Author: Latestarterfire

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Late Starter to FI Series #38 – Ditching Debt On The Way To FIRE

Business woman try hard to hold on the cliff with debt burden. Business concept

Welcome to the Late Starter to FI series!

I am a Late Starter – I did not discover FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) concept until I was 47. This was way later, I thought than others who seem to have it all together in their 20s and 30s.

Since I started to write about my own journey, I have discovered there are many more Late Starters like me, yay! It is such a relief knowing I am not alone. 

I want to share our stories, our unique perspectives and show that it is absolutely not too late for us.

So in this series, I particularly highlight those of us who start our FI journeys in our 40s, 50s and 60s. And explore questions such as ‘where do we start’, ‘can we still retire early(ish)’, ‘what are the specific challenges for us late starters’. We look at our past, not to castigate ourselves but so that you can learn from us.

Please join in the conversation in the comments below. I encourage you to share your story if you fit the profile of a late starter. You absolutely don’t have to be a blogger or podcaster to share your story. 

Please email me at info@latestarterfire.com or connect with me on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram.

And if you’ve missed any of the previous stories, you can catch up here – Late Starter to FI series

 

Disclosure: Please note that I may benefit from purchases made through my affiliate links below, at no cost to you. Additionally, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support

Downtown Los Angeles at sunset. Skyline silhouette with mountains in the background and palms in the foreground, California, USA

In this episode, I had a great conversation with Vikki, a late starter like us. We connected through Instagram, and since she didn’t have time to answer my questionnaire, we decided to chat over Zoom. I recorded our session – I’m excited with the result – it’s intimate and honest.

Vikki has been through her own financial struggles, including debt. She shares her money experiences and how she’s tackling her debt now.

You can connect with her on Instagram (@wealthworthyjourney) and check out her new venture at Vikki Ventures

A little about me

I’m 49 and married with a 9 year old daughter. We live in LA. I have been here now for 21 years. I’m originally a New Yorker, a very proud New Yorker, who came to Los Angeles for law school. An internship turned into a 14 year career at my last employer.

I grew up obsessed with the entertainment industry. I was always trying to figure out how to make all that work but right now, what I like is spending time with my family.

I really love adventures, a good road trip and definitely travelling and just seeing where the day takes you. I also love volunteering at my daughter’s school and do it whenever I can.

Looking back ...

Growing up, I lived in a very well to do community. We weren’t well to do and we weren’t poor in any way, but there were people who were way more well to do than us.
 
So I was raised around wealth. But we were regular middle class. Both my grandfathers were doctors. So my parents came from money and they were raised well to do themselves.
 
My mother worked very hard for us to maintain the lifestyle that they were used to. She had these very strong beliefs that she was going to be a stay at home mom. It was the eighties and the world was changing – it was the time of two income families. And that’s not the life she pictured for herself.
 
She wasn’t able to provide for her children the way she expected to. She just thought that our upbringing would be the way she was raised – with a mother at home and not having to work so hard. I think she blamed my father for not giving her a life that she thought she was supposed to have. There was a lot of resentment and anger around which was focused on my father. And I don’t think she ever realised.
 
She started working when I was in second grade and then she eventually started making more money than him while they were still married. Honestly, it was about four years of my life growing up, hearing them fight about money. My parents divorced when I was 10 and then finances were a huge struggle.
 
So I knew that I had to make my own money in order to be happy and not rely on anyone else. I needed to figure out how to make as much money as possible. Because I didn’t want money to be a problem. I didn’t want money to affect romance or life. I wanted to create the life I want.
 
The message was – don’t, don’t marry for money; make your own.

 

Lightbulb moment

I found the idea of FIRE from a coworker, Ray.
 
I didn’t know anything about this world. He would talk to me about his journey. He had an 80% savings rate. He rode his bike 20 miles to work. He was extreme. And I had never met anyone like this – he and his wife philosophically believed wholeheartedly in the movement.
 
He explained that he was about to be able to quit work and they were moving to Portugal. And I was fascinated, so fascinated.
 
In my office, we have this bookshelf. When you join the company, you tell them what your favourite book is and why. And then they have a bookshelf of all the employees’ favourite books.
 
So he walked over to the bookshelf, grabbed The Simple Path To Wealth by JL Collins, handed it to me and said “read this”.
 
That’s when everything changed.
The Simple Path To Wealth book cover

Our financial situation at the time I found FIRE

The interesting thing about generations is that each generation has its own problems. My mom wasn’t raised thinking she was gonna have to work. She was bitter that she had to work.
 
