Financial Samurai - Forums

Welcome and General Info => Getting Started => Topic started by: Sam on August 04, 2018, 06:17:32 PM

Title: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sam on August 04, 2018, 06:17:32 PM
Hi everyone. Thanks for your interest and support of the Financial Samurai Forums! Please take a minute to say hi. Feel free to share as much or as little about yourself as you like. It'll be fun to see the community grow and reach all corners of the globe.

We're right now in soft launch mode, and I plan to publicize the forum by September 2018. I just want to make sure as many kinks are out first.

My story: https://www.financialsamurai.com/about/

Thanks!

Sam
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sydney on August 04, 2018, 06:26:35 PM
Thanks for launching the forums Sam! Really excited to be involved.  ;D Welcome everyone!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: sfpf on August 05, 2018, 11:17:06 PM
Hi! I've been reading your blog since 2012 or so and am a big fan. I'm born and raised in San Francisco and really like your real estate posts. Thanks for starting the forums!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Jamie on August 06, 2018, 11:02:40 AM
Hi! Congrats on the forums Sam! Let's see a little about me... I don't really have a home base these days but I'm currently in Portland. I've been hopping around every few months and enjoying a nomad lifestyle, taking part time jobs to supplement my freelance gigs.  I've enjoyed reading your blog for roughly five years and love your sense of humor. Your April Fools posts crack me up every time and I always find myself laughing at something in your posts or in the comments. Keep up the great work man! You're one talented guy.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Captain on August 10, 2018, 06:52:48 PM
Thanks for launching the forums Sam. I've been a fan of your blog for a while after coming across your 1/10th car buying rule article on search. It's helped me stick with my used Camry that I now plan to drive until it needs major maintenance and even then I may still decide to fix and keep it vs getting a replacement. Anyway, glad to be here.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Snow on August 14, 2018, 11:28:59 PM
The forums are great Sam. Looking forward to chatting here. I've been reading for a long time and love your blog.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: AlexNY on August 19, 2018, 11:09:56 AM
Hey guys. I just joined and am pumped Sam the man now has forums. I love learning about investing and building passive income streams. I've learned a lot since I started reading your blog and am always looking to learn more. I'm born and raised in NY and will probably never leave. It's expensive but it's the only place that truly feels like home to me. Reading about personal finance is my favorite way to utilize my commute and take my mind off how hot it is in the dang subway in this crazy heat.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: jekamom on September 09, 2018, 10:47:50 AM
 :)  Hi everyone!  Glad to have a place to discuss all things financial!  It's nice to step away from advertising hype on what people should do (according to advertisers) or the false thought that you can't learn and understand options available.   The very false idea that you better not consider doing things you understand yourself.
I have had my licenses in Property and Casualty Insurance, Life and Health Insurance and Series 7 and Series 63 for a long time.  I am the back office of a captive insurance agency that has been represented by someone in my husband's family since the 1940's.  We are blessed that we could raise children (with me home), pay employees and save some since 1991.  This summer I went into insurance production (new for me) because of a perfect storm of staffing issues.  As our parent company (a big player) makes adjustments wrt the fiduciary rule, I will be on the financial services side. 
I am a big believer that everyone (or at least one person per family) should be able to negotiate filing a basic tax return themselves without being afraid of the process or feeling like they must pay someone else more than is sensible. It is empowering for parents to be able to navigate tax returns so they can file for student financial aid or whatever else they need to take care of.
Folks should have a current will, and have named beneficiaries on those things they wish to bypass probate. 
Everyone should have made preparations for the things we don't expect but are statistically likely to happen...a car accident, an illness, a layoff, a weather event, an untimely death.  Everyone should have a savings account that they actually use to save money in, not just to cover an overdraft.
Hard work makes good things happen, but not everyone who works hard has good things happen. 
In my observation, 30% of folks just don't deal with money. They don't face that they have to make conscious choices or money will fritter away or worse, cause big problems with relationships and a future.  They overdraft, overspend and undersave and are surprised they aren't getting anywhere.  30% of folks might not earn much, and they probably work hard, but they cut back or put off a lot of important things to be able to do what they want to do.  I've notice these folks tend to be generous with their time and possessions.
30% of folks are trying to figure out how to balance mortgage, bills, and surprises. If they are smart, have access to good information, maybe have some source they trust for advice when they need it, they figure out some ways to make it some of it happen.  These are the ones with some retirement but probably not enough.


Then there are those of us who make time to gather in places like this.  We work hard. We surrounded ourselves with folks smarter than we are. We have worked out ways to financially protect ourselves from the devastation of a car accident, a weather disaster, an illness or an early death.  We have figured out ways to provide for our families now and if we leave this world early.  We aren't relying on Social Security payments or government programs as the only source of income when we can't work or are done working. 


Thanks for being here.  It is a good place for all of us to share our strengths. Thanks Sam and Mrs Samurai for making this place happen.
 
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Ramona on September 09, 2018, 11:37:17 AM
Hello to you all.

I'm Ramona, you also know me as Dojo from the comments I leave on your blogs ;)

I'm from Romania, work at home as a web designer, am married and have a 4 year old daughter who wants to become the next tennis champ in 20 years time.

We are moving to the US in 3 months' time, so I'll ask a lot of questions regarding what we can do financially to make it work. We'll stay at our friends in the NYC (we stayed there for about 18 months as tourists almost a decade ago), but it's gonna be pretty challenging, since we need to leave everything behind and pack our lives in about 3 suitcases. Daughter still doesn't speak English too well, but I hope she'll learn fast, I don't plan on getting a job there, since she does need someone to care for her .. so we'll need to make do with my blogging/web design freelance business and whatever husband can find to work.

Anyways .. I'm a forum buff and love chatting, so expect to see a lot of me here :D
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: pat on September 09, 2018, 02:04:37 PM
Super excited to be here, reader since last 4 years, looking forward to learn more!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: RamblinRose on September 09, 2018, 02:47:44 PM
Hi

I want to thank Sam for Financial Samurai, which I've been reading for a year now.  I enjoy his different perspective on time and money, and his sense of humor.

I'm Karen, my husband is Steve.  We're in our late 50s*, very much the sandwich generation with the last of our five children in college and parents in their late 80s needing our help.  My husband is retired and is the parent care taker, and I still work.  Financially, I could retire now but haven't: parent care has limited our travel plans, husband's pre-existing condition and health care cost worry me, and the job is still interesting and rewarding. Instead I've negotiated working remotely and can reduce my hours as I wish.

I'm especially interested in real estate and side hustles. 

We like to fly fish and do historical research. And we're growing a giant pumpkin - we'll be entering it in the local fair later this month...

*actually I just turned 60 - still can't believe it...
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Jon Sharpe on September 09, 2018, 02:51:29 PM
Hey Sam, thanks for setting up the forums! I'm Jon from BeNetWorthy.com and am looking forward to the conversations here. I'm a 48-year-old executive at a Fortune 50 company on track to get FIRE'd by 55. Married with two kids and a dog. See you around the forums!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Lake on September 09, 2018, 02:56:27 PM
Hello from Virginia! I have been reading your articles for the past four years, and my only wish is that I had been more interested in personal finance earlier. I look forward to learning from this forum. I work for the government, and my current plan is to stay there until I am eligible for retirement. I once owned a modest rental and would like to to own one or more again, but I am not in a position to do so currently. Thank you!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: FabFitRetired on September 09, 2018, 03:02:07 PM
So excited to have the forums as a place to learn more great information from the Financial Samurai Community. I have been an avid reader of Sam for 4+ years and I am truly thankful for his time and effort to make the blog so informative, yet in a humorous, fun way.  Sam is Awesome!!!!  My son just graduated from a University with a degree in Engineering from a top notch school, debt free and with $50k + net worth because he has also been an avid reader of the Financial Sam blog.  Following Sam's recommendations really works.

I retired at age 50 from a public safety job. I now keep busy teaching fitness and healthy lifestyle habits so I can enjoy my hard earned retirement and help others de-stress and move and feel better. After years of a highly stressful job, the ability to detox, and enjoy the wonders of life is truly Fabulous!  Thus my on-line name: FabFitRetired.

