Category: General

Memorial Day is a day in the United States that has been set aside to honor those who died serving in the armed forces of the US. It was originally established in 1868 for May 30^th, to honor those lost in the US Civil War. In that war, almost 10% of the adult male population died, so there wasn’t a family in the country that wasn’t touched by the conflict. Often families lost multiple members, and the need to mourn the dead and honor the sacrifice was felt by all family members.

The holiday continued from 1868 to 1970 to be celebrated on May 30^th, no matter which day of the week it fell on. In 1971 it was changed to the last Monday of the month of May, to enable folks to have a 3-day weekend. I’m still of two minds here, because I tend to believe by making these kind of changes (President’s weekend, Labor Day weekend) we weaken the actual reason why we are having the memorial holiday. That is one of the reason I’m glad that US Veteran’s Day (to celebrate military veterans) still falls on November 11^th. The date marks the end of World War 1 (the great war) which ended at the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month. Let’s keep it that way.

For many folks, Memorial Day marks the start of summer. Kids look forward to summer vacation, and many folks start taking holidays and travel. For many of these folks, stuck in their 9-5 existence, this is the only time they get to enjoy their free time. For the FIRE community, we’ve reached the point where we can take time off when we want, any time of the year. We aren’t tied down to when/if our boss can let us go.

At least that is where I hope to be shortly (13 months!). We spent the weekend visiting some of Mrs. 39 Months family. Her brother and sister-in-law both retired about 5 years ago, and true to form, they’ve now started volunteering at various spots (their daughter works at a museum, and the helping out there), exploring new interests (the wife has

joined two bands with her oboe) and traveling (her brothers are both heading to Nepal this fall to hike to Everest base camp & back).

Today, we’re going to be with friends for a “bad movie night” (I’ve written about it before). Good friends and good times.

Hopefully you are enjoying your time this weekend!

Mr. 39 Months

Happy Mother’s Day!

Been traveling down to be with my mother this weekend. She just recently (3 months ago) lost her husband of 47 years (my stepfather) so I wanted to be down there to support and show her my love. Like most people, a major part of who I am is based on her teaching and modeling as I grew up.

She supported my efforts growing up (sports, Boy Scouts, etc.). She provided a safe home, and after my parent’s divorce, she was the rock that helped all of us make it through. It was due to her that I was able to follow my military interest (she got me into West Point with a lot of effort) and while there, I met the future Mrs. 39 Months. After 33 years of marriage, we are still going strong.

It was a good weekend, and with one of my brothers, we worked on a variety of small tasks around the house that she needed done. She stated that she doesn’t really want “things” anymore for Mother’s Day, birthdays, etc. She would just like our help and to be able to see us. We got her car cleaned up, planted some flowers in a bed that she wanted, and generally cleaned out some leftover items and took them to Charity.

We also discussed her finances and how she was doing. Like most children of the Depression in the US, she was an avid saver and has a lot of money in her own right. In addition, she has an annuity from my stepfather, as well as a partial pension from my stepfather. She is also reviewing whether to take his Social Security or keep her own (as you know, she is eligible to take the one that is larger). She is the executor of the estate for my stepfather and is in contact with his three children, who will inherit the estate. A lot of details to go through, all while she is dealing with her own issues.

I hope you all had a great Mother’s Day, and made sure to share your love.

Mr. 39 Months

Its called “They shall not grow old” and it was created by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, etc.) and the British War Museum to mark the end of World War I.

World War I really was the turning point of the modern world. What Peter Jackson did was take the footage from the British Museum (the old, grainy black & white, silent movies) and digitize it/clean it up so it can be viewed today. He then colorized it and added sound effects/voices so that it is just as good as movies made today.

All the voices are from actual WWI veterans, recordings the BBC had from years ago.

Its a monumental task, and it makes a gripping movie. At the end, Peter Jackson spends about 25 minutes going through all the technology that was used to make it happen – and a great & funny story about how the closing song for the credits was made.

All the reviews are 5 stars on Rotten Tomatoes, and I can’t recommend it enough. It had a short run (one weekend) back in December, but it is back in the US for another short run. Go see it!

W

Heard this today on a Nov podcast for The Retirement Answer Man

“If you put all your troubles into a pile with everyone else’s, you will want yours back”

And a Happy New Year!

