We are just beginning our journey to financial independence, but I can’t help but reflect on the years leading up to us getting serious about financial independence. The small lifestyle decisions that we have made over the past 9-10 years have allowed us to start with a goal that is within reach.
Our plan to reach FI is not to deprive ourselves to build up a nest egg so that we can relax later. And to be clear, our journey to financial independence is not about early retirement. We are not looking to not work or sit on a beach for 50-60 years. Instead, this journey is about lifestyle design, freedom, flexibility and security. We plan to take very intentional actions so that we can adjust our lifestyle along the way. Here’s a detailed look at what our plan currently looks like.
As part of our journey to Financial Independence (FI), we are looking to find ways to shorten the time to reach FI. To make that happen, we’re focusing on reducing our food expenses. It’s something that we’ve tried to accomplish a few times over the past 10 years, but we’ve never been that serious about it, and haven’t seen the results we wanted until recently.
I’ve been obsessing over and actively managing our personal finances for about nine years now. Despite all of time and energy put into learning about money through books, blogs, and conversations, it wasn’t until about three years ago that I realized the importance of our savings rate.
