Financial Freedom in 3 Years (Cody’s FI Journey Explained) | The Financial Independence Show Podcast
Someone recently asked me: "How did you reach FI?"
I didn't have a great answer for them that didn't take 30+ minutes to explain.
So, I recorded a podcast episode outlining my entire FI Journey - all the numbers, all the income streams, all the expenses, year over year.
Below are the notes I created to guide the episode.
2016
Read the 4-Hour Workweek
Started my first real business, Arsenal Discs
Learned how to build a website, marketing, sales, networking, negotiations, pricing, product design… all the HARD way
2017
Discovered FI through Mr. Money Mustache
Started listening to podcasts like ChooseFI and Afford Anything
Read books like Simple Path to Wealth and Your Money or Your Life
Learned about side hustles, taxes, the 4% rule, etc.
Despite all this, didn’t really have any money since I was paying for college
Locked in job for July 2018, plan was to work 7-10 years to hit FI
2018
Went to CampFI in January and FI became “real”
Lived in Australia with lots of time on my hands and started side hustling after being unable to find a regular job
Blog launched in April 2018 to document my journey
Started working as a commercial RE lender in July 2018 once I returned to the U.S.
All-in comp was $80-85k
Knowing that FI existed was a blessing and a curse
Launched podcast in August 2018 (nothing else like it)
FinCon 2018 (CampFI on steroids) - met Grant and others
By the end of that year, I had tried a dozen new side hustles (blogging, podcasting, freelance writing, building websites, editing podcasts, affiliate marketing, digital products, etc)
Income: $44,000, Net worth: $75,000, Stock market: -6.24%
2019
Quit my corporate job on January 31, 2019 with $30,000+ saved
Side hustles were bringing in $1,200 per month, but my expenses were the same ($450 rent, paid off car, super frugal)
Financial Freedom book tour March-May of 2019
Teamed up with Julie to launch Gold City Ventures in June 2019
So many people asking for 1-on-1, wanted to teach at scale
Most of my time after that was spent working on Gold City Ventures
Practicing my craft to teach better
Managing a community, recording & packaging content, hiring people
Originally launched E-Printables, a blogging course, and a freelancing course
LOTs of learning lessons from this business
Income: $96,000, Net worth: $179,000, Stock market: 28.88%
2020
Went all-in on digital products (dropped blogging and freelancing from GCV)
Etsy shop, Shopify store, templates, etc.
Continued to live extremely frugally (spending less than $25,000/year)
Bought 3-unit house hack in September 2020
$235,000, we lived in the basement, rent $2,200, expenses $1,700
Bought duplex in November 2020
$170,000, rent $2,250, expenses $1,350
Bought 3-unit house hack in December 2020
$315,000, we moved to 1BR/1BA, rent $2,600, expenses $2,100
First house hack jumped to $3,000 in rent once we moved out
Income: $198,000, Net worth: $392,000, Stock market: 16.26%
2021
Started freelancing for Motley Fool (who acquired MillennialMoney.com)
Extra $10K/month, SEO, “thinking big”, awesome team
Bought triplex in May 2021
$245,000, rent $2,900, expenses $1,900
~$200,000 in down payments came from digital product income