I look forward to sharing with everyone, to keep our brain and body moving forward a little bit every day.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: romeojeremiah on September 09, 2018, 03:27:27 PM
Yay! I'm in! Name is Romeo. Long time reader. Been around the blogging arena for a while. Personal finance nerd. Will retire from the military next year at the tender age of 39. I'll spend the majority of my time in the FIRE group.
Cheers!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: svytraveler on September 09, 2018, 03:50:17 PM
Hi, I have commented very little on the blog, but have been reading for a couple years.  I am 52 looking forward to retiring from my federal civilian job at 56 and will have a military retirement at 60 as well.  So I am looking for to continue to invest smartly and begin to travel more.  Thinking of moving managed investments out of personal capital back to vanguard.  The assigned CFA is nice, but I don't think I am getting enough out of those interactions for the .89% fee.  I will try to find the appropriate thread to discuss further.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: 26.2miles on September 09, 2018, 04:01:52 PM
Hello everyone. I've been a susbscriber/reader of financial samurai for about 1.5 years. Around that time I became interested in personal finances when my partner and I finally had the money talk (how to pay off our debts as a team). Throughout our undergrad, grad school and medical school, neither of us learned how to manage our money. We still have so much to learn. But as off today, we both are on track to paying off our student loans (5 years for my partner, 10 years for me), paid down one credit card (yay! 2 more to go), brought our credit scores WAY up (increase of over 100 points), have an emergency fund, and our knowledge about finances is a little better than when we first started.

I look forward to learning from everyone's experiences, and I hope I can contribute to this forum. Since I have federal student loans, I would say my knowledge in that area is pretty proficient so please ask me any questions regarding strategies for repayment, income based repayment, loan consolidation, public service loan forgiveness or any federal loan forgiveness programs, including military repayment programs. If I don't know the answer, I will do my best to find it for you!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: defomcduff on September 09, 2018, 06:15:26 PM
Hi everyone!

I am looking forward to the FSF, seems like a good place to share finance thoughts and ideas with advanced and thoughtful readers.  I've been reading FS for about 2 years - it's my favorite personal finance site, along with a few others (but none as good as FS).

I'm 36, living in a Boston suburb, father of 4 (ages 9, 6, 4, 1), PhD in economics, started two businesses (economic consulting and online education), work most days from home except when traveling, wife is a doctor (still a resident), spending *crazy* amounts of money on childcare and just keeping the household running with 2 working parents, net worth on track with Sam's planning charts so in good shape there.

More about me here: https://econdad.com/about/

Looking forward to meeting others and sharing stories.  Good times!

DeForest
Boston, Massachusetts
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Fufina514 on September 09, 2018, 06:52:11 PM
Hi,  I'm Debbie from Atlanta area.   Guess I've been reading your blog a year or so.   Time seems to fly by these days.   I'm in my mid-50's, no children and happily divorced.    Love reading, talking and listening to most things financial.   Great to have a forum to meet and chat with like-minded people.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: DadsDollarsDebts on September 09, 2018, 09:07:53 PM
Hello all. I am a dad, doctor, and just guy trying to get by. Life is good out in Northern Cali but I am about to move back home to the South. Consider it a form of geographic arbitrage but I also just need to get the Tubb's Fire and loss of our home behind me. I blog at dadsdollarsdebts.com and have been reading Financial Samurai for many years.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sam on September 09, 2018, 09:43:36 PM
Great to hear from everyone so far after I mentioned the forums in the newsletter! I plan to make FSF my new favorite hangout spot during non post days. I found myself wandering to places like Quora and stuff, but it felt so huge and impersonal.

One of our biggest challenges will be to keep spammers out. You won't believe how many spammers try to register without us even telling anybody about the forums yet! The other challenge is to keep a decorum. I have to imagine if we have a no a-hole rule, then all will be good. But we shall see!

Sam
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Barrie71 on September 10, 2018, 01:25:24 AM
Hi All,

Thank you Sam for a great site and great to see the launch of the Forum, massive well done and top job !!!

I am Barrie from the UK and I live in a small Town in the North West of England between Liverpool and Manchester. I am 43 years old, love all things personal finance as well as gardening and fell walking. I have had the FIRE bug for about 8 years and I'm looking to hang up my boots in the traditional sense before I turn 50.

I am really looking forward to reading, learning and contributing to the new forum wherever possible.

Kind regards,
Barrie
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: ajcoleman22 on September 10, 2018, 04:19:33 AM
This forum is a fantastic idea. I love your writing and perspective on life. Thank you for what you do.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: 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."

Quote from: Ramona on September 09, 2018, 11:37:17 AM
Hello to you all.

I'm Ramona, you also know me as Dojo from the comments I leave on your blogs ;)

I'm from Romania, work at home as a web designer, am married and have a 4 year old daughter who wants to become the next tennis champ in 20 years time.

We are moving to the US in 3 months' time, so I'll ask a lot of questions regarding what we can do financially to make it work. We'll stay at our friends in the NYC (we stayed there for about 18 months as tourists almost a decade ago), but it's gonna be pretty challenging, since we need to leave everything behind and pack our lives in about 3 suitcases. Daughter still doesn't speak English too well, but I hope she'll learn fast, I don't plan on getting a job there, since she does need someone to care for her .. so we'll need to make do with my blogging/web design freelance business and whatever husband can find to work.

Anyways .. I'm a forum buff and love chatting, so expect to see a lot of me here :D
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sam on September 10, 2018, 07:14:17 AM
Ah, Virginia, where I went to high school and college. Welcome!

Quote from: Lake on September 09, 2018, 02:56:27 PM
Hello from Virginia! I have been reading your articles for the past four years, and my only wish is that I had been more interested in personal finance earlier. I look forward to learning from this forum. I work for the government, and my current plan is to stay there until I am eligible for retirement. I once owned a modest rental and would like to to own one or more again, but I am not in a position to do so currently. Thank you!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sam on September 10, 2018, 07:16:38 AM
Congrats on your son's great position! As a dad, I have so many hopes and dreams for my son. Fingers crossed.

Glad you get to detox and relax more. You deserve it. I have to imagine successfully raising a child to adulthood must be one of the greatest rewards.

Quote from: FabFitRetired on September 09, 2018, 03:02:07 PM
So excited to have the forums as a place to learn more great information from the Financial Samurai Community. I have been an avid reader of Sam for 4+ years and I am truly thankful for his time and effort to make the blog so informative, yet in a humorous, fun way.  Sam is Awesome!!!!  My son just graduated from a University with a degree in Engineering from a top notch school, debt free and with $50k + net worth because he has also been an avid reader of the Financial Sam blog.  Following Sam's recommendations really works.

I retired at age 50 from a public safety job. I now keep busy teaching fitness and healthy lifestyle habits so I can enjoy my hard earned retirement and help others de-stress and move and feel better. After years of a highly stressful job, the ability to detox, and enjoy the wonders of life is truly Fabulous!  Thus my on-line name: FabFitRetired.

I look forward to sharing with everyone, to keep our brain and body moving forward a little bit every day.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sam on September 10, 2018, 07:17:40 AM
Romeo! Good to see you're still alive! Whoo hoo! Dang... retiring at 39 with a nice pension for life is gonna be nice.

39 is still so young. You can do whatever you want with your life!

Quote from: romeojeremiah on September 09, 2018, 03:27:27 PM
Yay! I'm in! Name is Romeo. Long time reader. Been around the blogging arena for a while. Personal finance nerd. Will retire from the military next year at the tender age of 39. I'll spend the majority of my time in the FIRE group.
Cheers!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: BuckNut on September 10, 2018, 08:43:13 AM
Hello!
Brand new reader here, as I found your blog about a month ago. Finished my doctorate (biomedical engineering) 2 years ago and have been in my current job for almost 1.5 years, so I still have a ways to go before I have the means to gain full financial freedom. I'm looking to grow my financial chops so I can better understand my investments and other financial allocations for the future. Looking forward to learning from everyone here!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Andy on September 10, 2018, 09:17:58 AM
Hello all!

Long time reader of FS. Glad to meet everyone here! I look forward to sharing and interacting with others. Let's all keep helping each other sharpen our financial skills (blades) as we slice through money's mysteries! ;)

Sam, thanks for creating this forum!

All the best!

-Andy

Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: 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
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: unknowwalker on September 10, 2018, 10:02:35 AM
Pretty nice idea Sam! I have been a subscriber of the blogs for a while now, I'm a financial Nerd looking into every single possible alternative to invest our hard earned money. I'm still trapped on corporate America but I'm looking forward to engineer my layoff. Thanks for adding a Forum to the mix. 
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: 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
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: SouthWestIron on September 10, 2018, 10:57:47 AM
Great that a forum is now available! My handle is SouthWestIron, looking hopefully to be "Fire'd" in January or at least semi Fire'd? 
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: sara@gatheringdreams on September 10, 2018, 11:45:59 AM
This is so exciting! Hello from London!

I've been following Sam for a few years. Like others I'm sure, I wish I found out about early retirement a bit sooner in life, but at least I've always been a good saver, which helped when I finally discover what I could do with my money!

