FI/RE Diaries: A self employed textile designer and licensing artist living in Florida and FI/RE-ing in 3 years with $2.5m

Occupation: Self employed textile designer/ licensing artist

Industry: Self employed artist selling online

Location: Florida

Salary: $350k/yr

FI/RE Number: 2.5 mil + for family of 4

Years Until FI/RE: 3-4 more years

Current financial situation: Single income 2 kids. Husband and I had combined $275,000 college debt paid off 3 years ago

Ethnicity: White

How did you first hear about FI/RE?

Mr. Money Mustache blog

Why do you want to reach Financial Independence/Retire Early?

Freedom to do what I want.

What does FI/RE mean to you?

Spending more time with kids!

How much do you spend per month?

$4,000 with $1,500 being for health insurance

What is your % savings rate?

70% ish

Are you doing anything to achieve FI/RE faster?

• 1 car household

• 1 tv subscription at a time

• No Amazon Prime

• Selling kids clothes/toys online

• Buy second hand toys that have good resale value

• Cloth diapers

• Regular no spend months - husband and I will do a no spend year

Any advice you'd give to someone who has a similar FI/RE lifestyle as you, especially if it seemed hard or unattainable?

I’m an artist with multiple pointless arts degrees. You can take side hustles like Etsy/blogging and make them into full time work if you want to. It’s hard work but it’s achievable. I didn’t find FI/RE until I was 30 and had 6 figures in college loan debt and no job prospects. My parents have both been bankrupt. My parents are divorced while my father struggles to live on social security and won’t accept help, and mother doesn’t think she’ll ever retire. I know that I may have to support them in the future, but this isn’t a burden I want to put on my kids. My point is that everyone’s story is different, and you don’t have to have fancy degrees and no college debt to get FI/RE. Mindset is everything, you can do this if you believe you can.

Favorite FI/RE resources you’d like to share?

I like the fire Instagram community because it keeps me motivated

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Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)

What I Spent In February 2021

I wanted to give you a peek inside my actual spending. I love looking at other people’s budgets, but I've always felt I can't do that because if you haven't seen my article yet, I do not budget.

Instead, I’m very precise about tracking all of my cash flow. I don't have actual dollar amounts that I allocate to categories or give every dollar a job like many others usually do. So I’m testing out showing you what I spent in a month and all of the totals, instead of doing a budget with me at the beginning of the month.

We’ll see how this goes…

Income

Let's dive a little bit deeper into my actual February numbers.

💰 Paycheck: $7061.76

This is my regular nine to five job. I work as a visual designer in tech making over six figures. It was a long, long journey to make six figures. I've been working for eight years now and you can check out my salary timeline to see how much I earned straight out of college. I’ve negotiated my way up, up, up. I take home about $7,000 a month.

This month is a little bit weird and it will be weird into March because I'm front loading my 401k. I’m putting 75% of each paycheck towards contributing the maximum $19,500 you can put in a 401k. I personally prefer to spend more time in the market rather than timing the market or dollar cost averaging. Personal finance is personal and this is how I’m doing it.

Note: Check with your HR benefits specialists to understand how they match your 401k, if you get a 401k match. I get a one time annual true up, so at the end of the year I’ll be matched the entire 1% in contributions even though I front loaded it. If you get matched per paycheck, you may miss out on some money and I don’t recommend that.

What’s nice is that even though I’m just a contractor at a tech company, my temp agency, Aquent, provides great benefits. I have healthcare, a 401k, and a small itty-bitty 1% match. (Hey, a match is still a match!) They're awesome if you're trying to get into tech. I’ll happily to refer you if you’re trying to break into tech because they really do take care of you. Just send me an email!

My first paycheck in February, I was getting ~$100 into my direct deposit. Then for the last three (I get paid weekly), my tax withholdings went way up. With my 401k contributions at 75%, I got $0 in my checking account. I emailed HR to ask about that, so we’ll see what’s up 🤨.