I was raised – go to law school to make as much money as possible. Be this empowered woman! I watched the TV show LA Law in the eighties. I was like, oh, go be high powered. So that was the big plan!
 
And then generation debt – I’m handed the bill for it. And, and it’s like, Oh my God, what did I do? What did I do?
 
I thought I was supposed to make enough money. I thought if I did this thing I was supposed to do, I would’ve made enough money to be well to do.
 
I was supposed to get the LA Law lifestyle, right? There were a lot of shows like that at the time, the eighties when we grew up. And I bought it. Hook, line and sinker.
 
My huge debt was from two places. It was the debt from law school. And also because I chose a husband who was very much a caretaker and I was the high earner in the couple. It was important to us that our child was raised by a parent. My husband was a stay-at-home dad for three years until our daughter started school.
 
I thought I made enough for us to pull that off. Yeah, I didn’t. So we were functioning at a deficit of $20k a year for three years. So $60,000 in the hole, which is cheaper than daycare. We wouldn’t have found daycare for that price. Or a nanny for that price.
 
So in retrospect, I spent $197,000 on law school and $60,000 for our daughter to be raised by a loving parent. And her father at that, a loving man. To me, it was worth it.
 
Oh, the stress – so, so much stress! Not because he was doing it, but because I actually had a lot of, I think, typical male feelings, which is, I thought I made the choices in that I made enough money for the family. I thought I did everything possible to be able to do this.
 
And also the stress it caused him was really because he was not used to having money. He would’ve been fine with a much lesser lifestyle. The stress it caused for me was that I felt like I wasn’t delivering and I somehow failed. I somehow wasn’t enough. I somehow wasn’t making enough and he didn’t know how to navigate this bigger world that I had created.
 
But we love each other dearly and yeah, we came at it. We figure it out. We’re so different but we’re superpowers united.
 
I had always invested. Through my jobs. And so I started in my twenties. I worked at NYU and I invested then. But not actively – more just like – here, let me put some money towards this because all my coworkers said it’s a good thing to do. Not actively, not aggressively in any way. It was a 403b retirement plan.
 
Then in my thirties, I got super into Suze Orman. An I opened a Roth IRA because her book said to do it. At my last employer, I also had profit sharing. And I had put some money into that account too, but none of it actively or intentional. It was just all very like, okay, I guess I’m supposed to be doing this.
 
I’d say it was careless investing. Just sort of like, I work here or I read this book, I should do this. And I just would do them.
Business woman try hard to hold on the cliff with debt burden. Business concept

My first steps on the path to FI

The biggest thing when I discovered FIRE was that we gotta ditch the debt. Ray would invite me to the FI meetups with his friends – he was part of the FI community in Los Angeles. And I didn’t feel like I was worthy of them because I had so much debt.
 
I felt ashamed of my debt. I felt so ashamed of my debt, but I knew getting rid of that was part of my FIRE journey. I knew in order to be with these players, I had to ditch the debt.
 
So okay, step one is ditch the debt. How do we finally do this? How do we finally stop going deeper into the hole of debt?
 
 
I was turning 46. When my husband asked “What do you want for your birthday?”
 
I said “I want you to go to financial peace university with me.”
 
I like fancy sushi and he doesn’t like that. So he’s used to doing things on my birthday that he doesn’t like doing. Mother’s Day and my birthday are the two times a year when I can get him to do things that he doesn’t like doing.
 
We did a mixture of the debt snowball and avalanche methods. We do them both at the same time. I put money towards the debt every week and if there’s one debt that’s close enough to the end, I’ll pay it off. I also go by the highest interest rate on consumer debt.
 
I do attack the debt one by one, but depending upon what the next one is – how painful the interest rate is or how low the balance is of the next one, I decide which one to attack.
 
I didn’t try to pay off my law school debt until my 40s. But I actually tried to get debt free two other times before I found the FIRE movement.
 
In my thirties, I went on the Suze Orman show. I was picked and I got consumer debt free – that was $20k.
 
Then I got back in debt and was $30k in. By the time my daughter was born, I was completely consumer debt free again. And then we got $60k in with consumer debt while my husband was the stay at home parent.
 
And this third time was when I realised I’m gonna keep getting back into debt as long as I have my law school loans. Because in my head – if I’m already $100k in debt, what’s a little bit more? What’s the big deal, right?
 
