7 best money decisions
On my road to FIRE, I’ve had to make a handful of big decisions that have had a material impact on my net worth. As I reflect, there are a set of decisions that were pure luck and others that were calculated. Regardless of intentional or not, they have significantly contributed to or enabled my net worth to be where it is today. As I list out the big money decisions, I’ll try my best to be specific about the numbers. Are you ready? Standby.
Money Decision #1 - Going to an in-state university to study Computer Science
Despite most of my close friends going to academically prestigious schools like Stanford, MIT, and Duke I ended up at the University of Kentucky. It was a tough pill to swallow at the time because, like all other 17-year-olds, I wanted to go out of state, badly. However, looking back, this was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Instead of coming out of school in 4 years with ~$100K in debt, I graduated in 2.5 years (i.e. 5 semesters) with ~$30K in the bank. The 1.5 years and $130K difference gave me a longer runway to find my footing in this very dynamic world.
Finally, it turns out that I hit the lottery in the profession that I chose. In 2005, Computer Science graduates in Kentucky were only making $45K a year. These days the top tech companies are paying $200K+ to new college grads. What I thought was a passion profession, turned out to be the most lucrative profession for the level of education!
Money Decision #2 -- Moving to the Bay Area
In 2011 I moved to the Bay Area to work for a startup. I was chasing the dream to change the world in a dramatic way. Even though my impact has fallen short of my expectations, it turns out that the Bay Area is the best place to make the most money for anyone in tech. Once I saw that the compensation trends in the Bay Area for tech were rising at an astronomical rate (e.g. $140k total compensation new grad in 2011 vs $200k in 2014) and that the ceiling for engineering leadership roles was well into the multi-million dollar range I knew I hit my second jackpot.
By physically positioning myself to be in the mecca of tech, I estimate that it’s allowed me to earn at least 4x what I would have earned had I stayed in Austin, TX for my first job.
NOTE: These days, NYC, Seattle, and LA pay are rivaling that of the Bay Area.
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Money Decision #3 -- switching companies often
One of the advantages of switching companies often is that you get to build on top of your current financial position. For example, if you’re at Microsoft making $300k, competing companies such as Google, Facebook, Netflix will pay at least $300k assuming that you pass the interview at the proper level. So for most people, switching companies is actually the best short-term move they can make to increase their compensation. However, I wouldn’t advise this for people who have deep ties with leadership and are on a high growth trajectory.
Aside from always being at the highest end for my level by crushing interviews and negotiating hard, I’ve collected over $300k in sign-on bonuses. This is often overlooked because it’s money that you get the minute you join and can be immediately re-invested to capture the stock market boom we’ve been experiencing.
Money Decision #4 -- Not selling Facebook, Google, or Microsoft stock
Over the years, I’ve worked at companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft (LinkedIn). As a part of being employed, I receive RSUs. These RSUs make up the majority of my compensation. Normally, I would advise myself and everyone else to sell their RSUs and buy what is good value at the time. However, I was dumb and got lucky. I never sold any shares until they started to become more than 20% of my net worth. As of the writing of this blog, the stock appreciation has been 900% for Facebook, 379% for Microsoft, and 90% for Google.
Facebook and Microsoft now make up a significant portion of my net worth.
Money Decision #5 -- Investing heavily in tech stocks
If you have been following this blog, you know that I’m a big fan of dollar-cost averaging into index funds and dividend aristocrats. But there are situations where I see a market opportunity. In those scenarios, I generally invest in $20k+ lots. Here is a list of companies that I’ve invested in and their prices, sorted by how much I own:
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AMZN - $278 (now $3,094)
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AAPL - $32 (now $122)
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TGT - $54 (now $198)
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LYFT - $22 (now $63)
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UBER - $15 (now $54)
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TSLA - don’t laugh
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TQQQ - $34 (now $96)
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PLTR - $14 (now $23)
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SHOP - $560 (now $1,106)
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ZM - $140 (now $321)
Money Decision #6 -- Dollar-cost averaging into index funds
I’ve continued to keep my expenses low, relative to how much I make. Any pay increase is an increase in my weekly dollar-cost average, not an increase in lifestyle. There have been many dips in the last several years, but my DCA routine has never been discontinued. As a result, I’ve been able to capture the full bull market. The majority of my gains is not from my bet on AMZN or UBER, it has actually been from just being patient, detailed, and in general, disciplined.
