Tag Archives: financial independence

What Do You Mean Retire Comfortably?

When people ask “how much I need to retire comfortably”, most of the time they imagine traveling the world, staying in fancy hotels and golfing at the most luxurious resorts.

The question we’re asking is, are you willing to trade your freedom for that level of comfort?

Rather than save 1-5 million dollars for a “comfortable retirement” we are shooting for financial freedom. From there we can decide what truly makes us happy instead of trading the next 50 years for a a little luxury.

We’re Falling Behind! Net Worth Update

It’s been one year since making plans for extreme early retirement. How are we doing? In short, we’re falling behind for the first time this month. But don’t worry, there’s a reason.

We decided to simplify our lives and focus our efforts on our jobs and making YouTube videos. Unfortunately that meant making some tough decisions.

Watch the video to see how far behind we are, and how we plan to get back on top!

Polarizing Purchases | Buy Only What You Love

We mention all the time that our frugality isn’t a sacrifice for us. That’s because we buy only the things we truly love and cut everything else out of the budget.

Here’s a list of a few things we spend money on and a few things we couldn’t care less about.

A lot of this video was inspired(ripped off) from one of my favorite bloggers Tynan. He has an article called Polarizing Purchases where he describes how he is able to travel and buy (specific) nice things without the need for a “job.”

We have lived our lives pretty much the same way, buying only the things that are truly important to us.

Do You Have What It Takes to Retire Early?

After years of reading and studying people who have retired extremely early, I’ve discovered there are two common threads that seem to connect them all.

The first is the ability to think differently. Not just want something different, but honestly believe that there is an alternative out there and they are going to find it.

The second trait that holds up the first the the ability to not care what people think. I mean this in a good way, not a bad way. When you live life outside of the box, some people are going to react negatively to your choices.

If you drive an older car, people are going to assume you cant afford anything nicer. Early retirees have the self confidence to ignore backhanded insults like “you can’t take it with you when you die.”

In the video we talk about some of our own struggles with “looking poor” and how we’ve overcome them.

3 Biggest Budget Busters

Some people seem to think we live in a cardboard box and eat ramen noodles to save money. In this video we talk about how we save money in the 3 categories that people spend most of their money.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average household spends $1400/mo on housing, $750/mo on transportation, and $550/mo on food.

We make up a lot of our savings in these three areas by being flexible on house size, driving only one car, and limiting our restaurant eating.

Food is still a work in progress for us, but we’re getting better.

Mike and Lauren Exposed! Income, Expenses, Net Worth Revealed

Hope you’re feeling nosy! We’re about to strip down to our financial birthday suit and reveal our income, expenses and net worth. We did it to keep ourselves accountable to our goals and make things more interesting for you guys.

We debated for months whether we should or not, but decided it would need to happen sooner or later, so why not sooner!

We’ll cover our expenses in detail in another video.

Here’s a link to the Blank_Net_Worth_Projections?spreadsheet I referenced in the video.

Let us know if you have any questions in the comments. Thumbs up if you like this video, and don’t forget to subscribe!

Ditch The Cubicle with Paula Pant | AffordAnything.com

We visit Atlanta to interview Paula Pant from AffordAnything.com. ?She is a financially independent blogger who accumulated a collection of rental units that provide over $35,000 in completely passive income. ?She also has a successful blog, content marketing company, and has traveled to over 30 countries!