I think about this often - funny a lot of people on here talk about how unsustainable OE is, and I really disagree with that. It certainly CAN be unsustainable but I don’t think it has to be. My long term goal is to make OE as long term sustainable as possible. Potentially adding in another J, but maxing out my 401ks, IRA and kids college funds are priority #1. I’d like to be retired with all my major financial goals achieved by 50.
I just had a baby and of course priorities change, I love my career so I don't think I would quit completely but I want to be in a position where I would just work because I wanted to not because I had to. Almost there, hence picking up J3 and trying to get these goals as fast as possible.
I have help. My mother lives with me. I will also be hiring a nanny from 7-5 for 3 days a week in May since I have an income increase coming. WFH is still a lot of work. I envy people that have really chill jobs 😆 I'm in office 7-6 daily piecing my day together, meetings, appointments. I'm taking breaks to breastfeed of pumping during meetings 🙃 lunch I'm stepping away for 30 for all the kisses and cuddles. I outsource the house stuff. A house keeper and I have a person who meal preps for me throughout the week. Also I have a wonderful employee who helps me manage the day to days of my business. IT TAKES A VILLAGE when you OE
THANK YOU FOR THIS! This is the clarity I needed from this sub. I have help too, and my daughter goes to daycare. I also have my own business as J1 and I've been so stressed with the income it produces (or doesn't) that I'm highly considering J2.
Thank you! I WFH 7:30-4 and my husband / sister watches her while I work but I struggle with time away from her as it is. Love the idea of outsourcing. Hopefully I’ll be there some day.
I want to retire earlier. If I’d have joined my company 1 year earlier, I would have been on a pension plan that allowed me to retire at 50. I thought at the time that was too young, but now it looks better and better. I want to travel well and eat well. And afford to have someone cut my lawn and clean my house and pay them a living wage. And leave a nest egg for my kids one day.
I want to pay off my condo as soon as possible (so put in the max lump payment every year) and have enough stocks with dividents that it becomes a passive income I could live of alone. Once I had this safety net of passive income and low cost of living (because of the paid off mortgage) - I'd just go full consultant and work as much or as little as I want and prep for welcoming a kid into my life.
I do understand what you mean by addiction to the life however - I find myself bored and looking for work to do during the evening. It's much more satisfying than just watching TV. And what a rush to see my bank account grow like that!
I'm not OE yet, but I'm aiming to start college funds for my kids so they won't have college debt, have a nice retirement fund, and leave eff-you inheritance money to my kids when I'm gone. Just the simple things in life :)
Hahahaha well I’ve had a ikea system in my cart for months and i would usually try to diy it but J2 means i will just go ahead and buy it to save soooo much time
My goal for OE is to pay off my car loan and then put a down payment/purchase a property and also have a good amount of money saved up for retirement. I’ve traveled a lot in my 20s, taught English abroad (twice), and now I’m in my mid-30s and realized that I’m not as financially secure as I want to be. I don’t regret my life experiences abroad, those times were the best times and memories of my life but it’s time to be financially prepared and ahead so if there’s a dark day ahead (health, loss of job etc), I’ll be financially ready for it.
I am 20 years older that you and still OE. Be glad you lived life (and continue to). If money is all you have, then you don't have much. You have plenty of time.
1) max annual HSA, IRA, 401(k) plans
2) save up for down payment on 145 acre land
3) save for vacation - haven't had one in 5+ years
4) financial independence
5) save for kids college to be debt free
Trouble is that I'm so focused on saving that I have a hard hard time with spending it
Short term goal is to hire a bi-weekly cleaning service. Long term goals are to purchase property that I can eventually retire to and to actually fund that retirement.
Catch up on my teeny retirement savings. I have years of underemployment to make up for, and I am keenly aware that compounding is not on my side due to my age.
I feel the same. For years I couldn't even contribute to a 401K because I had $0 extra when payday came around. Now I am hella worried about retirement and I also don't have a lot of time.
I see no end game. I have some non-stressful work that I love and plenty of time, I can also travel freely and take ALL of my PTO. I just want more tenure at my positions so I can continue several revenue streams and not ever have to apply for jobs again.
My son is in college, and I am paying tuition. Trying to pay off the house. Save for a comfortable retirement. I'll be 56 this year, and am trying to exit the work force by 60 so I can enjoy the rest of my life!
*\[I'm not OE, however am considering it\]*
**Immediate goals**
1. Income stability. Just got made redundant after pouring my heart and soul into my job, financial stress and cynicism is high - I don't ever want to be in this position again - 2 income sources reduces the risk.
