Getting ourselves into a better financial position is important. It’s equally important to focus on improving our current circumstances while we do it. It could take a few months or years to get us into a financial position to transition. We can actively focus on improving our current circumstances while designing lives we love.
There are so many things that we’ve learned in our second year of pursuing financial independence! One reason I love blogging is that it’s a great way to chronicle my own journey and mindset shifts. Writing also helps to solidify those mindset shifts for myself.
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.
My goal is to leverage my passion hustles to build our ideal lifestyle over time. Ultimately, I want to get to a place where when we actually hit our FI number, we don’t need to change anything. We will already be living our ideal life.
Spending is usually a response to some sort of trigger. Some triggers are helpful, and others are indicators that there’s something going on in our lives that needs to be addressed. When we address the underlying issue, curbing emotional spending becomes so much easier.
It is important to look beyond our actual salary to include other costs (monetary and time). Taking all of these things (such as commute time and costs, time spent detoxing, and convenience spending) into account allows us to calculate our true hourly wage.
