Catching FIRE

Building the Fire

Plenty of intelligent people say this all of the time. The reality is that if you are trying to beat the S&P in the stock market you will probably fail, on average. If you instead invest in other things like yourself or somewhere that you have an edge you can beat the market significantly!

This is my net worth over the last 4 years, right up until the day before I finished my W2 job earlier this year. In the same stretch from 2015 to 2019 I went from about $500 left in my bank account to $52K. That was a about 100X in net worth* in 4 years. So for those of you counting I have 1000X’d my net worth in 8 years. To be fair I had no job when I was down to $500 and I got one so that helped.

_{*Remember Net_Worth = Assets - Debts}

I want to share this because I do not think I did anything special to make this happen. In all reality looking back I would be well over $1M if I knew what I know now when I started. Along with honesty I value transparency so everyone should know who I am, where I came from and where I aspire to go.

Here are the 8 major things I did in this time to accomplish this goal.

Highlights

• 2014 - Finished my minor in Computer Science.

• 2015 - Moved to Chicago and got a job as a Junior Trader (45K/yr).

• 2018 - Got a Senior role at that company and 8X their revenue from the year before by creating a single tool.

• 2019 - Learned about FIRE and remembered my original dream to retire by 35 (6 years to do it).

• 2019 - Talked company into giving me a remote role and moved to central Ohio (Lower Cost of Living).

• 2020 - Started House Hacking. Bought a 520K Duplex with 15K down (3%).

• 2021 - Started Private Lending my extra capital.

• 2023 - Sold my original Duplex for 640K.

Sometimes it Rains

The point of this story is that I did nothing you cannot do. I did not walk into some crazy situation that made me $1M or something like that. It was a couple of 1% improvements across all aspects of my life. All of you can mimic this success!

And with guidance you will probably have a lot less losers than I did.

• 50K loss on the stock WKHS not getting a government contract.

• 80K loss on the crypto explosion in 2021-2023.

• 12K loss in not knowing that your 401K does not automatically buy stock in 2015.

  • This would be way more if we considered compounding over the last 8 years.

  • I have a Finance degree! Still didn’t know.

I am sharing the losses along with the wins to show that no one bats 1.000. We all strike out sometimes. One major takeaway from my trading days is that there are two types of strategies.

1. A strategy that does not win often but when it does you make a ton.

2. A strategy that wins most of the time but incurs a few big losses along the way.

I really believe in that second strategy. So instead of trying to make $1M on your first deal just start by making 1% improvements that will compound. If you improve by 1% per day for a year you are 37 times better than the start of the year.

Light the Match

Hopefully by now you can tell that the only thing stopping you is getting started. So this week you should review last months income and expenses. The average US household has a savings rate of 4.1%

SavingsRate = (Income - Expenses) / Income

My savings rate from 2015-2019 was between 15-25% of my income. This is how you outperform the average households. That was before I even got interested in FIRE or Real Estate. If you move your savings rate from 4% to 10% you knock off a decade of your working life!**

If you get to 1 referral you get access to my whole guide for planning out your finances to achieve Financial Independence! Do it for you or do it for the person you know needs this information!

^{**If you want to see the math hit me with a reply. Or check on the FIRE Calculator after getting 1 referral!}

Opinion of the week

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Interesting Stuff

Great book by James Clear to help get you thinking about making the little changes in life.

Cleaning Up

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Legal disclaimer (aka be an adult!): This is NOT financial advice and I am not responsible for your financial decisions and outcomes. I appreciate all of you but do not be stupid with your money and blame me. This is for educational purposes and every situation is specific and different. I do not have one, but if you need personal help with finances then get a fee-based Financial Planner. They will help you with long term goals.