It is really hard not think about splurging when many of my friends and peers at work are driving brand new Teslas, living in $2M+ homes, and going on fancy international trips.
Money Decision #7 -- Worked for Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn in my prime earning years
In addition to continuously investing, it’s important to invest a lot! By working for the best paying companies with the most generous refreshers I’ve been able to significantly amp up how much I dollar-cost average into the stock market. When I started on my road to FIRE, my goal was to invest $100,000 per year into the stock market. However, as I progressed I’ve been able to get that number to be north of $30,000/mo, including 401K contributions, DCA, M1 Finance portfolio for this blog, and individual stock investing. By earning high-end FANG compensation, I can meaningfully invest in all of those areas without losing sleep.
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The Post-Financial Independence Life No One Talks About
I used to think hitting financial independence would flip some internal switch. That I'd wake up one day and suddenly operate differently—more sophisticated, more intentional, more free. I had a clear picture in my head of what post-FIRE life would look like.
Turns out, the reality is messier than the spreadsheet ever predicted.
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I’m Building a FIRE Tool — and I Need Your Input
6 years ago, when I started this blog I had a goal of retiring and spending part of my free time building tools and community for the FIRE audience. Many things have changed, goals have been met, even exceeded, but my desire to continue to give back to the FIRE community is still there. I achieved FI by earning a decent salary as a high earning 9-5 employee, being financially active, not overspending, and repeating that for 15 years. Nothing special.
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Management vs IC: The FIRE Twist I Didn’t Expect
I’ve been a manager for 9 years, a Director for the last 3, running ~45 people across two orgs. By all external measures, I had “made it.” Titles, scope, social recognition, the kind of comp that makes FIRE possible years ahead of schedule.
And yet, lately, I’ve been asking myself: what if I went back to being an IC?
Not because I stalled out. Not because I couldn’t “climb higher.” But because somewhere between chasing FIRE and hitting it—I rediscovered something about myself: I actually love building things.
Let’s break this down through the lenses that always mattered to me: FIRE, money, stress, fulfillment, and recognition.
Are you ready? Standby.
2024 Year in Review - Top 6 highlights
Happy New Year! 2024 was another fantastic year for investors. Even though I barely moved any money around, I had my 2nd highest return ever. 2024 was also a year where I felt comfortable enough to move decent chunks of money into non-traditional investments. In this post, I will review some of my year's highlights. Are you ready? Standby.
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investing, fire, money, retirement
investing, fire, money, retirement
These days I hardly ever think about money. It is quite the contrast from before when I’d check in on the stock market every day, do back-of-the-napkin math on investment opportunities, and follow the Federal Reserve for macroeconomic movements like a hawk. But after some reflection, I must admit that I am a little stuck in my progression towards FIRE. In this blog post, I want to share the 3 challenges all FIRE people go through and how one of them currently has me in a pickle. Are you ready? Standby. (FIRE update at the end)
investing, fire, money, retirement
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2023 year in review - top 6 highlights
2023 was a fantastic year for people who held on to their stocks–up ~25% for the year. Despite interest rates, the cost of housing, and the cost of cars still being high, it was an overall good year for investors. As long as you were in crypto, bonds, or stocks it was pretty hard to have lost money. In this post, I will go over some of the highlights of my year. Are you ready? Standby.
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5 Tips on how to get promoted in a big company
Over the last 8 years as a manager of engineers and having been in hundreds of conversations about promotion candidates, I have learned that there is a huge disconnect between employee expectations and reality. Specifically, there is a gap in understanding of the employee’s role in the promotion process vs their manager, of the employee’s impact vs how hard they work, and of the employee’s behaviors vs how they are perceived by others. If you are frustrated about your lack of promotion or just want to learn how the sausage is made, this post is for you. Are you ready? Standby.
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Is $4,000,000 still a good FIRE number?
4 years ago when I started MyRoadToFire I got a good amount of readers because the FIRE community was defining fatFIRE as having a net worth of $2,500,000 but I, and many of you, believed that to be too low. In 2019, I strongly believed that having $4 million would comfortably allow a family to FIRE. Fast forward to the end of 2023, I strongly believe that having only $4 million would be extremely risky for that same family to FIRE. So was I wrong? As one of my most annoying managers used to say “yes and no.”
