#kristy shen

[roncy89]

3 Books Every Twenty-Something Should Read (By a Twenty-Something)

(In no particular order)

The Defining Decade by Dr. Meg Jay

This book has been my go-to for various points of my college (and now post-grad) career. Whenever I felt that I was "lost" or had a "mid-life crisis", this book always came to the rescue.

In this book, Meg Jay goes through how to best use your 20s. Whether that be through relationships, hobbies, education and career choices. She also expands on the concept of developing identity capital which is a collection of things that make you, you. One of my favourite quotes by Meg is, "“Twentysomething is like airplanes, planes just leaving New York City-bound somewhere west. Right after takeoff, a slight course change is a difference between landing in either Seattle or San Diego. But once a plane is nearly in San Diego, only a big detour will redirect it to the northwest.”

2. Quit Like a Millionaire by Bryce Leung and Kristy Shen

This is a personal finance book that details how a Canadian couple, Bryce and Kristy, retired in their thirties. Both working as software engineers, they sought to buy a home in Toronto but found that getting into the housing market was out of reach. Instead, they opted to use the money that could have gone towards a house into the stock market where they were both able to retire and travel the world.

Reading this opened my eyes to the various possibilities and routes to financial independence. One that isn't defeatist about the current housing market, but rather optimistic about other possibilities!

3. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

The writer, Naval Ravikant, is the founder of various companies in Silicon Valley and wrote a guide to building wealth and emotional well-being unlike anything else I've seen. Most books I read surrounding generating wealth are pretty redundant, but what I found by reading this book was that everything written was unique yet so simple.

[m3loria]

 . ﹙ . . . ✦ ﹚ i hope i cross your mind once in a while just so that i won't feel pathetic for thinking of you all the time. ── member 012

ぅ( FILE ONE ) ## BASIC INFORMATION

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ birth name : kristian markus li.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ chinese name : li huiying. ( 李惠英 )  ̟ ˖ ⁺ preferred name : kristian.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ name meanings : kristian. ( of scandanvian origin, meaning "follower of christ". ) markus. ( of roman origin, meaning "dedicated to mars". ) huiying. ( of chinese origin, meaning "brilliant, intelligent". )

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ nicknames : kris, kristi, mark, titi, tian, yingying ( everyone , his close friends. ) markus parkus, kristopher ( his groupmates , his friends. ) ji, jiji, anji ( his fans. ) meliora's bitchiest, complaining 101, mr whiny ( his fans. ) mr ten mil, meliora's wallet, black card extraordinaire ( his fans , netizens. ) midnight snacker ( his fans. ) huey ( his fans. )

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ date of birth : march 25, 2004.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ legal age : 20 years old.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ zodiac sign : aries.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ lunar zodiac sign : monkey.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ place of birth : los angeles, california, usa.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ hometown : los angeles, california, usa. / shanghai, the people's republic of china.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ nationality : american.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ ethnicity : chinese.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ residences : los angeles, california, usa / shanghai, the people's republic of china. ( 2004 —�� 2019 ). seoul, south korea. ( 2019 —— present ).

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ spoken languages : english ( 100% , standard english ). mandarin ( 100% , shanghai dialect ). korean ( 100% , gyeonggi dialect ). japanese ( 70% , tokyo dialect ). tagalog ( 45% , standard dialect ).

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ gender identity : cisgender male.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ pronouns : he / him.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ romantic orientation : biromantic.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ sexual orientation : bisexual.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ relationship status : taken.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ height : 186 cm ( 6'1" ).  ̟ ˖ ⁺ weight : undisclosed.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ blood type : o+.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ natural eye color : dark brown.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ natural hair color : black.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ current hair color : blonde.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ body modifications : 1 piercing ( left ear ). 5 piercings ( right ear ). 4 tattoos.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ face claim : yu zeyu (boystory).  ̟ ˖ ⁺ speaking claim : shen quanrui (zerobaseone).  ̟ ˖ ⁺ vocal claim : yu zeyu (boystory).  ̟ ˖ ⁺ dance claim : yang jungwon (enhypen).  ̟ ˖ ⁺ rap claim : yu zeyu (boystory).

ぅ( FILE TWO ) ## CAREER INFORMATION

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ stage name : jian. ( 지안 )  ̟ ˖ ⁺ explanation : he wanted a name away from his birth name, putting a huge wall between his idol life and personal life.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ agencies : louvix audio (2019 —— present). sonata media (2020 —— present).  ̟ ˖ ⁺ former agencies : n/a.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ training period : 1 year 3 months.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ years active : 2020 —— present.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ occupation : singer-songwriter. dancer. kpop idol.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ group : meliora (2020 —— present).  ̟ ˖ ⁺ debut date : may 1, 2020.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ debut age : 16 years old.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ position : lead vocalist, lead dancer, visual.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ representative color : carmine ( #d70040 )  ̟ ˖ ⁺ representative emoji : 🌹  ̟ ˖ ⁺ individual fandom name : rosethorns ( kristian sees his fans as a little bit of a double edged sword, because while he does love them, he also feels that their a little delusional )

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ instagram : .khrasn ( personal , 1924 posts , 2.2m followers , 5 following )

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ known for : being the most evil of the maknae line. the many languages up his sleeve. his love-hate relationship with his own solo fandom. only joining meliora because he was running away from his parents. his many academic accolades. being rich.. literally. pretending to hate everyone. his parents running a famous graphic design company. his two cats. auditioning because he was feeling rebellious. being a natural blonde (allegedly). constantly overdressing for the occasion. handing his members money like it's nothing. being voted the bitchiest member.

ぅ( FILE THREE ) ## PERSONAL INFORMATION

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ analyzing the mbti : infp // mediator. is someone with the introverted, intuitive, feeling, and prospecting personality traits. these rare personality types tend to be quiet, open-minded, and imaginative, and they apply a caring and creative approach to everything they do.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ strengths : open-minded, imaginative, passionate, loyal, committed, flexible.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ weaknesses : self-isolating, too eager to please, self-critical, reserved about expressing their feelings, impractical at times, emotionally vulnerable.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ family : father. mother. three older sisters. one older brother.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ family dynamics : while none of them will ever struggle financially due to the measures put up by his parents, jian's family is as dysfunctional as it gets. his parents are insane workaholics who only really interfere when they want their children for their own benefit, resorting to having house staff raise them. in all honesty, he's terrified of going back home for dinner, he's afraid everyone is going to beat each other up, but for now, his relationships with his siblings remain.. somewhat normal.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ household history : kristian was born as the youngest of five children in the frankly irritating city of los angeles in early 2004. by the time he was born, his parents had already perfected their craft of simply throwing money at their children in place of raising them. considering they had better things to do (i.e making money), they left countless house staff to raise their five children, having them grow up between america and china for most of their lives. his parents had immigrated to america in wake of their own pool of debt, working all throughout the 90s to build up their company, which they would then pour their whole souls into. after having five children in the span of eight years (and giving all of their names the same theme), they basically gave up on actually raising them. who cares if their children were emotional distressed? they had enough money to make them stop complaining. occasionally they'd be around, but mostly? they were at work slowly killing themselves. if you were to ask kristian, his parents are practically strangers, if one of his siblings were to snap, he wouldn't even be surprised.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ father : li junyu, born july 7 1969 in nanping, fujian, china, resides in los angeles, california, usa, employed as a chief executive officer, father of 5.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ mother : sun fenghua, born february 10 1969 in chengdu, sichaun, china, resides in los angeles, california, usa, employed as a chief operating officer, mother of 5.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ oldest sister : kalani isabel li, born september 6 1996 in los angeles, california, usa, resides in los angeles, california, usa, employed as a physicist.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ older sister : kaia maeve li, born december 27 1997 in los angeles, california, usa, resides in shanghai, the people's republic of china, employed as a junoir graphic designer.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ older sister : kimberly eden li, born april 12 2000 in los angeles, california, usa, resides in los angeles, california, usa, employed as a medical technician.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ older brother : kaiden xavier li, born january 17 2002 in los angeles, california, usa, resides in los angeles, california, usa, employed as a physicians assistant.

