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.