Another note: I count my 401k and my 401k match as income even though it's pre-tax because it's still money that I will use to FIRE. My income in my money tracker is a little bit of pre-tax and post-tax AND I don’t count my taxes as an “expense.” I don't know if that's right or not…probably not, but it’s what I do and it works for me. (Leave a comment below if you think I should be doing something else. and why!) 

Anyway, so that my income $7061.76 for my paycheck. 

👗 Resale: $0

I didn’t sell anything on Poshmark this month…actually I shipped something, but the direct deposit hasn't hit.

🎨 Freelance: $0

I'm not doing any freelance work in 2021 because it was too stress-inducing last year. I'm just wrapping up one job. It's hard to turn down money when you're trying to pursue financial independence. To be honest, if something comes along that I really can't say no to because they're going to pay me a lot of money, the door is still cracked open for that.

💵 Cash back: $158.49

This money was from my quarterly Rakuten check. (If you don’t have Rakuten, you HAVE TO sign up. Basically it’s free money if you’re already shopping. Here’s my link for a free $20.) Plus somehow I overpaid on my car insurance, so I got a rebate check in the mail. I also have the Citi double cash back card and had $31 from there. Lots of cash back this month. 

📈 Interest: $3.81

I keep my 6 month emergency fund in Ally high yield savings account because I like how they have the buckets to compartmentalize your savings even though it's one account. I don't churn high yield savings accounts chasing after the best APY or rewards. It's so much effort and just another form I have to file during tax time. It’s not worth the hassle to me.

🎁 Gifts: $0

🤑 Dividends: $0

🍯 Millennial Money Honey: $19

Those earnings are all from my Etsy shop. It’s baby side hustle money for MMH, but big things are coming in the future! I have some cool collabs in the pipeline.

Expenses

For some context, I know you're probably not new here, but in case you somehow landed on this article and you are, hey, what's up!? Go subscribe to my Youtube channel 🙃. I live at home with my parents. Mom and Dad don’t make me pay rent or utilities. I love and appreciate them SO much! It's been really great and I 💯 recommend living at home if you get along with your parents. Plus we couldn't go anywhere anyway right now, so might as well hang out with fam.

So that being said, yeah, I don't pay anything in housing or utilities. 

🏡 Rent: $0

⚡️ Utilities: $0

🚖 Transportation: $16.50

I paid for a lot more parking since I was down in LA this month. I also put Uber type expenses in this category, but there’s been none of that.

🥦 Groceries: $145.54

Again since I was in LA, I've been spending a bit more on groceries. It’s not a crazy amount, but definitely higher than when I’m at home with parents.

🍽 Food: $206.39

I also don’t really spend that kind of money on food at home…not that you’d have any gauge of what is relatively normal 😜 since this is new. Coffee also falls under the food category. I keep my category general because I don't want to be too granular. Eating out is eating out, whether it's coffee or food.

🍹 Drinks: $0

👩‍💻 Work: $80.18
Hmmm not sure what I spent on that made this category so high. Cloud storage was normal. Bonsai, the best freelancing software, was normal. It puts together contracts, has templates for project proposals, and makes invoice for clients very easy to pay. Bonsai makes me look so professional (read: EXPENSIVE). I highly recommend checking out Bonsai if you're a designer or any type of solo entrepreneur.

Ohhhhh, my b. I forgot about this expense. TubeBuddy, which I talked about in my money diary, What I Spent in a Week in LA, was a big expense. TubeBuddy helps optimize YouTube SEO, write better titles, and figure out what people are searching for on YouTube. I'm hoping it pays off and drives growth to my channel and even this blog.

TubeBuddy was $43.20, making it the majority of my work spending. It typically usually that high. If you have under 1,000 subscribers it’s 50% off instead of the regular $80.40, so check it out TubeBuddy if you’re a small Youtuber interested in growing your channel too.