ぅ( FILE FOUR ) ## TRIVIAL INFORMATION

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ habits & mannerisms : rubbing his temples, twirling his hair around his finger, fiddling with his jewelry whenever he's anxious, writing on himself, biting his tongue, always having perfect posture, folding his arms, always holding eye contact, unconsciously mixing honorifics, mentally doing headcounts, scratching at his collarbones, shoulders, arms, etc.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ hobbies and skills : karate, chess, basketball, singing, dancing, painting, ice skating, playing the guitar, tennis, robotics, engineering, listening to music while doing chores, speaking three languages in one turn, foreign language learning, collecting jewelry charms, shopping, buying things that remind him of the members, studying different cultures and religions.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ likes : theology, psychological horror, science, engineering, antique jewelry, sunglasses, dyeing his hair, mythology, being petty, becoming a polyglot, poetry, listening to others talk, complaining about everything, slowly driving his members crazy, favoring certain members over others, roses, the sims, chocolate, cats, his cats, art museums, pissing off his parents, pissing people off, getting up to mischief, taro.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ dislikes : playing the violin, his parents, liars, louvix audio (occasionally), socializing at a certain time, playing it safe, diet culture, family reunions, netizens, wine, smoking, procrastinating, hard candy, cat haters, talking about his feelings, underdressing, acting civil around those he dislikes, his oldest sister's husband, falling behind, talking to any of his old classmates.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ phobias : n/a.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ favorite colors : dark red, rose gold.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ favorite seasons : summer, spring.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ favorite animals : bombay cats, sea otters.  ̟ ˖ ⁺ favorite numbers : 17, 25, 4.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ personal playlist : luxurious, gwen stefani. miss amor, azelia banks. killer, baby v.o.x. sixth sense, brown eyed girls. radioactive, marina and the diamonds. back to black, amy winehouse. tunnel vision, magdelena bay. endlessly, kali uchis. 7/11, beyoncé. kaleidoscope dream, miguel. i don't love you anymore, tyler the creator.

 ̟ ˖ ⁺ close friends : kim gyuvin, park gunwook, zerobaseone. baek jiheon, fromis_9. yoon seoyeon, kim chayeon, triples.

ぅ( FILE FIVE ) ## FACTUAL INFORMATION

001 ▬▬ he is the absolute worst member to go to for advice, he can barely solve his own problems, he doesn't exactly know how other people expect for him to advise them correctly.

002 ▬▬ growing up, he was busied with many extracurricular activities. activities which included playing instruments, basketball, ice skating, robotics, chess, painting, and karate.

003 ▬▬ according to his former classmates, kristian was somewhat of a "golden boy" during his school days. he had many academic achievements, was popular, was practically in every school club, was in the student council, and even had the perfect relationship. his parents had planned for him to get married right after he graduated from high school, but he broke off the relationship on his own terms. he doesn't mention his high school days a lot, he usually brushes past the questions.

004 ▬▬ he was raised christian, but these days he is nonreligious.

005 ▬▬ he did not tell anyone in his family that he was going to be an idol or even that he auditioned, he lied and said he was going to korea to study, though he was lying to get away from them in an act of rebellion, he would later attend hanlim multi arts school and graduate. he currently attends hanyang university and is studying aeronautical engineering.

006 ▬▬ he wasn't exactly close to any of his members beside the ones in his age range in the early days of meliora. it took him at least a year and a half to warm up to the older members, especially because most of them are extroverted.

007 ▬▬ he currently parents two cats. a bombay cat named luan and a burmese cat named mocha, he adopted both of them in early 2022. he technically coparents them with taro but he's usually seen with them alone.

008 ▬▬ he grew up between both la and shanghai, but he has only ever attended school in america. he usually spent most of his summers with his siblings in china, returning to the us during the closing of august.

009 ▬▬ he does not keep specific contact with most of his family members. he rarely talks to his parents as it is, but he usually does talk to his siblings whenever he can find time. he and his eldest sister, kalani, have their differences due to kristian's dislike of her husband. still, they both love each other.

010 ▬▬ he doesn't mind being called either kristian or jian, just never call him markus.

[bookaddict24-7]

New Young Adult Releases! (June 6th, 2023)

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Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know!

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New Standalones/First in a Series:

The Dos & Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar 

Always Isn’t Forever by J.C. Cervantes

Love Letters for Joy by Melissa See

The Broken Hearts Club by Susan Bishop Crispell

Ride or Die by Gail-Agnes Musikavanhu

Saint Juniper’s Folly by Alex Crespo

Darkhearts by James L. Sutter 

The Chaperone by M. Hendrix

When it All Syncs Up by Maya Ameyaw

Something More by Jackie Khalilieh

Pedro & Daniel by Federico Erebia

The Grimoire of Grave Fates by Various

The Queens of New York by E.L. Shen

At the Speed of Lies by Cindy L. Otis

The Library of the Broken Worlds by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Good as Gold by Candace Buford

Things I’ll Never Say by Cassandra Newbould

A Spark in the Cinders by Jenny Elder Moke

Our Vengeful Souls by Kristi McManus

Secret of the Moon Conch by David Bowles & Guadalupe Garcia McCall

The Secret Summer Promise by Keah Brown

New Sequels:

Some Shall Break (None Shall Sleep #2) by Ellie Marney

War Widow (Blood Scion #2) by Deborah Falaye

Wrath of the Talon (Talon #2) by Sophie Kim

Ruling Destiny (Stolen Beauty #2) by Alyson Noel

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Happy reading!

[tramsachvn]

Tóm tắt sách Lập Kế Hoạch Quản Lý Tài Chính Cá Nhân https://tramsach.vn/tom-tat-sach-lap-ke-hoach-quan-ly-tai-chinh-ca-nhan/?feed_id=769&_unique_id=65b322bb486e0

[talabib]

Get An Handle On Your Finance and Become Financially Free

A declaration of financial independence.

“Money is the most important thing in the world.” It’s a startling and borderline heretical claim. After all, we’re told time and again that you can’t buy happiness.

