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Freedom from the Daily Grind Part 1

It was 2015. I had just started a role at a start-up, excited to finally be in a place where I could make a big impact. I had been hired by a VP I admired, and we were building a product that could genuinely improve people’s lives. Six months in, my boss changed and the whole situation felt different. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I realized what I was actually chasing wasn’t a bigger title or a better team — it was freedom. Freedom to do what I loved and live a fuller, richer life, without being dependent on a paycheck from the corporate world.

In my spare time — during my commute, after the kids went to bed — my focus turned to financial independence (FI). Here’s some of what I learned along the way, and how it shaped the strategy my husband and I still use today.

Rule One of FI: Spend Less Than You Make

This sounds obvious, doesn’t it? The more you save, the faster you reach FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). Yet a surprising number of people don’t actually do this. I read an article noting that more than 50% of Americans spend more than they earn, while many in the FIRE community reach financial independence by saving 75% of their income.

We weren’t willing to go that far — we still wanted to travel and enjoy life — but we consistently saved about 50% of our net income. Most of that came not from trimming our everyday paycheck spending, but from directing bonuses and RSUs almost entirely into savings and investments. In 2015 alone, with both of us working well-paying jobs, we grew our investment portfolio’s value by 15%, even after pulling out a chunk for a house down payment.

💡 Tip: If saving 50-75% of your income feels impossible right now, start by tracking where bonuses, tax refunds, and windfalls actually go. Redirecting just those “extra” dollars toward investments — before they blend into everyday spending — can meaningfully move the needle.

The Strategies That Got Us Here

Over the years, I kept learning and refining our approach. Here are the core strategies we used, and still use, to build toward financial independence.

1. Max Out Tax-Free Investment Options First

My husband and I have maxed out our 401(k)s since day one, and we still do. It just makes financial sense to capture every tax-free dollar available. Why? First, it grows tax-deferred. Second, in many cases your employer matches a portion of it — that’s free money.

I know the common objection: “But I can’t touch that money until I’m 59.5.” After digging deeper, I learned there are legitimate ways to access 401(k) and IRA funds before that age without paying the 10% early withdrawal penalty. There are also strategies for moving funds from a 401(k) to a Roth IRA with minimal tax impact, depending on your tax bracket. In short, retirement accounts are far more flexible than most people assume — through a Backdoor Roth, you may even access IRA funds with little to no tax owed. I’ll cover the specifics of this in a future post.

2. Always Keep a 6-12 Month Emergency Fund in Liquid Cash

This became critical for us. Two months after buying a house, my husband was laid off. Instead of panicking, he saw it as an opportunity to pivot toward his real passion: art. Because we’d already cut unnecessary costs, we covered our expenses on my income alone. Then, three months later, I was laid off too, when the start-up downsized 50% to extend its runway.

Over a six-month stretch, our household went from two incomes to zero, and then back to one as I transitioned into a bigger role at a tech company. It was genuinely scary, but our emergency fund meant we never had to make a desperate financial decision. That cushion is what turned a layoff into a launchpad rather than a crisis.

3. Make Your Money Work for You, Even While You Sleep

Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad introduced me to the idea of four types of people, and it reframed how I thought about work and wealth entirely.

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The Employee

Values job security and health benefits above risk. This was us right after our MBAs, when we were still building a financial base.

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The Self-Employed

Prioritizes freedom and independence. This is me today, with a financial cushion that lets me pursue what I love: animals, my kids’ school, travel, and helping others reach FI.

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The Business Owner & Investor

Wants money working around the clock. By 2008 I realized good income alone wouldn’t get us to retirement by 60 — the stock market would need to do the heavy lifting.

I started by picking individual stocks intermittently, whenever I had time. Eventually I automated investments into low-cost, broad-based index funds. A 2016 Morningstar study found that actively managed funds generally underperform passive ones, especially over longer time horizons, and often get merged or closed. My MBA finance professor said it plainly: you can’t beat the market. I found the same message in JL Collins’ Simple Path to Wealth stock series, and settled on Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index fund, VTI.

