I'm excited to see how this space develops. I discovered MMM back in 2014, and eventually stumbled across FS (IMO unquestionably one of the highest quality personal finance/FIRE blogs out there). Just left the military and am working on launching a civilian career, although I'm right on the brink of FI thanks to all that I've learned over the last few years. Just relocated to the Bay, and it's really nice to have a solid financial footing while I negotiate the career transition and figure out what's next.

Sam

Quote from: tahoeguy on September 12, 2018, 05:35:58 AM
Hi All,
I have been enjoying Sam's post for a few years now. Make my living from tennis (so Sam's interest caught my eye) live in the beautiful East Bay in Northern California and yep, am a guy and spend as much time in Lake Tahoe as I can.
Not as smart as Sam, as I am still working at 64, but......not much longer!

Very cool! I haven't been up to Tahoe in almost two years, but I plan to bring my son up this winter to go sledding and stuff. I have literally been waiting for this moment for 11 years, when I first bought my condo near the top of the market! ha.
Regards,

Sam

Kudzu

Hi Sam and everyone.  Kudzu here. I'm 57 and retired 3 months ago from a career in marketing. Glad to be here and look forward to being a contributing member of the group.

1RHINO

Hello - I have been blessed to work for Tony Robbins the last decade and travel the world. Recently rented my home in Carlsbad CA and moved to the where the big trees are in N. AZ- literally live in a forest surrounded by huge pines, alpine lakes, skiing 30 min away, and hundreds of miles of trails for toys like side by sides, biking and hiking, night skies you have to see to believe its real. I am fortunate to be able to live where I want due to the nature of my role and just turned 55. I have never focused on buying bonds or ways to generate 5% or so income but that is the stage of life I am so hopefully I can learn specifically what to do here. I have been reading Sam's blog for a little while and love his transparency and straight talk and have encouraged my kids to read it as well. so far whats worked well for me are hard money lending, real estate crowdfunding, alternative investments like with Yieldstreet, bough a few homes I found on line cash and put a few $ in them and immediately sell only with seller financing for 7% or more with me holding the notes. Recently bought a small mobile home park, we will see how that turns out but i have an experienced property manager in place and the land is also zoned multi family in a HCOL area so someday I plan to give 190 day notice remove the trailers (I only own the land don't want the exposure to the trailers) and build some duplexes on that land.  Nice to meet you all virtually here

Jsmith

Hi all, I'm excited to post here! I'm a 22 year old, fresh out of college graduate with a degree in finance. I'm always eager to hear other opinions or learn from others' experiences. I'm also a CFA level 2 candidate (which Sam might know a thing or two about), so hopefully I can finish that up within a few years time. I currently work for a fixed income asset manager, which has definitely been a huge learning experience after just a few months in.

I'm looking forward to sharing thoughts with others and getting to learn more!