The Very Short Version
I am aiming for Financial Freedom by 2030. This blog will cover the journey.
The Short Version
I am planning to stop work and “retire” in 2030 at age 45. On this blog you will find all the detail on getting there - including the plan to make it happen, the decisions along the way, investments I am making, the cost cutting ideas I am implementing, and any other randomness that pops into my head along the way.
You can check out my progress towards this goal by going to the Tracking Page which is updated monthly as I move closer and closer to FIRE (Financial Independence,/Retiring Early).
You can check out my progress towards this goal by going to the Tracking Page which is updated monthly as I move closer and closer to FIRE (Financial Independence,/Retiring Early).
The Long Version
Towards the end of 2015 my long daily commute from Sandton to Centurion was really starting to bug me. In addition, my wife and I were "looking to expand" and we were starting to outgrow our 1 bedroom apartment. So we took the decision to move to Centurion, into a slightly bigger place, so we could start our family.In December 2015 we found out my wife was pregnant, and I started doing a lot of thinking - as soon to be dad’s tend to do…
Why is it that everyone accepts working a 9 to 5 for 40 years as normal? There is so much to see and do, and so little time – there has got to be a better way?
So I started investigating early retirement/financial freedom. What would it take to achieve? How much would I need to be financially free?
Luckily there is actually a very easy way to calculate this. The 4% Rule (or rule of 300) gives you a very good estimate of how much money you will need in retirement. Based on this rule, we put together a plan to become financially free by 2030.
So why the blog?
1 - Some serious discipline.
Savings discipline can be easy to maintain over a short period. There have been some months where I was able to live quite cheaply while still doing all the things I enjoy, but to sustain this for many years (15 of them) would be tough! So I figured one way for me to maintain my discipline would be to document my progress and in that way be held accountable by "the Internet" (wow there's a scary thought!). By checking in here I would be reminded of my end goal and my plan, and this should keep me on the straight and narrow.
2 - I was going to need to be better with money.
If I was going to do this early retirement thing I was going to have to cut out some of our expenses, invest agressively, and just be better with our money in general. So I was going to investigating, and implementing and testing out ways to reduce our expenses, make better decisions and increase the amount we could invest each month. I thought if I am going to be doing all the legwork, why not allow other people to benefit too? By documenting and sharing my investigations on how to be better, maybe it could benefit other people too (and if it helps someone else retire early then even better!)
And so Stealthy Wealth was born - a personal finance blog with sneaky tips to get you rich (now that would be a good marketing line - I will rather go with stealthy ways to be better with your money and increase your wealth)
Here at Stealthy Wealth we try to live the Stealthy way - we don't waste money on unnecessary crap, and we try to save more, spend less and prioritize the things that really matter.
About Me
I am xx years old (I was born in 1985, so you work it out, I don't want to have to update this page every year on my birthday :)). I am married to my incredible wife and we live at Stealthville, Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa - one of the most interesting countries in the world. I have degrees in Electronic Engineering and Information Technology and work as an Embedded Software Engineer (well at least until 2030 :)). I enjoy running and did my first Comrades in 2015.
We
For now I will remain anonymous, but maybe one day I will reveal my identity (and to everyone's amazement it turns out that I am actually The Stig :))