We are very close to FI, looking at the numbers we could jump pretty much right now, but my other half seems to have a love/hate relationship with his job, so I am just standing on the side waiting for him to make his decision.

In the meantime, I stopped working like a crazy person and now work only 2 days a week, and I'm blogging and reading blogs the rest of the week! :)
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: mikejscott7 on September 10, 2018, 01:08:35 PM
Thanks for creating this forum, Sam!

I'm Mike from Washington, DC. Early 30s. Married, and slowly converting my wife to the FIRE mindset. We live in the heart of the city and are currently renting, but we're knee deep in trying to learn how we can utilize real estate to grow our long-term wealth.

Looking forward to reading, and contributing what little nuggets of info we can to the conversation.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: IzzyEsq on September 10, 2018, 01:42:47 PM
Hi all!!  Thanks for the forum, Sam.  I can't remember exactly when I started reading FS, but it's been an invaluable resource for me.  Looking forward to learning even more from fellow forum members!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Leigh on September 10, 2018, 01:52:46 PM
Hey there everyone!

I love to learn from the experience of others. I'm a personal financial counselor for our country's heroes and I also own a financial counseling business. I went back to school later in life to get a masters in financial planning & counseling and love what I do.

Looking forward to meeting everyone.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Ramen on September 10, 2018, 02:01:39 PM
Cam here from ramenretirement.com - I sit closer to the 'Fat' end of the FIRE community, and I'm generally more interested in topics related to growing top line earnings and investment potential (as opposed to a hyper focus on cost control).

Personally, I've figured out the FI part of FIRE, but still work a conventional "job" building software and businesses in the Bay Area... that's what I would end up doing after a few months of RE anyhow. Currently considering a few ventures that I might go "start-up". I guess that's the biggest advantage of FI (for me) - the flexibility and opportunity to play the game on a deeper level, take a little more risk.

Thanks Sam! Look forward to connecting with folks!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: EricNJ on September 10, 2018, 06:14:15 PM
Hi I'm Eric.

Long time fan and student of FS!

I am an entrepreneur turned investor/consultant/writer.

Looking forward to sharing ideas.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: zzebie on September 10, 2018, 06:46:07 PM
Hello Sam and forum participants,

Long time reader of Financial Samurai here. It's great to see the forum and glad to be here

-Zzebie
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: 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!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Dario33 on September 11, 2018, 08:53:24 AM
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)
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sam on September 11, 2018, 09:28:07 AM
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!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: 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.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sam on September 11, 2018, 12:52:17 PM
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.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: 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?
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sam on September 11, 2018, 12:56:01 PM
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.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Orphan on September 11, 2018, 05:26:35 PM
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
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: gkc on September 11, 2018, 05:45:25 PM
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!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: numbers on September 11, 2018, 07:03:43 PM
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.



Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Ramona on September 12, 2018, 12:41:22 AM
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 :)
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: 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!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: lepong02 on September 12, 2018, 09:15:10 AM
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.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: nycrite on September 12, 2018, 10:57:40 AM
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!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Bonsai on September 12, 2018, 01:28:41 PM
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. 
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Westy on September 12, 2018, 08:02:40 PM
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.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sam on September 12, 2018, 08:59:16 PM
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.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Kudzu on September 13, 2018, 02:19:41 PM
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.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: 1RHINO on September 14, 2018, 07:17:26 AM
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
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Jsmith on September 14, 2018, 08:43:38 AM
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!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sam on September 14, 2018, 09:20:06 AM
Quote from: 1RHINO on September 14, 2018, 07:17:26 AM
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

Cool! You'll have to share some secrets to Tony Robbin's business and life success sometime. He seems like a charitable guy.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Sam on September 14, 2018, 09:21:08 AM
Quote from: Jsmith on September 14, 2018, 08:43:38 AM
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!

Welcome! I'm impressed you're already on Level 2 right out of college. You working in finance? It's going to feel amazing to get your CFA. I never did.. but I went to Cal part-time for my MBA, which felt good after it was done.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Jsmith on September 14, 2018, 09:37:45 AM
Quote from: Sam on September 14, 2018, 09:21:08 AM
Quote from: Jsmith on September 14, 2018, 08:43:38 AM
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!

Welcome! I'm impressed you're already on Level 2 right out of college. You working in finance? It's going to feel amazing to get your CFA. I never did.. but I went to Cal part-time for my MBA, which felt good after it was done.

Thanks Sam! I was fortunate that my college offered a prep course for level 1 that I took during my senior year and was lucky pass right away... but yes I work for a fixed income manager for institutional clients that mainly focuses on pension liability management and interest rate hedging. Safe to say I've had a steep learning curve but am fortunate to be learning brand new things every day, which will be exciting for my career going forward.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: CallieSF on September 14, 2018, 09:48:52 AM
Hi Sam! Fantastic articles over the years and life-changing insights. Thank You! Been out of the rat race for 2 years now after negotiating my layoff. Looking forward to sharing strategies and stories with the community and reading more from FS!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: HealthisWealth on September 15, 2018, 03:16:12 PM
Hi All,
Thx Sam for creating this blog. I've been reading your blog for the past two years.
I'm a 29yr old SF Sunset district native, married w/ no kids.
My passive income is Real estate. Looking forward to learning more and discussing local topics with everyone.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: keithforkin on September 15, 2018, 05:10:27 PM
Good evening everyone,

Thank you Sam for taking the time to create this forum and for all of your insightful articles and posts.  I am super stoked to be a part of this new ecosystem and look forward to learning from each of you. 

I am an accountant and attorney who retired last year from the Marine Corps.  We have four children ranging in age from 9-15.  I also run a small technology consulting firm out of Wilmington, North Carolina.  As we speak, the last bands of rain from Hurricane Florence are passing over us.  Florence has been a timely reminder of how important it is to be thankful for what we have earned and to enjoy life. 

Have a great weekend. 

Keith

   
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: axsion on September 17, 2018, 07:33:44 AM
Hello Sam,
my name is Frederic Bergeron. I have been a very interested reader for several years now. I'm also a financial blog owner (www.LeDividende.com - french blog) where I share my experience with a lot less success than you   :P

I live in the north shore of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

I'm very happy and interested in reading all your new experiences and read your member's financial stories.

Thanks for making me a member.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: myamnesia on September 17, 2018, 12:00:40 PM
I live in the north SF Bay area, married with 2 kids. Set to soft FIRE June 2020. I love Sam's posts and am alway son the lookout for new content!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Orphan on September 18, 2018, 10:36:23 AM
Quote from: DadsDollarsDebts on September 09, 2018, 09:07:53 PM
Hello all. I am a dad, doctor, and just guy trying to get by. Life is good out in Northern Cali but I am about to move back home to the South. Consider it a form of geographic arbitrage but I also just need to get the Tubb's Fire and loss of our home behind me. I blog at dadsdollarsdebts.com and have been reading Financial Samurai for many years.

Best of luck on your pending move. Great choice..
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Young And The Invested on September 18, 2018, 11:41:36 AM
Hello FSF, I'm a recent convert to the FIRE movement, though I'm more focused on the FI than the RE.  I came upon Sam's site as my wife sent me his articles off and on over the past few years.  She knew I had a strong interest in personal finance and that I routinely would field questions from friends, family and coworkers. 

As a result, she nudged me into starting my own blog (https://youngandtheinvested.com/).  I focus on helping individuals in the younger generations learn more about reaching financial independence through financial literacy and planning.  I attempt to use approachable terms, explanations, and concepts to make the material easily understood and applicable to many.

Visit https://youngandtheinvested.com/about/ to learn more about me and my site's mission.

I look forward to interacting with folks active in the FIRE movement through this forum and other venues.  Please to introduce myself and looking forward to discussing personal finance topics with many of you!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: will on September 19, 2018, 03:17:30 PM
Hi, all. I came across a headline on the MSN homepage a few weeks ago about how to retire when I am 40, which led me to Financial Samurai.  I'll be 30 soon and didn't put back as much as I wish I would have in my 20s (who did?!) so my goal is to be in a position to retire when I am 50. Using the Personal Capital website that Sam recommends (and now I do, too!) it looks like my wife and I will be on pace to do that, and that is with her "retiring" next year as we start our family.  I have an undergrad in meteorology from MS State, will wrap up an MBA from LSU in October, and have been in the Air Force Reserve since 2012.

Thanks, Sam, for putting this forum together. Now I'd like to advocate for a podcast!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: KAT1809 on September 19, 2018, 11:14:06 PM
My hubby retired in 2005 due to health reasons about a month before turning 50. I retired in 2013 at age 55 (the earliest retirement age allowed by the "Magic 75" rule of my employer's contributory pension plan). One of the nicest things after I first retired was people telling me, "You don't look 65".  I would then reluctantly admit to being "only 55".

