In today’s podcast we have a conversation with Gwen from Fiery Millennials about her millennial path to FI plus some hacks that she used to save on college and increase her savings rate.
Podcast Episode Summary
- Our guest on Episode 39 is Gwen from Fiery Millennials
- Was Gwen from the generation that grew up with electronics from day 1?
- A background on Gwen’s story saving money when she was younger. She saved 50% of her income
- Gwen pursued dual enrollment classes and entered college with 23 college credits
- Gwen did the research with the college first to determine what credits would count
- Brad’s example of programs that exist in Virginia and likely other states where you can attend a community college and transfer to a state university
- Gwen joined the Air Force in the Air National Guard to pay for college, but actually got a merit scholarship from her college
- Gwen still has 8 semesters of free college remaining for the future due to these dual scholarships
- How did Gwen find the concept of Financial Independence?
- Finding FI helped Gwen keep on the path and be conscious of her consumerism and save more
- Gwen’s search for an internship via job hiring boards or job fairs
- What’s the difference between searching on the job board and the job fairs?
- How to look professional and make a positive impression at a job fair
- Your FI path is dramatically easier when you do things right from the beginning
- Gwen was maxing out her retirement contributions
- How you can be on cruise control if you do the right things the first 10-15 years of your career
- Gwen had a roommate when she got out of college so she was only paying $450 per month in rent
- Gwen pursued rental real estate after attending the Chautauqua
- She landed on the idea of ‘house hacking’ for her rental property
- She bought a triplex and the rental from the 2 other units more than pays for her rent, so she is paying $0 out of pocket for living expenses
- Gwen feels she may have rushed into buying a property since she bought the second property she looked at
- Gwen is maxing out her 401k, HSA and Roth IRA and then additional savings go towards future down payments
- Gwen’s savings rate should be around 80%, but extraordinary expenses on her rental home bring it down around 50%
- Gwen still has her car from college and she intends to hold it for years to come
- What are Gwen’s plans for the future?
- Hot seat questions
Listen to Brad and Jonathan’s thoughts about this episode here.
Links from the show:
- Fiery Millennials
- Mr. Money Mustache
- Slowly Sipping Coffee
- Millionaire Educator
- Google Project FI phone service
- Our Next Life
- The Mad Fientist Guinea Pig article
- Cedarcide insecticide
Doug Nordman and Carol Pittner show you how to validate your childs feelings about money, talk through mistakes, and think of better ways to manage their money the next time.