Well, sure – you can’t spend your way to Earthly bliss. But here’s the flipside: poverty is pretty sure to make you miserable. Far from being the root of all evil, money is the most important tool we have to improve our quality of life. 

If you want to look out for the people you love, you’ll need money – the more, the better. Want to spend more time with your kids? Ditto. How about creating time for leisure, reading, going to the theatre and discovering new cultures and countries through travel? You’ll have guessed the answer by now: money. 

That’s the philosophy of Kristy Shen, a self-made millionaire who retired at 31. In this post, we’ll be exploring how she did it. Expect plenty of unashamedly contrarian takes, left-field strategies and novel concepts. More to the point, expect to find a roadmap to wealth creation, debt eradication and financial independence. 

You’re more likely to make sound decisions if you follow the math rather than your passions.

In 2005, Steve Jobs gave a commencement speech at Stanford University. His advice to the students? “Follow your heart.” That feel-good mantra rippled around the world. Endorsed by the great and good, it soon came to feel commonsensical – why on Earth wouldn’t you follow your passions and do something you love? 

Here’s one reason: it’s often the wrong choice. 

Take the often life-defining decision students make every year about what they’re going to study. That was just what Kristy was mulling over back in 2000. She had a shortlist of three possible majors – creative writing, accounting and computer engineering. Her heart told her to go with writing; math told her to go for engineering. Kristy followed the latter’s advice. It was a good call. 

Let’s look at that math. A four-year program in Canada costs about $40,000. Professional writers fall on a spectrum between the unpublished newbie who earns zilch and established pros like Stephen King who earn millions. The average income, however, is $17,000. In 2000, the minimum wage was $6.85 an hour or $14,248 a year. That’s what anyone without a degree could expect to earn, so subtracting that sum from $17,000 told Kristy how much a writing degree was worth: a measly $2,752. 

An accounting degree, by contrast, was worth around $24,000 more than the minimum wage. Computer engineering meanwhile netted you a whopping $40,000 more every year. 

But hold up. You can’t put a price on happiness – surely dreams are worth pursuing whatever the bottom line says, right? Well, not necessarily. After all, if you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, you’re unlikely to wake up excited about your work, especially if it calls for creativity. Passions also change over time; a 2013 study published in Science found that the dreams of nearly all of the 19,000 participants had changed significantly over the previous decade. 

 And that’s why it pays to follow the math. Just ask Kristy. Today, she’s a professional writer. The reason she got there is simple: her well-paying engineering job meant she wasn’t reliant on writing to make the rent. Money, in other words, provided her with the foundation which eventually allowed her to pursue her true dream. 

Kristy’s Chinese heritage taught her that debt is a trap to be avoided at all costs. 

Did you know that on average Chinese citizens save 38 percent of their income? Americans, by contrast, squirrel away 3.9 percent of what they earn while the Japanese keep just 2.8 percent for a rainy day. So what’s going on – are the Chinese just inherently frugal? 

Not really. Even before the communists came to power in 1949, corruption was endemic in China. Combine that with the absence of official credit channels like bank loans and you had the makings of a culture which ran on favors. When folks wanted to buy something big, they had a simple choice: take on an onerous personal debt and put themselves in someone else’s power, or save up until they had enough cash to buy it outright. That’s why, historically, debt in China is understood not so much as an “IOU” but an “I own you.” 

If you’re Chinese like Kristy, that history means you’re basically programmed to avoid debt like the plague. But here’s the thing: when you crunch the numbers, it turns out that’s a pretty good attitude to adopt wherever you live. 

Take the Rule of 72, an insight first formulated by a fifteenth-century Italian mathematician called Luca Pacioli. Here’s how it works. To work out how long it takes for your investment to double, divide 72 by the return rate of your investment. So let’s say you’re getting six percent on your $1,000 investment. Seventy-two divided by six equals 12. This last number is the number of years you’ll need in order for that grand to compound into $2,000. Over time, the balance increases. The money you make makes more money.

If you’re an investor, the Rule of 72 is your friend; if you’re a debtor, it’s your worst enemy. Say you buy a $1,000 TV on credit. Typically, the interest rate will be around 20 percent. Divide 72 by 20 and you get 3.6 – that’s how long it’ll take your debt to double! After seven years, it will have almost quadrupled. 

When you put it like that, the Chinese custom of paying off personal debts during the New Year on pain of being cursed with 12 months of misfortune starts to make a lot of sense. But don’t worry – the idea here isn’t to scare you.

Consumer debt is a financial crisis which needs to be addressed immediately. 

Debt is a blood-sucking vampire. It bleeds you dry. Worse, it leaves you terrified of the sunlight, trapping you indoors in an endless cycle of work and repayment. If you want financial independence, you’ll have to put a stake through this bad boy’s heart. 

Consumer debt has the highest interest rates, so that’s where you should start. The first thing you’ll need to do is cut your expenses to the bone. It’s painful but essential. As we’ve seen, the Rule of 72 means your debts grow at an ungodly rate. If you’re saddled with a 10 or 20 percent interest rate, there’s no point trying to save or invest your hard-earned cash – there’s no getting in front of debt. Do whatever it takes, whether it’s finding a side hustle, renting out a spare room, or saying “no” to dinners out. 

Next, you’ll need to prioritize how you repay your loans by putting them in order based on interest rate, from highest to lowest. When you’re surrounded by hungry vampires, it’s always a good idea to kill the one with the biggest appetite first. That means paying the minimum monthly repayment on all your cards to avoid defaulting and throwing everything that you don’t need for essentials like rent at the nastiest bloodsucker. Paying off your smallest loan might make you feel good, but you’re not trying to massage your ego here – you’re fighting for your freedom.

The final step is refinancing your loans. Lots of credit card companies allow you to transfer balances between different cards and pay zero percent interest for a certain amount of time. That’s usually a year. If you’re sure you can use these so-called “grace periods” to pay off a loan completely, use this option. Bear in mind, however, that these companies are gambling on you failing to do so, which will allow them to jack up the interest rate and screw you. 

Remember, trying to gain financial independence while carrying around debt is like running a marathon with a backpack full of bricks – it’ll sap your strength before you’ve even run a mile. If you want to grow your assets, you need to kill that vampire!

If you want to buy happiness, spend your cash on experiences rather than stuff. 

What does cocaine have to do with shopping? Surprisingly, quite a lot. Understanding that connection holds the key to getting the most out of the money you decide to spend on luxuries. 

But before we get to that, let’s talk about the brain. When something good happens, the “pleasure chemical” dopamine surges through your mesolimbic pathway, essentially your brain’s main highway, to the nucleus accumbens – a kind of dopamine processing plant. A substance like cocaine triggers this surge – but so does splurging on a Gucci handbag. In both cases, the reward is a massive neural high. 

Here’s where it gets interesting. As a 2006 article in the journal NeuroImage demonstrated, the nucleus accumbens doesn’t just react to positive stimuli – it also reacts to the expectation of those stimuli. In other words, pleasure isn’t just about absolute dopamine levels but how much dopamine our brains expect is on the way. 

