Hi @Evan. Welcome to the forum! I’d love to hear more about “FIRE by 40” if you’d be willing to share the details.
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Hi @Mustachioed! Of course, happy to. Please forgive the lack of super detailed numbers for now… There was a MMM interview where he spoke about "“Walking around in your monetary underwear” and let’s just say I’m not there yet haha.
- Using about 32k per year currently, expecting that to be 35k or so in the future
- Rounding the fire number up to 1M to be safe
- Rather frugal, 9 years into career, slightly above Swiss average income but nothing crazy
In the States you can get your cost of living down much lower than here, as you all know haha. Super happy to be in this wonderful country, but still trying to figure out some of the financial instruments ; )
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Welcome!
Expenses or savings?
Hi @Ed_Waadt, thank you
Sorry for the unclear wording: Expenses. Rent, food, transport, health insurance, etc
Could work … assuming you remain single and have no kids 
And not in Switzerland - I guess you plan to RE back in the US?
Congrats then. Just 35k (+taxes I’m guessing) in that department is great. I’m not being a good mustachian lately. In fact I’ve been so bad in 2019 that I haven’t updated my numbers since 2018.
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@Ed_Waadt thank you! I wouldn’t worry about it : )
I was looking at your document… I love the phrase “Bank Greed” haha
Hi everyone,
I’m a 37 y.o. man from the Geneva area but I’ve been traveling abroad UK and Australia mainly in the past 10 years. During this time, I opened my first trading account in 2012 but didn’t invest more than 3000.
I had no strategy and some bad experienced on speculation put me off for few years.
I enjoyed Mr Money Mustache articles since 2016 and subscribe to his newsletters then the MP distribution list since 2018. I’ve mainly been reading the blog before.
I’ve been back to use some VIAC 3rd pillar vouchers since 2019 but no one worked.
I’m determined to move my costly 3rd pillars from BCGE this year but a bit worried with the 1 - 6 months latency …
I used Neville VIAC referential code and it was my way to give back to the community for all the nice advices.
I’m also register to another English CH Forum and one French but I prefer the richness of the investing threads of the MP forum.
See you around on other topics.
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Sorry that I didn’t elaborate initially.
First, disclaimer: This depends of course on the style of life you want to live. (and how/if your circumstances will change in the future)
Personally, I would argue that planning to fully retire for 40-50 years (if you do so at 40) with 1M could be statistically dangerous. (Even in the US)
For Switzerland, please see the discussion here on the forum whether 4% SWR is the rule to follow in CH.
And check here for how others have been thinking about their FIRE numbers (in or out of CH).
Also, here a solid analysis: FIRE? Here’s Why The 4% Spending Rule Does Not Apply to You - PWL Capital
Hello @dbu thanks for the reply. I chose the word fire instead of retire for this very reason, but perhaps I could have articulated myself better
Correct me if I am mistaken but by fully retire you mean zero work. The idea is to choose the work you want based on happiness/societal benefit, not the work that maximizes earnings. In the US “retirement” conjures up images of zero work and days of golf and bingo. Not sure I am interested in either of those ; )
Will have a look at the links, thanks!
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Yes, I am arguing the whole “RE” part of “FIRE” is used semantically incorrect. 
People often just replace their “regular 9-to-5” job (which they might not like / want to run away from; or reduce working hours on it) with another activity which still brings them income.
That’s why we have so many FIRE bloggers that earn revenue through their websites/books etc. - it can be seen as just another “job” in my eyes. 
Depends what one personally defines as “retirement”, I agree.
I do however love and fully aim for the “FI” part of it - to only exchange my time for money if, when and on what I want, and to not have to depend on a “standard” job. 
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Fully agreed @dbu. Perhaps the vocabulary needs to be updated. Fortunately I can go back and delete the “re” from my first post so we are aligned ; )
Have a good day!
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Hi! I am 30, moved to Switzerland 6 months ago. I read Rich Dad Poor Dad when I was 15 and have been aching to invest since I was 22. But due to my expat lifestyle and allergy to administrative work, I didn’t feel equipped to make long term investments. All investment books recommend holding your portfolio long term so I was really unsure of committing to something. Also, I wanted to save up for entrepreneurial projects or real estate investments.
Thank to this blog and the book “Personal Finance for Dummies” that I picked up at a $ sale, I was able to open an IB account recently and start my first etf portfolio.
I am so thankful to this blog and all the information here. Hope to learn with you all and contribute to this community.
For now, I chose a standard VTI+VWO+VEA portfolio. Is there any risk in having Vanguard only etfs? How can I further optimize my portfolio? My goal is 10-15 years.
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Hello All,
Thanks MP for creating a great community here.
I am 35 yo. Married with 2 kids. Did my PhD in Zurich and got the investing bug right then because I was able to save ~2k/month. Never got into index funds unfortunately or fortunately (will come to this later).
Started by investing 5k via UBS in Credit Suisse (2010). Kept adding while the stock went from 45 CHF -> 22 CHF and I lost ~ 40% of my portfolio. Sold out in 2012 and started seriously studying investing. Spent ~ 3 hours/day while doing my PhD on reading books of all kind (behavioral, investing, psychology etc) and annual reports. Only do stock picking, no indexing.
My goal is to become financially independent in 10 years. I like my job and if that stays then there is no reason to leave it. But, I would like the freedom to never worry about it.
I am not that frugal. I believe in balance. I am not going to be this young ever again and I like to spend money on things that I enjoy e.g., traveling, eating out, buying a lot of books etc. My yearly budget is approximately CHF 100k and as long as I am below that I don’t really care. Fortunately, I still have a > 50% savings rate because of luck and good market fit.
Similar situation here, although about half the salary 
Mind sharing which domain your PhD was in or in which industry you work?
PhD: Informatik (Theoretical Computer Science)
I work in a “tech” company. There is a large variance in pay. Ergon, AdNovum etc will pay ~ 130k, while trading firms will probably pay ~ 300k. I had got some offers across industries but I picked something I would not hate and pays well. I really don’t want to work in a trading firm.
I should have guessed - I often forget that I am the only one without a CS or Software Eng. degree on this forum
But it sounds like you’ve found an interesting and quite lucrative niche to be in. Good on you.
Welcome to the forum.
How has your portfolio performed since 2012? Beating the index?
I’m just curious, I don’t want to be criticizing you for stockpicking.