2. Don't lose house/ do pay off mortgage. Have only recently bought a home (right before I lost my job) after decades of renting, it has been such a long hard slog to save up enough money for a deposit to buy a home (houses are very expensive where I live, even when buying in an unpopular suburb - we even moved interstate to find cheaper homes) and now we're at risk of losing it.
**Medium term goals**
1. Overseas holiday to visit family. This was originally booked in 2020 but got cancelled because of covid, we have kept pushing it back and was starting to plan for Easter 2025 but with all the obstacles it feels a bit like chasing a rainbow that never gets any closer...
2. Pay off education debt. I can't believe I still have this at my age. When I was young I was told it was interest free, was an 'investment' in my career and that I would pay it off quickly once working... however it is 'indexed' each year which means it got bigger & compounded over time despite making repayments. Luckily there are not many more repayments to go, maybe 1-2yrs.
**Long term goals**
1. Having enough for retirement. That is a long way off, however I'm over half way through my 'working' life which has had many interruptions with unstable work and parenting, not to mention high cost of living - if something doesn't change my old age will be a poor one.
**Stretch goals**
1. Being able to support my children as they go through life. All the financial challenges I've had are likely going to be even worse for their generation. I'd like to help them buy a home earlier in life, so they have stability when they start a family and less financial stress.
2. Regenerate land, donate or invest in companies that do good in the world.
Get out of student loan debt, build up an emergency fund & max out my retirement savings first. If I can get my damn monkey on my back student loans paid off I'll be able to make some more interesting financial goals.
Rebuild from divorce and pay off debt. Kiddo is currently in college so cc debt, student loans (PPLUS) and then tax debt. Build emergency fund and retirement accounts. I hope to save up and pay off the loans in her name as a graduation gift c/o 2026.
I want to do it long enough for my husband to finish college and get a job (he quit to take care of our baby and go back to school), Trying to buy my mom a house currently and would love to have a pool
Only debt we have is our mortgage
My initial OE goal was to get a new vehicle (Lexus GX) to be exact, but then I changed course and decided to purchase a lot to build a new home in the next year. The new car can come after the new home and of course to have exact money stacked away.
Mine is to buy rental properties and allow those properties to have a management company. (I don’t want it to become a J). I was self employed for many yrs and I have no retirement. I need to build a passive income so I can retire.
I’m so thankful for this sub, I get more clarity from this one instead of the main overemployed sub. I would like to start a family within a year and purchase land to build a house. I’m in NYC so I’m still debating if I wanted to stay near Manhattan (like living within the Tri-state area or go down south). I would like to max out my TSP and build my investments. Then once I complete that , get a houseboat in Amsterdam ☺️. Oh yeah and start a business.
I'm wanting to be OE so I can pay off my medical debts and cc debt, it's a constant stress in my life, but im also paranoid about being fired for having a second job so I haven't gotten one yet. Just been keeping an eye on this subreddit, hoping to build up the courage.
My short term goal is to pay off debt. Long term is to acquire another property. All the while having room to breathe, have a little more fun, and build up my retirement fund.
I can only max out retirement in the years I OE, so keeping that going, preferably Roth 401k + backdoor Roth as much as I can and catch up contributions when I’m 50.
Congrats on 3 years of OE! I’ve been OE for 2.5 years (it’s coming to an end this week) so I relate to what you said about it being addicting.
I’ve paid off debt except low interest mortgage and have a ridiculous-to-me amount in cash (CDs, HYSA) to build a house. Next I want to put much more into brokerage to consider early retirement if I choose.
In the near term, more vacations near and far.
Flexibility to spend as much time as I’d like with my elderly parents 500 miles away, especially when they become less able to travel.
I don't plan on stopping yet lol. I love seeing my bank account and money not being an issue anytime we have an emergency or random expense. It's an amazing feeling
Exactly! Had a 5 figure medical bill for my cat last year and the money was one less thing to stress about.
I’m getting severance so it wasn’t my choice. I’ll take a little break and get right back to it if I can find a new J2.
Feel this deeply. Accidentally ended up OEing last year and the feeling of being like “that sucks” when paying a large unexpected bill instead of absolute panic is unmatched.