As I spoken about before, I’m an engineer in the supply chain field. My primary role is to design warehouse operations and equipment, so that the operation can operate as efficiently as possible and be successful. In order to do this, I need to continue to learn new methods of work, as well as work to better understand existing equipment and work methods.

As part of that, I took a trip the first half of this week to a racking manufacturer in Wisconsin.  This company takes spools of steel in long runs and bends them into rectangular tubes (after which they weld them). From there they either punch holes at regular intervals (for uprights) or weld hangers on the end of these rectangular lengths (for horizontal beams).

Once this is done, the run them through an oven to burn off the impurities, let it cool a bit, and then powder coat/paint them prior to running them through an oven again (to set the paint). Once that is done, they stack them up and prepare them for shipment.

These are the storage systems that we are all used to seeing in the big box stores, Ikea, and many retail establishments. They can be setup to hold cases below and full pallets of merchandise above. Depending on how you want to set it up, they can be very complicated, or very simple.

The operation we visited had two sides, one that had been in operation for 30 years, and one recent addition with more modern equipment (5 years). What was fascinating was that the basic processes were the same, but the more modern operation had only 40% of the workers. A lot more of the work (especially the welding) was being done by robots and more of the product movement was done by overhead conveyors and automation.

As an engineer, watching this manufacturing operation, where raw materials come in and finished goods go out, is thrilling for an engineer. I could tour sites like this all day.

So what do you do to keep yourself “up to date” in your profession?

Mr. 39 Months

There has been a great deal of conversation and writing on the new tax bill, and its effect on individuals and families. Some have spoken about it being as consequential as the 1986 tax reform bill (which dramatically changed the tax landscape right as I was graduating from college). I wanted to take the time to discuss some key points, and then to provide some links for deeper analysis if folks are interested in “getting in the weeds”

The biggest part of this tax reform, in my opinion, was the dropping of the business tax rate from 35% to 21%. While this won’t affect folks in the FIRE community directly (for the most part) it will have a dramatic effect on the country and its business climate. States in the US have been dropping their own business taxes for the last decade, in an attempt to be more competitive and to bring businesses into their states. Now the US federal government has clued in that its 35% rate (vs a typical 20% rate for most of the developed world) has been seriously impeding the maintenance of business in the US.

What this will do, in my opinion, is lead to more business and job growth in the US, as companies evaluate their costs to offshore (cheaper labor, more transportation expense, higher inventories due to longer lead times, etc.) versus keeping some or all of the business in the US. I’m in the logistics industry, and I know the cost of shipping stuff by boat from China/Vietnam/Europe – and it is significant. If you live outside the US, be prepared for your companies to get additional business pressure due to this.

For folks in the FIRE community working on hitting their goal, this should translate eventually into higher wages and benefits, as companies grow, and the competition for labor (especially skilled labor) increases. I’m already seeing this in the logistics industry, and typical warehouse workers & forklift operators have seen their starting wages rise by 20% over the last 2 years. Competition for these folks is tight, especially in key markets (So. Cal, Northeast PA, etc.)

For individuals, the rates for FIRE folks have remained at 10% for the first bit of money, but the individual rates have dropped 2% – 3% for all levels beyond that. It should result in some tax savings. One of the key items is the increase of the standard deduction to $24,000 for couples, with the exclusion of the individual deduction. This will dramatically change how some folks do their taxes, specifically those who itemize.

• For those families in the lowest income level (under $44,050) the 10% rate didn’t go down, but the standard deduction raise to $24K may cut their taxes somewhat.
• For the next level, those married couples claiming income up to $96,400, the 15% rate dropped to 12%, so there are savings there.
• Those with higher income levels saw reductions of 2% – 4% in their tax rates.

The cap/elimination of some property tax deductions, state income tax and mortgage will cause a lot of heartburn in high-tax/high cost-of-living states (CA, NJ, NY, and Northeast US). I live in New Jersey, and it looks like it will definitely cause issues here. Still, the folks affected by this are the typical big-house/expensive car kind of people, not the FIRE-type of folks who want to save money and get out of the rat race.

For Mrs. 39 Months and I, our deductions for next year (including the soon-to-be-extinct personal exemption) look like they were going to be around $23K, so the $24K standard deduction appears to be where we would end up, saving us a little. The reduction in rates looks like it will save us $2K – $3K a year i total taxes.

