$68k Away From Financial Freedom
By César Michel | March 27, 2023
My original title for this blog post was $21k Away From Financial Freedom. As I was typing away I was like no, I need to be transparent. If I plan to share my experiences and help others I need to be fully transparent. I also remembered No Shame, No Blame. This is one of the key takeaways for me from the book Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. So here we go with the beginning of my financial freedom journey.
Above I created a quick screenshot of what my debt currently looks like. My Total Debt as of today is $68,604.01. Biggest chunk of the debt is the Auto Loan. It’s a Tesla Model Y that I had ordered at the end of 2021 and received in July 2022. I don’t regret getting the car because I love driving the car and enjoy going on road trips with my little family. I plan to pay that off eventually but not too concerned since interest was locked in at 4.1% and I owe $39,166. What I will begin to pay off aggressively is my credit card debt which is a total of $29,438.01 and I know what you are probably thinking, “wasn’t it $21,000?”. Yes, you are correct but no one is perfect and remember no shame, no blame.
If you have been following my journey you know that I was recently laid off. I received a severance payment back in September of 2022 and I still have some money left over. My income at the moment is that plus money I’m receiving through unemployment. That should last me through the next 6 months while I begin the 9 Steps to FI.
More Like 10 Steps followed by 9. My first step is actually reading the book Your Money or Your Life, done. The next 9 steps will change my relationship with money. I will update the progress here on the website every week or so with a blog post. Make sure you subscribe to receive all the updates and news via email.
The 9 Steps to Reach F.I. are the following:
- Making Peace with the Past
- Being in the Present-Tracking Your Life Energy
- Where Is It All Going? (The Monthly Tabulation)
- 3 Questions That Will Transform Your Life
- Making Life Energy Visible
- Valuing Your Life Energy-Minimize Spending
- Valuing Your Life Energy-Maximizing Income
- Capital and the Crossover Point
- Investing for FI (Financial Independence)
I’m $68k Away From Financial Freedom and this is just the beginning, so stay tuned. I’m excited and scared but I know this is going to be life-changing as many people have succeeded before me. Let me know if you have thought about it, started, or have already reached Financial Freedom below.