Goals & Outcomes, Improve Your Finances, MY FIRE JOURNEY

3 Years of FIRE: What The FIRE Movement Has Taught Me

Rather watch the video on why I joined the FIRE movement? Please do so on my YouTube channel: Black Millennial Finance. Simply click the video and enjoy.

Why I was Drawn To The FIRE Movement

To me, the FIRE movement provides a way to save more money and invest for early retirement. The number one reason why I wanted to join the FIRE movement was because I wanted to buy back my time!

I have quite a list of ideas and business plans I would like to see come to fruition.

However, most require time and money. Pursuing and achieving FI/RE will give me both.

Financial Wins Since Joining the fire movement

Since I discovered the FIRE movement, I have had so many financial wins!

Paying back my student loans

I got serious about paying back my student loans in December 2019. Check out the full story about what sparked me to start my debt pay down journey. I am glad to say that by the end of December 2020, I had pay back over $17k in student loans.

In fact, the number one motivator to pay off this loan was due to the interest. For example, I had several loans that had an interest rate over 5% #ohhellno.

When interest rates got paused due to the CARES Act, I thought to send more money towards my loans.

In order to hit this goal, I had to B U D G E T and find ways to increase my income.

Paying off my car early

Okay, so I am still on this journey. I bought a brand new car in January 2018 and immediately had buyer’s remorse!

I thought it would take me 5 years to pay back this loan, but that will not be the case. Since I joined the FIRE movement, I have paid over $13k towards my car loan.

Luckily, I have just under $10k left as of writing this article. It will be a stretch to pay if all off by my 30th birthday. Nonetheless, that is my goal.

Started Some Side Hustles

I did not know there was this whole world of passive income. Jumping into the FIRE movement and getting connected with those who were also pursuing the same thing changed my life.

Seriously! I started to sell digital items on Etsy because of a podcast episode I heard on the FireDrill podcast. This has been profitable and I am now averaging about $150 a month from selling digital products.

Got Interested In Real Estate

By all means, I feel like real estate will be a game changer for me. My siblings and I are saving to buy property back home in Liberia.

We are putting away $300 a month with the goal of purchasing and building the property within 3 years.

I am very excited for this project and have even started saving money for an AIRBNB property here in the states as well.

Getting Better At My Day Job

I work in data analytics and there are so many tools we use. My goal is to get certifications that will help me earn more while working in corporate America.

For example, getting a SQL certification, AWS certification, etc. will help give me an edge in my industry. That is my main priority for this year as I continue my FI/RE journey.

How To Calculate Your FIRE Number

If you are interested in joining the FIRE movement but are not sure where to start, have no fear. There are actually so many resources to help you get started on the path to FI and financial freedom.

If you like podcasts, check out this article to add some cool financial podcasts to your rotation. If you are more of a book reader, please check out the following at your local book store.

  • Broke Millennial series by Erin Lowry
  • Get Good With Money by Tiffany Aliche
  • The 21 Day Financial Fast by Michelle Singletary
  • Quit Like A Millionaire by Kristy Shen & Bryce Leung
  • Clever Girl Finance by Bola Sokunbi
  • The Money Manual by Tonya Rapley
  • Real Money Answers For Every Woman: How to Win The Money Game With or Without A Man by Patrice Washington
  • Zero Debt: The Ultimate Guide To Financial Freedom by Lynette Khalfani-Cox

A common FIRE number often referenced is 1 million dollars. If you get your retirement nest egg to 1 million dollars, you can expect to withdraw about 4% each year (40,000 dollars) without affecting the principal.

That means year after year, your retirement account will be able to sustain you. This is the principle behind the famous 4% rule (of thumb).

To clarify, calculate how much money you spend each year, multiple it by 25 to get your FIRE number.

Free Resources For pursuing FIRE and Financial Stability

If you have not already, check out my resources to download. I have budget templates, a savings tracker, financial goals list and more.

Some other cool websites, bloggers and accounts to check out if you want to join the FIRE movement are as followed:

To be clear, this is by no means a complete list to help you on your FIRE journey.

I am sure that as soon as I post this, more creators will come to mind. These are just some to get you started on the road to financial independence.

Please list some of your favorite finance people down below.

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