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Home > Archive: March, 2013

Archive for March, 2013

Beginning a Financial Independence

March 10th, 2013 at 03:15 am

So I have been considering this for a while now, but as a graduate student who was already living very frugal, I felt I couldn't really pursue Financial Independence. With that part of my journey ending, I am strongly considering how our upcoming life choices will affect our financial situation. I talked with my husband and he has agreed to aim for a "savings" rate of 70%. I put this in quotes because I will include our childcare, debt, and mortgage in this amount. Here are the steps we are thinking of to obtain FI.

1) We have planned to move in with my parents for about 6 mons to save for a down payment.
2) DH may get a job less than 7 miles from my parents. He has agreed to bike to work most days to save gas/wear and further delay our getting a second car.
3) Depending on what job I get, I might use our car fund to pay off more student loan debt then conservatively invest it or put toward a bigger down payment.
4) If I get a job also in that area, or ven not, we might delay our dream hme to buy a smaller house that DH and maybe I can bike to work and then in 5-7 years move into our dream house in the nicer neighborhood and keep the first house as a rental.

These are all just ideas floating in my head. We have a lot of uncertainties right now as we both search for jobs. This is a scary time, but it is also a good time for us to recommit to fugality.

PhD and Unemployed

March 4th, 2013 at 08:16 pm

So in 11 days, March 15, I should have my PhD and be gainfully unemployed. Yuck! Honestly I'm really not feeling all that proud of my PhD. I already know that many business people think people with a PhD are elitist or know-it-all's or will demand a high paycheck. Really, most of us just really want to earn a real paycheck after years of working for our tuition and a paltry part-time stipend.

I can say that there is one thing from this process I am proud of. I am proud that I completed my degree a quarter early despite all that I faced: getting married, getting pregnant, having one adviser move across country, having another adviser pass away, and having my daughter 5 weeks early, and raising her while writing my dissertation.

After I lose my job, I'm going to start cleaning out our apartment, selling furniture, and generally preparing to move. Hopefully we can generate a little cash so we can pay movers to get us out of our 3rd & 4th story apartment.