I recently completed my five year period certain pension payout (the majority of which made it into Fidelity and Vanguard Rollover IRAs), so we will see how well hubby and I do living off our Cash Cushion while being protected by our Yield Shield of dividend paying mutual funds (although Geographic Arbitrage is likely not an option for us - we are both too much homebodies). 

I really enjoy reading about all the young, energetic people planning to break out of the hamster wheel of wage slavery.  Financial Independence gives you the freedom to do what you want when you want! Obtain your freedom when you are still young and healthy enough to enjoy it.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: sevenplaces on September 26, 2018, 05:37:00 AM
Hi,

I'm Robert in the Atlanta area.  I've been receiving the FS mails for a couple years and trying to gain traction on passive income.  I look forward to learning more about real estate income and look forward to financial independence.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Money Ronin on October 01, 2018, 06:19:49 PM
I started reading your site in 2013 when I left the corporate world and my prior life as a management consultant.  I once served many masters; now I serve none, thus a Ronin. 

At the time, I was 41.  I knew I could get by for a few years without a "real job", but now it's been 5 years and semi/early retirement has worked out financially better than I could have imagined.  I've always been interested in personal finance and investing, and now I've been able to devote more time to such pursuits.  Of course, the timing helped as well.

We share similar backgrounds so it makes sense I agree with most of what you write.  However, I'm looking forward to using this forum as opportunity to share my ideas where they might differ from yours.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Czg on October 02, 2018, 04:16:24 PM
Hi all, I stumbled upon Financial Samurai a short time ago, am have been soaking up your articles since. My husband and I live in the south east. Life is good here.

I've subscribed to everything you offer, but especially glad to find the forums. I really need advice about tweaking our retirement plan.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: KT1986 on October 15, 2018, 09:00:42 AM
Hi guys

Early thirties ex-lawyer here, based in NYC. Late convert to the personal finance world but your site Sam has done a lot to help me understand the nature of the never-ending treadmill I was previously on (and work to get off it).

Always a pleasure to read everyone's posts and get different people's views on things. Been reticent about posting on the website so far but this forum seems an excellent place to start actively contributing.

Thanks for starting this Sam and I know it's going to be a roaring success!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: timbertacos on October 15, 2018, 09:37:41 AM
Hello all!

I'm Tim.

Early 30's.

Primary employment is with the city government, riding loud red trucks and kicking doors, ect.

Started to become more savvy with financial ideas about 3 years ago, a bit after being hired on.  Discovered FS about 6 months ago (although I couldn't tell you how or why)

Like most here, trying to set myself up well for retirement, and perhaps planning for an early retirement.

---------------

More and more, I am hearing guys who are 25 years ahead of me saying a handful of things:

     - I wouldnt recommend this career to my children
     - I would retire/separate as soon as possible (53 is the soonest without penalty to pension, 50 is the soonest to separate and
         draw)


For the large part, these are for the health reasons.

Trying to take the hard earned advice of my elders, currently trying to set myself up for a FI exit at the earliest it makes sense.

----------

Looking forward to the community formed in the forums!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Axelrod on October 16, 2018, 05:21:48 PM
Hi all. Very excited to be apart of this forum. My name's Alex.
Sam thanks for starting FS.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Cornbread on October 21, 2018, 04:17:06 AM
Hello and thanks so much for allowing me to join this wonderful forum. I am very ignorant from everything from real estate investing to diversification. I am trying to learn slowly but I have a many questions which I plan to ask. I am old (72),redneck and ugly- but have enjoyed life mainly by having dozens and dozens of jobs. Looking back, it was not a great financial decision for retiring...lol. Deputy sheriff to hot air balloon flight instructor....and everything in between. Took one of the founders of Home Depot on a hot air balloon ride in the 1980s--so have lots of Home Depot stock. I need to diversify---bad.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Jbinjville on October 24, 2018, 07:20:12 AM
Hello
just signed up yesterday, I have two reasons for joining I guess. 1st is finding good tax right offs. my wife and I are fortunate in that our taxable income just doubled, so we're getting hit pretty hard but it's a nice problem to have. 2nd is getting more passive income.  we've got decent  savings in 401K and other IRA  but we need to do better in investing.  I will mention that I started an S corp back in the early 90s and have been working at that job ever since, employing somewhere around 20 people.  we also started a wholly owned LLC a few years ago in a different line, which is where the jump in income is coming from.  So I've got some experience that I may be able to share that may help somebody, hopefully.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: The Golden Shaman on October 24, 2018, 08:39:08 AM
Hi Sam and all.

Greetings from Southern California, where I live with my wife and 7-y.o. daughter.

I am Italian, 49 y.o. and we have been living in the USA for the last 8 years.

I am very late in the game, given that I started giving systematic attention to investing only three years ago. The trigger was deciding to leave my golden-caged job in Washington DC (with a modest severance) to become an independent executive leadership coach. I now work with clients all over the world, mostly via video and phone. My speciality is to help people navigate positive shifts in the life/career/organization, going through what holds them back and moving towards what they long for.

As a coach, I am aware that this work starts with me. I am the only provider in the family and since reinventing my/our life from scratch I have been living in the question of how to monetize my work with integrity, creativity, and balance to generate wealth short and long term. This is seldom easy, with fear, worry and risk aversion getting in the way.

Finance was never one of my favorite subjects, but I am now getting intrigued by the entrepreneurial side of personal finance. I have become painfully aware of how little I know,  and I am speeding up my learning. I have been reading Sam's blog for about a year now, and it has been invaluable to help me anchor my intention to be serious about money, and to focus on action.

I look forward to learning from and with you.

Stefano
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Rdizzle on October 29, 2018, 11:13:05 AM
Hello, I'm Drew with my wife Holly. We are military family (her) while I do tunnel engineering. We move every so often but mostly have lived in Washington and Hawaii. I've been saving and investing since 13 so really enjoyed finding financial samurai which taught me a lot.
We now focus on not only early retirement but maximizing quality of life for the least amount of money and effort. My emphasis is travel while hers is day to day life. Can't wait to share what we know and learn from others!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Lynx on October 29, 2018, 11:18:16 AM
 Hi all,

I am Lynx a 38 year old island girl with a passion for finance. I am single with no children and live on a small island in the Caribbean. I am an avid small investor (markets and real estate) and enjoy gardening and hiking  in my down time. I am also thinking about starting a small business I have had in my mind for  a few years. I have been an avid Financial Samurai reader for many years and ejoy the perspective that he brings to the financial space.

I am looking forward to reading more financial perspectives from the wider Financial Samurai audience.

Cheers,

Lynx
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Arcs on October 29, 2018, 03:04:20 PM
Hello,
I am a novice DIY (female/late in the game) investor in 30s and who is always looking for financial advice. I live and work in Bay area in a Science related field so I started off with almost zero investing knowledge 5 yrs ago. It was exciting to find this site ~2 years ago as it helps me keep my feet grounded. I find it interesting to see how people think while managing their investments, where do the ideas originate from and cross check if my strategy is unrealistic. So slowly yet surely I think I am moving forward and looking for all the information I can get to make better personal finance decisions. 
Thanks,
Arcs.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Derrick on October 29, 2018, 07:00:25 PM
Hi everyone, my name is Derrick. I am an investing junkie who has been in banking for 13 years.  Been enjoying the Financial Samurai blog for many years and excited to be here with like minded people.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: teeta on October 30, 2018, 05:43:40 AM
Hi everyone from Houston, TX.  I accidentally discovered Financial Samurai blog long time ago and a big fan since.  I've also shared the blog with many of my professional and personal friends since. I am an oil & gas professional for 13 years and counting but definitely do not want to be in the industry forever.  I am extremely glad that the forum is now available so it would be much easier to share, exchange and learn ideas, concepts with many like minded, ambitious folks across the world.

Thank you Financial Samurai for your hard work over the years to make this possible. 

Tim
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Alex the stoic on October 30, 2018, 07:46:40 AM
Hi,
I'm Alex 43 year old, from Germany.  Financial Samurai Blog helped me to change my financial behaviour in a positive matter. My main goal is to get rid of my big debt and Mortgage loan + simultaneously grow my stock account from almost zero to 500k+. My time horizon is 12 years from now. I'm highly motivated and I will strictly follow Sam's financial advices and rules to achieve my goals.  :)
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Bill on October 30, 2018, 11:40:09 AM
Hello everyone,

My name is Bill. I'm 47 years old, been married for 22 years and have a wonderful daughter in her freshman year at college. I'm a semi-retired business owner who is passionate about the stock market. I bought my first stock when I was 19 years old. It was a company called Alpnet. I had no idea what they do. My sisters boyfriend talked me into it. Paid .70 a share and sold at $1.30. I made $750.00 and have been hooked ever since.

