3503: Percolate Your Portfolio by Gwen with Go Curry Cracker on Slow Investing

When you're ready to start a business, there's so much more to it than just filing paperwork.

You need a business address, a website, a phone number, an operating agreement,

basically a complete business identity.

And Northwest Registered Agent helps you build all of that from day one.

Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs

launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years.

Through the largest registered agent and LLC service in the US,

with over 1,500 corporate guides, real people who know your local laws

and can help you in your business every step of the way.

Plus, your home address, personal email, and phone numbers stay private.

No upsells, no selling your data.

Don't pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for what you can get from Northwest for free.

Visit northwestregisteredagent.com slash OFD free and start using free resources to build something

amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at northwestregisteredagent.com slash OFD free.

This is Optimal Finance Daily. Percolate your portfolio by Gwen with gocurrycracker.com.

My name is Gwen. I'm 27 years old and even if I never save another penny,

I will enjoy a comfortable standard retirement. How did I manage that? I'm glad you asked.

When I first found fire at the ripe old age of 22, I was a junior in college.

I didn't have very much money coming in, so I couldn't put many of the lessons into practice right

away. I was fortunate to get an internship with a Fortune 100 company in college shortly after I

found the fire world as a matter of fact. I had a position doing things that interested me,

so I worked hard and was rewarded with a full-time job upon graduation.

I was so excited to start working, bringing in money, and start optimizing all my finances.

I graduated with no student loan debt thanks to a lot of hard work, a full-ride scholarship

for academics, and a stint in the Air National Guard. Thanks to the military, I was getting $900

a month to attend school. I only had to pay for my car, car insurance, gas, and a cell phone.

Since I bought my car outright and cash with my bonus money, this meant my overall expenses

each month were incredibly low. $900 is a lot of money to a college student that doesn't have to

pay rent or food. Despite the fact I was bringing in all that money, I didn't go crazy and instead

saved it up. I'm so glad I did. I didn't have the best introduction to the permanent working world.

I went from the freedom of a college student to being told where to be and what to do for eight

hours a day. I get that's the whole point of a job, but I didn't like it. I'd stare longingly

out the window in the spring as the weather got warmer. People would invite me to fun events,

but I didn't have enough vacation time to go. I didn't live near family anymore so I missed

down on birthdays and major milestones. I didn't get to work on things that interested me.

Instead, thanks to my lack of seniority, I got mostly work that no one, including me, wanted to do.

The first three years of my career, I was basically a glorified intern. Nothing much was expected

of me since my main job was to learn how that team worked, how it fit into the IT division,

and what impact that team had on the greater company as a whole. I did this for two different

teams for 18 months apiece. I learned a lot. In fact, I probably took away more lessons than they

intended. I learned I'm that good at technical roles. I learned I like talking to people and helping

them solve their problems. I learned I dislike having people hover over me and watching my every move.

I learned a most productive early in the morning and least productive right after lunch.

I learned I don't like only interacting with the same few people day in and day out.

Frankly, towards the end of my rotational program, I was miserable.

I made do by throwing myself into the fire world. I especially loved Go Curry Cracker.

Reading blogs, constantly updating my budget, fiddling with projections,

all of that helped distract me from how much I disliked working a corporate job.

I didn't let lifestyle creep impact me too much. I kept my same car I had in college,

didn't go out shopping for useless and tried to pack as many lunches as possible.

I knew I couldn't work a corporate job for the next 10 years and didn't want to get trapped

into that lifestyle. The politics, the pettiness of co-workers, the rigid career progression,

it was not for me. So I started a side hustle or two or three to help speed up that timeline.

I bought a multi-family rental property and became a landlord. I learned how to do stained glass,

something that had always interested me, and started to make a few pieces here and there.

I started my own blog. I even started a podcast with my friend Jay that covers different

paths to fire through side hustles and other endeavors. While I was working on building up

these side hustles, I was putting at least $2,600 a month away into various investment accounts.

Depending on my expenses that meant I was saving between 50 to 70% of my monthly income.

My original fire goal was to save up $600,000 in 10 or so years and retire early.

But after I figured out 10 years in corporate America wasn't going to be the best path for me,

I decided to let my portfolio percolate while I did other things.

I saved up $200,000 in five years and quit my job. My portfolio will continue to compound and

grow over the next 30 odd years until I'm at traditional retirement age.

That $200,000 is the foundation for a comfortable retirement.

I'm going to let my portfolio do the heavy lifting while I work on the things I want to.

Because I saved aggressively at the beginning of my career, I'm finally in control of my life.

If you front-load your retirement savings, you could be free from the awful corporate world too.

Just imagine your life without a corporate job and think of all the things you could be doing.

Now that I don't work for the man anymore, I'm free to take that bike ride around the lake at one

in the afternoon. I can say yes to going to fun events. I'm free to focus all of my

mental energy on things I'm interested in and want to do more of.

I can run to the grocery store at two on a Wednesday. I can do chores during the day so my

weekends are free to hang out with friends and family. The words business casual are no longer

in my vocabulary. Every day is jeans day or sweatpants day. Let's be real here.

Join me on the other side. It's amazing.

You just listen to the post titled Percolate Your Portfolio by Gwen with gocurrycracker.com.

Dell PCs with Intel inside are built for the moments that matter. For the moments you plan

and the ones you don't. Built for the busy days that turn into all night study sessions.

The moment you're working from a cafe and realize every outlet's taken.

The times you're deep in your flow and the absolute last thing you need is an auto update

throwing off your momentum. That's why Dell builds tech that adapts to the way you actually work.

Built with long lasting battery so you're not scrambling for the closest outlet.

And built-in intelligence that makes updates around your schedule not in the middle of it.

They don't build tech for tech's sake. They built it for you.

Find technology built for the way you work at Dell.com slash Dell PCs. Built for you.

Hey sweetie, your mother showed me this carbon thing for selling the car. I'm going to give it a try

Wish me luck. Me again. I put in the license plate. It gave me an offer. Unbelievable.

Okay, I accepted the offer. They're picking it up Tuesday from the driveway. I haven't even left my chair.

It's done. The car is gone. I'm holding a check. Anyway, Carvana. Give it a whirl. Love you.

So good. You'll want to leave a voicemail about it. Sell your car today on Carvana.

Pick up these maplie. It was interesting to read this article while knowing the rest of Gwen's story.

At the economy conference, Gwen shared her initial five plan and how much it has changed over the

last 10 years. She points out our need to adapt and be flexible on our path to fire.

That rental property she bought ended up becoming a nightmare. And she learned that entrepreneurship

wasn't going to be a viable path for her. But what I love about Gwen's story is that by

front loading her traditional retirement savings, she bought herself the privilege to try out

different things. And when those things didn't work out how she hoped, she allowed herself to

shift course. If you'd like to learn more about Gwen's story, check out her speech titled Lessons

from a Decade of Fire right now on the Economy Conference YouTube channel. And that'll do it for

today. Thank you for joining as always. I'll be back again with you tomorrow where your optimal life