I started listening to FI podcasts like ChooseFI and the Mad Fientist. I also started reading FI blogs like Mr Money Mustache and Financial Samurai. These helped to motivate me to make some serious changes.
In the last 4-5 months I’ve done the following:
1) Paid down my debt to under $10 000 (between a car loan for $7500 and a credit card with $2500)
2) Started to contribute to my personal retirement plan through a 403(b). Up to this year, I had just let my employer contribute 9% of my annual salary to a 401(a) on my behalf, something I’m fortunate to receive. My goal is $8000 this year out of my own pocket.
3) Researched the best investment options and shifted most of my retirement over to index funds. I have about $58k right now and it’s mostly equities (VFIAX, VEXAX and VTIAX) with about 8% in bonds (VBTLX). The market crash hasn’t scared me much since I’m in it for the long haul. But it has been a real education for me since I really wasn’t paying attention until a few months ago.
4) Put together a three phase plan to get myself to early retirement over the next 12 years or so. It consists of me getting to the point where I’m maxing out my retirement as some of my expenses fall off (child support/alimony). I’m aiming to gradually get my saving rate from 0% to about 50% over that span of time. If all goes well, I can retire by 55 (still early, technically).
5) During this quarantine I’ve really tightened up my personal budget. For example, I’ve cut my total food spending down to under $300 this month, when I used to average about $600+ just for groceries. I’ve realised how reasonable it is to live on a legit food budget. I’m definitely not starving!
6) I started writing my blog about my late start to FI and have also started a podcast: FIafter40.com. This has been an amazing experience so far. The FI community is incredibly supportive and encouraging. It’s also taking me back to my roots as a Communication major in college. I was very involved in the campus radio station and newspaper so it’s really rekindling my love of writing and audio production.
Thanks for featuring my story! I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress but still have a ways to go. It’s so encouraging to have the support of others who are in a similar situation. The encouragement and the sharing of stories makes such a huge difference!
What a fantastic story & look forward to hearing/ reading more about your journey & others. Appreciate you offering stories of people reaching Fi in midlife!!
Thanks for sharing your story. So great to see how much progress you have made. No doubt you will get that multi family home, it’s just a matter of time!
Thanks for charing your Story Ben.
We can all gain inspiration from your story, enthusiasm and sense of community. Really powerful.
Also enjoying your podcast – keep up the good work.
Shaun
Great story, Ben! It’s good to hear from those not in their 20s and 30s. Keep on this path – it’s worth it!
good luck. we got a late start too and i made every bad move in the book until my late 30’s. i don’t have all the data all the way back but in 2009 i was still sitting on 30k student loan debt at age 41! oops. long story short is that between then and now we paid off all debt in our house and basically got to financial independence. we did that on 2 middle class jobs but had some advantages. our house was really cheap (less than 100k). 2 working spouses most of that time. no kids. we’re nothing special and we did it and it makes me think a lot more can do the same.
I’m feeding 2 adult sons who still live at home so I really envy your food budget!!