Reddit Survey on Financial Independence.

Description

A reduced set of the official results of the 2020 FI Survey from Reddit (r/financialindependence). Only responses that represent the respondent (not other contributors in the household) are listed. Does not include retired individuals. As per instructed, respondents give dollar values in their native currency.

Usage

reddit_finance

Format

A data frame with 1998 rows and 65 variables.

num_incomes

How many individuals contribute to your household income?

pan_inc_chg

As a result of the pandemic, did your earned income increase, decrease, or remain the same?

pan_inc_chg_pct

By how much did your earned income change?

pan_exp_chg

As a result of the pandemic, did your expenses increase, decrease, or remain the same?

pan_exp_chg_pct

By how much did your expenses change?

pan_fi_chg

As a result of the pandemic, did your FI (financially independent) number...

pan_ret_date_chg

As a result of the pandemic, did your planned RE (retirement) date...

pan_financial_impact

Overall, how would you characterize the pandemic's impact on your finances?

political

With which political party do you most closely identify? You do not need to be registered with a party to select it, answer based on your personal views.

race_eth

What is your race/ethnicity? Select all that apply.

gender

What is your gender?

age

What is your age?

edu

What is the highest level of education you have completed?

rel_status

What is your relationship status?

children

Do you have children?

country

What country are you in?

fin_indy

Are you financially independent? Meaning you do not need to work for money, regardless of whether you work for money.

fin_indy_num

At what amount invested will you consider yourself Financially Independent? (What is your FI number?)

fin_indy_pct

What percent FI are you? (What percent of your FI number do you currently have?)

retire_invst_num

At what amount invested do you intend to retire? (What is your RE number)

tgt_sf_wthdrw_rt

What is your target safe withdrawal rate? (If your answer is 3.5%, enter it as 3.5)

max_retire_sup

How much annual income do you expect to have from the sources you selected in question T5 at the point where you are utilizing all of them (or a majority if you do not intend to use all at the same time)? Enter your answer as a dollar amount.

retire_exp

How much money (from your savings and other sources) do you intend to spend each year once you are retired? Enter your answer as a dollar amount.

whn_fin_indy_num

At what amount invested did you consider yourself Financially Independent? (AKA what was your "FI number")

fin_indy_lvl

Which of the following would you have considered yourself at the time you reached Financial Independence:

retire_age

At what age do you intend to retire?

stp_whn_fin_indy

Do you intend to stop working for money when you reach financial independence?

industry

Which of the following best describes the industry in which you currently or most recently work(ed)?

employer

Which of the following best describes your current or most recent employer?

role

Which of the following best describes your current or most recent job role?

ft_status

What is your current employment status? - Full Time

pt_status

What is your current employment status? - Part Time, Regular

gig_status

What is your current employment status? -Side Gig, Intermittent

ne_status

What is your current employment status? -Not Employed

edu_status

What is your current educational status?

housing

What is your current housing situation?

home_value

Primary residence value.

brokerage_accts_tax

Brokerage accounts (Taxable).

retirement_accts_tax

Retirement accounts (Tax Advantaged).

cash

Cash / cash equivalents (Savings, Checking, C.D.s, Money Market).

invst_accts

Dedicated Savings/Investment Accounts (Healthcare, Education).

spec_crypto

Speculation (Crypto, P2P Lending, Gold, etc.).

invst_prop_bus_own

investment properties / owned business(es).

other_val

Other assets.

student_loans

Outstanding student loans.

mortgage

Outstanding mortgage / HELOC.

auto_loan

Outstanding auto loans.

credit_personal_loan

Outstanding credit cards / personal loans.

medical_debt

Outstanding medical debt.

invst_prop_bus_own_debt

Debt from investment properties / owned business.

other_debt

Debt from other sources.

2020_gross_inc

What was your 2020 gross (pre-tax, pre-deductions) annual household income?

2020_housing_exp

Housing expenses(rent, mortgage, insurance, taxes, upkeep).

2020_utilities_exp

Utilities expenses(phone, internet, gas, electric, water, sewer).

2020_transp_exp

Transportation expenses(car payment, bus / subway tickets, gas, insurance, maintenance).

2020_necessities_exp

Necessities expenses(Groceries, Clothing, Personal Care, Household Supplies).

2020_lux_exp

Luxury expenses (Restaurants/Dining, Entertainment, Hobbies, Travel, Pets, Gifts).

2020_child_exp

Children expenses(child care, soccer team, etc.).

2020_debt_repay

Debt repayment (excluding mortgage/auto).

2020_invst_save

Investments / savings.

2020_charity

Charity / Tithing.

2020_healthcare_exp

Healthcare expenses(direct costs, co-pays, insurance you pay).

2020_taxes

Taxes (the sum of all taxes paid, including amounts deducted from paychecks).

2020_edu_exp

Education expenses.

2020_other_exp

Other expenses.

Source

Reddit Official 2020 FI Survey Results, https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/m1q8ia/official_2020_fi_survey_results.

Examples

library(ggplot2)

# Histogram of Expected Retirement Age.
ggplot(reddit_finance, aes(retire_age)) +
  geom_bar(na.rm = TRUE) +
  labs(
    title = "At what age do you expect to retire?",
    x = "Age Bracket",
    y = "Number of Respondents"
  )

# Histogram of Dollar Amount at Which FI was reached.
ggplot(reddit_finance, aes(whn_fin_indy_num)) +
  geom_histogram(na.rm = TRUE, bins = 20) +
  labs(
    title = "At what amount invested did you consider\nyourself Financially Independent?",
    x = "Dollar Amount (in local currency)",
    y = "Number of Respondents"
  )