Category: Early Retirement

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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.

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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?

 

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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

The first part of this blog post was all about growing the top line. My focus till 2014 had always been about how to maximize the topline and investing regularly. But to get to a great Net Worth, you need to cut costs too. The value of this is two fold. It reduces your expenses so you can live on less.  The amount you will need to get to Financial Independence lower since your annual cost is lower, its 25-30X multiple is lower too, and hopefully you can get there sooner. A lot of people think if you are financially independent, it means you are rich but that’s far from the truth. What it really means is you have enough. You have found ways to really cut your expenses and focus on your priorities, so you don’t need as much. And that’s exactly what we did.

Slash Costs and create a budget                                                                                        

Continue reading “Freedom from the Daily Grind – Part 2”

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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?

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What’s Your True North

Till this point in my life, I have been following the herd! But what now? This new life is unscripted and I am trying to find my own path forward. While that sounds really romantic, it is pretty tough and there are times, I lose it. I am definitely struggling with the change in identity and figuring out my true north, my true purpose. While our jobs are definitely not our self worth, we are so entangled in them, it gets hard to let go. And when I lose sight of what’s really important, going from making a 6 figure job to making less than what I made in my first job makes me feel like a failure. But there are many definitions of success. Ultimately I want a life I can feel good about on my death bed and that definitely doesn’t involve working long hours in an office.

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A year in review: 2018, the year we hit F.I.R.E.

In 2018, we reached financial independence in spite of the craziness of the market in the last quarter. We also both stopped working in corporate America. 

Our Net Worth rose +7% and we hit F.I.R.E. 

And while 7% growth is kind of low, the market corrected between October and December.. ughhh 😔. At the end of September, our net worth was tracking up +15%! But that’s the market, there are ups and downs and you need to be in it for the long term. And 7% is definitely nothing to sneeze about.

We got serious about this journey June 2015 and in 3.5 years we were there. When I first calculated that number, I never thought it possible but real estate made it possible! We are free!!!! Free to pursue the things we enjoy. 

https://gph.is/2zNGbFq

So how did we do? After all this is a financial independence site. Most of the growth in our net worth in 2018 came from our real estate investments and cash in flows, bonus and RSUs. If you want to read how we got to F.I.R.E. and the strategies we used, read the post, Freedom from the daily grind.

Continue reading “A year in review: 2018, the year we hit F.I.R.E.”

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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, who I admired, and we were creating a product that could make a real difference in people’s lives. Six months in, my boss changed and the situation didn’t feel the same anymore. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I came to the realization that what I was looking for was freedom, freedom to do what I loved and live a fuller, richer life, not be dependent on a paycheck from the corporate world. In my spare time during my commute and after the kids went to bed, my focus turned to financial independence. Here is some of what I learned. 

The first rule of FI is spend less than you make.

The more you save, the faster you will get to FIRE, duhhh! And you would think most people spend less than they make but I read a recent article that talked about 50%+ of Americans spending more than they make.* A lot of the FIRE community reached FI by saving 75% of their income.  We weren’t willing to save as much …… Continue reading “Freedom from the Daily Grind Part 1”