Year-End Reflection after 1st Year of FIRE - How I Got There

[Daniel E.]

Glad 2020 is over and I hope 2021 is better for everyone suffering around the world.

My Story Highlights:

• I attribute reaching FI at 30 to a lot of cumulative efforts that stacked.
• The primary effort that let me hit FI was building and selling a multi-million dollar eCommerce business and investing the profits but many of the earlier efforts made that possible.
• For instance, getting the online business rolling required cash ($50k total invested) that I had saved from previous efforts including:
• Growing up, I worked as a soccer referee and always saved my money
• In high school, I mowed lawns with my brother and we had over 20 clients at a time
• Good grades and high ACT score led to full ride at a state college
• Additional scholarships led to making about $25K above my college costs so I graduated with no debt and strong savings
• Tutored during college in our Engineering Department (payed $16/hr, I graduated with Civil Engineering, just FYI)
• Lived with some friends in college and my rent and utilities were only $250/month
• Worked as a Civil Engineer and roomed with 5 other guys in a large house, paying only $265/month
• Bought a car with cash for $9K in 2012 when I graduated college that had only 14,000 miles but lots of hail damage so I got a big discount
• Bought a house in 2014 and had roommates for 3 years, earning $1,450 per month in rent, earning an additional $17K per year
• Got bored enough with work that I started a side hustle that quickly became a multi-million dollar company and was able to sell it 4 years and become FI at 30 years old.
• The eCommerce business quickly became a full-time job and I brought on 2 friends as business partners who also invested to help supply inventory (gave up 50% equity but well worth it in my opinion and it was much more fun working with friends and as a group we were able to grow the business and keep a manageable workload and not burn out)

One Year Later ...

• Myself and my business partners had been investing since 2012 and have been deeply studying investing/personal finance/tax strategies etc. the past 8 years but we really lucked out to sell the company before Covid hit the states
• Also got very lucky to be able to invest heavily in Real Estate Investment Trusts and other stocks during the March crash
• Will keep investing for another post because I have a lot going on there (stocks, both active and passive, private real estate syndications, opportunity zone funds, rental properties, BRRRs, hard money lending, public and private REITs, Bitcoin, crypto lending, eCommerce venture capital, some private equity, distressed mortgage lending, etc.) - the variety allows for greater diversity, less volatility, better rebalancing options through less correlated assets, and less risk of having to sell shares in a down market to fund expenses
• Currently focused on tax-efficient investing through capital gain/loss harvesting, retirement contributions, roth conversions, etc.
• Overall, I filled a lot of time on starting a passion project (blog + podcast) and investing activities this past year and it went by super fast
• I had fun investing and had incredible returns but am now looking at diversifying the gains in a tax efficient manner by moving large gains from my active portfolio over to passive funds and some innovative growth etfs for a longer-term tilt towards the companies that could be the market leaders 10 years from now

This post is partly to help me reflect on the year and exactly how I got here and I hope my story can encourage others as well as give them practical ideas that have helped me reach FIRE.

To a Better 2021!

Daniel,

Business And Investing Sherpa