What does your ideal life look like? Before starting with constraints like money, family, location, health, etc., think hard about the components of that ideal life.

Once you have a visual of your ideal life, do you have a plan to get there? What are some actions that help you achieve FIRE? In this post, I list the actions I took to pay off $75,000 in student debt in three years, and what I do now to reach financial independence in five years while still living and loving life.

What did I do to pay off student debt?

• Refinanced to a lower rate loan via sofi.com back then
• Moved a few miles across a state borderline, with lower income tax
• Moved to a cheaper apartment
• Limited eating out (though still enjoyed restaurants and bars a ton)
• Bought consumer items with more intention
• Started travel hacking by leveraging credit card bonuses
• Relied on public transit instead of using a car during the week
• Shopped for cheaper car insurance
• Tracked expenses by using Mint  
• Maxed out 401(k) when employer offered it
• Continued to learn about personal finance
• Kept on learning, sharpening my skills, and getting higher paid jobs

What do I do now to achieve FI?

All of the above plus

• Max out employee stock purchase program when offered
• Max out HSA when in a high-deductible plan
• Maintain and drive a 15-year old car: I had contemplated buying a new car for three years now, but couldn’t justify it. In 2020, COVID19 has changed commute and driving expenses and I’m so glad I didn’t buy a new car yet. Will reassess in 2021.
• Spend intentionally by buying quality (often expensive) necessary items, and only necessary items
• Switched to a cheaper cell phone plan: I use Tello’s service at $10/month for unlimited calling and texting + tax
• Take care of health
• Learn about taxes: beginner stage, happy to hear how you learn about and optimize taxes
• Learn about negotiation when it comes to compensation: to-date, I estimate have lost $1m+ due to lack of confident negotiation
• Surround myself with positive and inspiring friends

I will go into these topics in detail in future posts. You can find informative articles online written by other bloggers.

Tactics and numbers aside, financial freedom and achieving it is about mindset. In developing and strengthening your own, the last point of who you surround yourself with is important. Your social circle influences not only your belief about yourself, but also your worldview, your skills, and general attitude about life. My journey in identifying relationships that lift you up, learning to set boundaries, and letting go of has been longer than my pursuit of FIRE. It is a complex topic and 100% worthwhile in order to live your ideal life. See how I got started and what FIRE means to me.