I'm very happy to tell you that this week I reached a major milestone on my journey: 35% of the amount needed to achieve my longed-for financial independence.
Many of you don't know, but I arrived in the United States when I was almost 25 (I was a week away from my 25th birthday). I had two suitcases full, $400 that my father gave me and I owed a month's salary because I didn't have the money to pay for the exchange and my host-family paid for me.
When I started my journey, I was working 45 hours a week looking after two children and earning $196.00 a week.
Given the initial details above (I'd be happy to write a whole blog just about that), I want to tell you three things I didn't do to focus on my financial independence:
- I didn't finance college - I know people who say that you don't need college to "make it in life". And it's fine to have that opinion, but I know that in my case I needed it. And I needed it a lot. Firstly, because it was a big dream of mine and secondly, because I wanted to learn how to deal with more academic/corporate English. So I transferred my credits here from Brazil and finished my studies. Two very important points: I tracked down everything I had studied in Brazil and brought it here as a way of not having to retake the subjects that are elective for students. This helped me save two years of time and money. The second point is that I decided to work and pay for college. In other words, my leisure time at the time was scarce, but I knew it would be for the greater good, and so it was. Being able to start my FIRE journey without debt made it much easier.
- I never bought or accepted a car - Friends, when I took the bus every day to go to school/work back in Brazil, I always told myself that I would have a supercar when I could. That day came years ago and amazingly, I never bought one. Well, my husband has a car that he bought 10 years ago and I use his car (he says it's mine too, but I never paid for it😬). My dear father-in-law has already offered me two cars for free. One was an SUV and the other was a sedan, like the one we have here at home. I turned them both down because I checked insurance costs, gasoline, future repairs, and it didn't make sense to me. We work from home and we can easily split a car and we'll run it until it's still insured and we're not constantly spending money on mechanics. I think we'll have another 5-8 years with it.
- I'm not in credit card debt - I'm going to throw you a piece of information that you may not know: 50% of the American population is in credit card debt. HALF of the population. And I'm not part of that half and never have been. At first I had low credit (thank goodness), but today I could buy a GOOD car with my credit card. In other words, my credit is huge and I've never taken advantage of it to fulfill dreams or desires. I've always saved the money I needed for my trips, my furniture or my precious pens.
Everything I avoided, I believe can be avoided by many. I did it in my second language, without my friends and family around. I truly believe that you can do it too.
I can tell you a thousand things I've done, but I feel that the ones I've avoided have been just as crucial as all the contributions and savings I've decided to make over the last decade.
But before I finish, I need to say one thing...
Débora, who arrived here with $400 and owed $860, would never have imagined that in a decade she would be on a journey towards financial independence. Nor would she have imagined that she would become an investor or a financial planner.
Life is amazing to live, my dears. And how nice to be able to remember that.
That's it for today. I hope you enjoyed it and please leave a comment here about the most difficult point for you to avoid.
- Débora