My FIRE Journey

Growing up I was not always good with money, and I certainly didn't come from an affluent family. In fact, I didn't discover the FIRE movement until 2017 and didn't start investing until 2015. So if my story is of any hope that FIRE is achievable, you better believe it.

Motivation: I had a troubled childhood

Without going into too much detail, I grew up in a very troubled family. On the financial side, my parents had a very unhealthy relationship with money, so I didn't have good role models to look up to or learn from. With everything that went on (not only the financial problems), I really struggled as a kid and all the cards were stacked against me from succeeding in life. But this eventually became my motivation, I was determined to get out of the shit situation. The only way I understood how was by taking matters into my own hands and hustling.The pain and trauma became my drive.

Hustle: I worked my ass off

We moved around often and because of the instability I fell behind in junior high and started skipping classes, hanging out with the wrong group of people. The hustle really started around the time of high school when I decided that I have to take matters into my own hands. I had to put in the extra work to get into certain classes to meet the requirements of the university. While most other kids were spending their summer holidays having fun, I went to summer school. By the time I got into university, I even received a few scholarships, and combined with student loans and working part-time, I was able to pay my own tuition for university.

This is also where I turned my hustle up another notch by optimizing my time. At one point I had 3 part-time jobs while being enrolled full-time, crazy I know. I would ensure all my classes were stacked on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from the early mornings to the late evenings. Any spare time I had between classes was used for assignments and studying. This allowed me to save time on the commute to school while maximizing the time available to work. Then on Tuesday, Thursday, and the weekends, I would split my time between three part-time jobs, working at a cellphone dealership, a liquor store, and an electronic store. I hustled, hard.

Luck: I had dumb luck

Because I was hustling and optimizing so hard during my university days, I was able to pay off the entirety of my student loan right after graduation. I also found a full-time job shortly after as a junior software developer.About a year later, I came across this advertisement for a pre-construction condo, and I happened to have enough savings as a down payment for a small one-bedroom unit. I can't say it was a goal of mine to own a condo at the time, but I really saw it as an opportunity for me to get out (of the shitty situation with my family). And as luck would have it, it turned out to be a good investment. The key takeaway here is that you never know when luck or opportunities show up, and when it does, you better be sure you are prepared financially to take advantage of it. And trust me, opportunities will come up when you least expect it.

Frugality: I made every dollar stretch

I became increasingly fascinated by how to squeeze every dollar I made for more value. It became a game for me, a challenge to see how I could get more for less. For example, if I was craving a burger, rather than having a quarter pounder with cheese, I'd opt for a McDouble (or two) instead (which gets me more beef/bread/cheese for the price). If I wanted to buy something, I'd check for coupons, promotions, cashback etc. to squeeze some extra value out of the money I was willing to pay anyways. My mode of operation is "never pay full price", and for the most part, it works out as long as you are willing to put in some work searching for deals.

Like that time when I really wanted the new Nintendo 3DS XL, and I was able to take advantage of this promotion that Futureshop had, where you can get it for free after trading in 5 qualifying used games.So I'd go on Kijiji (similar to Craigslist/Facebook marketplace) and look for any used games that were on the list, and ended up getting the console for about 25% of the retail price. Yes, paying only 25% of the value of a newly released game console! Or the time when I got my PS Vita at Shoppers Drug Mart by redeeming points that I earned during their 25x/30x days on sale items, and triple dipped by doing so during bonus redemption days (where points are worth more) and first by doing so on gift cards, and then paying for the PS Vita with the gift card to get additional points back. You'd be surprised how far the dollar can stretch if you just put a bit of effort into it.

Power of Compounding: I invested my money

This might be hard to believe, but I kept my savings in a savings account (instead of investing it) until 2015. One day during a lunch conversation, a co-worker was talking about how his mutual funds had great returns the prior year. So after some research, I decided that I would open a self-directed investment account as well, and put my money into a mutual fund instead. After some time, I saw that the money in there was more than what I had originally put in by a decent amount.

This was the first time that I experienced the power of compounding and investment growth. And so, I developed a habit to put aside some money every paycheck to put into investments ever since. I do want to mention that in the decade starting in 2010, we have had a massive bull run (a period when the stock market performs really well). Even though I had only jumped in halfway through 2015, I was still able to take advantage of it. It's hard to predict when the stock market will perform well or when it will crash (like in 2022), that's why I decided to blindly, periodically put money in. This is also a strategy called "dollar cost averaging". Will investing continue to work out? I don't know.What I do know is that humans are stubborn creatures that always will find a way to thrive, and humanity will continue to progress. That's why I invest, for the future.