Unfortunately for cocaine addicts and shopaholics, the brain keeps ratcheting its expectation levels upwards. That’s why people need ever-larger amounts of cocaine and ever-more expensive handbags – they’re forever chasing that unrepeatable first high. 

That means you’re not going to enjoy yourself even if you’re wealthy enough to fund your shopping habits. This might sound like the preamble to an old-fashioned moral lecture about how money can’t buy happiness, but it’s really not. Truth be told, it can. It just boils down to what you’re spending it on. 

Not all spending is created equal; some kinds go further than others. When Kristy started her blog and began receiving emails from her readers, she noticed a trend. The more stuff people owned, the unhappier they were. Folks who owned less and used their money to buy experiences, by contrast, were pretty happy with their lot in life.

That’s because possessions give you an initial burst of dopamine which fades as your nucleus accumbens acclimatizes. The pleasure that comes with learning new skills or traveling doesn’t fade nearly as quickly. As long as you practice now and again, you’ll always be able to play the piano, and those holiday snaps from Rome will always take you back to that week you spent in the Eternal City with your husband. 

Buying property isn’t the failsafe investment it’s made out to be. 

Lots of folks are cautious about borrowing money, but they usually make one big exception: a mortgage. Conventional wisdom says buying a house isn’t just a rite of passage into adulthood but a wise investment in the future. After all, you can always sell at a profit, right? 

Well, no. In reality, property comes with all sorts of hidden costs. Let’s talk numbers.   

According to the US Census Bureau, the average family stays in their home for 9 years. Typically, these families invest in brick and mortar in the expectation that property prices will rise. Historically, that rate rises and falls with inflation, but for simplicity’s sake, let’s assume here that prices increase by a steady 6 percent every year. 

Our family – let’s call them the Smiths – buy their house for $500,000. Add 9 times 6 percent – 9 years at 6 percent inflation – to that and you get $844,739. That leaves a tidy profit of $344,739. 

Not so fast. To buy the property, the Smiths need a title search from the land registry office. That’s $1,000. The title recording fee costs $150. The lawyer who processes those documents charges another grand. 

Then there’s insurance. Rates vary across the US, but 0.5 per cent of the house’s value is pretty common. Paid annually for 9 years, that comes to $22,500. A property tax of 1 percent per annum adds another $45,000 to the bill. Meanwhile, realtors advise setting aside at least one percent of a home’s value every year for maintenance, which is what the Smiths do. That’s another $45,000. 

Selling isn’t cheap either. A commission of 6 percent of the final sale price clocks in at $50,684. The land transfer tax is 1.2 percent, so that’s $10,137. Oh and there’s another lawyer, who also bills for $1,000. 

That brings us to $175,571 – 51 percent of the Smiths’ profit. But we haven’t talked about interest yet. Like most families, the Smiths paid a ten percent down payment in cash and borrowed the rest from their bank. Over 9 years, they have paid $162,033 in interest. 

That’s a whopping 98 percent of the sale price. And remember, we started by assuming that the value of the Smiths’ house would grow by 6 percent every year. That’s well above the actual inflation rate in the US, which is about 2 percent. In the real world, the Smiths would have lost money!

Use the “Rule of 150” to decide whether to buy a house or use your money for something else.

Previously, we crunched the numbers and saw that the cost of buying, owning and selling a house outweighed the returns in the case of a fictional American family. The moral of the story, however, isn’t that you should never buy a house – it’s that you need to work out if that’s a good call in your situation.

Ask a realtor and they’ll swear it’s all very simple. If the monthly mortgage payment equals the rent on a similar house or apartment, you’re better off buying rather than giving your money to a landlord. Look more closely, however, and you’ll find it’s a little more complicated. 

That’s where the Rule of 150 comes in. This is a tool to help you compare the true cost of owning a home with what you would be saving by not renting. Here’s how it works:

Over the first 9 years of a standard 30-year mortgage, only about 50 percent of your payments go towards the actual loan; paying off interest on that loan accounts for the other 50 percent. Now, additional ownership costs like maintenance and insurance are roughly equal to the interest on a standard mortgage during those first 9 years, so that’s another 50 percent. So to calculate your actual monthly payments, you’ll need to multiply your monthly mortgage payment by 150 percent.

That’s how much your home will actually cost per month once you’ve accounted for all your expenses. So say you’re looking at a monthly mortgage bill of $1,500. When you multiply that by 150 percent, you get your true cost – $2,250. If your Rule of 150 monthly cost is higher than your rent, it makes sense to stick it out in the rental market; if it’s lower, you might want to think about buying. 

When Kristy first considered buying a house, she was living in Toronto, Canada’s most expensive city. Prices were out of control and one-person apartments were going for a million dollars apiece. After applying the Rule of 150, she quickly realized that there was no way she was going to be able to buy her own home. 

Index investing is less risky than betting on individual companies. 

The American business guru Robert Kiyosaki once remarked that poor people buy stuff, the middle class buys houses and rich people buy investments. What he meant is that rich people put their money into things that make them more money. But you don’t have to be a multi-millionaire to follow their lead. 

Broadly speaking, there are two ways of investing. The first is to do what Wall Street whizzes do – spend a ton of cash on research and fancy algorithms to pick the best companies. The second variant is cheaper, simpler and, most importantly, less risky. 

That’s called index investing. Think of it as betting on the casino rather than individual horses. It doesn’t matter who wins the race – the house always makes money. Let’s unpack that. 

An index is a list of companies ranked by market capitalization, or the overall value of their public shares. When you invest in an index, you’re effectively betting on every one of those listed firms. Because the index contains the stock of multiple high-performing companies, a single failure won’t wipe you out. The only way you can go bust is if every name on your index simultaneously files for bankruptcy. 

That’s highly unlikely. Why? Well, index investing has an elegant built-in barometer. If a company is worth more, the index automatically picks up more shares in that company, and vice versa. If a tech giant releases a world-beating smartphone and its stock soars, the index buys more shares. If a car company runs into trouble and their stock plummets, the index dumps shares. And when a company drops in value from number 500 to number 501, it’s kicked off the index entirely. 

This is a highly intuitive way of gauging the stock market as a whole, which is why major indexes like the S&P 500 – a list of the 500 biggest companies – work like this. 

Index investing is also good for your wallet. The simplicity of the concept means there’s no need to pay for a hands-on fund manager. In the US, for example, a typical index fund charges fees of just 0.04 percent – 25 times lower than what you’d pay for an actively managed fund. The sales commission? $0. If you ever want to see your bank manager sweat, head to your local branch and ask to have your savings put into index funds!

Early retirement doesn’t depend on how much you make – it’s all about how much you save. 

Chances are you’ve idly daydreamed about early retirement. Most folks quickly shelve that idea when they take a look at their bank balance, though. If you’re not raking it in, you just can’t afford to stop working before your mid-sixties, right? 