I've been a reader of Financial Samurai since the beginning and tend to comment only when I disagree with Sam or the comments. Hmmm, maybe that says a lot about me. Regardless, I love the blog and have learned a lot, both from Sam, and from some of the commentators.  I look forward to learning and sharing more with community in the future.

Thanks, Bill
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: rluks on October 31, 2018, 02:44:27 AM
Hello there!

I'm 28yo Roman and I come from "the heart of Europe" - Czech Republic. I've started taking interest in investing in 2015. I was fascinated by compound interest so I started investing a couple of hundred CZK every month (just to participate). Back then I didn't realize one can achieve FI. Not long ago I've discovered all those famous blogs about FI including FS. I took my budgeting spreadsheet and started crunching numbers. If all goes according to the plan I could reach FI before I'm 50.

I'm glad to be part of this community and hope we can all help each other on our journey.

Cheers
Roman
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Tej on October 31, 2018, 07:28:22 AM
Thank you Sam for launching this forum. Looking forward for some pro tips, great insights and user stories within this community.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: toocold on October 31, 2018, 04:56:38 PM
Hi Folks, I'm in my late forties and have been looking at FS for quite awhile now.  I'm married with 2 kids, living in the upper midwest; thus, the name Toocold when I first created it.  Technically I'm FI about 100x target spending but I continue to work because I think I can meaningfully contribute through megacorp.   

If, however, things go awry and I were to separate from megacorp, I'd be pretty psyched to get some rest and do something new and interesting.  I'm glad to be on the forum.

Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: hyperobjeckt on November 01, 2018, 10:27:29 AM
Hi all, I'm a nerd in my late 20s living in Seattle. Some things I like:
I got very lucky by finding out about FIRE early: my dad retired at 39, parents taught me to live below my means, and I happened to graduate college during a huge bull run. So of course I get excited about saving money & looking for new opportunities.

Enjoying the forum so far!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Jim4130 on November 02, 2018, 10:28:27 AM
Hi everyone.  My name is Jim and I live in Southwest Florida.  I am 55, married and have 4 children (25, we, 15 and 12).  I am always interested in other opinions on investing strategies and retirement planning.  I originally came to the FS site years ago when searching out advice on negotiating a severance package. 
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Tony on November 02, 2018, 02:03:53 PM
Hey guys. My name is Tony. I'm a professional poker player and live in Cincinnati. Im in my early 30's and recently stumbled upon this blog as I've become much more interested in finances and the prospects of retiring at an early age with the goal of traveling a bunch and being able to raise a kid (if i chose to have one) without having to work.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Old_Arpad on November 03, 2018, 06:05:25 PM
Hello all.  I've been reading the FS blog for a few years now but have never posted.  I got a late start with FIRE due to not paying attention to finances till i was 30, but am on target to quit my job in just over 4 more years.

I don't have a home town. I grew up in various places of the world, and continued to live and work in various countries as an adult. My birth citizenship is British but I haven't lived there in a very long time, not since leaving boarding-school. I currently live in the US, in the southeast. 
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: jdurham1463 on November 04, 2018, 05:09:20 AM
Hi All,
I am new to the forum - I have been reading the blog for a few months now. 
I am a real estate developer by profession - I started working for local real estate development companies in my mid 20's after finishing grad school in Urban Planning. 
I launched out on my own at around 29.  I'm now 38 and have developed a number of projects which I continue to own and manage.  The projects have gotten larger over the years.  My first project was a vacant building in downtown that I purchased and converted to a bar & restaurant and 2 lofts.  I dabbled in building 2-3 families during the recession including some affordable housing.  Recent projects have included the conversion of a former school into 50 apartments, an old nursing home into 22 apartments, and I'm currently building a mixed use project with a grocery store and a 30 unit apartment building.
I've been lucky to have a great partner that has allowed me to hold properties for the long term instead of selling upon completion to fund the next one.

I just sold a building (really the first time I've sold anything) and put some nice $$ in my pocket.  I decided to sell it because I got a better price for it than I would pay for it today; and I have recently felt like too much of my NW is in real estate and not liquid enough; so this was a general diversification move. 

I now am sitting on cash and not sure where to deploy it..... also feeling a little seller's remorse. 

The stock market feels over priced and highly volatile right now.
I am not an expert in stocks so I would really hate to take a hard earned score and invest it only to see a 10-15% corruption wipe out significant equity overnight. 

I am more interested in the 'FI' part of FIRE - I love what I do way too much to think of retiring - ever.... but the nature of my work is always project based, and you can always set your role in a project to coincide with your work load goals (in my 30's I am the general contractor and developer... as I get older I will probably hire general contractors and just wear the 'developer hat' which is a much lighter work load than also being the GC...).

Look forward to discussing ideas that people are sharing for investment ideas and discussing and sharing my experience in real estate with others. 

Best,
J
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: DCSFNY on November 04, 2018, 09:34:42 AM
Greetings from NYC - I'm a 30yo mid-Level finance professional working at a large bank.  I stumbled into Financial Samurai earlier this year, initially intrigued because of the similarities of Sam's former profession & mine (along with the feelings), but have been hooked ever since as I look towards the "FI" portion of FIRE.  I've also chuckled at some of the posts walking through the budgets of NYC/SF families and exorbitant expenditures, as its quite common in the small bubble of the world that I work in for folks to be way over their skis to "keep up with the Joneses". 

My near-term FI plan involves the creation of a holding company for private investments that enables me to move away from being an employee to owning my own business.  My career earnings has fortunately enabled me to save quite a bit, and should provide the capital necessary to fund the investments without any 3rd party equity (at least initially). 

I look forward to interacting with the community!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: AdamJane on November 06, 2018, 08:00:15 PM
Hi All,

We are 54 and 53. We live in Queens, NYC.

In 2010, we started buying individual NY municipal tax free bonds (munis) to prepare for layoffs. We used our life savings to buy them. Each year we accumulated more bonds with our yearly savings and bonuses. We stopped consuming and reduced our yearly expenses from 56K to 40K. In 2012, our munis generated 40K which covered expenses except for medical. The company laidoff 350 IT workers in 2012. In 2014, we reached FI when our munis generated 66K which will cover expenses and medical.

In 2013, I discovered personal finance site RetireBy40 by Joe Udo. In Jan 2014, I contacted Joe and we did a case study and a followup on RB40's site to see if we can retire at age 49. As suggested by more than 50% of his readers, we continued working to boost up our pensions and to accumulate more money to cover 3% inflation for expenses and 8% yearly increases for medical cost.

Reader Case Study – Work 5 More Years to Collect Full Pension? 1/20/14
http://retireby40.org/early-retirement-municipal-bonds/

Reader's Story: Three More Years of Work for Adam.  7/25/16
http://retireby40.org/three-years-work-adam/

In 2013, I saw Sam's comments on RB40's site and I clicked on the link to his site. I recall reading Sam's passive income post and I was BLOWN AWAY by the income amount and by the many different income streams. Ever since, I have been reading RB40 and Financial Samurai's site multiple times everyday. I enjoy reading all comments for the different POVs.

In 2016, another 650-700 IT workers were laidoff including my wife, Jane. Many of our co-workers were in panic mode since they did not prepare. We had no financial stress due to the muni bond passive income covering our expenses.

Wife was forced retired in 2016 at age 51 and I will retire at age 55 in the 4th Qtr in 2019. Since we are risk averse, we only invest in individual NY municipal tax free bonds that pays 3.5 to 5%. We have NO money in the stock market. Our company 401Ks are invested in fixed dollar account. This fix interest rate changes every year and for 2019 it is 4.55%. With munis, pensions and 401K interest, it will cover 3x our current expenses.

Adam
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: djp on November 07, 2018, 05:59:12 AM
Hi! As a long-time reader, happy to be a part of this forum! I'm a 42 yr old business owner, with a 55 yr old husband/business partner and... two toddlers :-)  We're working toward "retirement" in 5 years so we can enjoy more family time.  Hoping this forum can continue to inspire us to get there!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: thlayli on November 07, 2018, 07:45:36 AM
 8)

Hey everyone. I've been a reader of Sam's blog for going on five years now, and I've been slowly clawing my way to a better financial state for the last six years, or so. After leaving school with a pile of student loans, credit card debt, and many bad habits, I turned it all around and today I'm debt free (minus the mortgage) and starting to build a nice after tax safety blanket. The one area I didn't screw up before was my 401K.

