Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence

by Chris Mamula

They did make it happen, retiring to their homestead in the woods of Vermont in their thirties.

FI is not about running away from the things you hate in life. It’s about running toward something. It’s being intentional about life and not just grazing through it. Once

those with a growth mindset embrace challenges, recognizing that growth and development are results of discomfort, uncertainty, and learning from failure.

One of his key principles for those looking to earn more money is to “continue learning and developing your skills.”

He retired at age fifty-two.

Focusing on learning, growth, and development is a way of being proactive, even if you don’t have a clear endgame in sight.

You can overcome many mistakes if you never stop investing in yourself.

Whether you relate more to the idea of “Lean FIRE” or “Fat FIRE,” you must learn to create a margin between spending and earning.

I love being a part of the stealth wealth community. We’re a community of people who don't wear our wealth on our sleeves.

This type of thinking can then be applied to all spending decisions.

Most people spend reflexively. As more money comes in, more money goes out in the never-ending quest for bigger and better.

People who Choose FI can seem strange to those who don’t understand the concept of a valuist.

Throughout our lifetimes, this one decision will be worth well over $1 million and likely multiple millions! Just by driving perfectly lovely yet older cars. Think about how powerful that is.

their wives made them throw away underwear and socks with holes in them.

If you want to Choose FI, a high savings rate is the ultimate force multiplier.

housing, transportation, and food.

your house is not an investment.

Home ownership may make sense as a lifestyle decision, but it is rarely a good investment—unless you decide to make it a true investment as some in the FI community have.

there is a stigma associated with living with roommates as adults.

It’s clear why many on the path to FI cite medical insurance as the biggest obstacle to achieving FI.

When you’ve slept well, done some physical activity, eaten a nutritious

meal, and are not consumed by stress, life is simply better and easier. This creates an ongoing positive feedback loop.

Choosing FI removes the resistance that makes it so difficult to be the best version of yourself and allows you to use that force to create a wind behind your back, pushing you toward a healthier life.

Choosing FI means deciding to be different from those on the standard path through life. This requires questioning things that most people accept as normal or even necessary.

The need to make money doesn’t keep you trapped doing anything you don’t want to be doing.

You can also leverage a competitive offer at any point and be ready to take that offer if your employer doesn’t counter.

If you’re not sure what you can do to be more valuable to your employer, just ask them.

Who has done or is doing what you want to do? What can you learn from them? This is part of developing the growth mindset that enables FI.

It’s important not to be penny wise and pound foolish.

going to a conference instead of opting for online tools to learn new skills.

Your savings rate, the difference between what you make and what you spend, is the engine that creates investable wealth, which then creates ongoing income that enables FI.

We’re told it’s difficult to obtain FI. Many people never do.

Jeff discovered happiness for him can be having less and learning to say no.

The obvious place to start would be removing the alligators.

Focusing on how great FIRE would be made it difficult for me to enjoy the amazing life I already had.

“The work that you thought sucked so much doesn’t suck so much anymore.”

Freedom to fail allows you to pursue something that you love.”

“I was just doing dumb stuff, like I would go fill up the car with gas and then I would leave the seal on the gas tank off because I had already moved onto the next mental object in my mind.

I was doing this in the beginning of 2020 when I broke the cover off my gas tank. I’m not careful. I’m forgetful and I can’t focus.

Having the financial freedom to live life on your own terms is the ultimate reason to Choose FI.

We live in a world that tells us life is hard. Politicians on the left and right tell us our lives will be better if we vote for them. Some think technology will save us.

Just apply for a home equity loan or another credit card.

But if everyone who chooses FI opts for a life of leisure, our mission will have been a failure. FI is far bigger than retirement.

Some people think they couldn’t have this life because saving is too much of a sacrifice.

Invest wisely to create a perpetual money-making machine that will allow you to carve your own path through life without relying on a job.