So we're striding down the road of life, cheerfully aiming at FIRE for all the great life-family-church reasons discussed in other places in this blog, and Mr. M decides to sign up for a drastic pay cut in August.
## record scratch ##
"But what could possess you to do such a thing?" you may ask, "didn't you just recently graduate with a PhD and get a full-time job doing relatively straightforward thermal analysis on a kickawesome NASA-related project?" you may continue, "AND WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS INSANE THING OF NOT EARNING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE?!?!" you may rudely shout at me, at which point I will politely interrupt you with the following explanation.
Why do you suppose I got a PhD? (see, I'm being all Socratic here, which means you're supposed to think about this deeply)
It is my settled conclusion that the sole justification I have for earning a PhD in engineering is this:
so I can do what I want.
I got that enormous slip of parchment (truly - it's HUGE) so that I could study what I liked, research what interested me, do the work I enjoy, and support my family in ways that give me pleasure as well as reward.
So I'm taking on two classes in the fall, teaching undergraduates about thermal engineering. There's not much else work-wise that I'd rather do than that, so it was a very easy decision. My regular work will continue at 25 hours/week, with the accompanying 37.5% pay cut. I might get paid for the teaching; I'm not sure. I don't actually care very much, because the 62.5% of my base pay is still plenty for us to move towards our FIRE goals, albeit a little slower.
But what, I ask you, (see, Socrates would be proud), is the purpose of slogging through high-pay-low-reward work just so you can be FI sooner?
By the time you get there, all your experience will be in that one field where they paid you like a king to do your specialty. If you ever want more professional work, guess what it will be? Hope you're not burned out.
It seemed to me better in keeping with my own goals and philosophy to take the opportunity to do something I really love, get experience teaching in my field at the undergrad level, and hopefully, open doors to more and more of the work that I really enjoy.
Caveat: this decision will not sit well with either side of our family. We're already thought a bit off for the bike-commute, the herbal remedy use, and our one-car status, and I suspect the only reason my family didn't write me off during the PhD was their expectation that I'd at least get a high-paying job after this shenanigan. Well, I did, and there was a sigh of relief. Will there now be a gasp of alarm when I dial it back?
The funniest thing is, both sides of our family set up their lives so they could do exactly the work they wanted to do! My wife's dad just wants to be the best engineer. And he is. My parents live in a beautiful place, spend a lot of time together, cook great food all the time, and have most of the summer to themselves. Are they FIRE? No, they run a bed and breakfast. However, the latter can look a whole lot like the former, and would bear a more striking resemblance if they could ditch some of their unhealthy consumer habits. Perhaps this means my concerns are overwrought, and I certainly hope so. But regardless, I'm looking forward to pursuing work that is really challenging and satisfying to me.
MMM has a good article on this.
Since I love teaching, and they generally pay you to teach engineering
stuff, I expect that this type of work will be a part of my diet for as
long as we live close to any sort of demand for it. Maybe someday
it'll be the sole active income stream. That would be fine by me. I would
be lying if I claimed "satisfied working advanced mustachian individual"
status at this point in my life, but that destination is on the flight
path.
After that, perhaps luthiery?
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
Argh.
New (used) minivan costs $1460 to get a steering gear replaced on the passenger side. As the Mrs. says, "we don't even HAVE passenger-side steering!". But on one car and with a high-demand week coming up, I paid the dealer-geld.
Also, today's MMM post about basic math is prescient. The WSJ had a blog post that would have been funny if it hadn't tanked the US economy. Turns out, the people who took on WAY more debt than is ever sane for mass-market-McMansions CAN'T DO MATH. It's not that they have low income. It's not that they all got ARMs, it's that they never got BRAINS.
The ability and discipline to do simple forecasting math is surely generally acknowledged as a good thing. But I don't think it is hailed, extolled, praised, or lauded enough. You GOTS TO DO THE NUMBERS! There is no substitute for the maths (as our dear British cousins call them). Kids who breathe a sigh of relief because they squeaked through Algebra 2 by a pseudo-random-test-answering-protocol are setting themselves up for failure. Not the kind where they can't get jobs, have houses, or families, but the kind where their jobs leverage them into houses that destroy their families. All because nobody sat down with paper and pencil and did a simple column of figures to answer that most basic of questions: Can I afford it?
Nobody else can answer that for you.