Wrong. Your time to retirement doesn’t depend on how much you earn but how much you save. If you’re making and spending a million bucks a year, you’re entirely dependent on your job and won’t ever be able to retire. If you make $40,000 a year and spend $30,000, on the other hand, you already have a healthy savings rate of 25 percent. 

The “normal” retirement age is 65 because most people save between five and ten percent of their salaries and have investment portfolios yielding an average of six to seven percent annually. Plug those numbers into a spreadsheet and you’re looking at 40 to 45 years of work. 

The way to reduce that time is to up how much you’re saving. This does two things. Firstly, it cuts your living expenses, which in turn cuts the size of your target portfolio – the amount of cash you’ll need to retire. Secondly, it pumps more money into that portfolio. Think of it as a race: you’re moving the finish closer while also running faster. Even relatively small changes have a big impact. Boosting your savings rate from ten to 15 percent, for example, shaves 5 years off your working life! 

Still not convinced? Well, okay, let’s take a look at the case of a fictional couple we’ll call Paul and Jillian. Together, their annual earnings come to $62,175. That’s the median family income in the US. Deduct 15.2 percent for taxes and you’re left with $52,724.40. 

Now imagine Paul and Jillian decided to turbocharge their savings rate. They rent a small apartment in an affordable city, cook at home and use car-sharing services like Zipcar. All in all, they pay $40,000 to cover their costs and put $12,724.40 into their portfolio every year. 

Let’s lowball the interest rate they’re getting on that and say it’s 6 percent. Even if they never get promotions or better-paying jobs, Paul and Jillian would have a million dollars in 30 years. If they started at 24, they could retire at 54 – 11 years ahead of schedule!

Reducing the size of your target portfolio makes early retirement more manageable. 

How much do you need to save to retire early? That’s exactly what researchers asked in a landmark study published in the investment journal AAII in 1998. 

They used stock market data to simulate what would happen to a group of fictional retirees who withdrew different percentages of their portfolios every year after retirement. Would “Alan,” for example, make it over the line or run out of cash if he withdrew 10 percent of his $500,000 nest egg every year? 

Here’s the answer: Your portfolio is self-sustaining when your annual living expenses are no greater than 4 percent of its total value. Economists call that a safe withdrawal rate. This number allows you to determine the size of your target portfolio – simply multiply your annual expenses by 25. If you need $40,000 a year, you’re looking at a $1,000,000 portfolio.

That’s a lot of cash, right? Sure, but don’t let that put you off – there are also alternative strategies. Take partial financial independence. This gives you the benefits of financial independence, such as flexibility and having more free time, and it’s achievable with a smaller portfolio. 

Say you earn the US median family income of $62,175 and need $40,000 a year to cover your living costs. If you shift to part-time work and earn $28,000 after tax, you’ll have an annual shortfall of $12,000 in your budget. Multiply that number by 25 and you have your new target portfolio – $300,000. Save that amount and you can enter semi-retirement!

Then there’s geographic arbitrage. This is the idea that you can earn income in a country with a strong currency like Germany or the US and retire in a country with a weaker currency like Mexico or Thailand. When Kristy and her husband Bryce visited Vietnam, for example, they realized that you can live a luxurious life there for around $1,130 a month. 

If you’re earning the local average salary of $150 a month, that’s unaffordable; if you’re earning the average US monthly salary, however, it’s well within your reach. So what does your target portfolio look like now? Multiply $1,130 by 12, which gives you $13,560. Then multiply that by 25 and you have $339,000.

So there you have it – a ton of tricks to help launch your journey to financial independence. All you have to do now is ask yourself a simple question. What’s more important – accumulating expensive things or your freedom? Answer that honestly and your money decisions will become clear.

Getting a handle on your finances comes down to one basic principle: follow the math. That means ignoring feel-good advice like choosing to study a subject you love rather than one that will bring in a salary you can actually live on. It also means bucking social trends if they’re not right for you. Crunch the numbers and you might just discover that you’re better off investing your savings in the stock market rather than buying a house and saddling yourself with a lifetime of debt. Why? Well, if you’re growing your money while avoiding ruinous interest rates, you’re setting yourself up for financial independence. And that means you’re one step closer to the ultimate dream: early retirement. 

Action plan: Make invisible waste visible.

Consumerism promises happiness but it’s usually little more than a temporary fix. What it does generate is waste. A lot of waste. Take clothing. According to the Guardian, Americans throw away 11 million tons of clothes every year. So here’s how to eliminate waste in your own wardrobe: make it visible. Simply push all the clothes in your closet to the left, and place an empty hanger with a piece of masking tape in the middle. Everything you wear from now on goes on the right of the marked hanger after it’s been washed. Over time, this reveals how often you use different items. On the right, are the superstars of your wardrobe; in the middle, pieces you do wear but infrequently; and on the left, clothes you never take out at all – the waste. 

[harrypotterhousequotes]

GRYFFINDOR: “I’ve forgotten to bring my fear.” -Bryce Leung + Kristy Shen (Little Miss Evil)

[averytiredbitch]

MK OC Randomness part 5

listen... at this point, what are you expecting from me? Actual work? No.. Never. Now enjoy the content.

Megumi: Squiggles you son of a bitch! How are you still alive? I saw you go over that cliff! No one could've survived that fall

Squiggles: *hisses*

Megumi: You sly bastard, I would've never thought of that.

Tremor: I I I'm sorry, can she actually speak snake, or is she just messing with us?

Ayeka: Knowing her, it could very well be both

------

Kano: I want half

Klaudia: I'm sorry, what?

Kano: I did half the work, so I want half the code.

Klaudia: This isn't some material I can cut in half, Kano. It's a bunch of 1s and 0s, it's not the simple.

Kano: Then I want the 1s.

Klaudia: Fuck you, I want the 1s!

------

Melantha: Well, you did just kill somebody. Shouldn't you at least feel something?

Nozomi: Oh feelings? Yeah, I don't have those anymore. Went cold turkey.

Melantha: What!?

------

Mr. Hasashi: Oh um, hello little girl. How did you get into our house?

Young Michiko: I I do not remember

Young Hanzo: Oh yeah! I'm sure that'll hold up with the Grandmaster!

------

Old LK GM: Look. Let's just cut right to the chase here Shen. What's it gonna take for you to say yes? Money, items, Michiko?

Michiko: Excuse me!?

Old LK GM: What? It's a compliment

Michiko: Wow, Grandmaster, I didn't think you knew any magic. But look at you, turning women into trophies.

------

Fuyuka: On an unrelated note, are you at all concerned about the delight your daughter seems to be taking in all this?

Little Illythia: Go for the eyes mama! That is their weak point!

Onaga: Not really. Why?

------

Charu: Just stay calm! You have everything you need to beat it.

Cacti: The power to believe in myself?

Charu: No, a knife! Stab it!

------

Sektor: What would you of told dad of I died!

Michiko: Hey father, I got some good news and some bad news.

Michiko: The good news is we finally got room for that operation room you wanted.~

------

Shariah: *gets stabbed* HRKK! *Through gritted teeth* This is the greatest day of my life.

Shao Kahn: Do you mind!? I am trying to kill you!

------

Shao Kahn: Enough! How dare you mock me in such a manor!

Nozomi: Well, how would you like me to mock you? I take requests.

------

Kronika: How did you know we were lying?

Fuyuka: Oh that's simple. I'm not an idiot.

Geras from the magma mold he's being held in: Yep, that'll do it.

------

Klaudia: Ok, sweetie, I'm gonna let you in a little known secret of comedy.

Klaudia: Bad things, aren't funny when they happen to mommy.

Little Ash: What about daddy?

Klaudia: Oh daddy's fair game. Go for the throat.

------

Ryder: Look. Do you wanna keep giving me shit? Or do you wanna figure a way out of here?

Red: Oh don't think I can't do both. I am quiet the multitasker!

------

Klaudia over the phone: Bust his kneecaps, then he'll talk. I gotta go, I'm in a meeting.

Klaudia: *hangs up the phone* So you said Ash was into finger painting? That's adorable.

------

Melantha: Nozomi wake up!

Nozomi: Five more minutes.

Melantha: You've been in a coma for two years!

Nozomi: Ok? Two more minutes.

------

Krow: Would you rather, kill Gae or-

Shinnok: Yes kill him!

Krow: I didn't say the other-

Shinnok: I don't need to hear it.

Gae: I'm feeling a little unsafe.

------

Kristy: It's like you're giving me the cold shoulder.

Kabal: Ok? You me to just heat it up for you?

------

Symphonia: Now you sing!

Someone random: HOW BOUT YOU SING? IT'S WHAT I PAYED YOU FOR!

Symphonia: *taking the microphone back* Alright tough crowd

------

Mavado: *Blows Kristy a kiss*

Kristy: *catches it then flushes it down the toilet*

------

Reiko: *Blows Nozomi a kiss*

Nozomi: *catches it then puts it in a blender*

------

Kamden: Drive!

Kristy: Why?

Kamden: I just robbed the bank! Drive!

Kristy: You what!?

Kamden: *holding up a pen* I took their pen from the front desk! Drive!

------

Reptile: Wanna go out?

Nyx: Oh sure! *starts leaving*

Reptile: Where are you going?

Nyx: Out! Farther away from you the better!

------

Some random dude to Satoru: Hey I like you. Let's go out sometime

Satoru, pulling out an adoption paper: Sign this for me will you?

Random dude: Uh. What is this?

Satoru: It's an adoption paper. I'm going to adopt you so you can never ask me that again

Random dude: You could've said no!

Satoru: *vaguely gesturing to his Ace ring and Aro hoodie* You could've read the signs!

------

Megumi: There's blood on your pants.

Terra: Don't call the cops alright?!

Megumi: Here's a tampon- wait what!?

Terra: Right! My period! I didn't kill anyone!

------

Tremor: What kind of spider is that?

Ayeka: I think it's a daddy long leg.

Tremor: Ok it's a good looking spider, but I wouldn't call it daddy.

Ayeka: Wait, what!?

------

Little Satoru: I have a gift for you Uncle Shi. *hands over a muffin*

Sektor: *smacks it away* I'm not stupid you piece of garbage!

Little Satoru: What?

Sektor: If you want me dead, let's fight right now!

@feistyfandomthings

@deepinthefog

@doodlewagonbug

@yuvononik

@yuvon

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@maddenedroses

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Download PDF Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required PDF BY Kristy Shen

Download Or Read PDF Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required - Kristy Shen Free Full Pages Online With Audiobook.

  [*] Download PDF Here => Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required

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Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required

Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required

From two leaders of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, a bold, contrarian guide to retiring at any age, with a reproducible formula to financial independence A bull***t-free guide to growing your wealth, retiring early, and living life on your own terms Kristy Shen retired with a million dollars at the age of thirty-one, and she did it without hitting a home run on the…

[dailystraitsdotcom]

Check out our latest podcast episode with Canadian authors Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung of the international bestseller ‘Quit Like A Millionaire.’ In this episode we unpacked the lives of these famous bloggers who ditch the rat race at 31, only to travel the world as millionaires. To know more on how they are fairing post pandemic - watch and listen to the episode at DailyStraits.com, through the link in our bio or by downloading our app on the Google Play Store or the Apple store. #FIRE #FireMovement #FinancialIndependence #RetireEarly #FI #PersonalFinance #Finance #Authors #Canada #Australia #Malaysia #Thailand #Croatia #Podcast #Podcasting #StockMarkets #ETFs #Funds #ExchangeTradedFunds #ShareMarkets #Money #Millionaire #CashIsKing #China #Blogger #KristyAndBryce #KristyShen #BryceLeung #JuneRamli #DailyStraits (at Croatia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CcPUKBTrayw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Jubilarse como un millonario: No se requieren trucos, suerte o fondos fiduciarios

Jubilarse como un millonario: No se requieren trucos, suerte o fondos fiduciarios

Quit Like a Millionaire  es una guía audaz y sensata para administrar su dinero y hacer crecer su patrimonio. Basándose en el enfoque matemáticamente probado de Kristy Shen para ahorrar, invertir y gastar, estos consejos financieros no solo lo liberarán de las deudas, sino que lo encaminarán hacia la independencia financiera. ¿La mejor noticia? No es necesario que […] The post Jubilarse como un…

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Quit Like a Millionaire Summary: Key Takeaways

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hal tabhath ean hdha alkitab?  Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required By Kristy Shen

 Book Excerpt :

From two leaders of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, a bold, contrarian guide to retiring at any age, with a reproducible formula to financial independence A bull***t-free guide to growing your wealth, retiring early, and living life on your own termsKristy Shen retired with a million dollars at the age of thirty-one, and she did it without hitting a home run on the stock market, starting the next Snapchat in her garage, or investing in hot real estate. Learn how to cut down on spending without decreasing your quality of life, build a million-dollar portfolio, fortify your investments to survive bear markets and black-swan events, and use the 4 percent rule and the Yield Shield--so you can quit the rat race forever. Not everyone can become an entrepreneur or a real estate baron; the rest of us need Shen's mathematically proven approach to retire decades before sixty-five.

 >>> START READING NOW

"This book is available for download in a number of formats - including epub, pdf, azw, mobi and more. You can also read the full text online using our Ereader."

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Esteu buscant aquest llibre?  Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required By Kristy Shen

 Book Excerpt :

From two leaders of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, a bold, contrarian guide to retiring at any age, with a reproducible formula to financial independence A bull***t-free guide to growing your wealth, retiring early, and living life on your own termsKristy Shen retired with a million dollars at the age of thirty-one, and she did it without hitting a home run on the stock market, starting the next Snapchat in her garage, or investing in hot real estate. Learn how to cut down on spending without decreasing your quality of life, build a million-dollar portfolio, fortify your investments to survive bear markets and black-swan events, and use the 4 percent rule and the Yield Shield--so you can quit the rat race forever. Not everyone can become an entrepreneur or a real estate baron; the rest of us need Shen's mathematically proven approach to retire decades before sixty-five.

