I would define my twenties as just being completely
financially illiterate.
I had this focus on making more money.
I thought that more money would solve all of my
problems, and I didn't really think much about
money management.
So I was living in New York City.
I was probably spending about 2 to $3000 a month
just going out and partying.
I really wasn't paying attention until I
discovered the FIRE movement at about 28 years
old.
I would say I had a typical workaholic
schedule, because I was so focused on my income
because I thought that was the only thing that
was important. When it comes to money, I was
focused on my career, focused on climbing the
ladder.
My initial goal was to get out of debt.
I don't think I had the ambitions of retiring
early and using everything I was learning
for that. I just didn't really know what the
future held.
I just knew that I wanted to get out of debt.
When I discovered the FIRE movement, it felt
like this refreshing punch in the face.
Because what I realized is the opportunity around
money and creating options for myself.
When I really started to make a change was when I
had this desire to walk the Camino in Spain.
I found myself in my late twenties.
I had no man, no kids, and I just felt like I had
the kind of freedom that people dream of.
And I was wasting this opportunity.
But I had this issue of being $30 grand in debt
and needing to kind of clean up my finances to
enable me to go on that trip.
So that's when I really started to do some
digging. I had been targeting a 60% savings
rate some months.
I would hit it, other months I wouldn't hit it.
But on average, over the course of a year, I was
really shooting for that 60% savings rate.
It took me about 11 months to get out of debt.
I really started the process in I think it was
September of 2015, and I actually know the exact
date was August 16th of 2016 is when I got out of
debt. I was in an apartment, I was tied to a
lease, so I couldn't really do anything about
my housing at the moment.
I didn't have a car.
I was using public transportation and I was
really optimizing as best I could in that area.
So really what I focused on was food and not going
out so much. I started cooking every meal that I
ate, started bringing lunch to work every day.
The way I was able to do this without it feeling
like such a lifestyle shock or deprivation is
that I replaced the gratification I was
getting from going out with my friends, with
creativity in other ways, to spend time with my
friends. So I would host these elaborate dinner
parties or I would host clothing exchanges with my
friends. So not only was I able to reduce my
expenses, I think there was a lot of personal
development that went along with it and a change
in mindset around money that helped the process
feel a lot more fun and rewarding.
I had achieved this goal of walking the Camino and
after getting out of debt and achieving this high
savings rate and I really had this plan laid out to
reach financial independence by 40 years
old. And that's when I would quit working my W2
job. And after nine years with my last employer, the
dynamic simply changed.
In my last year there I ended up getting a new
boss. This new boss was holding me to a much
higher standard than my male colleagues, and I was
the only female on the team.
And what I realized is that I need to start
letting my money protect me.
But once it became clear that they no longer valued
me, I decided to leave.
When I was making this decision to leave my job,
I realized that I was CoastFi.
So what that meant was that I had enough in my
retirement vehicles that it would grow through the
power of compound interest to what I need
for traditional retirement without
contributing one more dollar to it.
Essentially, all I need to do is meet my monthly
and yearly expenses.
I really don't need to save anymore.
It's almost like I frontloaded my retirement
savings and once I hit CoastFi status I don't
need to worry about traditional retirement
anymore. And so I moved from New York City to
Cincinnati, much lower cost of living.
I had a friend.
I knew her for about five years in New York City,
and she moved back to Cincinnati, which is where
she went to college.
And I visited her like three times in 2016 and I
just liked it. So I went from paying $1800 a month
for a cockroach infested apartment in Brooklyn to
paying now a $600 mortgage in like the
nicest place I've ever lived.
I'm spending about $2000 a month, so I went from
not having much to about six years later, having
about $300,000 in my investments.
And that was really driven by prioritizing my
retirement vehicles.
So I was fully funding my 41k, I was fully funding
my Roth IRA and I was fully funding my HSA,
which amounted to just about 29,000 a year.
And then any surplus I was putting in after tax
brokerage. Since quitting my job
last year. What my days look like now, it's very
different every day. The main way I bring an income
is I'm a podcaster, so I host a show called Optimal
Finance Daily, where I am reading articles from
personal finance bloggers every single day of the
week in about 10 minutes or less.
That plus another Daily Show I do where I'm
actually reading horoscopes, brings in
about $3000 a month.
It's about an hour and a half of work every day,
but I do batch recording, so I kind of will record a
bunch in one day.
And I think that's another real benefit to
pursuing financial independence and having
this kind of bandwidth of money is that it enabled
me to take a big risk on creating something I
really wanted to see in the world without any real
pressure for it to provide for my livelihood.
There are moments that I miss my six figure salary.
When I had such a big savings rate of 60%, I
didn't really have to worry so much.
If like a big expense came out of nowhere, my
savings rate would just be less that month.
It's the feast and famine of self-employment and
entrepreneurship. I think most people that pursue
FI, it's not so much about quitting work.
Most of us like work in some capacity.
We want to feel useful.
We want to contribute to the world.
I think pursuing FI is much more about separating
your finances from your work and not having to be
dependent on your work for your livelihood.
I have really embraced the uncertainty around my
future path. I'm still pursuing FI.
I'm still saving money because I'm still living
below my means and I will reach FI eventually.
Maybe I'll still reach it at 40.
Maybe I'll reach it after 40.