Not a loan officer.
Not an advertiser.
Only YOU (think Smokey the Bear here) can prevent crippling debt!
What does debt cripple? Why, your ability to be Financially Independent/Retired Early, of course!
And kids, the FIRE danger is EXTREME today.
Also, today's MMM post about basic math is prescient. The WSJ had a blog post that would have been funny if it hadn't tanked the US economy. Turns out, the people who took on WAY more debt than is ever sane for mass-market-McMansions CAN'T DO MATH. It's not that they have low income. It's not that they all got ARMs, it's that they never got BRAINS.
The ability and discipline to do simple forecasting math is surely generally acknowledged as a good thing. But I don't think it is hailed, extolled, praised, or lauded enough. You GOTS TO DO THE NUMBERS! There is no substitute for the maths (as our dear British cousins call them). Kids who breathe a sigh of relief because they squeaked through Algebra 2 by a pseudo-random-test-answering-protocol are setting themselves up for failure. Not the kind where they can't get jobs, have houses, or families, but the kind where their jobs leverage them into houses that destroy their families. All because nobody sat down with paper and pencil and did a simple column of figures to answer that most basic of questions: Can I afford it?
Nobody else can answer that for you.
Not a loan officer.
Not an advertiser.
Only YOU (think Smokey the Bear here) can prevent crippling debt!
What does debt cripple? Why, your ability to be Financially Independent/Retired Early, of course!
And kids, the FIRE danger is EXTREME today.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
How not to be a jerk.
#this post is so not targeted#
So Mustachians can have this problem of being over zealous. After all, they got off their rear ends and changed their lives; you can do it too, wimp!
This is probably the kind of rhetoric that got them into Mustachianism in the first place. The Mr. got tired of being a complainypants who liked bedpans and catheters, so he got off his duff and started changing his lifestyle.
However, not everyone is friendly to such a hard sell. Sometimes it is better to start slow. After all, saving a couple of bucks a month is better than not saving any money. Let's not let the great be the enemy of the good, here.
If someone comments wistfully on an aspect of your lifestyle, give them some easy pointers. They might actually take your advice and save a few bucks. How cool would that be?
Orrrrr...
You could just say that you used to do (or not do) thus-and-such, too, until you read Mr. Money Mustache, tell them to google him, and let him yell at them to get off their lazy wasteful behinds instead.
Either way, you probably won't ruin a friendship using either of these tactics.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Friday Thoughts
80% bike-to-work rate this week. Not 100%, but not bad.
In short-sale limbo.
Then there's this, from Hafiz of Persia:
The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
Have a great weekend, and remember,
Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
and one who waters will himself be watered.
Proverbs 11:25
In short-sale limbo.
Then there's this, from Hafiz of Persia:
The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
Have a great weekend, and remember,
Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
and one who waters will himself be watered.
Proverbs 11:25
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Mustachianism from A.A.Milne
"Whatever Fortune brings,
Don't be afraid of doing things."
A. A. Milne
From "King Hilary and the Beggerman"
In Now We Are Six
Don't be afraid of doing things."
A. A. Milne
From "King Hilary and the Beggerman"
In Now We Are Six
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
To Be or Not to Be
The right blogger known as Brave New Life had an excellent post that I only just read, entitled "To Have or to Be". He says it well, but in a nutshell, he challenges you to target a particular quality or state of being, rather than the usual thing, skill, job, etc. Want a promotion? Aim at being a better employee. You get the idea.
This got me thinking about life, the universe, and everything, and especially how all this frugality/DIY/early-retirement hubbub fits into a Christian worldview. I think BNL is on the scent, though I have no reason to think he would make the extrapolations I am about to make.
The Christian can frequently focus on attributes or sins in the same manner as BNL discusses a focus on "having". My examples are not made up, for the sake of authenticity.
Want to stop lust? Aim to be a faithful husband.
Want to lead in the church? Aim at being a faithful member.
Want to love your kids and wife better? Aim at being humble.
Underlying all these things is the axiom "Aim at being like Jesus".
Wanting to stop a sin or start a beneficial practice is going to leave you disappointed if you make THAT your goal. That's just legalism. If all you want is modified behavior, you will be disappointed. That makes Christianity repugnant to the world, which seems to expect us to 1) be perfect and 2) provide this service to others at no charge. The church is liable to oscillate between hard-eyed and hypocritical fundamentalism, which demands the Christian to look perfect all the time (but they can't, and scandals WILL rock this view to its core), and the mush-mouthed castrated social gospel, which wants to make ALL people better, regardless of creed (and can NEVER deliver lasting results).