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cercate stu libru?  Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required By Kristy Shen

 Book Excerpt :

From two leaders of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, a bold, contrarian guide to retiring at any age, with a reproducible formula to financial independence A bull***t-free guide to growing your wealth, retiring early, and living life on your own termsKristy Shen retired with a million dollars at the age of thirty-one, and she did it without hitting a home run on the stock market, starting the next Snapchat in her garage, or investing in hot real estate. Learn how to cut down on spending without decreasing your quality of life, build a million-dollar portfolio, fortify your investments to survive bear markets and black-swan events, and use the 4 percent rule and the Yield Shield--so you can quit the rat race forever. Not everyone can become an entrepreneur or a real estate baron; the rest of us need Shen's mathematically proven approach to retire decades before sixty-five.

 >>> START READING NOW

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How Freelancers Can Catch FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)

How Freelancers Can Catch FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)

Millennials around the world are facing bleak job prospects and a world economy in near shambles from the COVID-19 pandemic. Naturally, the idea of living off investments sounds pretty good right now. Personal finance has long talked about the idea of becoming financially independent, meaning not owing debt and having your investments cover your living expenses. But now there’s a millennial twist on it: retiring early. Put together, you get FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)

Once the domain of employees tired of their 9-5 jobs who want to travel more, FIRE is creeping into all sectors of the working world. With more people going into freelancing due to the pandemic – on top of the 55 million+ freelancers that are already out there – it’s high time we had the FIRE conversation from the perspective of freelancing.

What is FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)?

FIRE is made up of two core principles: becoming financially independent (FI) and retiring early (RE). It sounds simple, but the community is wildly splintered.

The definition of financial independence is largely accepted as having investments producing enough income to cover your living expenses. That could mean simply survival expenses of food and shelter all the way to living a lavish lifestyle – it all depends on the individual.

The definition of retiring early, however, is wildly up for debate. Personal finance guru Erving says she hates the concept of FIRE for this exact reason. She believes it’s a huge mistake for young people to take themselves out of the workforce during what would be peak earning years. Interestingly, though, many FIRE advocates agree with her.

Take Kristy Shen, aka FIRE Cracker from Millennial Revolution, a Toronto engineer who FIRE’d along with her husband a few years ago. She was livid that Orman implied FIRE advocates don’t understand compound interest or never want to work again in their lives. On the contrary, the “RE” in FIRE is often understood not as never working, but only working on what you want to. For Kristy, that’s writing. She and her husband wrote Quit Like a Millionaire and have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars writing over the years since FIRE. So much for never working again.

The origins of FIRE and the unique road of freelancing

“I realized the traditional rulebook of life: 1) get a job 2) buy a house 3) be loyal to a company and work until you are 65 and 4) retire with a pension, was broken,” said Shen. “Jobs are no longer stable, houses are no longer affordable, and jobs with pensions are rarer than unicorns.”a freelancer who hit FIRE at age 25, couldn’t agree more. He sees himself as incredibly risk averse, so FIRE was his way “to make income unnecessary” in his life. Talk about risk reduction.

“I work full time and freelance,” she said. “I freelance to pursue my passions (blogging, podcasting, speaking, teaching) and also to build a business so that I can eventually quit my 9-5.”

FIRE was originally developed by people who hated their 9-5 jobs and wanted financial freedom to work on passion projects. So where do freelancers fit into the mix? It gets a bit complicated when you consider that freelancers have inconsistent income and a different tax situation. Those two seemingly small things can change the whole FIRE formula for freelancers, so it’s critical to look at it from that unique angle.

Step 1: Know what kind of FIRE you want

FIRE fundamentally means having enough income from investments that you don’t need income from labor to live. The implied second part is reaching this milestone as early as possible in life, both to benefit from compound interest longer and to enjoy “retirement” for a longer period of time.

Within the financial independence retire early movement, there are three key categories:

Lean FIRE

Fat FIRE

Coast FIRE

Lean FIRE means you cover your essentials with your investments: food, transportation, lodging, and healthcare. That’s it. People who hit this level of FIRE often quit a job they hate but may choose to continue working on passion projects or, as many like Shen have already, become bloggers about their FIRE journey.

Fat FIRE means having enough tucked away for a comfortable lifestyle involving travel, meals out, and more refined lodgings or transportation. What you put into Fat FIRE entirely depends on your lifestyle choices – for some that means vacations, for others it’s a nice car, and for others it’s fancy steak dinners. It’s your choice.

Coast FIRE means you no longer have to actively put money into your investments in order to reach your retirement goals.. For example, if you have $300,000 in investments at an annual compound interest rate of 5%, it will hit $1,000,000 in 25 years. So if you want to retire at 65, your “Coast FIRE” number and date is $300,000 by age 40.

FIRE advocates will often tell you that a huge part of picking your FIRE strategy is also understanding your debt situation. Then, of course, getting out of debt as quickly as possible.

One FIRE journeyer who runs the account ForBetterOrWorth on Instagram, said that’s where his FIRE journey started.

“Our journey to FIRE started with becoming debt free and then figuring out what to do with all that money that used to be debt repayment,” he said.

Step 2: Identify your FIRE number

This is simple math. Once you know what kind of FIRE you want, you simply have to start the calculations.

Here’s what you do:

A) Make a list of all the monthly expenses you will have

From housing and healthcare to travel and dining out. You can also make different models based on Lean and Fat FIRE, if you want to see how the expenses shake out.

Let’s say this is $5,000 per month.

B) Multiply the total monthly expenses by 12, so you have your annual expenses.

That makes $60,000 per year.

C) Add a cushion just in case – usually 10-25% of the total value.

At 20%, that’s $72,000 per year you need investments to generate.

D) Divide the number by 4% (or 0.04 on a calculator), which is known as the “safe withdrawal rate.” (SWR).

The concept of the SWR is that you can draw that percentage each year without ever touching your investment principal. That means the FIRE fund will last, theoretically, forever (PS, this is how rich people live almost all the time, earning money from dividends and assets instead of their labor).

You would need about $1,800,000 in assets to produce $72,000 in annual income.

This is also when you start to realize how small changes can have a serious impact in your FIRE goals.

Let’s say you reduce monthly expenses by $500 per month – to only $4,500 instead of $5,000. That means your new FIRE number is only $1,620,000 at 4% withdrawal. By removing $500 a month from your expenses, you don’t have to save an extra $180,000! Also keep in mind that you don’t have to budget for putting money into savings, since you will have this covered already with FIRE.

This is why many people who chase FIRE aim for the lowest possible monthly expenses, so that FIRE is easier to hit. Take Brian Groat, for instance, who hit his FIRE number of $600,000. He only needed $2,000 a month for his personal Lean FIRE, which was a key reason he was able to hit it so young in life.

Many others choose $1,000,000 as the start of FIRE. Shen did this when she FIRE’d, and new FIRE chasers like Torres-Rodriguez picked the same number.

For C, the anonymous poster behind ForBetterOrWorth, $1 million is just the baseline.

“Right now, $1.5MM even though it’s up for debate,” he said. “Once we hit the $1MM it will definitely be a chance to level set and see if we need to readjust. It’s definitely going to be a million at least!”

