FIRE Community Guest Interview #24 – Software Engineer Immigrant Balancing Her Journey to FI

Here we are again with our next installment of the FIRE Community Guest Interview Series!  

For anyone new here, this interview series will cover people within the FIRE community who are on their way to becoming financially independent, have already reached financial independence, or who have retired early. If you are reading this and you are financially independent, retired early, or close to reaching these major financial milestones, please reach out to us! You can check out the previous FIRE Community Guest Interviews here.

Today, we have the pleasure of having Vi, an Indonesian transplant currently living in the US, on to share her journey to FI.   I truly love the reflective responses that Vi provides and it’s clear that she’s spent a lot of time trying to master the non-financial aspects to one’s FIRE journey, which is super important.

I hope you appreciate these responses as much as I do and hope you can relate to these guest interviews in some sense to see that there is no cookie-cutter way to FI. If you have any follow up questions or would like to get in touch with Vi, please either send her an email at happythrifty.too@gmail.com, check out her blog – Happy Thrifty, or leave a comment below!

Without further ado, take it away Vi!

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1. Can you give us a little background of who you are, what you do, and how you became interested in personal finance? How did you discover the idea of financial independence?

Hi! I arrived in the US from Indonesia to get my master’s and I ended up staying! Now I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with my husband. I am a software engineer turned data/product analyst. I write on my blog to share personal finance/productivity tips and share my remote working experience on youtube. I also enjoy creating music, particularly with piano. 

The first time I heard about Financial Independence was four or five years ago at the MMM site. But back then, I was quite depressed with my job so the idea of achieving FI seemed out of reach to me. I wanted to focus on finding a career that I can enjoy. 

Then, about two or three years later, I was reminded again of the idea of FI when I visited the MadFientist site. At this time, I have made a pivot in my career, and I thought my life would be fine and dandy after finding a more enjoyable career. But, I still found myself complaining about my job and daydreaming about not having to work someday. Honestly, I like the idea of working from 9-5 and being done with my job at 5, but I am still hopeful to have my own thing someday.

2. When in your journey did you realize financial independence was actually possible?  Was that the original goal at the beginning?

Originally, I never thought that Financial Independence was a possibility. After reading the Simple Path to Wealth book by J.L. Collins, MadFientist, and aPurpleLife’s blog, I started to believe that maybe it is possible. After sitting down and calculating my savings rate, i.e., if I save 60-70% of my income over the next several years and add that number with my existing savings, it doesn’t seem impossible to get there. The steps seem pretty simple; reducing expenses, increasing income, and saving/investing the surplus. The rest is waiting. But for me, I want to enjoy the journey as much as possible. I don’t want to get too obsessed with my net worth and put FI as a pedestal for my happiness. 

My goal is not necessarily about being rich. It is about having freedom and more flexibility in life. There are aspects that I like about working for a company but there are things that make me unhappy, i.e., the possibility of working for a manager you hate and the workload. In addition, there are things that I want to achieve outside work, and I want to be able to pursue them without worrying about my finances.

3. To help put things into context, if you are comfortable sharing some numbers, what is your savings rate, FIRE number, net worth, salary, how many hours a week do you work, etc?  How long have you been working towards financial independence and where are you today? 

I’m currently ~86% on the way to achieving my FI number. Currently, my savings rate is about 60-70%. I am probably a little late into the investing game and I wish I had started the journey sooner. But it’s better late than never right 🙂 

When I first started my career in the US, I made $52k as a software engineer. I probably could have made significant progress with my income if I could switch jobs easily (still thankful for the opportunity to work and live in the US, though!). I also had to take a pay cut after making a pivot in the middle of my career, but it is worth it because now I enjoy my work (~80% of the time). 

What I have been doing in the past several years are:

• Reducing my expenses, but try not to keep a healthy balance between spending and savings
• Interviewing around and finding a higher-paying job
• Saving and investing the remaining 

4. Do you feel deprived?  Do you feel like you are sacrificing and missing out on life?  How would you say your mindset has shifted throughout your FI journey?

I don’t think I feel (or ever felt) deprived. I still buy my favorite snacks and hang out with my friends at a favorite restaurant. But I try to set a budget when buying something (not always) and see that as an exercise of prioritizing. As far as hobbies, I consider myself lucky because most of my hobbies (reading, writing) are not expensive, except for making music, which can get costly with education and gadgets. It is also worth noting that I do not own a house nor have kids, and my elderly parents are still working (although their retirement age is coming, so I have to be more prepared), which helps set room for a bigger budget. I’m also relatively healthy which I’m very grateful for. 

However, I do feel like I’m missing out occasionally. I enjoy traveling, and there are a few places that I want to visit such as Japan and Europe, and stay there for two to three months. I have been delaying this because obviously, it will be expensive and I’d probably have to quit working. But I can wait on this, and this will be something I’ll look forward to while achieving my FI goal.