I’ll admit, I didn’t stick to pure dollar-cost averaging perfectly. I liked buying the dips and holding tech names like Amazon, Netflix, Apple, and Tesla. That approach worked well overall, though the market’s tumble from October to December 2018 tested my nerves. I held on, and the market recovered.

4. Streamline Your Investments

I had scattered holdings across individual stocks — Amazon, Google, Procter & Gamble, and more. When we needed to liquidate assets to buy a house in 2015, I used it as a chance to simplify, selling off consumer giants like P&G, Starbucks, Johnson & Johnson, and 3M, and consolidating into index funds. I’ve made mistakes along the way, but I keep coming back to the same principle: simple, passive, and consistent beats clever and complicated.

This Is Just the Beginning

These four strategies gave us the foundation to move from the daily grind toward real freedom. In Part 2, I’ll dig into the specifics of early retirement account access, home-buying trade-offs, and more.

Explore More on Simplifi by the Bay

Source: bestmoneymoves.com, “What Percentage of Americans Spend More Than They Earn?” (2018)

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Planning Health Care as an Early Retiree

If you’re planning to retire in your 30s or 40s, health insurance — not your portfolio — is usually the trickiest part of the plan to get right. Once you leave a job with employer-sponsored coverage, you’re responsible for finding your own insurance until Medicare kicks in at 65, and for most early retirees that means combining an ACA marketplace plan with deliberate income planning to qualify for subsidies. There’s no single “correct” setup, but there is a reliable framework you can use to build one that fits your situation.

The Reality: You’re Losing More Than a Paycheck

Employer-sponsored insurance is subsidized, pooled, and mostly invisible to you as an employee. You never see the full premium, you don’t shop for the plan yourself, and there’s an HR department to field questions when something goes wrong. When you leave that job for early retirement, all three of those things disappear at once. What replaces them is a menu of options you now have to research, compare, and manage every year — for as long as it takes to reach Medicare eligibility.

This is worth sitting with before you pull the trigger on early retirement. Health care isn’t a footnote in your FI plan; it’s often the second or third largest line item in your post-retirement budget, right behind housing.

Your Main Coverage Options

Most early retirees end up choosing among a handful of well-established paths. None is universally “best” — the right one depends on your health needs, your household income strategy, and how much research you’re willing to do each year.

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ACA Marketplace

Plans are grouped into Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum tiers. Silver is the only tier eligible for cost-sharing reductions that lower deductibles and copays.

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COBRA

Keeps your exact former employer plan, typically for up to 18 months, but you pay the full premium plus an admin fee. Convenient, rarely cheapest.

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Health Sharing Ministries

Members share each other’s medical costs, often at a lower monthly cost than ACA premiums. Not insurance, and sharing requests can be denied at the ministry’s discretion.

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Spousal or Part-Time Coverage

One partner keeps a job — or picks up a “barista FI” role — specifically for the benefits. Not glamorous, but predictable and simple.

For most FI households, the ACA marketplace ends up being the default landing spot, since it’s available everywhere, doesn’t require a job, and works with subsidy planning in a way the other options don’t.

💡 Tip: If you choose a Bronze-tier ACA plan, check whether it’s HSA-eligible. Many Bronze plans qualify as high-deductible health plans, which means you can open and contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA). HSA contributions are pre-tax (or tax-deductible), grow tax-free, and can be withdrawn tax-free for qualified medical expenses — and after age 65, for any purpose without penalty (though non-medical withdrawals are taxed as income). For early retirees managing a long health care runway, an HSA can function as a second retirement account: a place to stack tax-advantaged investment growth while you’re also lowering your taxable premium costs.

Budgeting Health Care as a Real Expense

Before you leave your job, build health care into your retirement number as its own category, not an afterthought folded into “miscellaneous.” A realistic budget accounts for:

  • Monthly premiums after any subsidy
  • Annual deductible and likely out-of-pocket costs
  • Prescription costs, especially for ongoing medications
  • Dental and vision, which are usually separate from medical plans
  • A buffer for unexpected procedures or a bad health year
  • HSA contributions, if you’re on an eligible Bronze or other high-deductible plan

Premiums and plan availability also vary a lot by state and county, so if you’re planning a geographic move as part of your retirement, check marketplace options in your target location before you finalize the decision. A plan that looks affordable in one metro area can look very different a few counties over.