Nearly two decades ago I started a new job out in California that offered a 401K plan. My brother-in-law told me, just set it up at 10% or so from day one... You'll never notice the difference and it will just start saving for you. It was good advice, and even though it would take another five years before I would max out my yearly contributions, and have every year since for the last fourteen years, I've stayed the course and have a very healthy 401K that is nearing seven digits.

So, while my numbers are a little flip flopped from what Sam and other bloggers recommend, and I hold a huge chunk of my savings in 401K funds, it keeps me focused and I'm inching up, month by month (well, ok, maybe not last month) to having a nice cushion after tax, and on a path to financial independence.

I'm inspired by Sam's example of not really retiring early, but getting to a point where you can work at what you truly love and make your best life possible. I'm a fiction writer, by hobby, and would love to make it a more full time gig. I also love 50% of my day-to-day real job, though I'll go into that situation more in the future.

Ideally, by the time I turn 45, I'd like to cut down the number of hours I work on other people's projects and focus more on my own. I'm hoping this blog will help me stay focused and help me find my way along that path over the next five and a half years.

Happy to meet you all, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the next several years takes us.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: rluks on November 12, 2018, 03:25:04 AM
Quote from: thlayli on November 07, 2018, 07:45:36 AM
I'm a fiction writer, by hobby, and would love to make it a more full time gig.

Hi there, I enjoy sci-fi. And I'm considering to write something too. Would love to check out your work.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: nganix123 on November 14, 2018, 09:55:27 AM
 Hello,

Been a long time reader....I've learned a lot from your website through the years..Keep up the good work!!!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Ocko on November 14, 2018, 01:17:02 PM
Greetings to all from mid-Michigan,

I am 30-year-old civil engineer and along with my wife, an elementary school teacher, have enjoyed reading and discussing Financial Samurai since 2015. May we offer our thanks to Sam for providing insightful content and to all of those who have offered their feedback.

After entering the workforce during the recession, finishing our student loans in 2014 and then taking on a mortgage considerably below our earnings, we've been happily working toward FI ever since. We enjoy saving for a fully self-funded retirement by living simply and savings like it's 1930.

Our 401(k) and 529 accounts have enjoyed the recent stock gains and even more recent corrections. We continue to diversify into municipals, real estate, private stocks and CDs.

We're expecting and expecting a wild ride from most sectors going forward into 2020 and beyond.

Cheers,
R
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: dustball on December 05, 2018, 09:46:00 AM
Howdy from Austin :)

Just started reading Financial Samurai last year.
I'm just an engineer so don't have background or experience in finance
Not planning to reach FIRE but interested in FI.
Excited to learn more and contribute to this forum.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: cytoman66 on January 07, 2019, 07:45:26 PM
Greetings from Kansas!

I'm a married, father of three (17, 16, 14) in his late 40's.  I'm a rural hospital executive with a passion for personal finance and investing.  I spend a fair amount of my free time reading blogs like Financial Samurai. Thanks Sam!

Jeremy
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: DigitalNomad on January 09, 2019, 07:23:12 PM
Hi from Vietnam.

I am an ex-silicon valley engineer turned location-independent online business owner. Been on the road since 2013 (same year as I started reading Financial Samurai) but been living pretty much permanently in Vietnam since 2016. In addition to my online income I also have investments in physical real estate, real estate crowdsourcing (RS & Fundrise), stocks, bonds, crypto and p2p lending (Prosper & LendingClub).

See you around the forum!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: shanger on January 09, 2019, 07:28:58 PM
Greetings from Los Angeles and thanks for having me! 

I'm in my mid 30s, married, and we're expecting a baby boy later this year.  My spouse and I have been reading the blog for the last couple of years and we're huge fans!   

I earned an undergraduate degree from MIT (finance and economics) and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.  Spent the first part of my career managing money for institutions (started at a hedge fund, then worked at PIMCO helping manage fixed income and derivative portfolios for corporations).  Moved over to the transactional side of finance, and spent time in investment banking at Credit Suisse and in middle market private equity as well. 

In 2016, I founded a small VC backed startup focused on wealth management, which was acquired in early 2018.  A few months prior to my startup getting acquired, the biotech firm my wife worked at got acquired as well.  We did zero tax planning prior and at the time had a relatively limited understanding of how RSUs and ISOs work.  While it was a certainly a blessing, the lack of planning and knowledge resulted in a painful surprise tax bill (in addition to the taxes we had already paid) during tax season. 

Nowadays I'm a private banker and money manager and I work with individuals and endowments and foundations.  I've held a variety of finance and entrepreneurship roles, but by far my favorite part is my current job where I get to work with families and individuals to help folks make sense of their finances.  Excited to be here!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: TacosAndBurritos on January 13, 2019, 10:14:29 PM
Greetings from Texas (or whatever BFE town I'm in).

Found Sam's blog when I was in HS a decade ago, read it a couple of times. Went to college but had trouble finding a job after the recession. Didn't want to pay attention to my student loans, figured if I ignore the calls I wouldn't know how serious the problem was. So I defaulted. 19K grew to 25K. Found a job but disliked office politics and the environment wasn't for me.  So now I'm an oilfield worker fracing wells. Better work schedule, higher pay (2.5x), best medical care, and I'm good at what I do so I get offers all the time. So I'm starting a bit late but better than never. My first out of college job paid well but no way could I FIRE on 50k/yr, so I didn't care much about FIRE. Now that I'm making more, my desire to FIRE has grown exponentially. Well that and working as a part time PA for a guy who had FIRE at 33 owning a bunch of pot farms. All he did was work out, go on dates, and invest his money in businesses to help them grow. Literally, that's all he did while having 2MM in cash on his bed chest.

Age: Mid 20s.
Location: Texas (or anywhere you can frac) but call Dallas/Houston home.
Goal: Do whatever the F I want and not have to worry about it. Ideally I'd want a centrally located home and just wake up, work out, volunteer at a dog shelter, and take part in hobbies every day. Another goal is to not swing a hammer into my 30s.

P.S - Decided to rehab my loans last year, and brought 25 to 17K so far. My goal is to finish paying them off in 12 months (May)!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: CheepoBiker on January 22, 2019, 08:49:39 AM
Good Morning All;
                            Hello from Missouri. I'm clueless when it comes to investing, whether it be terms,strategy, etc. I've been lucky-or not- in having land that others wanted. I left the investing to a brokerage. That said, I'm now 65, just got on Medicare, and plan on waiting til 66 before collecting SS. I have more than enough money to last me, and my goal this year is to liquidate the stocks/funds portion of my portfolio, and stash it in CD's, or wherever safe, and minimizing my tax burden.  Thats pretty much it, passed this along so you'll have some insight when I post my questions on the forum. Thanks       
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Joshea123 on January 25, 2019, 07:21:08 PM
Hi people,

Greetings from Vancouver. I'm a 25 year old Brit recently located here from England.

My early 20's I was pretty clueless about money but did travel a lot. I've visited around 15 countries and worked and lived in 4.

I have about $10k saved and I'm currently working a low wage job, looking into career options but also looking at skills to begin to try and make some money online: copywriting etc. I have a degree in History which if I could go back I probably wouldn't do, but it did teach me critical thinking which is never a bad skill to have.

Anyway pleased to have joined the forum, only discovered the blog recently and looking forward to conversing with you all and hopefully learning a thing or two.

Cheers
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: VOLinNYC on February 04, 2019, 08:03:57 PM
Hello Sam & Forum,

I'm a University of Tennessee graduate living in New York City, hence the screen name.  I sell professional services for a Technology Solutions firm in the city.  My position allows for a respectable amount of free time and remote work.  When I'm not working or taking care of 7 month old, I try to make sure our family is staying on track for FIRE.  We own a small apartment in the Upper East Side and are interested in purchasing a vacation/rental property in Charleston, SC.  My main focus for 2019 is aggressively saving for the Charleston down payment.

Looking forward to interacting on the Forum!

Best,

VOLinNYC
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Cesarwilliams on February 07, 2019, 01:34:59 AM
 Hello everyone.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: kgschnyd3r on February 10, 2019, 09:02:06 AM
Hello everyone,

I was an IT Manager/Director for 20 years until I decided to start my own business. I have started a physical security company so my life has changed quite a bit from the old 8-5 routine. (and being on-call 24/7) It looks easy on paper but I have definitely run into some challenges. Nothing that will stop me from making progress, just little things that are annoying, non-productive and time consuming. The company is gaining traction and I feel good about the future.

I am able to be in this position because of some financial decisions I made years ago. Some of them were luck, being in the right place at the right time and others were prudent decisions like not having credit card debt, paying down the mortgage and saving as much as possible.