I think it’s fair to say that there are different kinds of addicts. And I think as long as I have credit cards, I’ll be in trouble. I know this is very anti FI in this sense, and this is more debt free community, but I’m not spending money that’s not mine anymore. I don’t do that anymore. And so I’ve cut up the credit cards. I don’t allow them.
 
We live within our means now. So I’m not playing the points game. I feel like an alcoholic going to a bar. I feel like I can’t, I just can’t. I loved the credit card game for decades. I played that game. I won’t use money that’s not mine anymore.
 
A lot of people in the debt free community use cash envelopes but I’m too careless with cash. So for me it’s doing a zero dollar budget and only using my debit card. I have money for emergency savings – it lives in a different bank and not easy to get to.
 
I tried two other times and learned the tricks. But the third time was really learning, when I knew about FIRE. I knew that I could get off the hamster wheel. I could see there’s a way to do this. So the other two times, it was like, so what if I were out of debt? No big deal. The third time is like, oh, I know what I saw – I saw Ray do it.
Credit card cut into pieces

How far along the FI path are we now?

And this is where the honest, truthful part comes in. I’ve heard this about the Dave Ramsey world, and it’s interesting if you read Ramit Sethi’s book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich. He doesn’t like the debt free community and the FI community because he says it’s too intense and you can get burnout.
 
And so I’ll confess what happened to me in March 2021. My psychiatrist called it a soul intervention, but what happened was I got diagnosed with PTSD among the hormonal storm of perimenopause. And I think just the stress of working so hard and I didn’t have my calming hormone because of perimenopause.
 
I took a mental health leave for a month. And then loosened up the budget to allow us to take better care of ourselves. So I will get a massage once a month now to help calm my nervous system. We’re more balanced now. It is what a lot of people will critise the Dave Ramsey world foe – scorched earth because it’s so do or die.
 
My mother says I wasn’t pacing myself for a marathon. I was pacing myself for a sprint.
 
You discover the FIRE community, like what you see – you see what is possible and what somebody else is living like and you want to get there. But you forget that 10, 15 years is actually quite long.
 
So now, it’s really, really important. I think it’s a longevity thing. You’ve got to live now.
 
But where’s that balance?
 
So for me, and this is something I now have in my budget – right through my HSA plan, I have a psychiatrist and a therapist; I go to acupuncture; I care for myself to preserve my health for this marathon.
 
I’m working on what the right balance looks like, and what’s healthy. How do I get away from these extremes? I tend to be attracted to the extremes. I had extreme debt and then I’m like, ooh, 80% savings rate – I wanna get there.
 

FIRE milestones

We have to ditch the debt first, so even though I identify as FI, technically I feel like I’m still in grammar school over here because I have to ditch the debt first.
 
I have a positive net worth now, which is huge growth. But the debt needs to go before we can really work out what those FIRE numbers look like.
 
It was originally supposed to be 2023, before I turned 50. But then when we loosened the purse strings a little bit for our health, it became December 2027, before my husband turns 50. So that’s the first milestone – the debt free date. And then I’ll be able to calculate a FIRE date.
 
Yes, we are investing as well as paying down debt. We’re both investing up to our match with our employers in our retirement plans.

Advantages of starting late on the FI journey

We know what we want. We know what’s important to us.
 
And a lot of life experience. I had my daughter at 40. I’ve already lived. I’ve already gotten the stuff I need to get out of my system. I was able to stay in some very nice hotels. I’ve done all the fancy stuff and I know now where real happiness lies.
 
You know, I’ve gotten so much out of my system. It’s the best feeling.
 
And now we’re ready for the next stage.
financial money budget allocation personal family finance

How my relationship with money has changed

I would overspend, so it would usually be a trip. It would usually be something big like my bonus every year. I’m really good at spending money.

I would take my mother on a trip. When my stepfather left my mom, I wanted to cheer her up. I love going over to London so I took her to London, Brussels and Germany. And because I was still using credit cards, I overspent.

I didn’t have budgeting tools. I didn’t know about zero dollar budget yet. So I had gotten out of debt, but I didn’t know how to not live beyond my means. I got my first credit card when I was a minor – I was 12. I got my first major credit card and first student loans at 17. I never knew a life of not living beyond my means.

I just thought I never made enough money to live ‘the’ life. I knew how to live. And that’s what it is. It was the ‘just not enough’ mentality. I didn’t think I made enough. I didn’t. And I keep thinking that if I just keep working harder, if I just make more money, I’ll get to a place where it will all be ok. I was like a junkie.