💡 Tip: Run your health care budget at full, unsubsidized premium cost as a stress test. If your plan still works without assuming a subsidy, you have real margin for error.

Managing Income to Qualify for Subsidies

This is where retirement math and health insurance strategy intersect in a powerful way. ACA subsidies are based on your household’s Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI), not your net worth. Someone with a seven-figure portfolio but modest reported taxable income can still qualify for substantial premium assistance — which is exactly the position many early retirees find themselves in.

Strategies early retirees commonly use to manage MAGI include:

  • Drawing from taxable brokerage accounts using long-term capital gains, which are taxed favorably and only count as income when realized
  • Living partly off principal (which isn’t taxable income) rather than only dividends and interest
  • Timing Roth conversions carefully, since converted amounts do count toward MAGI
  • Harvesting capital losses in down years to offset gains
  • Being mindful of the income cliffs where subsidy amounts change

Because subsidy rules and thresholds shift periodically, treat this as a category to review annually with current numbers rather than a one-time setup. What worked the year you left your job may need adjusting three years later.

Edge Cases Worth Planning For

If you have a chronic condition, weigh network access and drug formularies more heavily than premium cost alone — the cheapest plan on paper isn’t a bargain if your specialist isn’t in network. If you’re self-employed post-retirement with real business income, that income counts toward MAGI too, so don’t assume “not a paycheck” means “doesn’t count.” And if your state expanded Medicaid, a very low reported income could shift you into Medicaid eligibility rather than marketplace subsidies — worth understanding in advance, not after enrollment, since some providers don’t accept Medicaid.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I switch plans mid-year if my income changes?

Generally no, outside of open enrollment or a qualifying life event. This is why estimating your MAGI carefully at the start of the year matters — you’re often locked into your plan choice and subsidy estimate for months at a time.

What happens to my coverage strategy at 65?

Medicare eligibility begins at 65, which effectively caps how many years you need to manage marketplace coverage. It’s worth mapping out that full bridge period — from your retirement date to 65 — as one continuous planning window rather than year by year in isolation.

Is a health-sharing ministry ever a good primary option?

It can work for healthy households comfortable with the risk that a sharing request might be denied. It’s a poor fit if you have a pre-existing condition or want guaranteed coverage.

Bringing It Together

Health care for early retirees isn’t a solved problem so much as a manageable one. Understand your coverage options, budget for the real cost including a buffer, consider whether a Bronze plan paired with an HSA fits your situation, and treat income management as an active, ongoing part of your financial plan rather than a one-time decision made the year you leave your job.

Planning Your Early Retirement Health Care Strategy?

Explore more guides on building a resilient post-FI budget at SimpliFI By The Bay.

Visit SimpliFI By The Bay

This article is general informational content, not individualized insurance, tax, or medical advice. Consult a licensed insurance broker or tax professional for guidance specific to your situation.

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Crossing the Emotional Chasm: Who Are You After the Paycheck Stops?

Direct Answer: Yes, the Identity Loss Is Real — and It’s Solvable

If you’ve hit financial independence or retired early and suddenly feel unmoored, you are not broken and you are not ungrateful. The discomfort you’re feeling is a predictable psychological response to losing a role that organized your time, your self-worth, and your social standing all at once. The paycheck was never just money — it was proof of usefulness. Crossing that chasm means consciously rebuilding an identity that isn’t borrowed from a job title, and that process takes months or years, not a weekend of journaling. The good news: it is a knowable, navigable transition, and understanding its shape makes it far less frightening.

Why Your Job Became Your Identity (And Why That’s Not a Flaw)

For decades, work answers a question nobody asks out loud: “What are you here for?” A title gives you a script for small talk, a hierarchy that tells you where you stand, and a calendar that decides your mornings for you. None of that is shallow — it’s efficient. Your brain outsourced a huge chunk of identity-maintenance to your employer, and it did so quietly, over years, so you rarely noticed the trade until the trade ended.

