The initial spark was the book ChooseFI – Your blueprint to Financial Independence which was followed by dozens of episodes of the ChooseFI podcast.
Here are the 10 most important things I have learned and changed in my first 3 months on my way to FI
1. FI = Freedom
I have never cared too much about money because my focus has always been on living a happy and fulfilled life.
Now, I’ve realized that it is the other way round: Pursuing FI (i.e. being conscious about your money) will give me the time and freedom to lead a happy and fulfilled life.
2. Investing is NO rocket science
By educating myself about investing, I’ve learned some basic rules about investing the “FI way” and changed my whole portfolio to low-cost ETFs.
Now I just add to my portfolio at the beginning of every month and watch it grow.
3. Track your finances
Once you start tracking your finances, you will see patterns that are nothing less than astonishing (and probably shocking as well).
4. Choose smart habits around money
Once you start recognizing your habits and spending patterns, you can begin to change them.
5. Be creative
There are many things where you just have to become a little bit smarter.
Examples:
Reading -> get the books in the library instead of quickly buying them on Amazon
Clothes -> I use less and I’ve learned how to fix little holes
Breakfast -> prepare a grab and go breakfastwhich is as good and way cheaper than a sandwich on the road
6. Enjoy free holidays
I got the idea from the podcast and it showed me that we have to challenge old beliefs from time to time.
Before that, I would have never touched the holiday budget. Now I’ve learned that there are ways to spend way less and have more fun, for example via trustedhousesitters.
7. Quit your gym (or sth. else you are getting no value from)
This is the best example for something I wasn’t really getting any value from but still paid lot’s of money for every month.
Now, I’ve got 100€ more in my pocket each month and I’ve got more time to follow my real passions.
8. Get your spouse on board
This is a long, exciting and fun journey and I don’t want to go it alone. I am talking about those concepts with my spouse and I find it very enriching for our relationship.
Mostly because it is NOT just about money, but about how we want to lead our lives in general.
9. Find other people who can inspire and teach you
There are so many places to get inspiration from, both online and offline.
Online: I’ve started to get inspiration from blogs and podcasts on a daily basis. Quite often it is just a little gem you find in an episode or article, but adding them up leads to incremental improvements in your life, both financial and in general.
Offline: I’ve founded the ChooseFI Cologne group on Facebook and we had our first meet-up already. It is great to talk with people who are following the same path and share the same interests but do it under different circumstances and in different ways.
10. Share your ideas with others
I started to share my ideas and experiences on my blog:
www.herrzeitreich.de
So far, it has been a great experience for me to channel my thoughts and share them with the world. Hopefully, it can become a helpful resource for others as well!
Of course, I have included a FIRE Habit series and a FIRE Challenge series!
Best of all: I can’t wait to see what the next three months on my way to FI will teach me!
Thanks for this truly amazing podcast!