If the church is to be faithful to her husband Jesus, she MUST aim to be like him. She must aim at being faithful to his word. She must not aim at "having" anything, because that would take her eyes off of Christ and point them at self, the world, or anything else.
The admonitions in scripture frequently speak in these terms:
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” - Hebrews 13:5
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. - James 5:7-8
And when Paul talks about having, it's frequently in contexts like these:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, - Philippians 2:5
So for anything you want, look underneath it and figure out what you must be. Tend the root, and the fruit will come. Gardening really is an apt metaphor (our Lord used it), so consider a citrus tree (common here in AZ)- water, manure, weeding, that protective white paint, all aim down at the root. The only tending up top is to prune back unwanted or dead branches.
Hamlet, unfortunately, chose to be a loon and was skewered for it. But that's tragedy for you.
This got me thinking about life, the universe, and everything, and especially how all this frugality/DIY/early-retirement hubbub fits into a Christian worldview. I think BNL is on the scent, though I have no reason to think he would make the extrapolations I am about to make.
The Christian can frequently focus on attributes or sins in the same manner as BNL discusses a focus on "having". My examples are not made up, for the sake of authenticity.
Want to stop lust? Aim to be a faithful husband.
Want to lead in the church? Aim at being a faithful member.
Want to love your kids and wife better? Aim at being humble.
Underlying all these things is the axiom "Aim at being like Jesus".
Wanting to stop a sin or start a beneficial practice is going to leave you disappointed if you make THAT your goal. That's just legalism. If all you want is modified behavior, you will be disappointed. That makes Christianity repugnant to the world, which seems to expect us to 1) be perfect and 2) provide this service to others at no charge. The church is liable to oscillate between hard-eyed and hypocritical fundamentalism, which demands the Christian to look perfect all the time (but they can't, and scandals WILL rock this view to its core), and the mush-mouthed castrated social gospel, which wants to make ALL people better, regardless of creed (and can NEVER deliver lasting results).
If the church is to be faithful to her husband Jesus, she MUST aim to be like him. She must aim at being faithful to his word. She must not aim at "having" anything, because that would take her eyes off of Christ and point them at self, the world, or anything else.
The admonitions in scripture frequently speak in these terms:
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” - Hebrews 13:5
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. - James 5:7-8
And when Paul talks about having, it's frequently in contexts like these:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, - Philippians 2:5
So for anything you want, look underneath it and figure out what you must be. Tend the root, and the fruit will come. Gardening really is an apt metaphor (our Lord used it), so consider a citrus tree (common here in AZ)- water, manure, weeding, that protective white paint, all aim down at the root. The only tending up top is to prune back unwanted or dead branches.
Hamlet, unfortunately, chose to be a loon and was skewered for it. But that's tragedy for you.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Fix-Update
So the sellers accepted the reduced price dictated by the appraisal, now we see if the seller's bank will take it...
I'll not lie: owning a house is appealing. Having a pool, a garage, a nice open area for kids and guests... All of these are lifestyle appeals, not hard-and-fast, measurable, objective targets.
Owning a home will also be expensive. Maintaining that pool, redoing the roof, renovating the inside, etc. These costs will add up. I have about $18k mentally budgeted to get this house into nice shape, exclusive of capital investments (tools) and my own time. The roof (which will be done by a pro) is a big chunk of that ($8k), but we intend to do floors, plumbing, bathrooms, cabinets, walls, and yard ourselves. I will have to see how that notional budget expands when I actually make a spreadsheet, but we want to use this opportunity to learn about a LOT of different home-improvement projects, so I feel like we'll get paid back for our time in experience. If this was my fifth renovation, I would want to monetize my time, but right now I just need to do and learn.
Now, the above paragraph can be deleted and the second paragraph emended to "renting a home..." and THAT WOULD BE AWESOME TOO. It would not change our cashflow situation (a 15year mortgage on this house has a monthly payment about equivalent to decent-looking rentals in nice areas). It would completely eliminate the bunches-of-work side of the equation. It would enable all of the lifestyle choices we desire (almost...gardening comes to mind).
