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It wasn’t until I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad that I started to believe in the possibility of a FIRE lifestyle (financial independence, retire early).

It was as if a whole new world of possibility had suddenly opened itself up, though I was certainly skeptical of it, at least initially.

Like many others, I’d always believed that a fulfilling life meant a regular 9-5 job, a house with a white picket fence, and a herd of children. It didn’t occur to me before then that there were other ways to live. I’d always believed you had to work hard to earn a reasonable income.

It wouldn’t be until years later that I would begin pursuing a FIRE lifestyle. I wouldn’t even hear “FIRE” spoken as a financial freedom phrase until nearly a decade after I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

In this article, I’ll tell you how I began my journey to a FIRE lifestyle, some key lessons I learned along the way, and where the rest of my journey is headed.

The Journey to a FIRE Lifestyle Begins

I was sold on the American dream years ago, and it’s the reason I went to college.

But I remember what it was like after I achieved that dream. I also remember a specific day I was sitting in a meeting room at my employer’s office. 

I was sitting at a long table with my coworkers. As I looked around the room, I saw exhausted faces all around me. Some of those faces had decades of work behind them, while others had just a few. 

One of my colleagues mentioned something about finally managing to get 6-hours of sleep the night before. The energy around the room was like a void, drawing what little was left into oblivion.

And I started to wonder if I truly wanted to be another one of those tired faces in another decade or more.

“Is this truly a dream?” I asked myself. The worn faces around me said otherwise.

I began envisioning other ways to live a fulfilling life. I read books like The 4-Hour Workweek, You Are a Badass, and Don’t Keep Your Day Job, among others. Over time, my perspective on “the dream” changed.

The journey to a FIRE lifestyle began with a dream, but at first, it was only that.

The Journey Continues

I continued learning about key financial freedom principles. There was a lot to learn, and unlearn, for that matter. A mindset shift and reset became a part of my learning routine.

Over time, I discovered that achieving financial freedom was simpler than I initially believed.

When I realized how much of my income was wasted on student loan interest, for instance, I was surprised how much more of my income I could retain simply by paying off that debt.

I didn’t need to earn multi-six figures in order to achieve a FIRE lifestyle. All I really needed to do was live reasonably below my means.

My partner and I put a plan in place to pay off our $100K plus in student debt, paying off our remaining $85K balance in just 18 months.

While it wasn’t easy, it was worth it.

We’d managed to avoid “bad debt” like high-interest credit card debt, so we continued paying the balance on our credit cards every month. We also paid off a car loan similarly to the way we paid off our student loans.

We committed to living a lifestyle below our means in order to achieve financial freedom, though we still had a FIRE runway to build.

The FIRE Lifestyle Today

While we are still building a path forward to our FIRE lifestyle, my partner and I have made considerable progress on our journey.

Not only have we paid off significant portions of our debt, but we both have also increased our income in our respective careers over the years. Meanwhile, we’ve managed to continue living at essentially the same standard of living.

Today, we can live on just one of our incomes. That freedom has given us the flexibility to navigate job losses, adjust our childcare, and be choosier about how and when we work.

While we haven’t completed our journey to a FIRE lifestyle, I feel significantly more confident about our ability to get there.

I look forward to the day that we become so financially free that we can both choose to retire (if we decide that’s best for us).

7 Lessons Learned

If you’re committed to achieving a FIRE lifestyle, here are a few things I recommend:

1. Find a way to live below your means

If getting to FIRE matters to you, then you’ll need to learn how to live below your means. 

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how much you earn or how much debt you’ve paid off… unless you can find a way to stop living paycheck to paycheck. This proved to be essential for my partner and me on our own journey.

2. Pay off debt

I was shocked to discover how much of my money was being wasted on paying the interest on my debt.

Debt is a wealth destroyer, especially high-interest debt. You’ll be better off in the long run if you pay it off ASAP.

3. Increase your income

By increasing our income, my partner and I were able to put more money into savings and toward paying off our debt.

If you have the opportunity to get a raise, then it can make a huge difference toward your financial goals. Consider opportunities to negotiate a raise with your current employer, or take on a new job when it makes sense for you.

4. Educate yourself on FIRE principles

It took a long time for me to realize that the American dream was just that… a dream. It didn’t reflect reality.

A lot of people are unhappy in their careers, and I knew I didn’t want to be one of them.

Dare to do better for yourself and start learning about ways you can achieve financial freedom.

Here are a few books I recommend to help you get started:

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

4-Hour Workweek

You Are a Badass

Unshakeable

5. Learn to invest

Investing is one of the most effective ways to obtain wealth over time.

If you take the time to invest in your own education, your finances will thank you for it later.

These are the books I read that vastly improved my investing knowledge:

The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing

A Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market

6. Track the progress you’re making toward your goals

I didn’t really get motivated to pursue a FIRE lifestyle until I actually started tracking the progress I was making on my goals. It was incredibly motivating to throw mortar shells at my student debt and watch the total slowly dissipate.

ClickUp is my favorite project management tool. I personally find it one of the best tools to help me stay motivated and on track with my goals.

7. Focus on your mindset

It wouldn’t make sense until years later, but changing my mindset would later prove to be essential to help me make progress on my journey to a FIRE lifestyle.

I was incredibly skeptical that achieving FIRE was possible, plus I was too ambitious for my own good. I had to learn and unlearn essential lessons so that I could get out of my own way, and start doing what I needed to do to succeed.

It’s hard to achieve success if you have difficulty believing it’s possible.

Conclusion

My journey to a FIRE lifestyle is far from over, but I’m proud of the progress I’ve made on my journey.

It’s amazing how much you can achieve when you believe in yourself, and when you invest in your own education.

Are you committed to a journey to achieve a FIRE lifestyle? If so, tell me what you’d like to achieve in the comments below.

Best of luck to you on your journey. I look forward to hearing your story!

Think achieving a FIRE Lifestyle will help you FIRE Your Life? Check out the posts page for more ways you can FIRE Your Career and achieve financial freedom.

FIRE Your Career: Achieve Financial Freedom Through Your Career & Spend MORE Time Doing What You Love.

Tools I recommend in this article:

Rich Dad, Poor Dad (foundational book to understand FIRE)

4-Hour Workweek (another great foundational book on financial freedom)

You Are a Badass (a great book on improving your mindset)

Unshakeable (a great book with ideas to support financial freedom)

The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing (a great intro to investing book)

A Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market (a more detailed investing book)

ClickUp (my recommended goal-tracking and project management tool)