🍿 Entertainment: $0

✈️ Travel: $0

🚙 Car: $59.19

That's all gas ⛽️. So expensive in California!

🏥 Health: $0

🛍 Shopping: $26.97

I also breakdown this shopping in my money diary, What I Spent in a Week in LA. Although I returned one of the eyeshadows I bought, so there’s a small discrepancy.

💝 Gifts: $39.30

Again check out my money diary from this month. I bought my friend a plant 🪴 and some other stuff as presents. I spend generously on people I love and don't think about it too much. Presents, donating, and meeting up with friends over food/coffee are things I don’t eye too closely.

❓Miscellaneous: $0

Savings

You can see basically all of my money went into savings.

👵 401K: $6,818.12

I will max my 401k out towards the end of March and as a result I did not contribute to anything else.

🏦 Savings: $0

💰IRA: $0

📈 Brokerage: $0

💵 SEP IRA: $0

🏥 HSA: $0

I don't actually have an HSA this year 😭. I don't qualify for one, which really sucks.

💸 Checking: $425

Checking is my income minus the rest of my savings accounts. I don’t have a separate category for that under my savings column in my money tracking spreadsheet.

Monthly Totals

🤑 Income: $7,1243.14

💸Expenses: $574.07

📊 Savings Rate: 92%

My savings rate this year, I'm going to be transparent, will probably be in the 90% range since I’m living at home and my expenses are so low.

I want to give you a true look at my spending, not to brag, but to show you what I’m honestly doing. There are so many other people who are on FI/RE too, I’m just one data point, so don’t let comparison be the thief of joy. You can check out other people’s FI/RE diaries on my blog to read about what other people are doing to achieve FIRE. There are many levels of income, locations and FI/RE numbers!

But being honest, 2021 is going to be a little bit of crazy savings rate for me. It won’t will always be this way. I’m not living at home forever! I'm retiring at 35, so we’ve got another five years to go. This journey is not over yet and I hope you stick around for it!

Let me know if you like this type of content—what I spent in a month series. I love seeing them myself! And if you're on your journey to retire early, leave a comment below and tell me what your savings rate was for February.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my Youtube channel below, it would means so much to me, plus it’s FREE and easy to do.

Let's retire early together!

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Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)

How to Spend Your 2020 Tax Return Money in 2021

Congrats, you got a tax return! This video is really relevant for anybody who has started filing their taxes and is getting a big refund. Bonus season is also upon us. People are getting their awesome, stellar performance reviews and bonuses are rolling in. So if you have this extra windfall of money and need some ideas for what to do with it, this article is for you.

1. Pay off debt

I'm going to put this one first and foremost—if you have a high interest debt above 7%, so things like credit card debt or student loans, one of the best things you can do for yourself to really help you achieve all of your wildest dreams in life is to get rid of that debt as soon as possible. The interest that you're paying on the debts is detracting from any potential wealth growth that you could achieve. It’s generally not a good idea to invest money when you have an interest eating away at your money.

Stock market returns usually yield about 10%, minus inflation which is around 3%. So that's really about a 7% of return that you can expect on average for the stock markets. Sometimes it's way more, sometimes the market is down, and you do lose some money. Because of that, it's important to get rid of debt. If you have the debt to just toss in your bonus money and really just get rid of it as soon as you can. Then you will be on your way to gaining and building wealth for yourself.

2. Contribute to your Roth IRA

Another idea for your windfall tax return or bonus is to max out your Roth IRA account. If you have not done that already for last year, you still have until the tax filing deadline of April 15th, 2021 to max out your Roth IRA account. 

If you were making over $139,000 you'll have to do a backdoor Roth conversion, which just means putting your contribution money ($6,000 is the max) to a traditional IRA and filing a form to convert it to a Roth IRA. This helps you get around the income limits. $139,000 is the income limit for single filers. Below is the income chart limit from Investopedia.com,  so you have a reference of what your income limit has to be under to contribute directly to a Roth IRA.

