How much money do you earn? And how do you spend it?

Mike Hoxbig said:
Saving is good, but it's also pointless saving all that money for the last 10-20 years of your life. Enjoy some of it too...
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Working on the mindset of spending more from Ramit Sethi. I also have trouble letting go while in peak earning years, plus I mostly enjoy my work and the challenges it brings.

We spend R70k per month (without car or house payments) and it lets us live pretty well already in South Africa. Monthly expenses wont go up too much since we'd buy house or car in cash any way.

I'm also mid career so still got lots of challenging roles so don't want to not work yet. Also going to help aging parents, so will have a few dependents to look after.

But yes, dont want to get to 65 and feel like I deprived ourselves, but also am very aware that the income could turn off tomorrow. And if that happened it would be fine with our savings.
 
JerryMungo said:
Wait till you realise you can work 1/2 the time and still get by comfortably. Early retirement and rural living is calling.

The rat race is way overrated.
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I tried to retire young before and realised I am unhappy not earning.

I dont want to be far from family, we have lots and aging parents so great to get together. I'd be too lonely in a rural lifestyle if it meant being an hour away from them, despite loving nature.

So need to develop my mindset, and come up with a plan for where to retire if I did that.
 
Wikus_Rikus said:
Gross income + bonus over R4m now plsu some other incentives have come online that will see stock options pay another another R2.5m. NW has crossed R40m now. Withdrawal rate would be 2.3% now, total expenses at R70k per month which is mostly same as above plus inflation food, medical aid, levies, insurance, petrol/transport. Still old car and small home but we choose this lifestyle for flexibility and optionality, and are financially strong enough that wife doesn't work, but do want to deliberately make some house and car changes. Focus is on making my own work more enjoyable, rather than just chasing performance-based remuneration.
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Nice! Awesome that your net worth went up R7.5m in a year. Well done. How old are you if you don’t mind me asking?
 
Wikus_Rikus said:
Gross income + bonus over R4m now plsu some other incentives have come online that will see stock options pay another another R2.5m. NW has crossed R40m now. Withdrawal rate would be 2.3% now, total expenses at R70k per month which is mostly same as above plus inflation food, medical aid, levies, insurance, petrol/transport. Still old car and small home but we choose this lifestyle for flexibility and optionality, and are financially strong enough that wife doesn't work, but do want to deliberately make some house and car changes. Focus is on making my own work more enjoyable, rather than just chasing performance-based remuneration.
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Honestly, so inspiring that your net worth has gone up R17m in 3 years. I remember you were nervous about SA, but luckily things seem to have turned around and you’ve really grown your wealth.

Personally, I went from R9m to R16m over the last three years. I’m mid-30s.

Man, I love compound growth!
 
Awesome! At 45, I’m projected to have R48m — at which point I’ll only work for fun.
 
I retired this year in April at age 48. I don't know what to do with all the free time now, so i just drive slowly in the fast lane at 7:30am daily and make everybody late for work.
 
For those considering retirement, I suggest trying it out: ask for a 6 month sabbatical if you've got a strong enough relationship with your employer. I did this back in 2022 - good break, and it gives one a glimpse of what retirement would be like. You get to do the things you (thought you) wanted to do, and also detach from current projects. Personally, I got quite bored after a few months, and was glad to get back into it. Perhaps it wasn't long enough to find that "passion project" I may want to do one day, but it did a lot to alleviate that "Why aren't I on a beach now?" feeling I had before.
 
I'm curious... how do you guys diversify your investments?
I'm busy putting together a long term investment strategy for my 5 year old son. Yep... he's already got a retirement annuity (probably one of the youngest retirees in the making 😅), a TFSA, a fixed savings account, and a few shares in his Easyequities account.
My wife and I are also restructuring our investment property portfolio. When we originally bought rental properties, we knew very little about trusts. Looking back, we probably would've done things differently from the start.
Our plan now is to move all of our investment properties (excluding our primary residence) into a trust. The idea is to make the long-term transition easier for our son one day, with the assets remaining in the trust rather than having to transfer each property into his name, which can have significant costs and tax implications.
 
