What is FIRE? My Journey to Financial Freedom!

Dear Diary,

Just kidding! This is by no means a diary in the traditional sense. This is my personal money diary 📔 as a way for me to reflect on my journey to financial freedom and achieving a work-optional life.

Before I begin let me clarify what exactly financial freedom, often interchangeably referred to as financial independence, is.

Financial freedom is about more than having money…It’s about following your passion, making choices that aren’t influenced by your bank account, and living life on your terms.
– Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad

I’m naturally a good saver, but after I read Robert Kiyosaki’s, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, it fundamentally altered my money mindset. It was definitely eye-opening to think about how a “rich” person thinks of money working for them versus a “poor” person think of working for money.

That lead me to calculate my own numbers on when I could become financially independent and retire early based on my current net worth and savings rate. Here is an easy financial independence calculator for you to do the math too.

This concept of retiring early is called FIRE (Financial Independent, Retire Early) and is a growing movement. Initially popularized on blog forums like Mr. Money Mustache, it’s slowly trickling down to places mainstream platforms Youtube and Instagram.

While I don’t exactly plan on retiring early, I want to be able to work on graphic design or other jobs that really fuel me and that I’d be excited to do even if the paycheck was $0.

I’m still a bit unsure of the exact number on the early side if I’m super thrifty (leanFIRE) but I know with certainty I can achieve it in 10 years (fatFIRE).

I’m so excited to be on this journey, to learn and grow too.

xo,

Catie

p.s. Here are my favorite books wealth building books: