Category: Financial Independence Blog

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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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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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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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The Awakening: Embarking on the Financial Independence Journey through the 4% Rule

After working for 2 multinational corporates and then for a start-up, I finally acknowledged to myself that I didn’t like big or small companies. Both types were rampant with politics and the constant high stress levels left me feeling depleted and unfulfilled. So I started to search the internet for how to retire early. By this time I had missed my 35 year mark. It was 2014 and I was 38. The first article I came across was Jeremy’s story on Go Curry Cracker and I found it so inspiring, I started following them and digging into the whole concept around FIRE, Financially Independent Retire Early. It was like I had finally found my peeps, everything I had been thinking about was right there in front of me! I started reading Early Retirement Extreme and learned about how Jacob lived on $7000/year living in the Bay Area! Whew, I really wish I could do that but that’s closer to my monthly cost so I am never getting there. Then I discovered Brandon’s site, MadFientist (my favorite) which pointed me to Mr. Money Mustache and JL Collins Stock Series which led to me to reading, “Your Money or your life” by Joseph Dominguez. I realized that every minute I spent working was taking me away from doing the things I love. Continue reading “The Awakening: Embarking on the Financial Independence Journey through the 4% Rule”