The kid got her permit today.
She’s over the moon with the achievement. She intends to acquire her driver’s license, invest in a vehicle, and get a better-paying job.
Late last night she discussed her options with me. She asked if I would mind if she lived with me, splitting the expenses until some time in 2020. This would allow her to have a support system when her fiancée is deployed overseas this year.
While the mom in me was like really? the frugalista in me was cheering.
It opens another option line for my future.
If the kid remained living here my bills would continue to be low. I could piggyback off of her, using her vehicle to re-acquire the license I gave up while writing The Car Free Experiment. This would allow me to get one step closer to my long-term goals.
We discussed the option of getting a factory job together. We would both save money by splitting transportation costs. We could almost double our hourly income with this route; the extra hours we would receive would mean that our weekly income would more than double.
I could invest $500-$1,000 a month if we went that route.
In order to receive a base amount of money to live on ($500/month), I need to have $60,000 invested in dividend stocks at a 10% return. Not including rolling over my dividends and chipping in my royalties, I could have that socked away in less than 10 years by simply investing that minimum $500 a month; less than five years if I managed to invest $1,000 monthly.
I could work in a factory job for 10 years. It would be rough, but I could do it. I may not even have to work in one for that long, depending upon how my overall investments, my book royalties, and other options pan out.
No one knows the future, of course, but I find that exploring options is a worthwhile exercise. It allows me to brainstorm potential paths towards my long-term goal and to weigh potential pitfalls as well as what steps I would need to take in order to hedge my bets.
If anything, this path would allow me to turbo-charge my investments and allow me the income needed to acquire a vehicle of my own, as well as the money needed for any classes as I work out the best career to settle in for the long-term. I have no real desire to work in a factory until the day that I die.
What options are you considering to achieve your long-term goals? Please share your stories in the comments below.
Sounds like an excellent idea. I would suggest in the car buying aspect to try and get one that had manual windows. I know this is old-fashioned but let me tell you if those windows go out it is a real pain to pay for them. There are cars out there that you can still get the manual roll down windows just in case in the winter sometimes the windows are slow to go up and down.
Oh, I have felt the pain of having electronic windows repaired! Back when I had my van a window motor or something died in it. Cost close to $300 to get it replaced!
That said, when the time comes for me to shop for a vehicle I will have to see what is available within my price range. It is getting harder to locate manual windows these days. I could get lucky, though. We managed to locate an older pickup truck for a friend that had manual windows.
Thanks for the reminder, Sally!
In my experience, nothing else I tried was as effective as finding a better paying job. The ability to invest 500 – 1700€ in a month changed everything for me.
Even though I was careful with my purchases, made certain I spent money only on necessary things and learned to do better with my investments, the earning power simply could not be beat. I used to be a carer for disabled family member for many years, and my income was around 1,200€/month. I had a mortgage (500€/month), I paid another 500e for everything else for family of five and the remanining 200 went towards school fees. I needed a new degree to get a steady daytime job which would work with caregiving schedule (I was unable to work shifts).
It was like a landslide when I finished my degree, got a job and my earnings suddenly tripled. My salary is 1800- 2000€/month after taxes. In 2012 when I started working part-time in my new field, I had 121 € in investments. It took a year to get 4600. But when I got my new job, I managed to save 14 000 a year without sacrificing anything.
If it’s possible to find a factory job with Katie, I think it might be worth it.
I’m currently having problems with my oldest who is very reckless with his pocket money and spends it all at once, then whining for more. He used to be much more careful with money when he was small, remembering the lean years, but it seems like the concept of saving has vanished from his mind as soon as he turned 14. My 13-year-old son is an excellent saver, but the oldest is just… UGH! I quite enjoyed reading your posts on how you make financial plans with Katie. Could you write a blog post (or a book, even!) on how to help children to be responsible with money?