They don’t call it the treadmill for nothing. It’s like that hamster going round and round.

I didn’t understand any of it besides feeling like I was doing something wrong.

It wasn’t until financial peace university that I learned about zero dollar budgeting and that there is a way to make this work. I didn’t understand until I read The Simple Path to Wealth and you want to try to get to a 50% savings rate.

But honestly, it worked. One of the first stages is you cut up the credit cards. I’m like, holy shit. But then you get to a thousand dollars emergency savings. It’s like, okay. We’re not screwed. Okay. And then, and then there’s a software budgeting tool called Every Dollar that I still pay for.

Every Dollar, where you create a $0 budget really works for me. My husband and I may tap into the next month’s budget during the last 10 days of the month but we’re sill not using the credit card. We’ve stayed off the cards since that summer of 2019, when I started financial peace university.

For instance, I just went to New York for a friend’s 50th birthday. I figured out how to do it in the budget. And that feels better. That honestly feels better than spending money that wasn’t mine.

My daughter and I just did a seven day road trip in the summer, in my 21 year old car while my husband stayed home. He watched the house, took care of the dog and went to work. He’s an hourly employee.

We did it on budget. We made it work. So it’s honestly the better feeling – pulling off something in budget than spending money that wasn’t ours.

 

What's next?

I just launched my own business. It’s been my dream since childhood. Vikki Ventures is a company that will help clients enter the world of philanthropy, or as we call it – ‘giving’, by working with clients to discover, create and serve the charitable programs that they care most about.
 
I’ve been in the middle of negotiating with my employer. So my employer will become my first client. The end of September was my last day as an employee. And then without a gap, the first day of my servicing them as a client is the 1st of October.
 
I’m doing this sooner than expected, but it was the right time. I was able to get my company to agree to it. So I just said, okay, let’s go for it.
 
It’s scary right now, because I don’t have a full book of business enough yet that I’m comfortable. I will feel more secure when my monthly business is producing what my salary was producing. I need to know that’s happening but I would’ve had to wait forever for that to happen while working full time.
 
Honest answer is I probably have a three month runway. But I know I can get myself up very quickly in those three months from my employer being my client. And I can start doing contracts, legal work and getting money from other places ie doing higher paying work that will pay for the other work that I want to be doing. So I’m giving myself three months until I have to start taking on some assignments.

Back to Latestarterfire

I remember LA Law too and the excesses of the 80s – big hair, big shoulder pads and the feeling that we can do anything when we grow up 🙂

Your story is a reminder that our personal experiences with money from a young age shapes our money story and the choices we make later in life.

It speaks to me of the power of community but it cuts both ways. You grew up with spending on credit cards being the norm while Ray, your FIRE colleague modeled a different money story. I wonder how many more people will pick up JL Collin’s The Simple Path to Wealth from that book shelf and have their lives changed as a result.

Tackling your debt speaks to me of your tenacity and resilience. Thank you for sharing your struggles and the strategies that work for you – having a zero dollar budget plus attacking the debt in a hybrid of the snowball and avalanche methods.

You were so excited that you’ve taken trips within budget and not on credit cards. I remember that excitement coming through the Zoom call. “It’s honestly the better feeling – pulling off something in budget than spending money that wasn’t ours.”

Yes, 10 to 15 years is a really long time. I’m so glad you are prioritising your self care and mental health now. It’s a fine balance to look after oneself in the present moment and to work hard for the future self.

I know for me, celebrating milestones along the way, no matter how small, helps to keep me motivated and maintain momentum.

I look forward to celebrating many milestones with you, Vikki as you progress one step at a time towards your goal of being debt free and FIRE 🔥

Thank you so much for your generosity, Vikki – we appreciate you sharing your money journey thus far.

 

How did your childhood experiences with money influence your choices later in life?

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Late Starter to FI Series #37 – Enough Time To …

photo of water, sky and mountain

Welcome to the Late Starter to FI series!

I am a Late Starter – I did not discover FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) concept until I was 47. This was way later, I thought than others who seem to have it all together in their 20s and 30s.

Since I started to write about my own journey, I have discovered there are many more Late Starters like me, yay! It is such a relief knowing I am not alone. 

I want to share our stories, our unique perspectives and show that it is absolutely not too late for us.