When the paycheck stops, that outsourced structure disappears overnight, but the need it satisfied doesn’t. That mismatch — a need still present, a system for meeting it suddenly gone — is the emotional chasm. It’s not weakness that makes this hard; it’s the fact that you built a genuinely functional identity scaffold and now have to build a new one from scratch, on purpose, for the first time since childhood.

The Discomfort of Unstructured Time

Early retirees often describe the first few months as strangely exhausting, even though they’re “doing nothing.” Unstructured time isn’t restful when you have no practiced way of choosing what fills it. Every hour becomes a small decision, and decision fatigue from freedom is a real, under discussed cost of leaving work. Some days feel like a vacation. Others feel like standing in an empty room, waiting for someone to hand you an agenda that never comes.

This is where a lot of people panic and either rush back into paid work or over schedule themselves with hobbies and volunteer commitments just to feel busy again. Busyness can numb the discomfort temporarily, but it doesn’t resolve it — it postpones the deeper question of who you are when no one is measuring your output.

Self-Exploration Is a Practice, Not a Weekend Project

Figuring out who you are after work is less like solving a puzzle and more like tending a garden — it requires repeated, patient attention rather than one decisive insight. Useful questions to sit with over weeks, not minutes: What did I actually enjoy about work, separate from the paycheck and the praise? Whose respect was I really chasing? What did I used to do before I “needed” to be productive to feel okay resting?

💡 Tip: Keep a short, low-pressure log for a month — just a line or two each evening about what gave you energy versus what drained it. Patterns emerge faster on paper than in memory.

Expect false starts. You might try three “next chapters” before one sticks, and that’s not failure — it’s the actual method. Identity after work is discovered through experimentation, not decided through analysis alone.

From Filling Time to Building a Life You Love

There’s a meaningful difference between a calendar that’s full and a life that feels like yours. Filling time treats the chasm as a scheduling problem. Building a life treats it as a values problem — and it produces a very different result.

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Start with Values, Not Activities

Ask what mattered about your best work days — mastery, connection, contribution — before choosing what to do next.

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Rebuild Structure Deliberately

Choose a loose rhythm — not a rigid schedule — so days have shape without recreating the job you left.

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Let Identity Lag Behind Action

You won’t feel like “a writer” or “a mentor” before you act like one repeatedly. Identity follows behavior, not the reverse.

Edge Cases: When the Chasm Looks Different

The transition isn’t identical for everyone:

  • Coasting or semi-retirement: You keep some income but still lose the full-time identity anchor — the discomfort can be subtler but just as real.
  • One spouse retires before the other: Mismatched daily rhythms can create friction; naming the identity shift openly helps more than logistics-only conversations.
  • Retiring from a high-status career: The steeper the external identity, the longer the internal rebuild tends to take — this is common, not a personal failing.
  • Involuntary exits (layoff, health): Grief and identity work happen simultaneously, so extra patience with yourself is warranted.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does this identity transition usually take? There’s no fixed timeline, but many people report the sharpest discomfort easing within the first year, with fuller integration taking two or three.

Is it normal to miss work itself, not just the money? Yes — missing colleagues, problem-solving, and progress markers is common and doesn’t mean you made the wrong choice.

Should I go back to work if this feels too hard? Sometimes part-time or project work genuinely helps; the key is choosing it from curiosity, not fear of the discomfort itself.

Your Next Step

Give yourself permission to treat this as a real project — one worth your patience, your curiosity, and honest reflection, not just a checklist of hobbies to try.

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The costs I cut out to get to Financial Independence

Before I discovered F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early), I never thought much about money except once a year when I spent time writing a budget that I had no intention of adhering to. As my SO and I both had good careers, we did not track our expenses. We were more interested in raising our incomes. Luckily we were naturally frugal which helped us save.

Once I discovered FI, I wanted to speed up that journey, so I started to look at the fat in our expenses and started to trim away. I didn’t think we overspent but still we found there were a lot of things that could be cut.