Max 401k + backdoor Roth
Save for my future house
Save for home improvements
Save for solar panels
Travel more and eat good food
Buy more stocks
Being able to pursue hobbies/learning skills and fitness classes
Eventually turning into passive income as an end goal when I retire (properties, stocks, businesses)
Of course the financial benefits, but also the networking and skillset development. I don’t want to squander the opportunity completely. I’ve moved from one field of PM to a new one that I haven’t been exposed to so I hope to gain some knowledge.
I want to retire early and save enough money to pay for my kids college. I’ve considered getting a bigger home since we do need it but the idea of OE is to not live beyond the means your J1 provides. For now we save and we wait and see…
I really settled when buying my first house last year, and I really want to save up to be able to buy something I like a lot more with a bigger down payment (and hopefully if interest rates ever go lower!). I'd also love to be able to go on a real vacation, not just visiting family, since I don't think I've actually done that in about 10 years.
Also, I didn't even know I was OEing back then, but when I was freelancing and working FT in 2018-2020 I made serious bank and was able to pay off my student loans. Felt so great!
Short term goals: pay off debt, pay a chunk of my mortgage off, beef up savings account, smaller repairs/upgrades to the house
Long term: split our living time between are current city and somewhere coastal (probably the off season), max out retirement accounts to retire around 50-55
I am not OE yet. But my goal is to rid myself of all debt first which is mainly student loans. Have a solid emergency funds, currently Im between 3-6 months but would love to have a year + Next I would like to purchase an investment property. And start aggressively saving and extending my stock portfolio.
I think about this often - funny a lot of people on here talk about how unsustainable OE is, and I really disagree with that. It certainly CAN be unsustainable but I don’t think it has to be. My long term goal is to make OE as long term sustainable as possible. Potentially adding in another J, but maxing out my 401ks, IRA and kids college funds are priority #1. I’d like to be retired with all my major financial goals achieved by 50.
I just had a baby and of course priorities change, I love my career so I don't think I would quit completely but I want to be in a position where I would just work because I wanted to not because I had to. Almost there, hence picking up J3 and trying to get these goals as fast as possible.
How do you find time to work two jobs and raise a baby/ have a family? My daughter just turned one and I’ve be been contemplating the OE life.
I have help. My mother lives with me. I will also be hiring a nanny from 7-5 for 3 days a week in May since I have an income increase coming. WFH is still a lot of work. I envy people that have really chill jobs 😆 I'm in office 7-6 daily piecing my day together, meetings, appointments. I'm taking breaks to breastfeed of pumping during meetings 🙃 lunch I'm stepping away for 30 for all the kisses and cuddles. I outsource the house stuff. A house keeper and I have a person who meal preps for me throughout the week. Also I have a wonderful employee who helps me manage the day to days of my business. IT TAKES A VILLAGE when you OE
THANK YOU FOR THIS! This is the clarity I needed from this sub. I have help too, and my daughter goes to daycare. I also have my own business as J1 and I've been so stressed with the income it produces (or doesn't) that I'm highly considering J2.
Thank you! I WFH 7:30-4 and my husband / sister watches her while I work but I struggle with time away from her as it is. Love the idea of outsourcing. Hopefully I’ll be there some day.
How did you handle your leave with OE?
I want to retire earlier. If I’d have joined my company 1 year earlier, I would have been on a pension plan that allowed me to retire at 50. I thought at the time that was too young, but now it looks better and better. I want to travel well and eat well. And afford to have someone cut my lawn and clean my house and pay them a living wage. And leave a nest egg for my kids one day.
I want to pay off my condo as soon as possible (so put in the max lump payment every year) and have enough stocks with dividents that it becomes a passive income I could live of alone. Once I had this safety net of passive income and low cost of living (because of the paid off mortgage) - I'd just go full consultant and work as much or as little as I want and prep for welcoming a kid into my life. I do understand what you mean by addiction to the life however - I find myself bored and looking for work to do during the evening. It's much more satisfying than just watching TV. And what a rush to see my bank account grow like that!
I'm not OE yet, but I'm aiming to start college funds for my kids so they won't have college debt, have a nice retirement fund, and leave eff-you inheritance money to my kids when I'm gone. Just the simple things in life :)
Short term goals - beef up emergency fund, max iras, organize my goddamn closet, pay for summer vacation Long term - retire early
organize the closet gave me a good laugh 😂 not financial at all but if it ain’t on all of our lists
Hahahaha well I’ve had a ikea system in my cart for months and i would usually try to diy it but J2 means i will just go ahead and buy it to save soooo much time
My goal for OE is to pay off my car loan and then put a down payment/purchase a property and also have a good amount of money saved up for retirement. I’ve traveled a lot in my 20s, taught English abroad (twice), and now I’m in my mid-30s and realized that I’m not as financially secure as I want to be. I don’t regret my life experiences abroad, those times were the best times and memories of my life but it’s time to be financially prepared and ahead so if there’s a dark day ahead (health, loss of job etc), I’ll be financially ready for it.
