Before the Frugalwoods, there was Broke Millennial, a self-described “financially independent” New Yorker whose parents covered half of her college tuition and began teaching her about building capital when she was seven years old. Following the 2008 recession, a new kind of self-help guru — the Millennial frugality expert — emerged from the rubble. Many of the modern rich are prolifically frugal, and for Americans who dream of a more gilded life, the art of bean counting can become its own form of religion. This is one of the most integral metrics of the Millennial experience because of its implications for how much money a young person can save.

Hard to believe I’ve been doing this for so long yet am still invigorated and excited to type words at you and help people with their money!!!! I believe that managing your money opens up a world of options for how to live your life. I’m a financial consultant who helps people figure out their money. Meet the Frugalwoods is the intriguing story of how Elizabeth and Nate realized that the mainstream path wasn’t for them, crafted a lifestyle of sustainable frugality, and reached financial independence at age thirty-two. This was made financially possible by the fact that we’d always lived well below our means and that we’d continuously increased our salaries over the years, while saving ever higher percentages.

In fact, I have many times counseled against it in Reader Case Studies over the years. At any rate, this is not about my favorite topic (moi…. ), so I’ll try to get back on point. I like my part-time schedule because it allows me to be with the kids and spend a lot of time outside working on our homestead. But I also have no plans to work full-time.

This moderation plays out not only in the way we spend money; it permeates everything we do. That brings us to the present day and what I identify as the “Frugalwoods financial maintenance phase” (hat tip to my favorite podcast). We “practiced” this for several years while saving my husband’s income, which was a fabulous way to determine the feasibility of this plan. We’ve never initiated a drawdown of our assets because we’re able to continue living on my income combined with the net profit of our rental property. I seem to have a knack for birthing children at REALLY stressful/busy times. I left my office job after Kidwoods was born and started working more hours on freelance writing and Frugalwoods.

What do you want to read about on Frugalwoods this fall?

Your goal might be to get out of debt or to save up an emergency fund or start investing for your retirement and I want to be helpful to you in that process. No, we didn’t inherit money (nor will we) and no, our parents didn’t buy us houses or cars, but crucially, they did pay for our undergraduate education. With that, we’re now officially FIRE’d (financially independent and retired early), with the caveat that I continue to work part-time as a freelancer. The second profound life change this spring was Mr. FW’s early retirement! If you’re considering paying off your mortgage, and if you’ve met at least the top three criteria outlined above, you’ll want to plan ahead. By paying off your mortgage, you are reducing your reliance on market increases.

Ready to fix your money?

We’ve settled into a more temperate version of our old selves, which extends its tendrils into every aspect of our lives. In the spring of 2021, we made the decision for Mr. FW to retire from his job as a software engineer after being with the same company for 14 years. We continued to save at a pretty high rate–typically saving all of my husband’s salary and living off of my income combined with the rental income. We moved to Vermont full-time in May 2016 and began renting out our Cambridge house in June 2016.

So Why Did We Pay Off Our Mortgage?

• I’ve come to view our launch into adulthood–debt-free and mostly broke–as one of the most formative elements of our FIRE journey.
• The Frugalwoods soon had enough money saved to escape their “frenzied” city grind.
• That brings us to the present day and what I identify as the “Frugalwoods financial maintenance phase” (hat tip to my favorite podcast).
• We decided to take this risk now so that we can build a meaningful life to enjoy.
• In the process, Elizabeth discovered the self-confidence and liberation that stems from disavowing our culture’s promise that we can buy our way to "the good life." Elizabeth unlocked the freedom of a life no longer beholden to the clarion call to consume ever-more products at ever-higher sums.
• The way my husband, Nate, and I decided to achieve that was through financial independence.

This was accomplished, yes, through extreme frugality, but also through having good, white-collar salaries. During 2014–our first lean Frugalwoods year–we vacillated between saving 65%-82% each month making our average savings rate 71.4%. →Eliminating everything is an easy way to figure out what you value and what you want to add back into your life. The way my husband, Nate, and I decided to achieve that was through financial independence. I wanted to change how I lived. A job I was fortunate to have.

