4 Things That Helped Me Reach Financial Independence

Lately, I have been reading many stories about the journey of those who have reached FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early). It was no surprise many made very bold decisions that helped propel them to reach F.I. Without a combination of some Luck, lifestyle changes, persistence, and stories about their sacrifices, the outcomes reached would have clearly been much delayed or not reached at all.

It seems like common sense that if you do what the majority does, your outcomes will likely resemble the majority. Yet, many of us are susceptible to the hot trends, desire many of the same materialistic things, envy those who travel, etc, that sometimes conform us like the majority in many ways.

The practice to align your decisions with your goals in mind. To have unwavering focus that helps remove distractions. To maintain your mission forward when everything is falling around you. Having the courage to run into the burning building when others are escaping. It seems often these are the traits that will result a larger harvest in life.

4 Things That Helped Me Reach F.I. 

1. Burrito a day. The debt had me in survival mode. The debt was up above my head and the interest alone was drowning me further into debt daily. Life was tough back then after leaving my home to try to make it on my own. Having enough money for food was a struggle. I discovered a food truck that use to park near my home where they sold a burrito for $2. That burrito became my meal for the whole entire day. The routine was to skip breakfast and consume half a burrito for lunch. The other half was saved for dinner.

I lived like this mostly for almost 7-8 months. My weight dropped down between 120-130 pounds. Being 5’ 8” tall, that was probably the most weight I have lost. The experience had a profound impact on my life going forward. A deep sense of fear about my future sunk in deep and lit a fire underneath my ambition to succeed in life.

2. The 8 to 11. There were years when the business really began to take off. At times, it would get so busy, I could not hire employees fast enough to keep pace with the growth. My work hours expanded from 8AM to 11PM. My focus was on the business and nothing else.

“Owning a small business is the same as owning your job”

The business owned my life for the large part of running it. I have never missed one single day of work even when I was sick. Unfortunately, it really had a toll on my health. Yet, I have absolutely no regrets to the decisions I have made when I was young due to the priceless lessons I’ve learned from the experience.

3. Aggressive Saving. When you begin to earn more money, it becomes more challenging to keep control of your lifestyle from expanding. Money is a resource and the more you have the more options present themselves. Everything starts to look like they need an upgrade or a replacement. There is always something new and better.

There is also consolatory spending. The, “I deserve to buy something nice for myself” type of spending. This is what lead me to buy things I often realized later i can live without. I believe it is important to avoid spending on such things as much as possible. The key is to keep as much of your current earnings and invest them towards your future. For FIRE, this may take a while for many and taming that lifestyle inflation is a huge factor.

For me, it became a religion to save. My monthly business earnings fluctuated from negative thousands to upwards of up to $35,000. No matter what my earnings were, my monthly expense remained constant and within my budget. All free cash flow went straight into investment accounts. At times, I was saving upwards of up to 90% of my earnings. I still remember going to Mc Donalds late at night after work to grab something quick for dinner after earning around 35K in the month. I would swear to myself, that one day I will own multiple Mc Donalds franchise. Thinking back, I was quite ambitious when I was young. I still am but in different ways yet not as nearly as in my early 20’s.

4. Saying “No”. I decided to purchase a one way ticket to a specific destination in my life and I was determined to reach it. The beginnings of prioritizing your goals and taking your own words seriously, brought situations in life where I found myself having to say “No” more often.  The late night social events, the group vacations with friends, the recommendations from peers to buy that new car, etc. were met with countless “No’s”. I lived my life based on strict priorities and all decisions I made required to reflect them. Saying “No” never gets comfortable especially if it was towards family. Many will not understand and question why you rarely have the time. The price you pay for making poor decisions are paid at the expense of time.

Conclusion

It’s so inspiring to read the stories of others who have reached FIRE. Some as young as 28 to as old as 60, the stories are often so inspiring and littered with wisdom. It fascinates me how ones life circumstance can have such a pronounced influence and how it molds the character of the individual. Regardless of ones life circumstance, whats important is how you channel your energy. Be it anger, sadness, or frustration, it is how the individual converts that emotional energy intelligently that changes the outcome for the better or worse.

I’d love to hear your stories! Thank you for reading.

Note: I recently created a separate page with all the recommended sites and services that helped me reach FIRE in my life. Feel free to check them out if your interested in resources that may help reaching FIRE.