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Dear Kristy, I just wanted to say that you have truly changed my life…
Messages like this make my ears perk up. Despite having last heard from this particular reader about a decade ago, I remembered them. Back then, they had just discovered FIRE, and peppered us with questions about savings, investing, taxation, etc. Chief among her concerns was that she earned $60,000 a year and lived in an expensive city in the USA. Was any of this possible for her?
And now?
Thank you for the time taken to respond to my email ~10 years ago. Back then, I literally knew nothing (I still know nothing), but the math behind your methodology sold me. So even though I procrastinated so much on my FIRE journey, even though I never reached back out to you, even though I wasn’t active in your community and just silently stalking, I was able to follow the easy steps you laid out in your workshop. And I’m happy and excited to share that this year, I’ve finally reached & exceeded my own $1M FIRE goal.
Wow. Amazing.
A million bucks seem like such an insurmountable number to someone just starting out, but every millionaire started off with an empty bank account. Assuming they didn’t inherit their wealth, every millionaire built their fortune a dollar at a time, but I get why the process is mysterious for so many. That’s why we built this blog, and the Investment Workshop. To demystify the process and democratize wealth, and over the years I’ve realized that’s had more impact on more people than anything I ever did at my engineering job.
I could not have done this without you. I cannot even believe this is my reality, and I’m tearing up even re-reading what you wrote to me — “10-15 years from now, you’ll likely be where we’re at :)” and “I think your salary is quite good and definitely enough to achieve FI”. Thank you for your affirmation. It meant so much to me, just to have someone believe in me. I was a college drop out. I wasn’t even making $60k, it was actually $40k/year (I was so insecure that I lied). But I was confident that if I could live off of that before-tax amount, I could make the 4% work.
I ended up getting a job at a top tech company 2 years into my career journey and saved aggressively without too much lifestyle creep. I allocated my stock/bond ratio to 80/20. I re-balanced my portfolio every month. And compound interest just did the rest.
I admire so much that you and Bryce have both continued to keep posting all these years, to keep sharing, to keep doing what you do. Thank you so so much for being the big sis and big bro I never had, to teach me in a way that didn’t make me feel like an idiot for not knowing. If you guys are ever in my area, I would love love love to treat your family of three out for a meal.
And we would love love love to take our reader up on that offer!
This was such a nice email, and came at a particularly rough week, as our toddler caught a stomach bug…it’s been a lot.
Dealing with a sick child is its own particular circle of Hell, and it’s given FIRECracker and I a new appreciation for the invisible work that parents do. We’re also insanely grateful that the Money Machine we built years ago keeps churning out passive interest and dividends while we sleep. Retiring from our jobs to travel the world is one thing, but knowing that after a particularly rough night of cleaning literal crap from our toddler’s bedsheets we don’t have to get up at 7:30 and trudge into work the next day makes all the work we did decades ago worth it.
So for any Gen Z-ers out there just starting in their career going “That’s not going to work with my tiny paycheck,” here are just a few pointers to remember.
Setting Up the Money Machine is the Hardest Part
The Money Machine isn’t a physical machine or anything like that. It’s a series of accounts at a bank or brokerage that are set up with an investment allocation that you design. It’s all virtual, and can be set up by anyone with a laptop and an internet connection.
The reason why it can’t simply be done for you is because everyone’s risk tolerance is different. Some people need their investments to be less volatile and need more bonds vs equities, while others that have a longer term timeframe can tolerate more swings. However, I would argue that for most people in their 20’s and pursuing FIRE, a 75% equity/25% fixed income allocation will work just fine.
After that, you have to select your ETFs, link your checking accounts, and set up the tools to help you rebalance and keep your investments on track, so it’s a bunch of logistics and digital forms that needs to be e-signed, but it’s not like there’s any calculus involved. Again, if you can install an app and create a TikTok account, that’s pretty much all the skills you need to do this.
Our Investment Workshop is designed to be a step-by-step guide to build your Money Machine. It’s also free, so please start there if you’re feeling confused.
Feed The Money Machine
Most people make peanuts when they start working. My first job was minimum wage (I worked as a ride operator at a carnival). That’s OK. To paraphrase the old saying, it’s not the size of your paycheck that matters, it’s what you do with it.
Most people spend every last dime because they don’t know what else to do with it. Building your Money Machine gives you that alternative, and that’s a powerful tool because it makes you question every purchase and compare its relative value. Do I really want this fancy Louis Vuitton bag, or would that money be better spend invested and growing?
I’m a big proponent of financial ergonomics. Make doing the right thing easy, and it’s more likely you’ll do it. So if you set your life up to make investing as easy as pressing a button, or even being automated completely so you don’t have to do anything, you will surprise yourself by how easy it is to build wealth.
As our reader can confirm, achieving FIRE isn’t about being smarter or working harder than anyone else. It’s about building the habits that make FIRE inevitable.
Let Time Do the Rest
Once you have your money machine set up, and your contributions as easy to make as possible, the final ingredient is time.
For someone just starting out in their career, their relatively small paychecks may seem like an obstacle, but they also have a huge wind at their back because they can have so much time in the market.
The power of compounded growth is no joke. A dollar that grows at 7% compounded annually will double in 10 years. Add to that the fact that your earnings will likely increase as your career progresses, which means that the amount you are able to contribute goes up each year, which also grows, which also compounds, and so on until it becomes an unstoppable snowball of money.
10 years might seem like a long time, but remember: The time will pass anyway. Setting up your Money Machine and feeding it early on means that as time goes on, your money will compound until one day, like our reader, you will be amazed at how much it’s grown.
That’s what I love about FIRE. Play the game right, and one day you just might wake up a millionaire.
I was recently on a podcast “2 Dads 1 Car” which was a lot of fun. I met up with the host Steven Ngo in a random parking lot, so I figured I was about to be kidnapped or we were going to record the podcast while driving around. Fortunately, it turned out to be the latter. Check us out here
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Ha ha, upon reading the title, I had to jump in there—although it’s past my bedtime—and see if this is about someone waking up as a millionaire or about someone telling a millionaire to wake the [BLEEP!] up! Hey, curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back!
Superb inspiring story! Well done!
Love this story and just added it to my X.
This is so inspiring.. and 100% true
As an immigrant in America that arrived about 11 years ago with $800 on my bank account and with minimum wage for the first years all I can say is that I am 4 years shy of reaching my FI number and it is all thanks to these two guys and their book.
Once I get there I will write my whole story and hopefully will also get a post like this hahaha…. anyways thank you so much again for helping so many people with your knowledge.
Keep up the good work ! 🙂
The Cuban Missile, that’s fantastic and isn’t that what the American dream really is supposed to be? My spouse came to the US as a refugee with literally nothing and slowly built from there, getting a job, learning the language, becoming a citizen, and finally we retired early a few years ago after following the FIRE strategy without realizing it for 15 years or so.
I wish more people would get on the bandwagon of working the FIRE strategy. Even if you want to keep working, the FI part makes life so much easier!
I just browsed through the comments on that “waking up a millionaire” post and it’s interesting to see how people interpret the mindset shift differently. Some are focused on daily habits and routines, while others zero in on financial strategies or long‑term planning. What really stands out to me is how many responses highlight patience and consistency over overnight success — that feels a lot more realistic than some get‑rich‑quick talk. I also liked seeing people share small actionable tips that helped them personally, because it makes the whole idea of building wealth feel less abstract and more grounded in everyday choices.
Awesome post. I have a similar story; I got a late start, but then discovered you guys and Uncle JL and got the Money Machine in place and about 10 years later woke up and had exceeded the goal. I now tell anyone who is interested — “Time and consistancy!; Time and consistancy! Time and consistancy wins the day!” (and the magic of compounding) And for any young person who will listen — I tell them that their super power isn’t their paycheck — it is their youth and the long runway they have to build. Set things up and just start. Manage your spending, keep out of debt, and invest the rest (ala JL). Thank you guys for keeping the experiment going and documenting it out. I’m sure it takes a lot with the expanded family, but dang, you are making such a difference.
I echo this reader’s sentiment. Your investment workshop is how I learned about investing in a brokerage in 2018. That in turn led me to getting out of a target date portfolio in my 401k and moving my rollover IRA from a high fee asset manager. To be clear I had a good 15 years of work and uninformed frugality (I kept a large balance in a savings account until 2018), but learning from you two via the investment workshop really put my wife and I on the right path. You’ve also been super gracious with your time and patience in responding to questions and comments that I’ve sent your way over the years. We hit our FI number earlier this year and we are contemplating what options to pursue in 2026. Thank you for your writing. It has definitely made a difference in our lives.
Kristy and Bryce, I also want to add, “I would love love love to treat your family of three out for a meal.” I believe there’s a long list of people who would want to take you guys out to eat.
Hopefully, one day we can meet somewhere in this world and show you our love and appreciation for all the great things you have done for the FI community. 🙂 🙂
Awesome post. I too have recently woken up a millionaire, and it’s a great feeling. I got divorced about 5 years ago, and about a year later was inspired to begin financial recovery mode. My high income has greatly helped (airline pilot), but the books I read that first year (probably about 20) were life-changing. Dave Ramsey, Daniel Solin, Chris Hogan, Scott Rieckens, Burton Malkiel & Charles Ellis, and of course these two wonderful people. My 1,000,000+ is mostly in my 401k, which is great, but also have a separate Vanguard. Even during the ridiculous Trump tariff nonsense, my portfolio only lost about 15% briefly, due to the diversification. I can’t recommend enough for everyone to educate themselves with a few books. I wish they taught all this in high school.
Inspiring indeed. Congratulations on achieving your goal. Thank you all for sharing the journey it encourages and inspires many.
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