Comments on: How To Figure Out What To Do With Your Life? http://livingoffdividends.com/2009/01/20/how-to-figure-out-what-to-do-with-your-life/ Join me on my journey to achieve financial independence through dividends, passive income and investments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:22:11 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 hourly 1 By: Chris http://livingoffdividends.com/2009/01/20/how-to-figure-out-what-to-do-with-your-life/comment-page-1/#comment-32860 Chris Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:26:04 +0000 http://livingoffdividends.com/?p=920#comment-32860 Hi Tom, Yes, that's my method (plus the 120k income for the past 10+ years helped as well). Fortunately, my wife is better than me in terms of #1 and #2. I have lost quite a bit in terms of dollar amount in #3 but the % loss is tolerable. Otherwise, there's not that much that I made other than bond divs, CD interests, and was quite lucky in the RE bubble. I don't think anyone can retire in US unless he/she has about $3 million in total asset (most of it in cash at this point) since health care in this country is so expensive. Otherwise, with $1 million (again, most in cash), you can practically retire in most countries in the world if you can cover adequate health care cost in your monthly dividend equation. Good luck. Hi Tom,

Yes, that’s my method (plus the 120k income for the past 10+ years helped as well). Fortunately, my wife is better than me in terms of #1 and #2.

I have lost quite a bit in terms of dollar amount in #3 but the % loss is tolerable. Otherwise, there’s not that much that I made other than bond divs, CD interests, and was quite lucky in the RE bubble.

I don’t think anyone can retire in US unless he/she has about $3 million in total asset (most of it in cash at this point) since health care in this country is so expensive. Otherwise, with $1 million (again, most in cash), you can practically retire in most countries in the world if you can cover adequate health care cost in your monthly dividend equation.

Good luck.

]]> By: tom http://livingoffdividends.com/2009/01/20/how-to-figure-out-what-to-do-with-your-life/comment-page-1/#comment-32717 tom Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:53:45 +0000 http://livingoffdividends.com/?p=920#comment-32717 Chris, Is that the steps you took to retire early yourself? Chris,
Is that the steps you took to retire early yourself?

]]> By: Chris http://livingoffdividends.com/2009/01/20/how-to-figure-out-what-to-do-with-your-life/comment-page-1/#comment-31716 Chris Sun, 25 Jan 2009 07:39:02 +0000 http://livingoffdividends.com/?p=920#comment-31716 Chiko, retiring at a young age is possible. You need to do the following: 1. Save, save, save. 2. Spend like a starving student. 3. Play the stock/bond/derivative/SIV/CDO/hedge market, etc, only if you tolerate the potential losses. Otherwise, listen to Einstein and his thought on the greatest invention in human history. 4. Try repeating #1 and #2 as if your life depends on them :-) Good luck. Chiko, retiring at a young age is possible. You need to do the following:

1. Save, save, save.
2. Spend like a starving student.
3. Play the stock/bond/derivative/SIV/CDO/hedge market, etc, only if you tolerate the potential losses. Otherwise, listen to Einstein and his thought on the greatest invention in human history.
4. Try repeating #1 and #2 as if your life depends on them :-)

Good luck.

]]> By: Chris http://livingoffdividends.com/2009/01/20/how-to-figure-out-what-to-do-with-your-life/comment-page-1/#comment-31711 Chris Sun, 25 Jan 2009 07:33:26 +0000 http://livingoffdividends.com/?p=920#comment-31711 Ben, to answer your questions, Cisco and BS from the current school that LOD is attending right now although I also have a MS. LOD, there are some bright high school graduates that are billionaires and I'm pretty sure you know at least 2 of them by name. I never said that college will help you become successful. However, I will say that the *right* college will help somewhat. UCLA, frankly, didn't help me one iota as I graduated during a horrible recession ('91). Even a Harvard degree won't help everyone in this current recession. It might be true that some DeVry graduates are intelligent and can easily outperform some regular WASC accredited college graduates work-wise. As a matter of fact, I know coworkers who are more intelligent than I am and they don't even graduate from some of the higher ranked universities in this country. However, that accreditation is an important factor not only for grad schools but also for employers alike. I'm simply being honest and present matter-of-fact statements and I'm sure many (again, not all) college admission and HR employees would agree with me on this. Perhaps I should have simply recalled my first comment. Let me do that then. Ben, to answer your questions, Cisco and BS from the current school that LOD is attending right now although I also have a MS.

LOD, there are some bright high school graduates that are billionaires and I’m pretty sure you know at least 2 of them by name. I never said that college will help you become successful. However, I will say that the *right* college will help somewhat. UCLA, frankly, didn’t help me one iota as I graduated during a horrible recession (’91). Even a Harvard degree won’t help everyone in this current recession.

It might be true that some DeVry graduates are intelligent and can easily outperform some regular WASC accredited college graduates work-wise. As a matter of fact, I know coworkers who are more intelligent than I am and they don’t even graduate from some of the higher ranked universities in this country. However, that accreditation is an important factor not only for grad schools but also for employers alike. I’m simply being honest and present matter-of-fact statements and I’m sure many (again, not all) college admission and HR employees would agree with me on this.

Perhaps I should have simply recalled my first comment. Let me do that then.

]]> By: Chiko http://livingoffdividends.com/2009/01/20/how-to-figure-out-what-to-do-with-your-life/comment-page-1/#comment-31628 Chiko Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:12:48 +0000 http://livingoffdividends.com/?p=920#comment-31628 Just graduated college about two weeks ago. I've come to realize that trying to figure out exactly what you want to do in life is a waste of time, no one really ever does. What people need to learn how to do is to figure out what direction they want to head in. I've always knew that I wanted to retire at a young age, but I couldn't have predicted the opportunities that have arrived to get me closer to my goal. Just graduated college about two weeks ago. I’ve come to realize that trying to figure out exactly what you want to do in life is a waste of time, no one really ever does. What people need to learn how to do is to figure out what direction they want to head in. I’ve always knew that I wanted to retire at a young age, but I couldn’t have predicted the opportunities that have arrived to get me closer to my goal.

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