Financial Freedom Blog Post #4

Hello Dear Reader!

I'm back!

I know, so soon?

But I'm really trying to get through these action items!

I have a special bonus today.

But first, time for the disclaimer:

Here is the title of the book again: Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All the Money You Will Ever Need.
But! Here is today's bonus action item! We will be doing an action item from (drumroll, please... ::drumming ensues briefly, rises to a climax, then stops::) Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required! It's Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung's book (founders of Millennial Revolution!) This was an amazing read. It's super educational plus it's interesting to boot. I really recommend it! Pick up your copy today.

So, back to the question:

2) What are your current annual expenses?

Were you enjoying what I thought would be the start of a new series where I break down my monthly expenses? I'm sorry if you were since that will be put on hold indefinitely.

Instead, I've totaled my spending from January 2018 to August 2019 and put together these handy-dandy chart for your (eager?) perusal:

First is the year 2018 (I've broken it down this way so you can see the yearly spend):

Month and Year	Total Spent
Jan 2018	$2,964.27
Feb 2018	$3,829.93
Mar 2018	$3,010.71
Apr 2018	$3,095.49
May 2018	$2,869.13
Jun 2018	$2,367.32
Jul 2018	$2,872.43
Aug 2018	$3,328.17
Sep 2018	$3,476.41
Oct 2018	$3,174.42
Nov 2018	$3,855.42
Dec 2018	$1,697.42
Average for 2018:	$3,045.09

Next is Jan 2019 to Aug 2019 (I haven't calculated my Sept to Oct spending yet, so this will have to do!):

Month and Year	Total Spent
Jan 2019	$2,273.32
Feb 2019	$2,239.56
Mar 2019	$2,667.78
Apr 2019	$3,564.71
May 2019	$2,602.56
Jun 2019	$2,920.77
Jul 2019	$3,846.92
Aug 2019	$3,423.83
Average for 2019:	$2,942.43

And... dun-dun-dun-DUNNN!

Without further ado, here is my number!!

Average Spending per month (for Jan 2018 to Aug 2019):				$3,004.03
Average Spending extrapolated to a Year (Average):				$36,048.34
My 'Number' (25x Average Yearly Expenses):				$901,208.55

So there you have it: $901,208.55 (a little less than one MILLION dollars! Cue Dr. Evil pinky to mouth).

(That answers 3) What is "your number"? (This is 25 times or 30 times your annual expenses.))

Some caveats: I only calculated my spending, I didn't calculate Mr. Into the FIRE's (ItF). However, along with that, here comes our lovely bonus!

So in Kristy and Bryce's new book, they have an action item in the back (specifically, it's Appendix D).

It will show you how many years it will take you to become financially independent (or to reach FI).

So, while I didn't include Mr. ItF's expenses, I also did not include his assets/savings (of which he has considerably more than me). So I am confident this will all work out.

Now, without further ado, please see my chart below!

Year	Balance	Savings	ROI	Total	Age
1	$154,738.11	$10,233.60	$9,284.29	$174,256.00	33
2	$174,256.00	$25,540.49	$10,455.36	$210,251.85	34
3	$210,251.85	$25,540.49	$12,615.11	$248,407.45	35
4	$248,407.45	$25,540.49	$14,904.45	$288,852.38	36
5	$288,852.38	$25,540.49	$17,331.14	$331,724.02	37
6	$331,724.02	$25,540.49	$19,903.44	$377,167.95	38
7	$377,167.95	$25,540.49	$22,630.08	$425,338.51	39
8	$425,338.51	$25,540.49	$25,520.31	$476,399.32	40
9	$476,399.32	$25,540.49	$28,583.96	$530,523.76	41
10	$530,523.76	$25,540.49	$31,831.43	$587,895.68	42
11	$587,895.68	$25,540.49	$35,273.74	$648,709.91	43
12	$648,709.91	$25,540.49	$38,922.59	$713,173.00	44
13	$713,173.00	$25,540.49	$42,790.38	$781,503.87	45
14	$781,503.87	$25,540.49	$46,890.23	$853,934.59	46
15	$853,934.59	$25,540.49	$51,236.08	$930,711.15	47
16	$930,711.15	$25,540.49	$55,842.67	$1,012,094.31	48
17	$1,012,094.31	$25,540.49	$60,725.66	$1,098,360.46	49
18	$1,098,360.46	$25,540.49	$65,901.63	$1,189,802.58	50
19	$1,189,802.58	$25,540.49	$71,388.15	$1,286,731.22	51
20	$1,286,731.22	$25,540.49	$77,203.87	$1,389,475.59	52
21	$1,389,475.59	$25,540.49	$83,368.54	$1,498,384.61	53
22	$1,498,384.61	$25,540.49	$89,903.08	$1,613,828.18	54
23	$1,613,828.18	$25,540.49	$96,829.69	$1,736,198.36	55

So, as you can see from the chart, I should be able to reach FI in 14 to 15 years. I did not calculate any salary increases (which would affect the savings amounts).

Hopefully I will be able to reach this sooner.

Mr. ItF is basically already FI, and he has about $500,000 perhaps, so we could reach FI even sooner in between 8 to 9 years if I have calculated this correctly.