Source: https://www.investopedia.com/retirement/ira-contribution-limits/

If you are under these limits, then you can go ahead and contribute directly to a Roth IRA. You still have time right now to contribute to your IRA for the year 2020 until April 15th. 

3. Spend it (intentionally!)

Assuming you don't have any debt and you maxed out your retirement account, it is okay to treat yourself! I'm not saying, just get whatever you want, but what is something you have been working hard towards? It's been on your list for months at this point, and it is something you will use daily. Whether it be that Chloe purse on the Real Real that you've been eyeing that you are going to use as your new daily purse, of course, spend the money! As long as it’s on something that you think you will get a lot of use out of. Spend that money on a big ticket item that you really need and will add value to your life.

4. Contribute to a savings fund

Another great idea is putting that money into a travel savings fund or a savings fund for something you are working towards that's a big ticket item. Maybe you won't have all the money for it with your tax return, but I think it's important to start building savings funds. 

I personally use Ally bank. You can put it in buckets. So I have my emergency fund bucket and then I have a travel bucket I'm actually currently working on building that back up since I dumped, I stole from it to max out my Roth IRA for 2021. And front-load it. And do a lump contribution because why not?

I haven't been traveling and I don't really see myself traveling in the immediate future, but I'm going to be cautiously optimistic about travelling this year. I still have time to replenish my funds. Putting your tax return aside into a travel fund will set you up to do a nice trip. I think experiences are something worth paying for.

5. Donate

Donating your money is a really good thing to do with your tax return that will honestly help your taxes for the following year. You can actually donate to a qualified charity of your choice and have that be deducted from your gross income. You just need to keep the receipt and file for it.

You can actually write off $300 without filing any form or anything. Say you donated $300 to a charity in good faith. The government will take that off of your taxable income. If you donate above that, you can put as much qualified donations towards a tax write off. You just need to be sure to save the receipts and your taxable income will be reduced.

That is really great. And honestly, yeah, like if that money you didn't notice it was gone anyway, you might as well pay it forward and also help yourself out in the future on your taxes. 

6. Invest in yourself

Something I think is always worth spending money on is an investment in your mind and yourself. If you have been eyeing a course to learn a new skill set, to either enhance the one you already have now might be the time to spend on that.

Maybe you want to switch careers or take a coding course online, read a book. I think educational materials to help you learn something new is always something worth spending money on. Potentially those things could even help you earn more money.

If you've been eyeing a course on how to do something—maybe how to get better at making YouTube videos—and you have this money to invest in yourself,  I think you and your brain are the best thing you can spend on.

7. Invest in the stock market

Finally there's always the option to invest your tax refund. That's probably what I will do if I get a refund. I'm actually probably going to owe money this year because I did a lot of freelancing and 1099 work that I haven’t paid taxes on yet.

Good, old, boring index fund investing is how I invest. If I get a refund, I’d dump all my money into a total stock market index fund and have my money keep working for me as hard as it can. And that is by being invested. 

Those are my 7 suggestions for what to do with that extra cash! Have you gotten a tax refund or a bonus this year? Let me know what you spend it on or what you're planning on spending it on. I'm always so curious what people end up doing with this money.

Be sure to drop that in the comments below and subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already so we can spread the FI/RE. Let's retire early together!

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Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)

FI/RE Diaries: A software engineer living in Monterey Peninsula, CA and FI/RE-ing in 6 years with $530k

Follow @the.retired.millennial on IG here!

Occupation: I'm a federally contracted Software Engineer, I maintain and develop software for the U.S. Department of Defense

Industry: Tech in Government

Location: Monterey Peninsula, CA

Salary: $70k/year

FI/RE Number: $532,862 -- 4%SWR

Years Until FI/RE: 6 years

Current financial situation: I am living at a university staff/faculty housing neighborhood (from my part time job), which provides under market housing. I make way under market pay for my position because it's in the government sector. I turned down a six figure salary in SF to live a slow life on the central coast.