Continue reading “The costs I cut out to get to Financial Independence”

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Will sticking to a 4% withdrawal rate ensure your money outlasts you

Most people who embark on the path to F.I.R.E (financial independence, retire early) determine the amount on money they will need for life through principals of The Trinity Study. But does this really work? I wanted to study the impact of downturns, how long it takes to recover from one and if you stick to the 4% rule, does it work?

 

Continue reading “Will sticking to a 4% withdrawal rate ensure your money outlasts you”

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2019, the year I made more staying home than I made working

Yes — in 2019, our household’s net worth grew faster from index investing than it ever did from my paycheck, even though I spent the entire year at home instead of working a traditional job. It sounds counterintuitive, but it’s the direct result of compounding returns, a market that climbed 28%, and a deliberate decision to prioritize time over a second income. Here’s what that year actually looked like, the numbers behind it, and what I’d tell anyone considering the same leap.

2019, a year of 28% growth in the stock market

It’s been a little more than a year since I stepped away from full-time work, so this is my honest reflection on how the first full year at home actually went — financially, personally, and everywhere in between.

A Year of Firsts: What Life Without a 9-to-5 Looked Like

Leaving a traditional job opened up space for experiences I had genuinely missed while working. Some firsts were small and physical; others reshaped how I think about time.

  • Sleep, finally. I used to be up at 5:30–5:45am. Now I sleep until 6:45am, with enough breathing room afterward to catch up on Netflix before getting the kids to school.
  • 100% parenting. I experienced full-time parenting for the first time in my life. I loved parts of it and, honestly, I’m willing to let go of others. It was something I needed to try, since I felt I’d missed out on it while working.
  • New destinations. We traveled to places that had been on our list for years — Costa Rica, Hawaii, Yosemite, and San Diego — and we’re hoping to keep that momentum going in 2020.
  • A new side hustle. I started my own dog boarding and dog walking business, which took off faster and better than I ever expected.
  • Started this blog. I haven’t always been disciplined about publishing, but writing has been fulfilling and challenging in ways I didn’t anticipate.

The Numbers: How We Grew Net Worth Without a Paycheck

This is the part people usually ask about first: how do you grow wealth while not working? For us, it came down to three things — decluttering for cash, capturing free money through sign-up bonuses, and letting index investing do the heavy lifting.

Income Source 2019 Result
Selling excess toys and household items $1,637
Sign-up bonuses, credit card referrals, etc. $2,762
Household net worth growth vs. 2018 Up 28%

Neither of us held a traditional full-time job all year, yet our net worth reached a new high — up 28% compared to 2018. That’s the power of compounding and index investing at work, not a fluke. We also spent double what we did in 2018 on travel — proof that stepping back from work didn’t mean stepping back from living.

The Struggles Behind the Scenes

It wasn’t all wins. A year at home surfaced some real friction points worth naming honestly, because glossing over them wouldn’t be useful to anyone considering this path.

Routines are harder to build than I expected. I wanted a morning routine with meditation, exercise, a gratitude journal, and a plan for the day, but I struggled to stick with it. Hearing James Clear discuss Atomic Habits on the ChooseFI podcast — his idea of improving 1% every day and letting it compound over the long run — pushed me to start an exercise routine in 2020 that I’m actually enjoying so far.

I waffled on going back to work. After a lot of reflection, I recognized that I need a job for a sense of security. I worry the market is due for a downturn, and I’d like capital ready to invest if that happens — a job would help with that. I also miss the feeling of achievement and the social camaraderie of a workplace.

Healthcare costs changed my math. As my parents have aged, medical bills have started coming in, and I’ve realized I need a lump sum set aside for emergency health expenses. Combined with a few other rising costs, this made me realize I had underestimated my FI number.

Lessons for Anyone Considering a Year at Home

If you’re weighing a similar step back from full-time work, here’s a practical checklist based on what we learned:

  • ✅ Build a cushion beyond the standard 25x rule. We’re now targeting a 30x multiple of annual expenses instead of 25x, to cover kids’ college costs, 2–3 used cars over a lifetime, weddings, and healthcare.
  • ✅ Budget for a health emergency fund. Aging parents and rising medical costs can appear with little warning — plan a dedicated lump sum for this.
  • ✅ Expect the “should I go back to work” question to resurface. Wanting security, achievement, or social connection doesn’t mean you failed at stepping back — it means you’re being honest with yourself.
  • ✅ Start small habits before you expect big discipline. A full daily routine (meditation, journaling, exercise, planning) is a lot to adopt at once. Improving 1% at a time is more sustainable.
  • ✅ Look for low-effort income streams. Decluttering and credit card sign-up bonuses added over $4,000 in “free money” for us in a single year.
  • ✅ Consider a side hustle tied to something you enjoy. Our dog boarding and walking business grew faster than expected because it fit naturally into our new schedule.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it really possible to grow your net worth without working?

Yes, if your investments are already positioned to compound — for us, index investing did the heavy lifting during a year the market rose 28%. This isn’t guaranteed every year, but it illustrates how a strong FI foundation can outperform active income in a good market year.

Do you regret leaving traditional work?

Not exactly, but I’ve realized I still crave the security, achievement, and camaraderie a job provides. That’s why 2020 planning includes revisiting whether some form of work belongs in the picture.

What would you change about your FI number in hindsight?

I’d build in more cushion from the start. Moving from a 25x to a 30x expense multiple accounts for healthcare, aging parents, college costs, and other expenses that are easy to underestimate early on.

Looking Ahead to 2020

As I move into 2020, I’m hoping to spend more time on my health, reading, and personal growth. I want to catch some live concerts — Billie Eilish, Maroon 5, and others on the list. I’m also hoping to visit Portugal and take some scouting trips to Ventura, California, Austin, and Portland to explore whether geographic arbitrage makes sense for our family.

Curious How the Numbers Actually Work?

See the exact strategies behind our early retirement math and how compounding made this year possible.

Read the Strategies

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Should I pay down my mortgage or invest in the stock market?

Disclaimer: I am not a Financial Advisor. These are just my opinions. Before making any big financial decisions, please discuss it with a financial professional.

Should I pay down my mortgage or invest in the stock market. This is a question I have often thought about so thought I’d write about it. There’s definitely no one right way, it really depends on what’s more important to you and what makes you feel better. Let’s look at it both ways and I will share what I would do. Continue reading “Should I pay down my mortgage or invest in the stock market?”

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Freedom from the Daily Grind – Part 2

How We Cut Costs to Reach Financial Independence Faster

In Part 1 of this series, I shared how we grew our income and invested aggressively to build wealth. But growing the top line is only half the equation. To reach Financial Independence (FI) faster, you also need to shrink your expenses — and that’s exactly what this post is about.

Here’s the direct answer: cutting costs works because it attacks your FI number from two directions at once. Lower expenses mean you need a smaller nest egg, since your FI target is typically 25–30 times your annual spending. And lower spending means you can live comfortably on that smaller nest egg for the rest of your life. Financial independence isn’t about being rich — it’s about knowing exactly how much is “enough” for your family and building your life around that number.

Below is exactly how we slashed our budget, category by category, without giving up the things that mattered most to us.

Start With a Budget You’ll Actually Use

I spent 13+ years managing multi-million dollar brand P&Ls, so building a household budget came naturally to me. I sat down, listed every single expense, and started cutting the ones that didn’t align with our priorities.

To stay honest, I track everything through Personal Capital, a free tool that pulls together income, expenses, investments, and net worth into one dashboard. It also lets me run future net worth projections, so I can see in real time how today’s spending decisions affect our FI timeline.

Tackle the Big Costs First: Childcare and Insurance

Childcare

After our mortgage, daycare was our single biggest expense. With two kids under age five, we were paying over $3,000 a month. Since both of us earned well above that amount, quitting a job to stay home didn’t make financial sense. Instead, we toured several home daycares and negotiated our costs down to $2,300 a month — still significant, but meaningfully lower.

Everything shifted when my husband transitioned to pursuing art full-time. He took over childcare and we moved to half-day public preschool, which cut our costs dramatically. Now that both kids are in school, that expense is largely behind us — though our property tax still runs about $1,000 a month.