Now, why did I calculate 23 years from now? That's because at age 55, I will be able to tap into a special retirement plan from my company which will cover us with regards to medical insurance until we are eligible for Medicare (Medicare is the old-age health insurance, Medicaid is the low-income health insurance. I always get those confused! Hopefully I got them right here).

So, I hope you enjoyed this special bonus post! I'm excited for the next one.

Thank you again for reading.

I hope you have a wonderful night.

Yours truly,
Into the FIRE

Financial Freedom Blog Post #2

Hello again!

It's me, Into the FIRE. How have you been?

Chapter 2 of Financial Freedom does not have any action steps (although it does have valuable information, so I do recommend picking up a copy - or borrowing it from the library if you are trying to be frugal!).


So, I've done a little cheat here and named this "Blog Post #2" even though I'll be answering questions from Chapter 3.

I do hope you will forgive me!

In any case, on to the meat of the matter!

Here are the questions from Chapter 3:

1) What does a perfect day look like to you?
2) What are your current annual expenses?
3) What is "your number"? (This is 25 times or 30 times your annual expenses.)
4) What is your annual, monthly, weekly and daily savings goal?

Today we will only tackle question 1.

To me, there are two types of perfect days.

One type doesn't cost very much money.

The other type is a luxurious, balls-to-the-wall (if you'll pardon the expression), crazy extravagant kind of day.

A perfect (low-cost) day would be as follows:

Wake up late (or leisurely). Floss, brush teeth, use a Waterpik flosser (I really recommend those! ;) ). Pet or cuddle with a pet or a spouse. Eat an amazingly delicious home-cooked breakfast (or anything tasty, really. But something healthy). Paint for one to two hours. Go to the gym. Read a book while exercising. Go home. Eat a delicious healthy home-cooked lunch (does not need to be expensive). Take a nice walk with my husband while admiring nature. Go home. Read a book, knit, read Japanese manga, watch a TV show or stream something. Plan a vacation. Relax in a deep-soaking tub or go to a Japanese bath. Floss, brush teeth, use the Waterpik (gotta use the Waterpik). Listen to Weightless by Marconi Union - that's a neat little trick to help you fall asleep, fall asleep and dream a beautiful dream.

If you're having trouble falling asleep, I really recommend Weightless (Ambient Transmissions Vol.2) by Marconi Union. It's helped me immensely.

A perfect crazy high-end super luxurious day is surprisingly similar and looks like this (to me):

Wake up late (or leisurely). Floss, brush teeth, use a Waterpik flosser. Pet or cuddle with a pet or a spouse. Eat whatever the hell I want (a few examples, like Pizza Potato chips, seriously those chips are sooo tasty! some other chips I had recently are Thai Lay's potato chips... go try them and let me know what you think!, oden, delicious Michelin starred ramen- I'm not joking. You can buy those at conbini in Japan for breakfast if you don't feel like waiting in line. Anyway, you get the idea. Noodles, rice balls, various breads, bentos... lots of good stuff). Paint for one to two hours or take some really cool class like make your own jewelry or use a kit to make my own purse or something (Japan is full of those kits). Go to the gym with a personal trainer who comes, picks me up and works out with me. Read a book while exercising. Go eat out at a fancy Michelin-starred restaurant like Quintessence. Take a nice walk with my husband while admiring nature, perhaps at a park or a cool Japanese garden. Get a fabulous massage with a facial every month or three weeks. Read a book, knit, read Japanese manga, watch a TV show or stream something. Maybe go see a movie. Plan a vacation. Relax in a deep-soaking tub or go to a Japanese bath. Floss, brush teeth, use a Waterpik flosser (I really recommend that thing! Seriously. It can help make flossing fun along with fancy chocolate toothpaste).

You can see they are pretty similar! :)

More on the following questions in Chapter 3 later!

Thank you for reading!

Sincerely yours,
Into the FIRE

Financial Freedom Blog Post #1

Hello!

Welcome to my journey to Financial Freedom.

This happens to be blog post numero uno!

It just so happens that I am also reading the book: Financial Freedom (A Proven Path to All the Money You Will Ever Need) by Grant Sabatier (Foreword by Vicki Robin).

By the way, my nom de plume is "Into the FIRE." Nice to meet you and I do hope you'll say hi below!



Okay. So let's get started!

A little background. I think I'm actually on Chapter 9 now and there are 14 chapters total. Each Chapter has a few action steps or exploratory questions for you to take at the end of the chapter. So join me on this journey and let's start with Chapter 1!

I'm going to fly through this so I can do the action steps on the Choose FI book next! :)

Same caveat as above applies to this book! :)

Chapter 1: What does financial freedom mean to you?

So, to me, I actually don't like waking up early in the morning. I don't think I enjoy commuting very much as well (I mean, actually I'm kind of okay with it but I don't like being stressed that someone will yell at me for being late).

So to me, financial freedom means the freedom to wake up late if I choose to.

I've thought a lot about what I would do if I retired early. Travel the world, live abroad, or volunteer (maybe all three simultaneously!). Paint, read books. I don't know, however, if I would actually do those things if I did have the capability to retire.

Would I instead regress and stay in bed all day and become a schlub?

Some people might say, "Only one way to find out!"

Right now, I am trying to save the max into my 403(b). More on that later.

So, thank you for reading, and this blog post's question for you, Dear Reader: What does financial freedom mean to you?

Have a great night,
Into the FIRE