FIRE: the moment I wasn't expecting

I can't tell you exactly when, and how I discovered the FIRE movement. All I remember is that sometime in 2017, I became almost obsessed with the movement and made it my purpose. I doubled down on my finances, tracking, investing, etc. and came up with a plan to FIRE before 40. However, during the pandemic, at the height of my career as a senior software engineer, I burnt out. I knew I wasn't doing well mentally even before the pandemic started, but the isolation made the situation worst. I kept changing jobs (3 times!) thinking that it was the job that made me feel the way I felt. But in early 2021, I finally snapped. My mental health had gotten so bad that it even started to affect my physical health.So my survival instinct kicked in and I decided to quit my job immediately without even giving a proper "2 weeks' notice". I knew I can't just find another job hoping it would be better, because clearly that hasn't been working. And at the time, I was still 4-5 years away from reaching my original FIRE number/goal, so I had every reason to fear.

I really didn't think that was going to be my FIRE moment, but I knew my health was more important and that was ultimately the reason why I quit cold turkey. And as fate would have it, that's how I reached FIRE, in the most unexpected, anticlimactic, non-celebratory way possible. The original plan for FIRE had several things baked in; a decent amount of disposable income every month, a reasonable amount of safety by using a lower safe withdrawal rate, and a cash cushion to weather me through the "sequence risk" of the first few years.But because I had to stop working, the original FIRE plan turned into lean FIRE (where you have just enough for the bare minimum) without much room for safety or spending allowance. I know it sounds crazy and scary, especially when I FIRE-ed right before a bear market which happened in 2022! In the FIRE community, this is the worst-case scenario for FIRE, let alone lean FIRE. But, as it turns out, this was a blessing in disguise.

Simple living: less is more

Stripping away all the noise, removing the layers of emotional and physical baggage I accumulated over the years, and going back to the basics in life, allowed me to see things from the bottom up and to realize something so cliché yet profound; less is more. Even though I didn't reach the FIRE goal I originally set out which was designed to support a lifestyle I thought I needed, I'm in a much better headspace. Even though I am probably a statistic for FIRE-ing during the worst possible time right before a bear market, I'm in a much better headspace. Despite the uncertainty, lack of stable income, watching the market (my portfolio) as it plunges, and inflation rising making everything more expensive, I was feeling so much better. Even the chronic health condition I had just magically gone away, but how could this be?!

What I realized through this process is that the more we have, the more we want, and thus the more money we need. It's called the "hedonic treadmill", a relentless chase for more. I'm not a psychology expert, but the way it works is that we adapt to what we currently have as the "new normal", thus to achieve a greater sense of happiness in life, our expectations and desires rise as well. How many times have you told yourself "I'll be happy if/when….."? As a matter of fact, this is a vicious cycle that's hard to identify and it can introduce a lot of stress that compounds over time. And because of the stress, we often succumb to developing bad habits to alleviate the suffering; retail therapy, paying to save time, buying into fads and miracle drugs, and binge eating highly processed junk food, just to name a few. All of which are not very good for us or the environment.

I'm not trying to vilify wants and desires, everyone has them, I have them. In fact, I think it is healthy to have them and can be used responsibly as a form of motivation. But when will it be enough? Is the stress really worth it? Only you can answer that question. Simple living has allowed me to see how much of my thoughts, wants and desires were not as essential as I thought they were. It's almost like doing a spring cleaning for the mind, by going back to the basics like water, oxygen, and food and then going through everything physically, and emotionally, and asking the hard questions of "Do I need this?", "How will this make me feel?", "Why do I want this?", "What does it add?". It was such a liberating process.

Full circle

So that's my journey to FIRE! Through hard work, motivation, frugality (a core element of simple living), consistency and a bit of luck, I achieved FIRE in the most unexpected and non-celebratory way. Simple living brought me to FIRE, the hedonic treadmill broke me, which led me back to simple living. Only this time, embracing it even deeper at every level. This is not to say that I reached FIRE in the sense that I've reached nirvana and happily ever after. I still have bad days, I still have stress, and I am definitely still figuring out life as everyone else is. But, the realization that "life is not easy, but it can be simple" is profound.

This is why I want to start this blog, not only to document this FIRE experiment (if it works or not, what I learned etc.) but also to bring more awareness towards simple living (and how to do it) because I truly believe that it's a mindset that can help everyone at every stage in life. Again, I'm not prescribing a lifestyle or telling you it is the only way to live. At the end of the day, you have to decide what works best for you, and I sincerely hope you find it. Life is too short to be miserable, especially when chasing after things that you think you want or need. Perhaps what truly matters is simply right in front of you the whole time.

So the million dollar question is, will this FIRE experiment continue to work? I honestly don't know! But let's find out! So follow along!