Insurance

Next, I shopped around for cheaper life, home, car, and earthquake insurance. Even after negotiating, insurance still eats up about 12% of our budget — but it used to be higher. I’d recommend re-shopping your policies once a year, since insurers tend to quietly raise premiums once they know you’re a loyal customer.

Cut the Cost of Utilities

Utilities are one of the easiest places to find recurring monthly savings, and small cuts here compound over years. Here’s what worked for us:

  • Cut the cord on cable, saving between $150–$200 a month
  • Switched internet providers from Comcast to a local provider, dropping our bill from $90 to $50 a month
  • Negotiated our cell phone bill, then switched to Google Fi, bringing a two-person plan down to roughly $45–55 a month, compared to $80 before
💡 Tip: Set a calendar reminder every 12 months to re-shop your internet, cell, and insurance bills. Providers rarely offer their best rates automatically — you usually have to ask.
Expense Before After
Daycare (2 kids) $3,000+/month $2,300/month
Internet $90/month $50/month
Cell phone (2 lines) $80/month $45–55/month
Cable $150–200/month $0

Small Changes That Added Up

Beyond the big-ticket items, plenty of low-hanging fruit made a real difference:

  • Started packing lunch for the first time in 14 years of working — often a Trader Joe’s salad for $5 instead of $9–20 for takeout
  • Cut eating out from several times a week down to 1–2 times a week
  • Reduced weekly movie outings, which naturally faded once our “little miracle monkeys” arrived and we simply preferred time at home with them.

Looking back, we wish we’d applied this same discipline back when we were DINKs (Double Income, No Kids) — we could have reached FI even sooner.

Keep What Brings You Joy, Even If It Costs More

Cutting costs doesn’t mean cutting everything. Travel is a big expense for us, but it’s also a core source of happiness, so we’ve deliberately kept it in the budget — and plan to do more of it, not less. We’ve visited Thailand, India, Bali, and Mexico, and have Hawaii and Costa Rica on the calendar. To manage the cost, I collect credit card reward points and travel-hack whenever possible.

The lesson here: FI isn’t about deprivation. It’s about identifying what truly matters to you, funding that generously, and ruthlessly trimming everything else.

Harvest Capital Losses Up to $3,000 a Year

Tax-loss harvesting is an often-overlooked way to reduce your tax bill. You can deduct up to $3,000 in capital losses each year, and any excess losses carry forward to future years indefinitely. For a deeper technical explanation, Madfientist has an excellent write-up on tax-loss harvesting that covers the mechanics far better than I can here.

Track Your Net Worth Religiously

As Peter Drucker famously said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Whatever you consistently track tends to grow. I track our net worth through Personal Capital, since it gives me a single view of savings, investments, credit cards, real estate, budgeting, and retirement projections — all in one place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to cut every discretionary expense to reach FI?
No. The goal is intentional spending, not deprivation. Keep the categories that genuinely bring you joy (for us, that’s travel) and cut aggressively everywhere else.

How often should I review my budget and bills?
At minimum, once a year — especially insurance, internet, and cell phone plans, which tend to creep upward if left unchecked.

Does cutting costs really change my FI timeline?
Yes, significantly. Because your FI number is a multiple of annual spending, every dollar you permanently cut from your budget lowers both the number you need to hit and the time it takes to get there.

Ready to Build Your Own FI Roadmap?

Read Part 1 of this series to see how we grew our income alongside cutting costs.

Read Part 1

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Traveling to Hawaii for under $200

So I introduced the blog as one about personal finance, personal development and travel but haven’t really talked about travel. I LOVE TRAVEL! The bug hit me early, as I all but grew up on my dad’s ship. His first career was that of a merchant navy sea captain. My first voyage was when I was 6 months old and I celebrated my first birthday in Australia! This also drove my love for the water and the need to always live near the beach.

Unfortunately we haven’t been able to travel as much, as I had a full time job till December. But now that I am free at 41, it’s time to make up for lost time and burn those miles. In April, we are going to Hawaii for a week! Aloha Maui, here we come!

But now that we make less than the average household in America, how do you fund travel?

Continue reading “Traveling to Hawaii for under $200”