The_King Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 A Manhattan corporate lawyer earning $270,000 a year told Suzy Weiss of the New York Post that he lives on rice and beans so he can retire early. He’s one of an increasing number of millennials trying to join the so-called FIRE community, Weiss wrote. Successful early retirees have told Business Insider they stayed on track for financial independence by living on less. Frugality is the key to building wealth. Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories. Some people will do anything to escape the rat race. Just ask Daniel, 36, a Manhattan corporate lawyer earning $270,000 a year, who told Suzy Weiss of the New York Post that he lives in New Jersey to avoid city taxes, lives on rice and beans, owns one patched-together suit per weekday for work, and layers up during the winter instead of turning the heat on – all so he can save 70% of his salary and retire early. It’s working: He’s saved more than $400,000 and is set to retire in three years, Weiss wrote. Other six-figure earners Weiss talked to have similar goals and are pulling out all the stops to reach them, from banning buying drinks out to wearing shoes that are falling apart. They all hope to join the “Financial Independence, Retire Early” movement that was popularized when “Your Money or Your Life” was published 20 years ago. It’s nothing new – but more millennials are becoming interested in the community, according to Weiss. Living on less helps early retirees stay on track Being content with less and refusing to succumb to lifestyle inflation are the tickets to staying on track to retire early. J.P. Livingston, who runs a personal-finance blog called The Money Habit, built a nest egg of more than $2 million before retiring at 28. Livingston worked in Manhattan’s finance industry and earned $100,000 in her first post-grad job, she previously told Business Insider. But determined to retire early, she tucked away 70% of her take-home pay. In an effort to be more frugal, she bought furniture from Craigslist and chose a living situation more modest than one she could have afforded – with a roommate in a three-floor walk-up on the Upper East Side for $1,050 a month (reasonable rent in a New Yorker’s eyes). Even those not working in traditional high-salaried careers make do with a frugal lifestyle. Consider Joe and Ali Olson, who quit their jobs as public-school teachers in their early 30s with $1 million in the bank. They saved 75% of their income and lived in a 400-square-foot home, keeping their annual expenses to about $20,000, Business Insider previously reported. Frugality is the key to building wealth Regardless of early-retirement goals, frugality is the key to building wealth. Look no further than Warren Buffett, who still lives in the modest home in Omaha, Nebraska, that he bought for $276,700 (in today’s dollars), or Richard Branson, who is famously frugal when it comes to buying luxury items. Frugal lifestyles help millionaires get rich in the first place, according to Sarah Stanley Fallaw, the director of research for the Affluent Market Institute and an author of “The Next Millionaire Next Door: Enduring Strategies for Building Wealth,” in which she surveyed more than 600 millionaires in America. She studied the characteristics most predictive of net worth and found that six behaviors, which she called “wealth factors,” were related to net-worth potential, regardless of age or income. One of those is frugality: a commitment to saving, spending less, and sticking to a budget. “Spending above your means, spending instead of saving for retirement, spending in anticipation of becoming wealthy makes you a slave to the paycheck, even with a stellar level of income,” she wrote. https://www.businessinsider.sg/early-retirement-live-frugal-to-build-wealth-2019-10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaur4man Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Bullshit. HIGH INCOME is the key to building wealth Without high income all that frugality (possibly not by choice even) only leads to more SAVINGS is all. Not wealth FFS 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XianGe Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Need vitamins as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share Posted December 17, 2019 (edited) 9 minutes ago, aaur4man said: Bullshit. HIGH INCOME is the key to building wealth Without high income all that frugality (possibly not by choice even) only leads to more SAVINGS is all. Not wealth FFS that when you are wrong without high income all that frugality is possbile. that when homestead, econ friendly, off grid, minimalist come into play. FIRE, Frugal, homestead, off grid, minimalist etc....they are all interconnect Edited December 17, 2019 by The_King Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share Posted December 17, 2019 i sure you know my Lean FIRE method from my related to home thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaur4man Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 5 minutes ago, The_King said: that when you are wrong without high income all that frugality is possbile. that when homestead, econ friendly, off grid come into play. FIRE, Frugal, homestead, off grid etc....they are all interconnect Senpai pls teach how to live off grid in SG and NYC AFAIK SG is a grid lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share Posted December 17, 2019 (edited) 5 minutes ago, aaur4man said: Senpai pls teach how to live off grid in SG and NYC AFAIK SG is a grid lol all those i can say one is in my home reno thread. go there and read la. and currently WIP is home compost + hybrid of soil and hydroponic and biodigester all those i dont share like solar, are for you to to find out. double grazed windows, solar flim, are currently testing in my home Edited December 17, 2019 by The_King 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaur4man Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 4 minutes ago, The_King said: all those i can say one is in my home reno thread. go there and read la. and currently WIP is home compost + hybrid of soil and hydroponic and biodigester all those i dont share like solar, are for you to to find out. double grazed windows, solar flim, are currently testing in my home Why need solar films? For bio stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share Posted December 17, 2019 Just now, aaur4man said: Why need solar films? For bio stuff? reduce heat, so home is cooler. biodigester is your food/fruit/veggi waste or leftover, so i can turn it into gas so i can use it for cooking or heating water 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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