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Stock market is back to near all-time highs
It’s been 6 months since my last post and a lot of positive things have happened at the macro level. Inflation went from 6.0% in Feb 2023 to 3% in June 2023. The S&P 500 index rose 14%, FB up 121%, TSLA up 60%, MSFT up 39%, AAPL up 37%, GOOG up 36%, and AMZN up 31%. These are all significant gains and it makes me wonder if I should continue my long breaks in blogging to keep this streak going.
But I cannot not blog about my personal update tonight because I’ve reached another personal milestone. Are you ready? Standby.
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money, fire, stocks, real estate
3 Ways I Might make money in 2023
money, fire, stocks, real estate
For many, 2022 was a disaster year. Especially for me. I was set back by $1.84 million–yikes! Many people believe we still haven’t hit bottom yet and even fewer people believe that we will recover to 2021 levels in 2023. My prediction is that SP 500 will continue to hover around 3800-4200, mortgage rates will continue to hover around 6%, residential real estate prices will drop, but tech stocks will boom. Based on those predictions there are 3 areas I want to put my money to earn a positive return in 2023. Are you ready? Standby.
money, fire, stocks, real estate
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Time to Retire? – Winter of 2022
8 years ago when I put pen to paper, I had marked the Winter of 2022 as my target date to retire. Like most multi-year estimations, I was wrong. 8 years ago I did not have a wife. I did not have 3 kids. I did not own a house. And I understood very little about personal finance. In this post, I will talk about how far off I think my estimation was and the lessons that I’ve learned as a result. Are you ready? Standby.
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The American Dream - Episode #1
I started this blog almost 3 years ago with the goal of sharing my personal finance story with the world. I took the dive not knowing if people will care, or worse, feel resentment towards my success. But through this blog, I’ve reunited with some old friends and I’ve been introduced to new ones. We all share the same optimism around our own personal financial success. Additionally, I’ve had the pleasure to sit down with some people to listen to their stories and understand how they have achieved the American Dream. It’s very humbling to learn about their unique challenges and how they’ve overcome them. These are the exact stories that are missing from today’s mainstream media but are silently happening every day.
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Sept 2022 FIRE Update: We moved to Texas!
Today is my last day of paternity leave. I can’t believe it’s only been 4.5 months–surprisingly it feels much longer. In the last 4 months, we invited the 5th member into our house, moved our family down to Texas, went to urgent care multiple times, changed sleep configurations 10+ times, and saw my net worth increase by at least half a million only to see it dissipate in the last week. In this post, I will talk about my FIRE update, my experience moving to Texas, and share a little bit about the cost of living in North Dallas. Are you ready? Standby.
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10 ways to succeed as an employee (Part III of III)
Several months ago I was delivering what may be my last downward feedback to the engineers on my team. At my company, we go through a lengthy process of 360 feedback and several rounds of calibrating with other managers to ensure fairness. And as I reflect back on my 6 years of being a people manager, there are qualities of employees that are more highly rewarded than others. Unfortunately, the hierarchy of importance of those qualities aren’t known to most people. In this article, I will talk about 4 of the top 10 ways I believe will make you a successful employee at a big company, especially if you’re still young in your career. Are you ready? Standby.
In case you missed it, you can find the other 6 ways in Part I and Part II.
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10 ways to succeed as an employee (Part II of III)
Just 2 months ago I was delivering what may be my last downward feedback to the engineers on my team. At my company, we go through a lengthy process of 360 feedback and several rounds of calibrating with other managers to ensure fairness. And as I reflect back on my 6 years of being a people manager, there are qualities of employees that are more highly rewarded than others. In this 3-part blog series, I will break down the behaviors that are needed at different stages of your career in a big company. This is part II of a III part series. In Part II, I will cover 3 more behaviors and skills needed to excel after showing some success at your job. You can find Part I here. Are you ready? Standby.
