2/18/2021 3:19:22 PM mtthomso |
How is the one income experiment coming along? |
2/20/2021 8:21:56 AM mydogwantsmetoretire |
The one income experiment is a "learning experience." I would give ourselves a 'C' grade as of today. What I have learned to date is that our expense load is a bit too high, our savings/investing money has decreased more than I would like and it is a bit scary putting all the income eggs into one basket (my wife's income). Some of this is tweaking as I continue to learn but a big part is psychology. Will be interesting to see how I feel about the above come June. Any insights or advice?
By the way, congrats on hitting $3 million NW. That is a material psychological boost. Would be interested in hearing your perspectives on the focus with real estate vs. stocks since your profile is unique in this way. |
3/1/2021 2:04:18 PM mtthomso |
That's great you're trying the experiment. What valuable lessons you're learning. As for stocks, we viewed our retirement savings as our stock market involvement since it is primarily mutual funds.
The real estate is more work but the gains have been better, especially the tax savings. We fell into a unique situation tax-wise where my wife was a high income earner. My retiring early actually made us more money b/c of something called the "real estate professional" tax status I could claim. It allows us to use all real estate losses (phantom losses like depreciation and capital expenses) to offset my wife's income without the usual limits.
We switched to a 1 income family 4 years ago. That's what pushed me to real estate. I wanted to feel like I was still contributing to the income. It was very scary moving to one income. Especially being a man, a bit of an identity crisis can happen. Overall it has been a financial win AND wonderful for family life. |
3/17/2021 12:54:08 PM mydogwantsmetoretire |
Thank you for sharing this information, especially the real estate professional consideration. |