who's in the FIRE

community is about

freedom. I love what I

do. I still don't want to

do it for the next 30

years of my life.

65 seems like a really

weird, arbitrary time to

retire, so why don't I

just change that number

to 40? Or 35 or 37?

Hi, I'm Amberly. I'm 34

years old and I achieve

financial independence in

February of 2022.

I've really only made

between $13,000 and

$20,000 a year up until

five years ago.

And when I got my first

job with $50,000 a year,

I realized I can save so

much money. So I

continued to keep my

expenses really small.

I only spent $1,300

a month back

then, so I had a lot of

leftover money. And to me

that was like the first

time I could really

pursue FI.

I've recently had a child

seven weeks ago and that

has changed things short

term now I spend about

$3,400 a month when it

comes to personal

expenses. I support my

partner while we're

working through a visa he

can't work and it's been

a year. And so that's all

dependent on me to

provide for my family.

I have been able to spend

and get whatever we need

for our child without

feeling extremely

stressed. We're still

saving almost 70% of our

income because we have so

much coming in and our

expenses are low even

with these crazy extra

expenses from our child.

My current finances are

two 401(k) accounts that

total $119,000.

A taxable brokerage

account with $55,000.

A Roth IRA with $37,000

in it. Two HSAs that

total of $12,000.

A 529 education account

for our kid, which is

$9,000. One company stock

account, which is $6,000.

Truthfully, I can be

completely FIRE right

now. I only need a total

of $40,000 a year to

cover every single

expense that I have.

So that's $1 million in a

brokerage account or the

cash flow that I

currently have, which is

$6,500 a month.

But it turns out I don't

think $40,000 is enough.

I'm going to continue

with my day job for the

next 3 to 5 years, put

another $140,000 to

$200,000 away into a

taxable brokerage

account. And by that

time, in 3 to 5 years, my

entire liquid savings

will be about $750,000.

With cash flow from houses

on the side, that will be

plenty of enough money

for me to feel

comfortable quitting my

job and walking away.

For me, there are some

scarcity mindset when it

comes to finances.

I grew up very poor and

so a number will never

satisfy that little hole

in my heart that feels

like I am never going to

be secure enough.

When it comes to

finances. I could work

ten years and that

wouldn't be because of

finances. That would be

because of my insecurity

about money.

So I always thought I'd

follow a traditional

path. I would go to

university, get married

to like my high school or

university boyfriend,

have some kids, get a

house in Ottawa. And all

of a sudden one day I

decided that I was not

going to apply to

university. I had made a

decision that I was going

to become a millionaire.

And so that drive to do

more, be more and have

more has been a huge

defining factor in my

adulthood.

Ended up working at a

tech company where I was

a project coordinator.

I was making $52,000 a

year, more than double my

parents what they had

made.

One of the ways that I

found that I could

exponentially change my

journey to FIRE instead

of wait 15 years of

saving my paycheck at

50%, I could buy real

estate and make money off

of real estate. My

partner and I decided to

move in together and

purchase a house, which

is always a risky

endeavor.

I started renting it out

in May of 2019, then

started doing short term

rentals shortly after.

For my second property,

someone approached me

about purchasing it from

the seller directly.

I only had $60,000 at the

time, and so I was in a

pinch and needed to

figure out where I was

going to find $40,000.

So I was able to take

some money out of a

HELOC out of my current

property that I was

living in to finish that

down payment off. And

then it took me about a

year to pay back that

$40,000 HELOC.

Which is going to be our

family home.

And I only put 5% down

because I wasn't planning

on buying a property and

had been putting all my

money towards my

brokerage account and not

my savings. So that one

is a lot less than I