So in this series, I particularly highlight those of us who start our FI journeys in our 40s, 50s and 60s. And explore questions such as ‘where do we start’, ‘can we still retire early(ish)’, ‘what are the specific challenges for us late starters’. We look at our past, not to castigate ourselves but so that you can learn from us.

Please join in the conversation in the comments below. I encourage you to share your story if you fit the profile of a late starter. You absolutely don’t have to be a blogger or podcaster to share your story. 

Please email me at info@latestarterfire.com or connect with me on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram.

And if you’ve missed any of the previous stories, you can catch up here – Late Starter to FI Series

 

Disclosure: Please note that I may benefit from purchases made through my affiliate links below, at no cost to you. Additionally, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support

photo of water, sky and mountain
More time to enjoy nature

I’m excited that today’s Late Starter, Mrs ETT agreed to share her story. She’s a frequent commenter on this blog (thank you!) and used to blog at Enough Time To.

I didn’t realise that our stories had a lot of similarities, one of which was that we’d both paid off our homes when we found FIRE.

Mrs ETT no longer blogs at her site so please comment below as a way of connecting with her.

 

A little about me

Thanks, Latestarterfire, and hello fellow FIRE followers!
 
Mr ETT and I are DINKS who moved to regional New South Wales in 2018. I work in data after a varied career in science, health support and a small stint in teaching. Mr ETT works in cybersecurity.
 
We are in our late 40s/early 50s. I used to blog at enoughtimeto, about using FIRE to buy time to do all the things I want to do. Like blogging again, for example …

 

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Childhood memories of money

I had an upbringing in the 70s where Dad worked and Mum stayed at home, until we reached high school (I think?). I guess we were middle class. Money didn’t feature strongly in my childhood.
 
My earliest money memory is going on an excursion to the Australian Museum in primary school. We were allowed to take money to spend at the shop. I can’t remember what I bought, but it was all for me.
 
When I got home, instead of being excited, Mum accused me of being selfish for not buying things for the family. I still remember that she said, “you used to be so generous”. I couldn’t have been older than 10.
 
Another memory is that we were all at the bank, and Dad had withdrawn a chunk of cash, which was placed in an envelope. I’d never seen so much money! I was excited and tried to ask them about it, but (rightly) I was shut down because it had to be a secret that he was carrying it on his person.
 
I got my first casual job at 14 years and 9 months old. We were paid in yellow envelopes that I walked straight to the bank with and deposited. Mum taught me to budget in a lined notebook, but even then, there was no discussion of household finances, other than we were expected to pay a token amount of board.
 
I think all these experiences added up to me being a saver. Spending it in the wrong way got me into trouble; money is secret and needs to be controlled.
 
Of course, since discovering the FIRE community, I’m learning that there are other ways to think about and use money.

Lightbulb moment

We had paid off our mortgage, and I was feeling lost. I don’t like debt, so we paid extra on every single payment from the beginning (interest rates ranged from 6% to 9%).
 
Once that was done, however, there was no new goal. I had no clue that there even could be one!
 
We succumbed to some lifestyle creep, but the feeling that we should be doing more became so uncomfortable that I started adding extra to our Superannuation (retirement account). It was the only thing I knew about at the time.
 
The story of how I discovered the life-changing world of FIRE has been told on Adventures with Poopsie’s blog. That must have been around 2015/16, so I was in my early 40s.
 
Latestarterfire – I love your Frugal Hound story – Mrs Frugalwoods inspired me to start living more frugally too. That blog post was published in 2018 – it’s so amazing what you’ve achieved since then!

Our financial situation then

At the time, we had little to no debt. Maybe a car loan? But by then we were borrowing a maximum 50% of the value of a car so it wouldn’t have been much. These days, we save for replacement cars, no more loans.
 
The only retirement savings we had were in Super, and we weren’t contributing extra. We had paid off the home loan using an offset account, which I kept open to act as an Emergency Fund. Of course, at the time I didn’t know that’s what it was called.
 
I had some NRMA shares that had been parcelled out to members when they initially floated, so no work/research done by me.

I also held a Perpetual Managed Fund, as it had been recommended in Money Magazine, but again, I didn’t understand it. At all. When I finally closed it, I realised it was a balanced approach that had probably lost me money over the years. Live and learn.

First steps on the path to FI

Reading, reading, reading and more reading! Also listening to some FIRE podcasts.
 
I think my first action step was to put a small amount of money into Acorns (at the time, Raiz now). That allowed me to dip my toe in the water with about $1000 and get a feel for how the markets moved up and down.
 