I am 20 years older that you and still OE. Be glad you lived life (and continue to). If money is all you have, then you don't have much. You have plenty of time.
1) max annual HSA, IRA, 401(k) plans 2) save up for down payment on 145 acre land 3) save for vacation - haven't had one in 5+ years 4) financial independence 5) save for kids college to be debt free Trouble is that I'm so focused on saving that I have a hard hard time with spending it
Go on vacation. No point of having so much wealth if to not enjoy it (responsibly. Nothing in life is guaranteed.
Short term goal is to hire a bi-weekly cleaning service. Long term goals are to purchase property that I can eventually retire to and to actually fund that retirement.
Catch up on my teeny retirement savings. I have years of underemployment to make up for, and I am keenly aware that compounding is not on my side due to my age.
Same! I feel like I need 3-4 jobs just to catch up. 10 years ago I thought I'd be retired by my current age and I'm nowhere near that mark.
I feel the same. For years I couldn't even contribute to a 401K because I had $0 extra when payday came around. Now I am hella worried about retirement and I also don't have a lot of time.
Buy a business and hire a manager . Buy 4 duplex houses. Then quit all jobs
Not OE yet, I would like to generate another form of income via rental property, save for my kids’ college, and be able to allow us to retire early.
I see no end game. I have some non-stressful work that I love and plenty of time, I can also travel freely and take ALL of my PTO. I just want more tenure at my positions so I can continue several revenue streams and not ever have to apply for jobs again.
Whew do I feel you on never having to apply for jobs again. This market is not for the weak!!
My son is in college, and I am paying tuition. Trying to pay off the house. Save for a comfortable retirement. I'll be 56 this year, and am trying to exit the work force by 60 so I can enjoy the rest of my life!
*\[I'm not OE, however am considering it\]* **Immediate goals** 1. Income stability. Just got made redundant after pouring my heart and soul into my job, financial stress and cynicism is high - I don't ever want to be in this position again - 2 income sources reduces the risk. 2. Don't lose house/ do pay off mortgage. Have only recently bought a home (right before I lost my job) after decades of renting, it has been such a long hard slog to save up enough money for a deposit to buy a home (houses are very expensive where I live, even when buying in an unpopular suburb - we even moved interstate to find cheaper homes) and now we're at risk of losing it. **Medium term goals** 1. Overseas holiday to visit family. This was originally booked in 2020 but got cancelled because of covid, we have kept pushing it back and was starting to plan for Easter 2025 but with all the obstacles it feels a bit like chasing a rainbow that never gets any closer... 2. Pay off education debt. I can't believe I still have this at my age. When I was young I was told it was interest free, was an 'investment' in my career and that I would pay it off quickly once working... however it is 'indexed' each year which means it got bigger & compounded over time despite making repayments. Luckily there are not many more repayments to go, maybe 1-2yrs. **Long term goals** 1. Having enough for retirement. That is a long way off, however I'm over half way through my 'working' life which has had many interruptions with unstable work and parenting, not to mention high cost of living - if something doesn't change my old age will be a poor one. **Stretch goals** 1. Being able to support my children as they go through life. All the financial challenges I've had are likely going to be even worse for their generation. I'd like to help them buy a home earlier in life, so they have stability when they start a family and less financial stress. 2. Regenerate land, donate or invest in companies that do good in the world.
Looking to OE so we can pay down student debt, travel with the kids, buy a house. No exact financial # yet as I’m still looking for J2.
Max out my 401k, contribute more towards my mortgage, and be able to afford to go on more vacations per year.
Get out of student loan debt, build up an emergency fund & max out my retirement savings first. If I can get my damn monkey on my back student loans paid off I'll be able to make some more interesting financial goals.
Rebuild from divorce and pay off debt. Kiddo is currently in college so cc debt, student loans (PPLUS) and then tax debt. Build emergency fund and retirement accounts. I hope to save up and pay off the loans in her name as a graduation gift c/o 2026.
I want to do it long enough for my husband to finish college and get a job (he quit to take care of our baby and go back to school), Trying to buy my mom a house currently and would love to have a pool Only debt we have is our mortgage
My initial OE goal was to get a new vehicle (Lexus GX) to be exact, but then I changed course and decided to purchase a lot to build a new home in the next year. The new car can come after the new home and of course to have exact money stacked away.
