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Len Penzo dot Com

The offbeat personal finance blog for responsible people.

How I Live on Less than $40,000 Annually: Kai from California

By Kai

Mt. Diablo is not far from Kai’s home, which he and his wife bought in 2013 via a short sale. Later on, he used a severance package to pay off the mortgage.

My name is Kai, and I live in Concord, California. I’m 41 years old and married, with two kids, an 11 year-old daughter and 10 year-old son.

Like Len, I’m an engineer by training; I also have an MBA. Today I’m primarily a stay at home parent, but I’m currently doing community non-profit work too. My wife works in marketing for a cosmetics company in San Francisco.

I was born and raised in Los Angeles, but moved to the San Francisco Bay Area after graduating to work for corporate America. I left the corporate world in 2014 when the older one was in first grade and younger one was in Pre-K. We made good money, but we were paying other people to raise our kids and teach them different values than ours.

Except for a very short period of my life, I’ve always been financially responsible. My wife and I both grew up very poor, which influenced our low-cost lifestyle. Thanks to that — and diligently saving — I consider ourselves to be financially independent, although my wife plans on working for another year or two. Or so she says.

My Expenses

I use a spreadsheet to manage my finances. The breakdown of my expenses is as follows:

We have a nice home, which we bought in 2013 via a short sale just after the market bottomed; I saw a deer and a bunny running outside this morning. Our home has 5 bedrooms and 3.5 baths in 3168 square feet. The property tax is currently $9375 per year. The short sale was a roller coaster experience; the offer was made around Mother’s Day but we didn’t close the transaction until early November.

While I was working, my salary paid the bills, while my wife’s went to the mortgage and extra payments. Eventually I got laid off, however — so I took advantage of my severance package to retire the loan.

We don’t drive too much. I have a 2007 Mazda5 with about 120,000 miles on it, and my wife drives a 2013 Honda Fit with 35,000 miles. We bought both of them new. Buying new cars is the one expense that I disagree with my wife on, but I refuse to fall on my sword for this.

For entertainment, I primarily focus on reading, staying active in the community, and playing Pokemon Go.

My Savings

Over the years, we have saved and saved and saved. The stock market has also been very kind during the past decade and our living expenses are very low. As a result, during that time we have been able to gradually accumulate about 50 times our annual expenses in pre- and post-tax retirement savings accounts.

Closing Thoughts

My son is a coin collector. We just looked at his coin collection this morning under a microscope. I was showing him steps from Montecello and the Lincoln Memorial. On one of his field trips I chaperoned this year, he found a silver mercury dime on the sidewalk from 1908. It’s his favorite coin.

When we go to the supermarket, he always looks at the Coinstar machines. Apparently, they don’t take pre 1965 quarters and dimes — instead they get shunted back to the change return. He’s found maybe five silver coins in the change return in the past year.

We were playing Pokemon Go last Sunday at the mall and he found over $5 in change from change returns. He was quite excited — the boy loves his coins!

***

If you’re like Kai — a household CEO who is successfully making ends meet on roughly $40,000 per year or less — then I’d love to hear from you! Contact me at Len@LenPenzo.com and be sure to put $40,000 in the subject line. If I publish your story, you’ll get a $25 gift card, or an American Silver Eagle!

Photo Credit: Oleg Alexandrov

12 Comments June 10, 2019

Comments

  1. 1

    RD Blakeslee says

    Hi Kai !

    You beat me – I wasn’t able to retire until age 44.

    Got a kick out of your son’s finding silver coins. I have one like that – honorable number 2 son (of three) who is infamous in the family for that ability. As for coin-operated machines refusing to accept silver? Programmed by the central bankers, of course!

    Congratulations! You have a fine life ahead of you; Not working for “the other man”.

    Reply
  2. 2

    Sheila says

    Very nice tip on the CoinStar machines. There is one at the grocery store where I shop. You can be sure I am going to be checking the coin return every time I go!

    Reply
    • 3

      Les Conyers says

      Great for you. However , I am thinking to myself this article cant be from the present time especially in California but I cant dispute you your spread sheet but if this now you know 2019 then I commend your financial genius. Keep it up. I dont think its a good idea to let your son take the left out coins from coin star as to it is a subtle form of thievery. This could lead to trouble in his adult life.

      Reply
      • 4

        Len Penzo says

        Yes, Les … I can assure you that this is indeed a contemporary story.

        (And you are the first person I have ever heard suggest that taking a dime or quarter that was left in a coin slot is “a subtle form of thievery.” That is quite a stretch, don’t you think? You may want to read this article: https://lenpenzo.com/blog/id1133-the-ethics-of-found-money-how-and-where-do-you-draw-the-line-2.html )

        Reply
  3. 5

    John in Utah says

    Congrats Kai. It always help to have that second income. Glad to see you used yours to retire debts and build savings instead of increasing your lifestyle to meet the higher income.

    Reply
  4. 6

    Sam I Am says

    Not easy living on 40 grand in Cali. but you’re doing it. Well done!

    Reply
  5. 7

    Don says

    Great job, Kai! Thank you for sharing your story. I always learn something from this series.

    Reply
  6. 8

    Neil says

    Well done.

    Question: how do you keep your cell phone bill, Internet, and health insurance so low?

    My budget is the same as yours but I cannot match those numbers.

    Reply
    • 9

      Gary Thorfinnson says

      There is no possible way today that you can get TV, internet and cell phone for 45.00 month and who’s the lucky person who has the one and only phone

      Reply
  7. 10

    Grant says

    Less than $40,000 in CALIFORNIA and San Francisco Bay Area no less?! Way to go Kai and spouse.

    We could do it if we sold one home to pay off the other but we enjoy the additional positive cash flow that the rental allows us to have.

    Reply
  8. 11

    Shell says

    I really don’t think finding a coin in a coin return qualifies as theft. Same thing for finding a coin on the ground. Do you really think the store or company looks around for the owner of a quarter or dime. Get real. You can do more damage to a kid by being obsessive about things like that.

    Reply

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