After that, we opened a Vanguard Managed Fund. That is still where the bulk of our savings outside of Super lie. I also started using YNAB and revising our expenses down.
More time to visit wineries

How far along the path to FI are we now?

Unbelievably further than I thought we could be. I find it gob smacking how simply having a plan and implementing it can grow your money so significantly.
 
Sometimes I think the numbers can’t be real, and I find myself back in the spreadsheets and double checking the budget. We are about 70% along, and we’ve never been hard-core FIRE. I used to feel sad seeing other people’s savings rates and comparing ours. Yet, even so, here we are!
 
How do I feel? This is hard. Suddenly, the end is in sight.
 
There is a real possibility we can retire in 5 years, but we are in the long, boring middle. We are Coast FI and Flamingo FI.
 
Latestarterfire – Coast FI is where you’ve saved enough that you’d reach FI at traditional retirement age without investing a cent more;
 
Flamingo FI is coined by Money Flamingo – where you’ve saved half your FIRE number and you’ll reach FIRE in the next 10 years without investing any more (assuming a 7% rate of returns) You can semi retire and just need to work enough to support your current lifestyle.
 
Mr ETT has been making serious noises about enjoying our time now instead of waiting. I also worry that I spend too much of my time envisioning the future, and not enough living in the present.
 
Hearing about the whole Die with Zero* conversation (I haven’t read it yet), we are fighting to establish a new normal. If we let go a bit, can we still reach FI at 55?
 
Do we still want to fully retire, or would/could we continue working, just less? Will our FIRE number increase if we start spending more?
 
Although this is confusing and a bit painful, to be honest there’s no wrong answer. Whatever we decide will bring its own benefits.
 
*Latestarterfire – I have read it and I like the philosophy. It’s about doing things with your money while you can. For example, there are things on your bucket list that are meant to be done at certain ages. It’s too late to backpack around Europe in your 70s.
 
It’s not about being irresponsible with money. And if you want to leave a legacy to your family or charity, then set aside that amount of money first and spend the rest. Instead of spending your money and leaving the leftovers to your family/charity when you die.

How did COVID affect our strategy?

COVID didn’t change our strategy. We were both lucky enough to work in industries that weren’t affected, although we had relatives who couldn’t work due to stay at home orders.
 
But the relief of being where we were with our FIRE savings can’t be overstated. Even if both of us lost our jobs, we could have continued with no change in lifestyle. If called upon, we could have helped our family members.
 
We are so grateful to the entire FIRE community for sharing their knowledge and experience.

Specific challenges or advantages of starting late

Time is the challenge. But as I said above, even when you think you don’t have enough time, you might be completely surprised at what you can achieve.

“Early” is relative. When we first started FIRE, our initial goal was to retire before pension age, at 67. Then it dropped to 60. Now our stretch goal is 55. If you’d told me that in 2016, I would have laughed and laughed.

Starting late means we have life skills, and a whole range of contacts. Hopefully we have more experience in research and the ability to take a balanced look at things.

Depending on our past, we might be earning more than we’ve ever done. And if nothing else, maybe we can look back at our pre-FIRE selves and enjoy the memories of what we did with the money back then 😀

What's next?

Figuring out whether we continue to push for the next five years, or whether we slow down and take a Flamingo FI approach. Or maybe some balance between the two. Continue to read and listen to others in the FIRE community, and to share the concept in person where there’s some interest. Maybe one day I’ll begin blogging again!

Back to Latestarterfire

Thank you, Mrs ETT for sharing your story!

It’s interesting to read about your childhood money memories and how that has shaped you as a saver. It reminds me that we can unwittingly pass on our money stories to the younger generation.

I totally agree with you that it’s “gob smacking how simply having a plan and implementing it can grow your money so significantly.” It’s hard to envision it when we first begin our FIRE journey. And that’s why it’s so important to just start anyway.

I think we are at the same stage of our FIRE journey. I know exactly what you mean by the long, boring middle 🙂 You can see that the end is in sight. But you’re not quite there yet.

I feel your questions keenly – “If we let go a bit, can we still reach FI at 55? Will our FIRE number increase if we start spending more?” because these are the same questions I ask myself.

It’s all a balancing act and I can’t wait to see what you decide in the end. Whatever you decide, you’ll have enough time to spend in nature and visit wineries 🙂

 

Are you in the long, boring middle years of pursuing FIRE? What are your thoughts about reaching your destination?

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