If you’d like to see how it might affect you, there is a good Tax reform calculator at CalcXML. 

Some further analysis:

1. Go Curry Cracker: Good general analysis
2. Nerd’s Eye View: Great In-depth analysis
3. Physician on Fire: How self-employed are affected:

So what are your thoughts on the new tax reform, and how will it affect you?

Mr. 39 Months

For some folks, our work requires us to travel, either by car or by plane, to other parts of the country, where we perform our job duties. This travel can be both a pain and an additional source of income. I wanted to discuss some of the financial advantages of corporate travel, and how someone seeking financial independence can benefit from it.

Extra Salary

For the corporate world, travel is seen as a burden, something which has to be done, but which causes a hardship on the employee. Many folks have spouses or significant others, children, pets, etc. These have to be taken care of while the worker is “on the road,” which causes stress and problems for the worker. Because of this, companies are willing to pay extra for workers who are “willing to travel” and this can be quite lucrative.

I knew two engineers who graduated the same year, same school, and same degree. One got a job as an engineer locally, and was offered $50K/year + benefits. The other got a job with a consulting firm that required 90% travel – so they offered her $70K/year + benefits, and she got to take advantage of all the “travel hacking” that you have seen in the FIRE community. A 40% bonus just because, at 22, she got to enjoy all sorts of travel throughout the US.

Extra Income

Often you get the opportunity to gain extra income while traveling. This primarily is done by being offered a stipend for travel. Companies use stipends because it is easier to budget for travel that way. An example would be a food stipend, where, instead of you submitting receipts from restaurants, the company just gives you an amount of money each day to pay for your food – for example, $45/day. If you stay at a hotel that serves breakfast and eat/drink reasonably, you can pocket the remaining money as extra income.

I’ve seen companies pay for just the airline travel, and put in a stipend for the hotel, food, car, etc. Since a lot of travel is done by corporate execs, these stipends can be rather large, because the execs don’t want to stay at a Motel 6. You can take full advantage of this and make some dough.

Another form of extra income is the auto mileage. Most companies have a standard rate per mile that they will pay you for business travel, to cover fuel and maintenance of your car. This is based on an average mid-size car, with average gas mileage and maintenance costs. If you have a more fuel-efficient car (like most FIRE folks who judge purchases on things like that) or a car with less maintenance costs (maybe you do some of it yourself to save $) you can book some significant extra income from a company’s mileage reimbursement

Reduced Expenses

This is the area where you can get real “bang” for your travels. By taking time to be somewhere else, somewhere that a company is paying you to be, you can significantly reduce your expenses – all money that goes tax free to your bottom line. Some examples:

• Home: If you travel extensively and are single, then there is no reason to get a large place to live, or buy expensive items for it – You won’t be there most of the time! Get a smaller place, furnish it sufficiently to take care of your needs, and pocket that money for the next several years. Keep the heat/AC turned down as well.
• Auto: Instead of having to pay for fuel, tolls and maintenance to commute to/from work, your car sits and doesn’t cost you this. Maybe you don’t even need a car at all, and can just get by with Uber/Lyft and a bike?
• Food: For periods of time, the food is on the company, so you can save on your food bill.
• Entertainment: Again, your company is paying for you to be at another place, so you aren’t spending money on a lot of entertainment options during the week

All of these are ways to drop money into your FIRE accounts and get there earlier than expected.

Negatives of business travel

The reason that companies pay more for folks who travel is because it does suck at times. Sitting in airports or driving long distances, being away from family, strange hotels, strange food, etc. This can all wear on a person over time and that is why many folks do it for short “spurts” of a few years, and then move to a job with less or no travel. This is especially prevalent when someone wants to start a family. I have a peer who consulted for 4 years, and did 95% travel. Woke up early Monday morning, kissed his wife, on the road Mon-Fri, and got back late Friday night. He joked that he was a “weekend husband.” He finally joined my company when they wanted to have kids, and now travels about 25% = 30%. They just had their second child and are much happier.

I always told my students when I was counselling them on a job search to put “willing to travel” on the bottom of their resume. If you are young and want to make some money fast, consider extensive travel. Even if it isn’t for you, take the opportunity to do some travel for your company and pocket some additional funds to help you on your way to financial independence.

Any good road stories out there?

Mr. 39 Months