Ethnicity: Hispanic/Latinx

How did you first hear about FI/RE?

While I was using Chris Hogan's RIQ calculator in early 2020, it let me input in how many years I wanted to retire, and it clicked that it didn't have to be when I turned 65. After seeing how much I had to contribute a month to retire at 50, then 45, then 40, and 35 and seeing how doable it was, I decided that I would document my journey to early retirement in a blog called "The Retired Millennial." I searched "The retired millennial" on Google and found an article written about Grant Sabatier, who retired at 30 and was part of the FIRE movement.

Why do you want to reach Financial Independence/Retire Early?

I want to be able to own my time, and have the flexibility to plan my life around my future family. I don't want to plan my life around work.

What is your % savings rate?

62% After Tax (after 401k contributions). This does not include my part time or side hustle income.

Are you doing anything to achieve FI/RE faster? If yes, what?

House hack to save on rent, increase my income by flipping <3

Any advice you'd give to someone who has a similar FI/RE lifestyle as you, especially if it seemed hard or unattainable?

Check to see how you can cut back on your most expensive expenses and increase your income 😊. Follow other people who have done it or are pursuing your goals as well. It's also okay to start with a number and revise down the road.

Favorite FI/RE resources you’d like to share?

Follow the #firecommunity hashtag on Instagram!

IG: @the.retired.millennial

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Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)

What I Spend in A Week in LA as a Girl on FI/RE

Today I am sharing my money diary—what I spent a week as a visual designer pursuing early retirement and living in Los Angeles, California!

As a reminder, I'm a 29 year old currently living at home with my parents. I chose to move home to save money to work my way towards financial independence even faster.

But this week I’m back in LA crashing at a friend’s house. Since I lived in Los Angeles for 10 years prior to moving home last year, I don’t really think of LA as a vacation. It’s my home away from home. 

My spending is going to be pretty normal, since my friends here don’t play tourist or entertain me. That means buying my own groceries and doing my own thing. It's the perfect situation to share with you as a person striving for FI/RE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) how I think about spending money.

I am collaborating with a couple of my other Youtube personal finance and FIRE friends. Here’s the link to their money diaries so you can binge watch all of our money diaries and see what we spent in a week.

Day 1

To start off the week I'm meeting up with my sisters to go plant shopping. I don’t think I’m going to get anything, because I don’t live here and don’t need anything.

Okay who am I kidding, I love a good plant, so I end up getting one BUT it's not for me. This plant is called a ZZ plant and I got it as a gift for my friend for letting me stay at their place! I am not stingy when it comes to presents for others. Plus I just loved how it looks!

It kind of looks like The Sill but without The Sill prices. You pay so much for the brand markup! 

It is kind of annoying because each part was separate—the coaster ($2), the pot ($8), and the plant ($12). Of course I'm gonna get the coaster because I don't want the water to come out of the drainage hole and go everywhere. 

The total should’ve been about $24.70, but when the Venmo settled, I somehow ended up paying for a portion of my sister’s plants too. No, I’m not so stingy as to charge my littlest sister a few bucks! However this is a spending diary so I feel like I need to clarify the prices for each thing I bought.

Plant: $27

I go to Trader Joe's and try to be not too awkward about vlogging. I’m getting groceries for the week and trying to stick to Mexican style dishes. But I spot a few new things I want to try like the Everything But the Bagel chips and toss those into the cart too. It’s been so long since I’ve been grocery shopping on my own! 

Even when I lived on my own I really was terrible at guessing how much food I needed for a week and never planned my grocery list. I usually stick with a theme. This week's theme was Mexican-inspired food—taco bowls, taco salad, salmon tacos, etc. All of the ingredients can work in any of the dishes, so I minimize food waste.