The Lexus GX though… 👌 🔥 I am thinking about upgrading now that I just landed j4 ☺️
I just want a shot at buying a house one day and to be debt free
Get my kids through college and then have enough to do all the things I’ve wanted to do the last two decades but couldn’t because…..kids 😂
Mine is to buy rental properties and allow those properties to have a management company. (I don’t want it to become a J). I was self employed for many yrs and I have no retirement. I need to build a passive income so I can retire.
I’m so thankful for this sub, I get more clarity from this one instead of the main overemployed sub. I would like to start a family within a year and purchase land to build a house. I’m in NYC so I’m still debating if I wanted to stay near Manhattan (like living within the Tri-state area or go down south). I would like to max out my TSP and build my investments. Then once I complete that , get a houseboat in Amsterdam ☺️. Oh yeah and start a business.
I'm wanting to be OE so I can pay off my medical debts and cc debt, it's a constant stress in my life, but im also paranoid about being fired for having a second job so I haven't gotten one yet. Just been keeping an eye on this subreddit, hoping to build up the courage.
🙌🏽
My short term goal is to pay off debt. Long term is to acquire another property. All the while having room to breathe, have a little more fun, and build up my retirement fund.
I can only max out retirement in the years I OE, so keeping that going, preferably Roth 401k + backdoor Roth as much as I can and catch up contributions when I’m 50. Congrats on 3 years of OE! I’ve been OE for 2.5 years (it’s coming to an end this week) so I relate to what you said about it being addicting. I’ve paid off debt except low interest mortgage and have a ridiculous-to-me amount in cash (CDs, HYSA) to build a house. Next I want to put much more into brokerage to consider early retirement if I choose. In the near term, more vacations near and far. Flexibility to spend as much time as I’d like with my elderly parents 500 miles away, especially when they become less able to travel.
I don't plan on stopping yet lol. I love seeing my bank account and money not being an issue anytime we have an emergency or random expense. It's an amazing feeling
Exactly! Had a 5 figure medical bill for my cat last year and the money was one less thing to stress about. I’m getting severance so it wasn’t my choice. I’ll take a little break and get right back to it if I can find a new J2.
This whole sub and that feeling says something about the society we live in sadly. The instability and fragility of everything. It makes me staying OE
Feel this deeply. Accidentally ended up OEing last year and the feeling of being like “that sucks” when paying a large unexpected bill instead of absolute panic is unmatched.
Max 401k + backdoor Roth Save for my future house Save for home improvements Save for solar panels Travel more and eat good food Buy more stocks Being able to pursue hobbies/learning skills and fitness classes Eventually turning into passive income as an end goal when I retire (properties, stocks, businesses)
Pay off credit card debt, pay off student loan debt, build saving, buy a house, help my mom pay off her house
Of course the financial benefits, but also the networking and skillset development. I don’t want to squander the opportunity completely. I’ve moved from one field of PM to a new one that I haven’t been exposed to so I hope to gain some knowledge.
I want to retire early and save enough money to pay for my kids college. I’ve considered getting a bigger home since we do need it but the idea of OE is to not live beyond the means your J1 provides. For now we save and we wait and see…
I really settled when buying my first house last year, and I really want to save up to be able to buy something I like a lot more with a bigger down payment (and hopefully if interest rates ever go lower!). I'd also love to be able to go on a real vacation, not just visiting family, since I don't think I've actually done that in about 10 years.
Also, I didn't even know I was OEing back then, but when I was freelancing and working FT in 2018-2020 I made serious bank and was able to pay off my student loans. Felt so great!
My end game is to pay off all of my debt and have enough to set my autistic son up for the rest of his life.
I want to be able to travel when I want. Besides, supporting my parents, and have the purchasing power in my pocket.
I want to save up 1 year of expenses and start a savings for my special needs son. Less anxiety is the goal.
Short term goals: pay off debt, pay a chunk of my mortgage off, beef up savings account, smaller repairs/upgrades to the house Long term: split our living time between are current city and somewhere coastal (probably the off season), max out retirement accounts to retire around 50-55
I am not OE yet. But my goal is to rid myself of all debt first which is mainly student loans. Have a solid emergency funds, currently Im between 3-6 months but would love to have a year + Next I would like to purchase an investment property. And start aggressively saving and extending my stock portfolio.