So why are we even looking at houses? Why have we come within a gnat's eyelash of buying one?
Well, honestly, we really only see one advantage: the long-term bet on home appreciation. Yes, I know it historically only tracks inflation. Yes, I know it's an "illiquid investment" (in which you can live) and it is subject to highly local variation in the market (over which you have a small degree of direct influence). But just as the stock market goes up over the long term, so does the housing market in a growing city (and I think our city is still growing - the Sunbelt is doing OK job-wise, and those baby boomers do like golf all year round). So we expect the dollar value of the house to go up even as we pay down what we owe on it (in less than 5 years), allowing us to 1) cash out if we want/need to or 2) live in a house where we only pay maintenance costs, taxes, but no fixed monthly amount (it's not free to live anywhere, ever). Either option is cool with us.
We realize that putting the mortgage as a leading priority in our saving will delay financial independence, and that we could be debt free essentially immediately if we rented a house and sold our condo. It's a choice, and choices have costs and benefits. If the seller's bank agrees to take a hit on purchase price, we'll cheerfully sign on to the joys and heartaches of a house, and if they balk, we'll cheerfully find a nice rental house with a local landlord who's willing to deal with somebody who'll haggle down rent in exchange for maintenance work. And then we'll fix up the condo for sale, and I'll still get my fix-up fix.
The less you want, the more you have, right?
*Note* - I just figured out that the house is within a mile and a half of a Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which sells donated building materials! I have not scoped their selection, but MMM is a big fan of recycled building materials (for obvious reasons), so it's definitely a destination once renovations are underway.
I'll not lie: owning a house is appealing. Having a pool, a garage, a nice open area for kids and guests... All of these are lifestyle appeals, not hard-and-fast, measurable, objective targets.
Owning a home will also be expensive. Maintaining that pool, redoing the roof, renovating the inside, etc. These costs will add up. I have about $18k mentally budgeted to get this house into nice shape, exclusive of capital investments (tools) and my own time. The roof (which will be done by a pro) is a big chunk of that ($8k), but we intend to do floors, plumbing, bathrooms, cabinets, walls, and yard ourselves. I will have to see how that notional budget expands when I actually make a spreadsheet, but we want to use this opportunity to learn about a LOT of different home-improvement projects, so I feel like we'll get paid back for our time in experience. If this was my fifth renovation, I would want to monetize my time, but right now I just need to do and learn.
Now, the above paragraph can be deleted and the second paragraph emended to "renting a home..." and THAT WOULD BE AWESOME TOO. It would not change our cashflow situation (a 15year mortgage on this house has a monthly payment about equivalent to decent-looking rentals in nice areas). It would completely eliminate the bunches-of-work side of the equation. It would enable all of the lifestyle choices we desire (almost...gardening comes to mind).
So why are we even looking at houses? Why have we come within a gnat's eyelash of buying one?
Well, honestly, we really only see one advantage: the long-term bet on home appreciation. Yes, I know it historically only tracks inflation. Yes, I know it's an "illiquid investment" (in which you can live) and it is subject to highly local variation in the market (over which you have a small degree of direct influence). But just as the stock market goes up over the long term, so does the housing market in a growing city (and I think our city is still growing - the Sunbelt is doing OK job-wise, and those baby boomers do like golf all year round). So we expect the dollar value of the house to go up even as we pay down what we owe on it (in less than 5 years), allowing us to 1) cash out if we want/need to or 2) live in a house where we only pay maintenance costs, taxes, but no fixed monthly amount (it's not free to live anywhere, ever). Either option is cool with us.
We realize that putting the mortgage as a leading priority in our saving will delay financial independence, and that we could be debt free essentially immediately if we rented a house and sold our condo. It's a choice, and choices have costs and benefits. If the seller's bank agrees to take a hit on purchase price, we'll cheerfully sign on to the joys and heartaches of a house, and if they balk, we'll cheerfully find a nice rental house with a local landlord who's willing to deal with somebody who'll haggle down rent in exchange for maintenance work. And then we'll fix up the condo for sale, and I'll still get my fix-up fix.
The less you want, the more you have, right?
*Note* - I just figured out that the house is within a mile and a half of a Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which sells donated building materials! I have not scoped their selection, but MMM is a big fan of recycled building materials (for obvious reasons), so it's definitely a destination once renovations are underway.
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