Tag: JL Collins

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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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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”

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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”

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Welcome to SimpliFI By The Bay!

Simplifying Life to achieve Financial Independence and Retire Early by the Bay

My husband and I and two kids live in the Bay Area. Both of us have left well paying, traditional jobs in our early forties and have retired to do things we are more passionate about. For my husband, that is about creating and teaching art and for me, it is about writing this personal finance blog to learn and share strategies to achieve Financial independence, Retire Early (FIRE)! Read about how we are redefining for ourselves what success means, simplifying our everyday, traveling and living by the rules we create rather than those of societies’. This is about our experiment with FIRE or semi FIRE! While geographic arbitrage can enable us to live comfortably in other parts of the US, we want to live by the Bay and so we are trying to create our own income streams to enable our dreams to come true. Come with us on this journey to see if and how we can make this happen!