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10 ways to succeed as an employee (Part I of III)
Just 2 months ago I was delivering what may be my last downward feedback to the engineers on my team. At my company, we go through a lengthy process of 360 feedback and several rounds of calibrating with other managers to ensure fairness. And as I reflect back on my 6 years of being a people manager, there are qualities of employees that are more highly rewarded than others. Unfortunately, the hierarchy of importance of those qualities aren’t known to most people. In this article, I will talk about 3 of the top 10 ways I believe will make you a successful employee at a big company, especially if you’re still young in your career. Are you ready? Standby.
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It’s been a while since I last posted and a lot has happened since. On the macro level, the stock market almost went into a bear market (defined as -20%) since the start of the year, Russia-Ukraine war started, home mortgage rates went from 3% to 5%, and baby formula cannot be found in some cities. On a personal level, my family finally caught COVID, my new home construction has been delayed by 4 months, I went through a re-org at work, I sold a ton of stock, I lost over $1,000,000 in portfolio value, I paid my $85K tax bill (not a typo), and I am now a father of 3 boys. In this blog, I’ll expand on my $1,000,000 loss, why I’m not concerned for myself, why I’m concerned for the bottom 90%, and what my plan is for the next 12 months.
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5 reasons why it’s hard to retire early after reaching Financial Independence
I thought that when I hit my $4,000,000 FI number, I would immediately hand in my resignation letter and pack my bags the next day. After all, I’ll be financially independent. I’ll have enough f-you money to do whatever I want. Why would I care what my employer has to say? Well, I reached my FIRE number in the middle of 2021 and I’m still working 9 months later. Over the last year, as I quickly approached my FIRE number I learned a great deal on what it takes to retire early. I’ve been overly focused on achieving FI and it came so fast, that I was left ill-prepared to RE. In this post, I’ll outline 5 of the difficulties that I’m currently going through and why I haven’t been able to throw in that resignation letter…yet. Are you ready? Standby.
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FREE Financial Coaching from Road to FIRE
Do you and your spouse make more than $150K a year? If so, I am offering free financial coaching to you! I know that personal finance is hard but there’s no reason why you need to do it alone. Your traditional Financial Advisors will not know how aggressive you need to be in order to achieve FIRE or have the proper experience to coach you through difficult financial decisions while still prioritizing FIRE.
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8 years ago when I officially started my road to FIRE, I didn’t know what to expect. I can’t say that I truly believed it was achievable before 50 years old. And by “it” I mean amassing $5 million in net worth. If memory serves me, the original plan was $5 million by 45 years old. I remember telling my mom about this ridiculous plan to retire early. She didn’t give me much of a reaction. Kind of like when you told your parents you were going to the NBA in middle school or that you were going to be the President of the United States. It’s how parents react when they don’t want to bust their kid’s unrealistic dreams.
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5 things you should practice to become a multi-millionaire
Have you ever wondered what it takes to become a self-made multi-millionaire? Or does it feel too distant that it’s just a dream? Is the American Dream dead for millennials and Gen Zers? Unquestionably, the world is rapidly changing, and our generation is left to navigate it with very little guidance. The jobs that our parents’ generations did to become rich most likely won’t make our generation rich. With that said, I strongly believe that the American Dream is still alive and that the recipe for success is a set of behaviors, not a set of instructions. My family came to America in the late 1980s as refugees, and in one generation have been able to go from the bottom 5% to the top 1%. In this article, I will distill it down to the 5 behaviors, with examples, that I believe is the foundation for financial and career success.
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dividends, investing, portfolio, fire
Road to $1,000,000 portfolio (series) - Part 1
dividends, investing, portfolio, fire
In this series, which I’ll call “Road to $1,000,000”, I will be constructing a portfolio that is more aggressive but still mainly grounded in dividend aristocrats. At the beginning of last year, I set out to run a $77,000 experiment where I only invested in dividend aristocrat stocks. After some consideration, I will be reusing that same account in order to build up a $1,000,000 portfolio alongside the rest of you! To help me get there quicker, I have also decided to double my weekly contributions from $1,000 to $2,000. The rest of this post will be focusing on what is in my new portfolio, how long I think it’ll take until this portfolio grows to be $1,000,000, and some exciting news on where I’m at on my road to FIRE. I promise there is no April Fools joke in here. Are you ready? Standby.
dividends, investing, portfolio, fire
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On my road to FIRE, I’ve had to make a handful of big decisions that have had a material impact on my net worth. As I reflect, there are a set of decisions that were pure luck and others that were calculated. Regardless of intentional or not, they have significantly contributed or enabled my net worth to be where it is today. As I list out the big money decisions, I’ll try my best to be specific about the numbers. Are you ready? Standby.
