Financial Freedom in 3 Years (Cody’s FI Journey Explained)

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
• Gold City Ventures continues to grow rapidly
• Income: $403,000, Net worth: $1,035,000, Stock market: 26.89%
• Financial Freedom! 
  • Had RE making $3,000+ in cash flow, $500,000+ invested in the stock market
  • In addition to the semi-passive $20,000+ per month I was earning with digital products

Since I reached financial independence, I have continued to work on my main business, Gold City Ventures and invest 90%+ of my income into index funds and real estate.

Links from the Episode

• CodyDBerman.com (previously FlytoFi)
• The FI Show (first episode)
• Gold City Ventures

Join the Community

We’d love to hear your comments and questions about this week’s episode. Here are some of the best ways to stay in touch and get involved in The FI Show community!

1. Grab the Ultimate FI Spreadsheet
2. Join our Facebook Group
3. Leave us a voicemail
4. Send an email to contact [at] TheFIshow [dot] com

If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a rating/review!

>> You can do that by clicking here <<

Learn More About Your Hosts

CodyDBerman.com (Cody’s Blog)

Saving-Sherpa (Justin’s blog)