In late 2015, having relocated to the nation’s capital, I realized I needed to get my finances in order. Up until then I had been very fortunate, but never saved for my future and I’m kicking myself for that one! I did graduate with a PhD debt free so that’s definitely something. I am in my late 20s, if that is important to readers.
My health is one of the biggest things that influences my financial strategy. I have suffered from life threatening illness since childhood. Some days are better than others. I’ve had to tailor my life accordingly.
I don’t think I will ever reach my maximum earning potential. I did not to pursue an academic career because of tenure uncertainty. Right now I’m comfortable working a low stress job. The pay might not be the greatest, but it adds a lot of stability and benefits.
Although it might not sound like a necessity, I pay a lot to live close to work. I cannot physically handle a long commute. Most days I still feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water as far as my health is concerned.
My ultimate goal is an early retirement. I am not sure how feasible this is, but I’m working on maxing out my retirement contributions in 2017, and would like to start saving outside of retirement accounts in 2016.
Another short term goal of mine is mitigate the risk associated with possible disability. I have purchased disability insurance, and I’m using my Roth IRA for my disability retirement account. Should I become disabled, I would most likely purchase a house with my Roth savings and live off of disability income.
A Tale of Finances 
Interesting read! Cool to see your financial habits. I actually live almost identically in that respect, but still often feel like I could be doing more somehow. I just glanced quickly through, so not sure if I missed it, but what’s your overall goal/endgame?
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I too feel like I should be doing more. Right now I don’t have too much to save outside of retirement and I think that’s why I feel like there is something lacking. An additional $500/month or better yet $1000/month would make all the difference really. Then I’d probably save for a condo and loosen my budget, invest in stocks, etc.
The technical end goal is early retirement with ~$2 million in investments, but I’m not sure how likely I am to accomplish that. When I crunch the numbers it doesn’t quite work before the age of not-early retirement. I guess if I were to get promoted quickly early on in my career it might, but I can’t count on that. Perhaps my circumstances will change.
My medium-term goals over the next 2-3 years is to work towards minimizing my financial risks if I were to retire on disability. This entails consistently maxing out my retirement funds since they technically can be used for disability retirement. And while I don’t have a substantial “cash” emergency fund, I plan to aggressively work on that during the first quarter of 2017. Of course I don’t actually want to retire on disability, but again risk minimization is key.
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Ah okay, that paints a clearer picture. Well seems like you’ve got a goal that you’re well on your way to achieving.
I’ve contemplated a condo at this point as well, however I’d much rather work on developing alternative income somehow before I commit to that. I’m just unsure where I’d like to extend myself at this point to do so.
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I life in the DC area as well, and completely understand the struggle with finding affordable housing. Best of luck in reaching FI!!! I’m always glad when I stumbled across the blog of a fellow DCer 🙂
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