The Road to Financial Independence (aka rising from the ashes)

[StealthParticipant 5335]

When I lost my life savings in my divorce and lost my job at the same time, I “got the opportunity” to start over again. That’s total s~~~. What really happened was that I panicked.

I began putting what I had left into what looked like smart investments, then proceeded to lose most of the amounts I invested. This reminded me I wasn’t that smart after all. I was aware I was grasping at half-baked notions of financial savviness floating around my head. Stocks? Real estate? Rolls of cash stored under my mattress? Gold, guns, and ammo? I had a little bit of knowledge of each, which was turning out to be a dangerous thing.

SO I decided to research for myself how people ACTUALLY attain financial independence. With a thick cloud of investment theories and slick, sponsored financial gurus all around me, I determined that the only real way to find out HOW to do it was to ask someone who has ACTUALLY done it. Problem was, I didn’t know of anyone who had openly actually done it. So to the internet I turned.

I discovered F.I.R.E. blogs (Financial Independence / Early Retirement), where self-made millionaires & folks on their way openly talk about how they’ve made it. They all basically said the same thing: live frugally, work and put your money into total market index funds over a long period, and in a few decades (20-40 years), your money will have multiplied a few times over, and you will be wealthy.

The site I started at is rootofgood.com. No, I am not affiliated with this site. It’s a glimpse into the lifestyle, spending habits, and portfolio of a young guy who made it to financial independence at 33.

I next read “The Boglehead’s Guide to Investing,” which spelled out the Vanguard philosophy of investing in plain English, and corrected many wrong assumptions I had about saving and investing. There’s another one out there — something like, “The only investment book you’ll ever need,” which has the same message and I glanced at it once and it looked equally good. Also there is a forum at bogleheads.org.

With some discipline, I have started going this route. Since learning about it, I’ve heard about this approach used by many, if not most, investors. Only time will tell if I, too, will become a millionaire by continuing to work my ass off and going the index-fund way, but so far I am better off than I would be without.

"Once you’ve taken care of the basics, there’s very little in this world for which your life is worth deferring." -David Hansson. "It’s not when women are mean or nasty that anything is out of the ordinary. It’s when they are NICE to you that you have to be on high alert..." -Jackinov.

[ResParticipant 542]

I’d recommend watching videos from the Dave Ramsey Show. His content is more geared towards getting out of debt, but the philosophy and advice given are basically the same as what you describe. Live below your means, work hard, save money and invest it into reliable solid index funds. Ditch credit cards and use cash and track your spending and make sure you have a solid emergency fund to back you up in case of a rainy day.

I personally recommend the income investing strategy. While you want a broadbased portfolio to protect your cash, my personal preference is to invest in solid dividend stocks and index funds. Using the DRIP technique, your cash not only grows as the stock value increases, but you reinvest the dividends back into stock (or other index funds) which acts like compound interest. There are many companies which have proven track records of solid, reliable dividend payments and that regularly increase their dividend payout. There are resources out there which list these companies in comprehensive excel spreadsheets in quite some detail and all of this is completely free. It’s well worth looking into.

Mr. Boats: "'Avoid the reeking herd! Shun the polluted flock! Live like that stoic bird, the eagle of the rock!' You know what that means, son?" -American Splendor

[Heave-Ho MgtowParticipant 1797]

Live life within your means. Sell, downsize, liquidate. Eliminate debt. Imagine yourself debt free. What does that look like? Save anyway you can, pay yourself first. That’s what my MBA did not teach. And, don’t forget, no weemins

skip the cavernous vag and go your own way

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