At the end of the day, it’s really up to you.

Step 3: Choose your investment vehicles

Tax sheltered investment vehicles are favored by the rich and by FIRE chasers. It seems whenever a country offers tax-advantaged accounts, FIRE chasers use them.

all Canadian. As such, they used accounts like RRSP (registered retirement savings plans) and TFSAs (tax free savings accounts). Torres-Rodriguez and ForBetterOrWorth are American and use 401Ks and IRAs, the American equivalents.

Other accounts depend on your personal situation.

Kinsella and ForBetterOrWorth both have kids. As a result, Kinsella uses RESPs (registered education savings plans) because the Canadian government matches a lot of your deposits. ForBetterOrWorth uses a 529 plan, the American equivalent of an RESP.

Real estate, on the other hand, is a tense subject in the FIRE community. It can provide a lot of passive income when done but can also cost a lot to maintain. Torres-Rodriguez said she “will be adding real estate to my portfolio this year.” Groat, on the other hand, said he used to dabble in real estate but doesn’t anymore.

Step 4: Prepare for freelancer taxes

Freelancing is more complicated when it comes to taxes, but that provides a unique advantage. One big question to answer, though, is whether to operate as a sole proprietorship or incorporate. While the decision is personal, other freelance FIRE chasers suggest incorporation.

“You’ll get a mix of opinions, but I chose to incorporate right off the bat,” said Kinsella. “Keeping business and personal separate has helped me treat the two the way they need to be. Personal is where I spend time planning for FIRE. The business I treat like I work for someone else. It’s a source of income that I also happen to run.”

“It’s going to be different for everybody,” said Groat. “But you want to look at incorporating instead of being a sole proprietorship when it makes sense for you.”

The next thing is to plan for reducing taxes as much as possible – something that using tax-advantaged investment accounts already helps with.

“As a high income earner, I maximize tax savings by maxing out my workplace and solo 401Ks and HSA [Health Savings Account] to reduce my taxable income,” said Torres-Rodriguez.

While this extra planning can be a nuisance, Shen noted freelancers have a lot more flexibility in the end.

“You have the flexibility of ramping up your earnings and investing more money than an employee could,” said Shen. “You can also write off expenses, which enables you to optimize your taxes.”

Step 5: Track your expenses

Tracking expenses is not necessary, but actively encouraged for FIRE chasers. It’s not just the extra coffee that will derail your FIRE plans, but the fact that it’s easy to let spending get away from you if you don’t keep an eye on it.

As for tools, though, the answer is pretty simple: Excel wins across the board. As Shen put succinctly, “I love spreadsheets.”

For folks that don’t like Excel, Personal Capital and  were two tools mentioned by FIRE chasers as helpful for them.

Step 6: Plan for inconsistent income

As mentioned in the tax planning section, freelancers have inconsistent income – it’s a simple reality of freelancing.

For freelancers chasing FIRE, there are two risk mitigation strategies you can use:

Retainer versus growth: Try to find a client on retainer that pays enough to cover your living expenses. Everything else goes to FIRE.

Start an emergency fund: Give yourself 3-6 months of expenses sitting in cash (or a high interest savings account) so if the business goes south for a bit, you won’t have to stop your FIRE contributions.

Step 7: Avoid FIRE pitfalls specific to freelancers

When talking to the FIRE chasers, six key pitfalls came up that are unique to freelancers.

1 – Charge what you’re worth

“Not charging enough or not charging money soon enough,” said Groat, talking about the key pitfalls to avoid. “A lot of freelancers charge an hourly rate, whatever their salaried income was plus $5,” which he says is “disastrous.” He recommends your freelancing rate be double whatever an employee would earn for the same work.

2 – Have a contract

A solid freelance contract gets you out of a whole assortment of problems. It governs work scope, payment terms, deadlines, late fees, and more. Since it’s a legal document, it tends to keep clients more in line than a simple handshake agreement. And if you ever needed to go to court, you have the contract to back you up.

3 – Know difference between cash flow and wealth building

“As a freelancer, you want to focus on cash flow and wealth building as two different things,” said Groat.

Cash flow is the money coming in and going out of your business each month – salary plus other expenses. Wealth building is the money put aside to buy assets. Don’t mistake a good month revenue-wise as getting you closer to financial independence, retire early. The real key is investing as much of your money as possible.

4 – Ignore things and people that detract you from your goal

When you start pursuing FIRE, a lot of people will have a lot of opinions (especially Suze Orman, apparently). But you have to simply ignore and push through.

“People will second guess you and try to talk you out of it,” said ForBetterOrWorth. “But go for it and keep going. It takes time for your investments to compound, but once you start to see that – it’s GAME OVER!”

5 – Make sure you’re disciplined

It’s not just inconsistent income – freelancing is a bumpy ride. There are many things that could derail you or force a pivot. The key is to just be ready.

“That’s why you’ll have to be very disciplined in investing consistently, since you can’t just put in the same amount of money every two weeks like you would with a steady paycheck,” said Chen.

6 – You don’t need to stop freelancing post-FIRE

Freelancing is one of the most free jobs in the world – it’s literally in the name. So after hitting FIRE, don’t worry about needing to send a goodbye email to your clients.

“Just because you’re FI doesn’t mean you have to be RE,” said Groat.

Step 8: Chasing financial independence retire early doesn’t mean ignoring fun

There’s a misconception that FIRE chasers are paupers, scrooges, and otherwise very very cheap people. This is not true. While you can get to FIRE by scrimping every penny, the majority of FIRE chasers realize that FIRE is a marathon. Even the fastest journeys still take years for most people.

“I don’t know about you, but back when I was working towards FIRE, I had a lot of fun spending $5000-$10,000/year on travel with zero guilt,” said Shen. “It’s not about depravity it’s about optimization. Prioritizing your spending towards things that make you happy by cutting back on things like bank fees, portfolio management fees, and spending on things you care about.”

You can also work to make your fun free. As a freelancer, you have the freedom to buy something fun – like a boat – then rent it out part-time to cover the costs of ownership. You can also hack credit card points so your fun is paid for. When you do have fun and spend your own money, you can even turn it into a business opportunity.

“When we go out, we make it count,” said Kinsella. “We spend our money at local businesses because A) it’s the absolute right thing to do to support your neighbours and B) they’re great to include in your network to help with new introductions for your freelance services.”

The key is, like it is for most things, balance.

“We still traveled one or two times a year, but we didn’t shop, we didn’t eat out as much, etc,” said ForBetterOrWorth. “I think as long as you are real with yourself about what you want and what you can live without, you can find the right balance.”

Who wants to catch FIRE?

Financial independence is a dream for a lot of people. The financial independence retire early movement breaks it down into a simple-to-follow plan with a catchy name. But regardless of what you call it, the tenets are the same. Suze Orman and other personal finance gurus call it “financial freedom,” while others call it “being rich.” It really doesn’t matter. What matters is your goal, your money, and your freedom to choose the life that suits you. Everything else is just tactics.

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