I would like to quit my job for the next few years.
Can we survive on one wage?
This is the question that we have been playing around with over the past couple of weeks. There was a time not so long ago where one wage was enough to run a full household. Those days are long gone unfortunately.
Now most people will work until they are 70 and hope for a few good years at the end before they die. That is the sad reality of modern life. I've never been ok with that and had always planned on getting free from the working system as soon as possible but now that we have our first child in school with the second going next year and we have started to realize how hard and stressful it is to balance two busy jobs with raising a family and giving them a good life.
It's a hard balance to strike, especially if we want a life for ourselves as well. I was hoping to be further along the retirement path by now but crypto has not been playing ball this year and just keeps dropping lower and lower. The goal was always to get to 200K in stables and then interest payments would be enough to live off.
I'm not a million miles away from that but only if we get a good bull market and can 5x some of my tokens. At current prices that's a long, long way away.
So can we manage with just one wage?
It's a numbers game. My wife is an accountant so if one of us has to stay at home it makes far more sense that i do it since her wage is twice mine and we really couldn't survive off my wage alone. Plus she built a good career and doesn't want to waste all those years of hard work.
I can get a job at any stage and have no ties to my current job either, other than being friends with the owner of the company and he would hate to see me leave. Construction is easy and you will always find ways to earn and can do a day here and there.
Time for some prep.
We've have a crazy busy year with our wedding, two kids to look after, a fireplace to be replaced, solar panels on the way so our accounts are very choppy at the moment and we will have to let them settle to run the numbers and see if it can work.
The best thing that I can do for now is prep.
At the moment our mortgage is running about €1100 and we put another €3000 monthly into our joint account which lets us both live comfortably and have a little bit spare form our wages for personal use.
So if we can get reduce these outcomes and find a way to earn money from other sources to subsidize my wage disappearing. I think that's it's doable but it will take discipline and a change in some of our habits to make it work but it would lead to a much higher quality of life for the whole family and take a way a lot of the stress from my wife so that she can do her job a lot easier.
We've already started by booking in the solar panels which should reduce our energy bills by about €150 a month.
I swapped broadband yesterday which saves €20 a month.
Shopping and additional expenses will need to be reduced but that can be done by shopping smart and cutting out the waste that we have in our house and there is silly waste.
If I am at home then we can also reduce daycare and afterschool costs by about €150 a month plus all of the extra camps that we use for holidays which are quite expensive.
Then we also have the tax credit system that would transfer my credits to my wife and increase her take home pay from my not using them.
When you add it all up it becomes quite substantial and catching up to my take home pay as it is.
If I can find a few ways to earn in my spare time then it would be almost even to where we are now but with an extra 40 hours a week to play with.
Something to think about at least.
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the dream! Cost of living globally is to high currently unfortunately. Good luck though
It's getting tough out there with prices rising daily.
This is my end goal really to do it the right way and live comfortably but needs must and we might have to make the jump before i'm set up to do it and just survive.
You could also just slowly cut down on hours right? :D
Also, why not build some HBD here on Hive and use that bit? :D
It's hard to cut down on hours in my job as there are only three of us and would create a lot of issues for the boss so he probably would be willing to facilitate it.
I had been building HBD but with the price of Hive right now it makes more sense to keep swapping to hive for now and then if we see an increase to trade back to HBD down the line. That way I could double my HBD if we even hit 26c and speed up the process by a long way.
Ohh, ye if you guys are only 3 people, then that can be a little bit of an issue I can see that :D
It is a good way to double ones Hive at the moment, thats for sure :p
I believe you are in the good path, but although those savings on energy and any other utilities will give you some room, my personal sense is that it will be only temporaly as inflation will keep raising costs year after year. I would suggest to try to invest in BTC some of those savings, no matter if it is a small amount, what is important is to keep a steady savings program into that. Over the years, you can live on permanent loans from your BTC without selling.
Take a look at Jeff Booth keynote on BTC Washington a month ago. Its an eye oppener.
stablecoins are ok but they are just suffering inflation the same way fiat currencies are. BTC is the only real deflacionary crypto asset and happens to be the one with the biggest value and biggest acceptance in the institutional market.
I used to have some Bitcoin but i just feel that it doesn't have the same potential for growth as strong alts and the same return as stablecoin returns anymore.
No doubt it will hit $200K at some stage but there are plenty alts that will 2x before that.
I will watch the video though and see if it can open my eyes to a different path.
I've got a daughter turning a year and half and currently not wishing to have a second one due to cost of living even though I've always wanted two children.
Your case is quite relatable, my bet is on crypto and I am alos looking at real world business to establish. It is tough, we really have to make it work financially for us.
idk if its gae but Im kinda in the same boat into saving and building when I get older but due to resposabilities I doubt I would ever quit my current job, the main reason its because Im 80% idle like right now, IT doesnt get that much action once everything works fine but I get you, I have always hate to rely on a single income, even when one of my incomes start to get too big sometimes I start to worry but at the end there is not much I can do but just go with it, I hope you find that peace and balance where you dont worry about the future, just keep trucking away ✌️💪😎
I could have done it if i played the last bull market the right way and if i had unloaded my splinterlands assets when they were pumping.
Oh well. We live and learn.
I think that most of us here have the same goals towards freedom and changing our current status in life.
I hope that it can work out for everybody while i plot my escape form the daily grind.
Something to aim for. Imagine if we didn't have mortgages. Would be some weight off. I was lucky enough to buy peak crash so I'm not too bad but it would be still great to won the aul house.
If the mortgage went it would make things a lot easier alright.
We're only two years into it but have been trying to overpay every year and speed up the process.
It makes a big difference to your monthly if you can do it.
Just getting the interest under the principle. It’s a big mind victory . I’m 11 years into a 30 year . But house is after doubling in price so I’m sweet