I've been reading Sam's posts for about three years now and I like his approach. I wish I understood everything he writes about and that's why I am looking forward to learning more every day.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: bgallant1289 on April 18, 2019, 03:16:07 AM
Hi from Los Angeles. I'm a 29 year old new dad who rents an apartment for $2400 a month about 5 minutes from the beach. I have a wife who is the same age and a 7 week old. While on paternity leave I had the realization I didn't want to keep going back to my day job and needed to start to map out how I was going to escape the rat race.

Speaking of day jobs, I work in investment management of a superannuation fund out of Australia, specializing in the asset management and development of their real estate portfolio. Before that I was an analyst at a commercial mortgage brokerage firm cutting my teeth on commercial real estate. Ironically after 7 years and helping other investors get rich, I have nothing invested in real estate and want that to change given my level of knowledge and  expertise.

I found FS through a guest appearance of his on another podcast and found it refreshing to hear another spin on FIRE. Can't wait to start mapping out my journey and collaborating with all you.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: My Money Wizard on May 08, 2019, 07:57:54 AM
Hey fellow Samurais! Long time FS reader and really excited about this community!

I'm Sean, a 29 year old living in Minneapolis and chasing financial freedom as fast as possible. I work in finance by day and blog about money by night. (One time Sam stopped by and commented on a blog post of mine, so I like to think that makes me a pretty big deal 8) )

My goal is to reach total financial freedom by age 35. To get there, I do my best to save over 60% of my income and I track all of my investments on my blog. (Just passed $300,000!)

Looking forward to learning from everyone here!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: MoneyOnTrees on May 14, 2019, 07:26:26 PM
Hi all! Longtime FS reader and first-time forum poster. About myself:

I was born and raised in VA, I went to college in TN, and I've been living in DC for the last decade. Five years ago when I was 30, I made the bold decision to quit a high-paying executive job to co-found a B2B software company. My friends and family thought I was nuts to walk away from something so lucrative.

While the executive paycheck was fantastic, I knew something was missing — my happiness. I was putting in way too many hours, enduring way too much stress, and sacrificing my mental and physical health in the process. Not to mention, I was increasingly irked that no matter how much value I added to my employer, I didn't have equity in the business and I still had to take my marching orders from the owner.

It probably sounds counterintuitive that my solution for reducing stress, increasing my happiness, and improving my health would be to start a company. Sure, the first year is rough compounded by the fact my partners and I agreed not to take any compensation for the first year. However, after a lot of hard work, perseverance, and luck, we turned a profit in 12-months and have been growing double-digits ever since. Looking back on it now, I can honestly say that becoming my own boss was one of the best decisions I ever made. Coincidentally, it was during the startup years that I discovered FS which served as a constant reminder of the financial freedom I was seeking.

While my professional expertise is in sales/marketing and business, my real passion is writing and personal finance. I had always wanted to start a blog and with my software company on stable ground, my wife finally nudged me to make that a reality. In 2018, I taught myself Wordpress, chose a name, started writing, and soft-launched in November. The link is below if you're curious. The site caters to 18-34 year-olds looking for actionable guidance on beginner-intermediate personal finance topics. The site is a hobby that I do in my spare time to help others but I'm always open to feedback on how to make it better.

Apologies for the novel, but I'm very much looking forward to learning from all of you, asking questions, sharing my experiences, and helping whenever I can. Sam, thank you for everything you do and for making this forum possible.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: BrittneyChristy on June 15, 2019, 12:45:20 AM
Hello everyone.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: dropoutandretireearly1539 on June 18, 2019, 10:47:52 PM
Quote from: Sam on August 04, 2018, 06:17:32 PM
Hi everyone. Thanks for your interest and support of the Financial Samurai Forums! Please take a minute to say hi. Feel free to share as much or as little about yourself as you like. It'll be fun to see the community grow and reach all corners of the globe.

We're right now in soft launch mode, and I plan to publicize the forum by September 2018. I just want to make sure as many kinks are out first.

My story: https://www.financialsamurai.com/about/

Thanks!

Sam

HELLO EVERYONE !!!!! This is Doug from the

Facebook page thats called Dropout And Retire Early !!!!

I love reading financial samurai posts !!!!!

Thanks for having me here !!!!!  :) :) :) :) :) :)
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: JohnBrown on June 26, 2019, 11:27:53 PM
Hey! Im newbie! Nice to be a part this community! Nice to meet you all.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: JonMD on July 01, 2019, 03:12:22 PM
Hello FS people. I am just joining here and excited to share my new FIRE plans, mostly financial over I. The FIRE topic page of forums. I am always open to hear opinions from this community and hope I can add somethings as well!

JonMD
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: cclarke on July 04, 2019, 06:33:02 PM
Hello from Oregon! This is going to be so much fun to research and meet people. Briefly, I have a day job in finance and a side hustle. Looking forward to learning and sharing.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Logan Allec on July 07, 2019, 07:30:47 AM
Hi, I'm Logan.  I'm a CPA and full-time financial blogger.  I live in a suburb of Los Angeles, and my wife and I are new parents.  I've been reading Financial Samurai for the past couple years — mostly since I became a blogger myself — and I like that he says what many others in the world of financial publishing won't.  I'm happy to be here and to learn from you all.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: TommyBeam on July 16, 2019, 03:33:55 PM
Hello! My name is Tommy and my aim is to become more financially successful by learning financial tips and tricks from this forum!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Jeff VA on July 19, 2019, 07:10:38 AM
Hey everyone.

I found this site some time in 2018 when I was searching Google to find non-biased analysis on the real estate market. It has been a gold mine thus far and I am thoroughly enjoying the active community.

I'm not ready to FIRE yet and don't have plans to FIRE too early because I like my job, but I love talking about finance, life, cars, real estate, family....pretty much most of the topics that are covered on this site.

I hope I can be a valuable contributor and look forward to engaging with y'all either here or in the comment sections.

Cheers!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: macarthur wheeler on August 04, 2019, 04:36:21 PM
Hello fellow FS enthusiasts and assorted humans.  The wife and I have two children, a girl and a boy.  We live in the great southwest with a dingbat of a labrador retriever.  The wife tolerates my personal finance obsession, although she is on board with budgeting, investing, helping and generally tracking how we earn, save and spend United States currency. 

The two people I trust in the crowded personal finance field are the esteemed Dave Ramsey and Sam D.    I am unsure how FS is able to crank out so much quality material week after week.  I am very happy he does it.  What Sam has accomplished matters and has made a positive difference. 

The wife and I are both in government service.  We have pensions that will provide stable and substantial income streams.  No debt except a 15 year mortgage that is being paid off in the next 5 years.  We currently save and invest 40% of our gross income.  We are FIRH. Financial Independence Retire Happy.  Simple makes sense to us.  I would qualify for the bottom of the bottom tier IQ in this forum.  What I lack in IQ I make up for with commitment and my wife would say obsession with finance.  Our son has learned a mantra, "you want to earn interest and not pay it."  For birthdays they know any cash goes into their 529s.  Both have custodial ROTH IRAs.

Our goals:
Raise two productive and caring people
Learn weekly
travel
Vacation cabin purchase in 18 months
1 owned rental home in 36 months
Get another dingbat labrador
No mortgage debt in 5 years
No need to touch investments
Live well below income provided by pensions and continue investing at 60/40
Pass ROTH accounts to our kids
To beat Bobby Flay in a kitchen showdown with my smoked rib roast

Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars,

Jeff

Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: berkel on August 22, 2019, 05:21:12 AM
Hello all,

Thank you for the add!  My wife and I live in the suburb of MA, closer to Providence, with our 2 kids (15 yo girl and a 9 yo boy).  We are 46 years old and met Freshman year in college at UVM almost 30 years ago (!!).

We both work in IT and have done a decent job in terms of retirement planning and having an emergency fund.  I've always been interested in stocks and bonds, and I'm trying to diversify into other passive income and non tax-sheltered investments so we can retire "early".

For the past couple of years we've been building a brokerage account focusing on tax advantaged funds stocks with qualified dividends.  I also started dabbling in real-estate crowd funding with RealtyShares, which has been a mixed bag as many of you know.  I still think this platform is a better fit for us rather than owning a "physical" property, so I will go back to this blog after I finish posting.   :)

Looking forward to learning and being inspired by all of you.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Deanna - Ms. Fiology on August 24, 2019, 09:20:07 AM
Hey everyone! I am sorry I never introduced myself when I joined this past winter. I am a middle-aged single woman who got sober from drug addiction in 2010 and dug my way out of debt in 2017. Now I'm learning to be a DIY investor while helping other recovering women.