I don't really budget either. (I have a whole video on that.) But if I look at my previous grocery spending from years past, I only usually spend like $60/month on groceries. It's been a while since I've grocery shopped on my own and my bill shows it.

Trader Joe’s: $106. 39 

Day 2

I realized I forgot some of my makeup at home. Since I’m filming my Youtube videos down here, I ordered a few things on Amazon. I got a contour palette and two little eyeshadow palettes ($3 each). I wanted something cheap that does the job because I have stuff at home.

I also forgot a notebook so I got a two pack of dotted, leather-bound notebooks for $15. I got all this stuff on Amazon and spent a little money on that!

Notebooks & makeup: $34.04

I’m making a salad for lunch because I have dinner plans, plus I bought all those groceries. I made a salmon taco salad with Green Goddess dressing—nice and refreshing!

My friend, Rae, suggested Roberta’s in Culver City for dinner. She’s been raving about the bread and I really wanted to try it. The meal was literally SO good! We got a pizza, a salad, and the most scrumptious fresh bread with cheese. I also got a refreshing hibiscus cocktail.

Dinner: $59.65

Afterwards, we walked over to Van Leeuwen’s ice cream. I got the brown sugar ice cream with cookie dough and brownie bits. DECADENT!

Ice cream: $6.75

I love spending time with my friends. These are the experiences that I really find value in spending on, even if it means paying for parking in LA.

Parking: $3.00

Day 3

I thought I wasn't going to spend any money today, but I did. I bought TubeBuddy.

I've watched so many YouTube videos on the importance of improving your SEO. It helps you figure out what is popularly searched and how to grow your YouTube channel. All these major YouTubers use it! 

Since I’m at 700 subscribers (at time of filming) and am growing pretty quickly, I wanted to take advantage of it being 50% off before you hit 1,000 subscribers, otherwise you have to pay the full price. This is how they get you!

I know this business in and of itself will pay for that. I already have $70 dollars in Google Adsense revenue from my blog. Although you don't get paid out until you accrue $100, I know I’ll make the money I spend on TubeBuddy back and then some.

Plus by increasing my YouTube SEO, hopefully it improves my blog SEO too. I can write better titles and use them across all my content platforms. I have a whole article on how I’m making money from my YouTube videos, which if you’re a small Youtuber you should definitely check that out. But that's how I validated that purchase.

TubeBuddy annual subscription: $43.20

For dinner I made a poor man's pizza. I used leftover flour tortillas and Trader Joe's marinara sauce, which is basically the same as pizza sauce (right?). My friend let me take all the cheese leftovers, so I made a pizza out of it! Can’t let leftovers go to waste!

Day 4

I just finished work and was so busy I didn't have time to spend any money even if I wanted to. The sheer amount of hours I spent in meetings today made me realize (just kidding, didn’t make me realize) reminded me why I want to achieve financial independence ASAP. So yeah, I didn't spend any money today, good and bad, for better or worse, richer or poorer, yadda yadda. 

Now, I'm gonna go eat a snack from my Trader Joe's haul. I definitely bought too much stuff for one week. I think it’s enough food to last closer to 2 weeks. I've eaten less than half and it's been half a week. I guess I gotta stay another week in LA to eat all my food! After that I’m going to meditate and do yoga. My first no spend day!

It's my quarterly goal to do yoga every single day even if it's only for 10 minutes. Being consistent with these daily micro habits is better than not moving my body at all, which is what I normally would do. I use the Down Dog Yoga app, which is free, changes the routine up every time, and has some good yoga jams.

Yoga: $0

Day 5

I’m about to head out to go to Starbucks since I have a gift card. Since it’s a gift card, I'm not gonna count that towards my spending. There's a nearby park and I'm going to meditate, enjoy my coffee, and journal there. I've always wanted to do this because I'm not a very introspective person...probably because I'm always connected to technology and don't really have time to think. I thought today's a good day for that! 

