The Road to Financial Independence

If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t walk run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but by all means keep moving.
– Martin Luther King Jr.

As America celebrates yet another birthday, an independence of a different kind is on many of our minds.

Financial Independence.

That epitome of delayed gratification. And right about when you thought you were done with the delayed gratification thingy. After 4 yrs of medical school and 3, 7 or 10 yrs of training.
When first starting out, it seems so far away, almost unattainable. But it can be dealt with like any other big goal.

And you are used to squashing big goals. You’re a doctor, remember?

One thing that helps is to break it up. Runners use this technique a lot. If you have to run 26 miles, break it up into more doable bits. Get up to that tree in the distance. The house at the end of the lane. The other side of the mountain. The first mile or quarter mile.
So, instead of focussing only at the BIG ONE- Full FI- celebrate all the milestones along the way:

Milestones Along the Road

1. When you first take care of the basics- some emergency fund, term life and disability insurance, umbrella insurance.
2. When you first start putting into retirement accounts- maybe a little bit into a Roth as a resident or just enough to get an employer match.
3. When you first start paying into student loans.
4. When you receive your first attending paycheck.
5. When you take care of the housekeeping stuff with said attending paycheck: pad up the emergency fund, get any additional insurance needed, increase deductibles on home and auto insurance.
6. When you erase any debt, big or small. The elephant in the room, is of course, student loan debt, but everything counts- credit card debt or auto loans.
7. When you erase the negative off your net worth- that White Coat Investor has called #BacktoBroke. ….From thereon, it’s all gravy:
8. The day you start saving for your house downpayment.
9. You put into kids college savings.
10. The day you have spare cash after maxing out tax advantaged accounts and open a taxable account at your favorite brokerage.
11. The day you add one more zero to any or all of the above accounts.
12. Your first million. Maybe your second.
13. When your mortgage is paid off and you finally owe no money to anyone in the world.
14. The day you are done saving for retirement. This cool kid has a new name now: Coast FI.
15. Until finally, you reach the Holy grail: your Financial Independence number.

Celebrate each of these any way you like. Pop a bottle of champagne, eat at that nice place you’ve been wanting to, buy a pair of Rothys, take a weekend trip. Or an international one. Whichever gives you joy and doesn’t throw you off course.

What do you think? Your life may not follow the exact same order from 1 through 15. Some of you may be able to skip some numbers, if you are lucky. What number do you stand at? Let’s talk about it below!