longboy said:
I retired this year in April at age 48. I don't know what to do with all the free time now, so i just drive slowly in the fast lane at 7:30am daily and make everybody late for work.
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There’s more to life than work and traffic
 
cguy said:
For those considering retirement, I suggest trying it out: ask for a 6 month sabbatical if you've got a strong enough relationship with your employer. I did this back in 2022 - good break, and it gives one a glimpse of what retirement would be like. You get to do the things you (thought you) wanted to do, and also detach from current projects. Personally, I got quite bored after a few months, and was glad to get back into it. Perhaps it wasn't long enough to find that "passion project" I may want to do one day, but it did a lot to alleviate that "Why aren't I on a beach now?" feeling I had before.
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The idea of giving my time to an employer when I no longer need to just do it can fill my time is quite depressing. The second you leave or pass away, they move on.
 
Juanado said:
The idea of giving my time to an employer when I no longer need to just do it can fill my time is quite depressing. The second you leave or pass away, they move on.
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For me, it's that I enjoy building things, solving hard problems and working with colleagues (prior to industry, I worked in research). I would continue to do that if I work or not, so I choose to do it and get paid well - I can always find a use for more money. It's also hard to work at the level I like to without the resources and people I have where I work.

One thing I will say, is that even though I don't need to work (so don't have the doom "what if I lose my job?" type of concern), the stress is still real - I still push myself hard, and honestly I don't know if it's good to keep going at this rate.
 
cguy said:
For me, it's that I enjoy building things, solving hard problems and working with colleagues (prior to industry, I worked in research). I would continue to do that if I work or not, so I choose to do it and get paid well - I can always find a use for more money. It's also hard to work at the level I like to without the resources and people I have where I work.

One thing I will say, is that even though I don't need to work (so don't have the doom "what if I lose my job?" type of concern), the stress is still real - I still push myself hard, and honestly I don't know if it's good to keep going at this rate.
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If you don't know, you actually do know but you're just pretending otherwise. Stop being stubborn and listen to your body. And even your mind. Taking things a little easier to enjoy life isn't bad, you only get one shot at this life.
 
8letters said:
I'm curious... how do you guys diversify your investments?
I'm busy putting together a long term investment strategy for my 5 year old son. Yep... he's already got a retirement annuity (probably one of the youngest retirees in the making 😅), a TFSA, a fixed savings account, and a few shares in his Easyequities account.
My wife and I are also restructuring our investment property portfolio. When we originally bought rental properties, we knew very little about trusts. Looking back, we probably would've done things differently from the start.
Our plan now is to move all of our investment properties (excluding our primary residence) into a trust. The idea is to make the long-term transition easier for our son one day, with the assets remaining in the trust rather than having to transfer each property into his name, which can have significant costs and tax implications.
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We also have a majority of our investments in trusts too, to make any sort of post-death administration easier. We also have an extensive will leaving lump sums to responsible family members/friends/charities, and slower income distributions go to less responsible family members.

As for diversification:
- Stock portfolio consisting of some ETFs, as well as many individual stocks focused on necessities to de-risk from mega-tech stock collapses
- Bonds portfolio (largely municipal)
- Employer granted equity
- Property portfolio (I wouldn't do this directly again - individual LLC per property)
- Venture capital
- Hedge fund
- Owner/partner in a few businesses
- Retirement fund (401k, IRA) - technically also ETF like portfolios
- Some cash in a money market account
- CD's (fixed deposit)
- Personal property (not sure if it's really an investment - some has gone up, and some have been money pits)
 
Wikus_Rikus said:
Gross income + bonus over R4m now plsu some other incentives have come online that will see stock options pay another another R2.5m. NW has crossed R40m now. Withdrawal rate would be 2.3% now, total expenses at R70k per month which is mostly same as above plus inflation food, medical aid, levies, insurance, petrol/transport. Still old car and small home but we choose this lifestyle for flexibility and optionality, and are financially strong enough that wife doesn't work, but do want to deliberately make some house and car changes. Focus is on making my own work more enjoyable, rather than just chasing performance-based remuneration.
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This is fantastic. How did you manage to get your NW up so high ? Is this just based on investments that have paid off over time/ compounding?
 
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Nickster said:
This is fantastic. How did you manage to get your NW up so high ? Is this just based on investments that have paid off over time/ compounding?
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My guess is a pretty consistent investment of around R30k to R50k a month, with some bonuses sprinkled in. But that’s only possible when you live below your means.
 
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