My wife and myself have drank the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) Kool-Aid and are currently on the path to financial independence. I am a firefighter/paramedic and my wife is a CPA. We have realized how important and easy it can be to become financially independent.
I used to be a flight instructor before switching careers to a firefighter paramedic in 2013-2014. I have never been horrible with money, but I was not great with money either. I received my first full time job with a fire department in 2014. As my income increased, so did my spending. I had almost no schooling or background on personal finance. My wife and I were making enough money where we did not think much about monthly savings. We had talked about saving more each month, but neither of us followed through.
After we started finding information on the Financial Independence movement, we began to change. We focused on paying down debt and increasing our savings. I noticed we both have been a lot happier overall since we started on this path. I want to show everyone that living a frugal and smart lifestyle does not mean your life will be boring. We still go on vacations, go out to eat, and hang out with our friends. We just try to be conscious about our spending.
After starting on the financial independence path, I started listening to other public employees and how they handled their money. I quickly realized a lot were like me and did not have any financial background. I also found out that many completely depended on a financial advisor and would not even know if they were getting ripped off. This is when I decided to start this blog. I want this blog to provide as much information as possible on personal finance and how to achieve financial independence. Most importantly once you achieve financial independence you are your own boss and not dependent on anyone else. I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty good to me.