BERKELEY, CA - MAY 7: Stacy Waters, a mother of two, consults her "price book" for the the best places and times to buy groceries, Tuesday, May 7, 2019, at her home in Berkeley, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Stacy Waters knows how to save a buck.
The Berkeley mother of two drives old cars, shops at thrift stores and buys furniture off Craigslist. She religiously maintains a “price book” filled with shopping data so she can track when and where to buy groceries for less. She stocks up on laundry detergent when it goes on sale for $3, every three months. And she scoops up produce at the farmer’s market at the end of the day when prices tumble.
“It’s difficult to get a 20 percent raise as an employee, but it’s easy to save 30 percent or more on your groceries,” says Waters, who spends about $100 a month per person to feed a family of four. “We are black belts at frugality.”
While many people struggle to get by in the high-priced Bay Area, some are saving every dime to quit work early, inspired by a movement that urges people to work hard, save a bundle and achieve “Financial Independence and Retire Early”, or FIRE.
Deciding how much you need to squirrel away to stop working, experts say, varies depending on your age and your expenses. Conventional wisdom says you should aim to have a nest egg of $1 million to $1.5 million, as AARP advises, or that your savings should amount to 10 to 12 times your current income. Some financial experts recommend multiplying your current income by 25. Superstar financial advisor Suze Orman has thrown out $5 million as a good target.
“A lot of people are starting to look for the escape hatch,” says Waters, who works as a bookkeeper and tries to put away 40 percent of her income every year.
Waters, who wants women to know there are many paths to financial security, thinks the FIRE trend is too often associated with young, male high-tech workers with big salaries and IPO dreams.
“You don’t have to be a tech bro to do this,” says Waters, 47, who blogs about saving at Hopping Off. “I made mistakes and I learned from them. It is never too late to start.”
While most Americans have less than $1,000 dollars in their savings account, according to a 2018 Bankrate report, and the Federal Reserve says consumer debt is at an all-time high of $4 trillion, super savers like Waters are trying to buck the trend. For them, the most important thing is aligning your spending with your goals.
“A lot of people are stuck in the quagmire of hating their job, which makes them exhausted so they grab take out and go out for drinks to make themselves feel better,” she says, “and that means they waste too much money. It’s an easy trap to fall into.”
Waters has a few splurges, like shelling out for her favorite gourmet cheese, Fiscalini, whenever she finds it at Grocery Outlet, but generally she’d rather save now so she can savor later. It’s not so much that she wants to retire early, she says, but that she’d like to have that option at some point.
“I still feel like we could do better,” says Waters, who wouldn’t reveal her income. “but I’m grateful that frugality has helped us get to a point where we can move toward retirement.”
Even if early retirement proves unattainable in the end, taking charge of your money is one way of coping with uncertainty, savers say. You can’t control the return on your 401k, but you can control how much you spend on lattes.
“Right now there’s so much uncertainty about the future and the economy. People want to have more control over their money,” says Sikander Lodhi, who runs a FIRE meetup group that has events all over the Bay Area. “One way to do that is to make sure you pay yourself first. Then pay your bills.”
Most people make the mistake of spending every dollar they make, he says.
“Challenge yourself to spend a little less. Look for waste,” he says. “Go through your automatic payments to see what you no longer need.”
Right now Lodhi, 47, works in financial services, but his dream is to have enough money to bankroll his passionto be a fashion writer and photographer.
“I never want to retire, but I do want to have the time to do what I love to do,” says Lodhi, who lives in Fremont.
Two years ago he was broke. Now, he says, he’s on track to have seven figures put away by 55. With that target in mind, he cuts corners wherever he can. He doesn’t pay for cable or Netflix, he buys new clothes only when the old ones wear out, and he only eats out on business.
“I’m very minimal, and I don’t throw my money around,” says Lodhi, who didn’t want to reveal his income. “It’s worth it to achieve my goals.”
Savers like Waters and Lodhi are scrimping in the hope that one day they will be like Sam Dogen. The 41-year-old retired at the age of 34, cushioned by a portfolio of stocks, bonds and rental real estate big enough to support his family of three in pricey San Francisco. He got motivated to retire at his very first job, he says, quickly burning out on stressful 14-hour days.
“I knew I wouldn’t be able to last in that brutal industry, so I decided to save and invest as much of my $40,000 salary as possible,” says Dogen, who blogs about his financial philosophy on FinancialSamurai.com. By the end of his career, he was making six figures.
For years, Dogen said, he economized. He had roommates, drove old cars and ate the free food at his workplace. He also parlayed a severance package from his job into a launchpad for his investments, which now generate enough passive income, about $245,000 a year, for him to play tennis whenever he wants and spend time with his two-year-old son.
“Everybody wants to be in charge of their own destiny,” says Dogen. “Financial sacrifices need to be made, but in the end, having the freedom to do what you want is priceless.”