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How much did I spend in 2020???
It’s that time of the year! I’m in the middle of writing annual performance reviews for my day job. And like all of the other managers, I needed a break from politicking. So I decided to spend a couple of hours reviewing my 2020 spending! Since I had a ton of fun doing it last year I thought I’d do it again. What a year! Standby.
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dividends, portfolio, fire, stocks
My $77,000 experiment portfolio -- year end 2020 update
dividends, portfolio, fire, stocks
Happy new year! A year ago, I started a new M1Finance portfolio where I picked several dividend stocks to invest in. The goal was to achieve similar returns to the SP 500 index but beat it in terms of dividends. As of the writing of this article, I’ve contributed $77,000 of my own money into this portfolio ($25,000 initially and $1k contribution per week). In this article, I’ll share the end-of-the-year results, how I’m doing against the market and my thoughts on the dividend aristocrat experiment. Finally, I will be sharing an update on what I plan to do during 2021--stay tuned!
dividends, portfolio, fire, stocks
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$3,000,000 in mistakes -- my 7 biggest money regrets
I have spent a decent amount of time reflecting on my biggest money mistakes. 13 years ago I started on a journey to build wealth. I can’t say that I always did the right things. In fact, I made a lot of mistakes. And now looking back, those mistakes have amounted to $3+ million dollars in either lost opportunity or lost money. In this article, I’ll be talking about specific mistakes and try my best to quantify how much money was lost.
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money, retirement, portfolio, stocks
My $77,000 experiment portfolio -- Nov 2020 update
money, retirement, portfolio, stocks
At the beginning of 2020, I started a new M1Finance portfolio where I picked several dividend stocks to invest in. The goal is to achieve similar returns to the SP 500 index but beat it in terms of dividends. As of the writing of this article, I’ve contributed $73,000 of my own money into this portfolio. By the end of this year, I will have contributed $77,000 ($25,000 initially and $1k contribution per week). In this article, I’ll share my M1Finance portfolio, how I’m doing against the market, my thoughts on the current stock market, and how I am doing against my FIRE schedule.
money, retirement, portfolio, stocks
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Road to $10 million - Retire by 35 and become a deca-millionaire by 50
For those who have been following my story, you know that I plan to retire at 35 years old with a $4 million net worth. It has been over a year since I’ve started blogging and as I approach my FIRE number, I think I owe it to you guys on “what’s next.” Recently, someone asked if I planned to keep an aggressive, mostly-stocks portfolio or if I was going to rotate into bonds or an all-weather portfolio during retirement. The short answer is no. The nuanced answer is, maybe some real estate. In this post, I will talk about how my setup will allow me to retire comfortably, while still growing my net worth to $10 million by the time I’m 50 years old.
I will break down my Road to $10 million into 4 major components, explain how each one of them will play out over the next 15 years, and then bring it all together at the end.
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My $77,000 experiment portfolio -- Oct 2020 update
At the beginning of 2020, I started a new M1Finance portfolio where I picked several dividend stocks to invest in. The goal is to achieve similar returns to the SP 500 index but beat it in terms of dividends. As of the writing of this article, I’ve contributed $66,000 of my own money into this portfolio. By the end of this year, I will have contributed $77,000 ($25,000 initially and $1k contribution per week). In this article, I’ll share my M1Finance portfolio, how I’m doing against the market, my thoughts on the current stock market, and how I am doing against my FIRE schedule.
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My $77,000 experiment portfolio -- Sept 2020 Update
At the beginning of 2020, I started a new M1Finance portfolio where I picked several dividend stocks to invest in. The goal is to achieve similar returns to the SP 500 index but beat it in terms of dividends. As of the writing of this article, I’ve contributed $62,000 of my own money into this portfolio. By the end of this year, I will have contributed $77,000 ($25,000 initially and $1k contribution per week). In this article, I’ll share my M1Finance portfolio, how I’m doing against the market, my thoughts on the current stock market, and how I am doing against my FIRE schedule.
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