The better question, however, may be whether that’s enough for a 70-year-old to live on in retirement so that you can align your budget accordingly. If your bank interest rate is less than your mortgage rate, pay it off. As a result, an oft-stated rule of thumb suggests workers can base their retirement on a percentage of their current income. That could reduce your retirement income too much. Based on this rule, if your annual preretirement income was $100,000, you need $80,000 a year in retirement to cover your expenses. I get bored writing about myself (I mean, kinda…. ) and I want to dig into stuff that’s relevant to your life and your financial journey.

Empowering You to Build Financial Security & Confidence

According to the Federal Reserve, Millennials in their twenties carried an average debt of $22,135 last summer. And for the millions of Millennial freelancers toiling away in the “gig economy” — which is growing larger each year — benefits like 401K plans and employer-paid insurance slide further out of reach. That’s before their paychecks are flattened by rent, utilities, and exorbitant health insurance premiums and deductibles. There’s still time to join us in revolutionizing our finances this month—link in bio! For that reason, she told PBS, she prefers to describe herself as “financially independent.”

Embracing Financial Freedom and Crafting a Purposeful Life

• I believe that managing your money opens up a world of options for how to live your life.
• When you pay off a mortgage, you’re not going to end up with the highest dollar return at the end, but you’re also way less likely to run out of money.
• Remember how I mentioned that when you pay off a mortgage, you essentially lock in your mortgage interest rate as your rate of return?
• In other words, we will live off of our rental income and my income.
• A recent PBS NewsHour feature on the Frugalwoods clarified that Nate still works remotely for a political non-profit (hence the long and taxing search for a Vermont house with fiber optic Internet), while Liz writes and monetizes the blog.

You should aim to have everything paid off, from student loans to credit card debt, by age 45, O’Leary says. But, the data is only slightly better if you are living in retirement for 20 years. The above data refers to people who will be retired for 35 years. The average Social Security retirement benefit check is $1,907 as of January 2024. If your bank interest rate is more than your mortgage rate, keep the mortgage for now. When we got married in 2008, we didn’t have much money, but we didn’t have any debt.

Without advertising income, we can’t keep making this site awesome for you. Custommapposter is a website frugalwoods that shares useful knowledge and insights for everyone about finance, investing, insurance, wealth, loans, mortgages, and credit. If you take more than this from your nest egg, it may run short; if you take less or your investments earn more, it may provide somewhat more income. This Is the Average Income for Retirees in America The median income for Americans 65 and older is $50,290. It can also benefit those who have a high-interest mortgage or who don’t benefit from the mortgage interest tax deduction. So while today’s post is allllll about the mortgage and the FIRE, this won’t become the focus of Frugalwoods’ work.

Reader Case Study: Ex-Pats in Hanoi, Vietnam

If you simulate retirement over the course of known financial history, there is a very specific set of circumstances whereby a person fails (runs out of money) in retirement. When you pay off a mortgage, you’re not going to end up with the highest dollar return at the end, but you’re also way less likely to run out of money. You can’t use a paid-off house to buy groceries or fix your car or pay for health insurance if you’ve lost your a job. A paid-off house essentially returns the rate of your mortgage interest rate. This makes it easier to put a down payment on a house, build a portfolio, and — if you’re lucky — retire early, Frugalwoods-style. The 2008 recession may have cratered the wages and employment prospects for people just entering the job market, but according to the myth of the American Millennial, the real problem young people have today is themselves.

Yes, you might be able to get a Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC), but that’s not a guarantee and certainly not if you’ve lost your job. 2) A paid-off house is an illiquid asset. That does not mean 7% every year, it means a 7% average over the lifetime of an investor.

The Frugalwoods are tight-lipped about their income, though back in 2012, before they moved to Vermont, the couple bought a $460,000 four-bedroom house in Cambridge, a short walk from MIT, according to their blog; last year, they rented it for a monthly rate of $4,400. He retired early, and I left my unfulfilling job to focus on helping people like you. Our income is much lower than when my husband was working, but we live happily and we live well. We continue to invest for retirement (through my solo 401k), contribute to our taxable investments, save into 529 college savings plans for our kids, and add to our Donor Advised Fund for charitable giving.

There’s a lot that we love about dense, urban environs, but it was time for a change. Our desire to live in ways that we find personally meaningful was powerful. At first we thought, ok, we’ll move to the woods when we retire at 65.