WARNING: Sexual harassment incident described below. I documented my thoughts immediately after attempting to process what happened.

Oh my god. I was walking to get my coffee and a guy rode by on his electric scooter on the sidewalk and literally slapped my ass. I've never been sexually harassed but I'm really scared now. I wish I'd gotten a video, but I was so shocked. 

I was like, what the F!$k, dude?!? You can’t just do that! And he was like, oh, I'm sorry.

NO, YOU’RE NOT!

That guy sucks. I don't know if I should go home or keep trying to walk. I'm feeling very confused and angry and upset...

I decided to continue to get Starbucks because I'm not gonna let this dude ruin my day. 

Starbucks: $0 (gift card)

After that I headed to the park to journal and meditate. I was literally about to do a dissipate anger meditation and then *BOOM* a baseball hits me square in the chest.

Have you ever been hit with a baseball before? Well let me tell you, it hurts 🤬!

At that point I lost it. I started sobbing uncontrollably.

I look up and see a little boy staring at me. The dad, who was playing catch and had missed his son and hit me, runs up to grab the ball apologizing profusely.

Through my tears, I was like, no it's not you, I'm having a really rough day.

I posted about the incident on my IG story and everybody was so nice. Many told me it’s okay to cry and heartbreakingly shared similar experiences.

I didn't want to cry, but after the ball hit me I was SO overwhelmed with feelings. Hitting random women is never okay!

Clearly the universe is conspiring against me, so I packed up and called my sisters crying. One of them works really close by so she's like oh, I'm coming. I'm six minutes away, we're gonna get you Mcdonald's. I love my family.

Day 6

It’s going to be a good day. That is my mantra today. I'm meeting my friend for coffee. I needed a little pick-me-up to get the day going before work after yesterday.

I honestly forgot how bad LA parking is. The worst!

Parking: $2

I meet Laura at Good People coffee and order an an ube latte. Whenever I buy coffee I try to get things I can't make at home. I also only really get nice coffee if I’m meeting up with a friend or as an experience like I tried to have yesterday.

Coffee: $8.51

Day 7

I'm actually half Chinese and half Japanese American. My friend from Shanghai hosted a Chinese New Year meal of dim sum in the backyard of my old spot in LA. Everything was so delicious.

I wanted some coffee so I could go home and edit YouTube afterwards, so we walked to go get some. To be honest, the Horchata latte I got from Mañana Coffee was way too sweet, but the journey was still worth it.

Total & reflections

Thanks for spending a week with me in Los Angeles. I hope you enjoyed all the highs and lows, certainly some lows, but lots of highs. I loved documenting this process, it was so fun! For my grand total I spent...

TOTAL: $296.39

That isn't too bad and if I multiply that by four, it's about $1185, which isn't horrible for a month.

For context, I’m living at home I'm not paying any rent or utilities, so no expenses like that. I get a paycheck weekly and after taxes it’s usually around $1,200. But at the moment I am front loading my 401k, so my paycheck is $0. I prefer to front load instead of dollar cost averaging because I like to spend more time in the market. 

Between taxes and putting 75% of my paycheck into my 401k, I basically get nothing. I’m doing that this year since I’m taking advantage of living at home. 

Right now I am living off of $3,000 checking account and then I have my emergency fund with 6 months expenses that should cover anything, since I'm not getting paid for the next several weeks. That is my current paycheck situation, it should return to normal at the end of March.

Again, I'm a visual designer working in tech. I make six figures a year and you can check out my wealth journey to get a full picture of my salary timeline. I used to make $22,000 starting out and have slowly over the course of eight years worked my way up to my current salary.

This was so much fun to take you behind the scenes and show you how I spend my money as a girl on FI/RE. I hope you found it insightful and if you did be sure to subscribe to my channel below so we can spread the FI/RE.

I want us all to get rich and retire early together! xo

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