I rebranded from Ms. Fiology to Recovering Women Wealth recently and am trying to change my display name. I've followed the directions in the help archives and went to profile -->account settings but I have no option to change my display name. Does anyone know how to do this? Or should I just delete my account and open a new one?

Thanks!!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: EC on September 08, 2019, 11:26:31 AM
Hello

I've been reading your email newsletter for several years and appreciate the helpful financial information and advice.  Although I am new and cautious about forums I thought this group would be an excellent one to join. 

My primary financial focus is being smart with finances to achieve life goals with financial independence being an effective foundation to reach those goals. I am a chemical engineer living in the Midwest.  My son is a med school student living several hours away.  My husband and I enjoy our simple low cost lifestyle on an organic 4th generation family farmstead. I like sharing my financial samurai learning with my family. Hopefully I can add value in your forums with my questions and insights too. Thank you for organizing this forum!

Best
EC
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: sitihanter2 on October 07, 2019, 08:47:27 PM
nice to be here
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: DodoFinance on December 03, 2019, 08:22:16 AM
Hello! My name is Lizzy and I live in NYC. What's up, Financial Samaurai?! ;)
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: SteveGood on December 03, 2019, 10:27:29 PM
Hi,


I am steve working in the online ad agency. We have some financial relevant websites for online advertising so I need to learn something about finance and share marketing investment.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Zoeythegermanshephard on December 08, 2019, 02:36:01 PM
Hi,

I have followed FS for around a year now. I'm very interested in having multiple income streams.  I am getting married in July 2020 and looking forward to learning from everyone and contributing to this community.

Fun facts:
- part owner of a manufactured home park
- play a sport professionally as my primary occupation.
- living in France at the moment
- have a german Shepard named zoey (as you may already have noticed)


Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Shannon on December 24, 2019, 06:02:32 AM
Hello All: My name is Shannon, I'm a married Mom of two, a small business owner and real estate investor. I'm a lifelong learner who recently completed a second masters degree  about 25 years after my first trip to college. I find some of the most useful knowledge I've gained, however, comes from sources like this one. I have more to learn and perhaps a few things to share that will help others on their journey. I'm delighted to join you!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Austin on December 28, 2019, 01:17:33 PM
Hello Everybody - glad to be here!

I am a social worker in Tampa and am here to learn.

I have the frugality part of personal finance down pat and am trying to figure out how to increase my income. I figure hanging around here might not be a bad start  :D

I have been reading this blog for a while and am looking forward to being part of the financial samurai community!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: Koidragon on December 29, 2019, 10:09:16 AM
Hello Everyone,

Have been an avid reader of Financial Samurai since before we knew who "Sam" was, and to me he will always be Sam, Financial Samurai. Read many introductions here and looks like I'm in good company - what else can one expect in Sam's world  ;D

Retired from the corporate world many years ago.  Found the internet and eventually a small online business - first blogging, then jumping from one "new" next thing to another, then a digital marketing business which brought me back to writing, and I did - write that is.  Wrote and published a few eBooks on Amazon. Which was cool.  Royalties were looking good with promise of increasing when bam!  Amazon changed their policies/procedures/systems/etc. and just like that,  Amazon changed their policies/procedures/systems/etc.income slashed in half and continued to decline. Hung up my keyboard, chalked "author"  as done and continued building websites and marketing for B2B clients which isn't a bad gig but there ain't no royalties in them thar hills.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to the forum (so to speak).  Every month for over 5 years now, like magic an auto-deposit in my bank from Amazon for books that sold somewhere in the world. Good or good? Yeah, by now, due to sheer neglect its just coffee money, but that's a lot of coffee over the years for having done zilch!

Now, I've always been a writer of sorts (long story), and have revisited the writing/publishing thing lately.  Have connected and reconnected with writers/publishers etc. The thing is I enjoy writing. It's a place I feel at home.  The industry is not exactly what one would call a money machine, but kids are grown (and doing fine), expenses are relatively low, so am throwing my hat in and then, who knows?  Would be cool to generate a consistent and reliable passive income  8)

Koidragon

Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: randomselection on January 01, 2020, 12:12:17 AM
Hey everyone,

I am a recent graduate and have been reading Financial Samurai for a few years now. I'm looking forward to starting my career at a bank and applying what I've learned here with my personal finances. I am based in LA and grew up moving all over the world. Always happy to find a community of like-minded people.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: plex on January 04, 2020, 11:44:15 AM
Hello Financial Samurai's!

I'm starting a new job this month and would like to recalibrate my financial life. I'm looking forward to learning from the community on best practices, and hopefully I can share some of my budgeting techniques that have helped me save over time :)

Take care,
Plex
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: lgdelvalle on January 05, 2020, 03:38:49 PM
Hello from Montana!

I've been reading FS for over a year - I think.  Anyway, I'm married with five adorable little monsters eight and under with an 11 month old as the youngest.  I married very late at the age of 45 so I have many years with kiddo costs.  So far, these costs have been extremely manageable to the point that we are discussing a sixth little monster.

Since 2014 we've been financially independent and continually have improved our financial well being to the point that we moved to Montana back in 2018 to help veterans with PSTD - I'm a veteran myself.  Anyway, I've had a dual career in the power sector, I have a BSME and MBA, and the military.  I've deployed to the Middle East three times, Africa, and Central America.  I'll be retired from the military later this year. 

Anyway, looking forward to participating and glad to share specifics of how attained FI.  Also, feel free to reach out to me, especially veterans, if anyone wants to learn of my successes and failures.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Semper FI!

Luis
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: mhb7 on January 14, 2020, 02:14:33 PM
Hello everyone,

I am a 35 year old NASA engineer married with three kids in Cleveland, OH.  I am pretty obsessive about retirement planning, but I do not consider myself to be in the camp of retire as early as possible.  I figure it's prudent to work at least until my kids are out of college anyway.  I currently invest about mostly in stocks through my TSP (government's version of 401k) and three rental properties that I own in northeast Ohio.  I recently started my own personal finance blog, which I won't post here because I'm not sure if self promotion is taboo in the forums.

In general I am curious to hear how people are investing with valuations high across asset classes, trying to figure out the right balance of current vs. future spending, figuring out just how early I actually want to retire, and figuring out if reaching financial freedom actually brings happiness or if that is a fantasy of mine and if it is really just the beginning of a tough journey to figure out what is truly worth your time when none of your time is actually obligated.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: KMiranda0949 on February 07, 2020, 08:29:45 PM
Hello from CT.

I'm 25 years old and decided to finally take my personal finance more seriously. I just started following financial samurai in the middle of 2019 and was really digging his interesting perspective on financial topics.

I'm hoping by being in this group and by continuing to be more proactive in taking action I will have more success with my finances and retirement  :)
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: GCD on April 30, 2020, 09:01:56 AM
Hi! new member and first post here. Looking forward to participating in the group and learning.

Cheers.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: SteveGood on May 28, 2020, 12:07:44 AM
Quote from: GCD on April 30, 2020, 09:01:56 AM
Hi! new member and first post here. Looking forward to participating in the group and learning.

Cheers.


Welcome to the FSF community! Feel free to ask your finance relevant questions here.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: SteveGood on June 24, 2020, 11:31:23 PM
Quote from: supportingmaps on June 13, 2020, 06:24:40 PM
Hey! I'm currently a student at Lambda School studying data science and machine learning. Finances is a very interesting topic and I've been following Sam for years.


Hi,

Welcome to the FSF community!!! Feel free to ask your financial relevant questions here.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: titlewealth on August 13, 2020, 07:26:11 AM
Hello,

been a lurker for a while but finally decided to start an account. Great insights on the forums.

I am an investor in LendingClub, PeerStreet, Crowdsteert and others. Looking to connect with other investors and share investment tips, strategies and advice.

I am also working on a new tool Money Minx (http://"www.moneyminx.com") which is a net worth calculator and tracking tool. I've tried so many tools out there that just don't seem to get it right, so I decided to build my own.

Cheers!
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: supergotey on September 08, 2020, 06:56:10 PM
Hi all.

I am a big fan of FIRE and personal finance blogs in general. I like FS for their more in depth and lengthy articles, as well as articles about more fancy concepts like farmland, the rich, statistics. Some other websites are more simplistic, which I find to be repetitive.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: TitanUp on October 23, 2022, 05:17:03 AM
Thx for the forum. I am recently retired and heard your podcast on New Retirement. Look forward to poking around the forum.
Title: Re: Welcome! Please introduce yourself
Post by: zambezi01 on August 18, 2023, 12:29:25 AM
I am in San Francisco Bay area nearing retirement. I enjoy the idea of real estate for building passive income. Thank you, Sam; I also grew up in Zambia !
Thank you,
Pankaj Patel