I can see why some people can feel deprived when pursuing FI. Maybe they set their budget to the extreme because they are so obsessed with it and assume that FI will solve their life’s problems. In the first year of discovering FI, I was also so consumed with it that I became more like a penny pincher. But I hated becoming a penny pincher. So I got a higher-paying job to save a lot but I can still be generous with my spending. I also don’t want to think FI is the end-all, because after achieving FIRE, I am sure there will be different sets of problems to tackle.

When first starting my FI journey, all I was thinking of is saving and investing my money, but it has slowly changed. I realized that I want a good balance of saving, investing, and spending. 

If you want to achieve something, you most likely have to sacrifice something, and I think the sacrifice vs. the rewards is worth it. I don’t think everyone can achieve Financial Independence, though. Still, some elements of FIRE are helpful, such as investing and budgeting, which people should take notice of to build their wealth or at least not live paycheck to paycheck. 

5. What do you spend your money on and what don’t you spend your money on? What brings you happiness and joy? How much money do these things cost?

I love Japanese snacks and going to Asian markets. I also subscribed to a Japanese snack box ($45 quarterly) to get a new selection of snacks as well. I spent between $60-$80 in the Asian market (sometimes it can be more), and I went about twice a month. 

I love learning new things, so I spent a good amount on education, particularly in music and my career. For instance, I just spent almost five hundred dollars hiring a coach to prepare for my interview. Sometimes I also spend a good amount on tech gadgets. 

I also enjoy running, and last year I spent several hundred dollars buying a new treadmill. Buying a treadmill is money well spent for me because it keeps me walking/running despite winter.

As far as reducing expenses, I don’t buy new clothes as frequently as before. Due to remote work, I also save on gas and car maintenance. 

Since I don’t have kids or a home, I don’t have spending in this area. Having a house would be nice, but I’m not sure if I want to spend my time maintaining and fixing the house. I’d like to own a home one day, but probably not at this time. 

6. Do you use a budget?  Do you track your expenses? Do you track your net worth? If so, how often do you update these?

I don’t use a budget or expense tracker in most of my purchases. Usually when I am making a plan to travel. I use personal capital to track my net worth. Before, I attempted using an excel sheet to track my savings and investment, but it ended up being too much work. For now, I will keep it as simple as I can. Maybe at some point, I’ll start building a habit to track my expenses. 

7. What are some of the more unique/uncommon ways you’ve cut down costs? 

Here are some unique ways that I’ve saved money:

• Splitting wifi bills with a neighbor has saved me about $30 a month.
• If I want to buy something non-urgent, I’d wait at least three to ten days and see if I still desire the purchase. Sometimes I change my mind, which has helped me prevent impulse buying.
• I have enjoyed going to the library and working from there since COVID, which has accidentally helped me cut down utility bills.
• If I get takeout and receive all of those individual condiment packages, I’d keep them, so I rarely spend money on ketchup, mustard, and mayo. 
• Before going to the grocery store, I’d make sure I am not hungry and check on my fridge . Otherwise, I’d spend a lot more than I typically do 😀
• I like checking out employee discounts and employee assistance programs. Recently, I got three free therapy sessions from the employee assistance program. Yay!

8. As a FI member living in the States, are there any pros to living in America specifically that have helped you along your journey?  Conversely, any cons?  

Living in the States has significantly helped my FI journey. The pay is substantially higher, and most companies I worked for offer a pretty good work-life balance so far. Although living costs and taxes are lower in my home country, the income difference makes up for it. Due to COVID, remote work has been getting popular these days. This means I’d have more opportunities and choices when it comes to finding a new job. If I were in my home country, I’d probably be making at least three or four times less, and the cost of living is still relatively high compared to the salary I’d get. I don’t think I’d ever get this far by just having a full-time job if I were to live in my home country.

On the contrary, I’d say the healthcare costs in this country worry me a lot. Last year, my mom was sent to the ER for a nonsurgical operation, and we were charged a $6k bill. Thankfully, we were able to negotiate it down to $2k. Healthcare is still pretty costly where I came from, but it is not as expensive and worrisome as here.  

I think the pros to the US are generally higher income brackets and overall higher standard of living quality. I can move to the west coast and make so much more, although that comes with a higher living cost. Work-life balance seems also better here. It is not uncommon for people to stay working after 5 there, but of course, that varies from your team, your boss, and the nature of your job as well. However, a big con, as everyone knows, is the healthcare here. Thus, I’m considering moving to a European country someday. 

9. What is your investment strategy? Do you invest in index funds, dividend stocks, real estate, other businesses, etc.?  Has your investment strategy changed over the years? 

Over the past years, I have only invested in index funds, particularly in VTSAX. I’ve also been implementing tax avoidance strategies. MadFientist blog is a great resource, and this simple flowchart on how to prioritize your spending is a great start too. I’d also make sure to check new tax laws from time to time to time. I love to keep things simple and probably never want to be a landlord. Since I don’t hate what I do at this moment, I’d probably prefer to study for an interview to get a higher-paying job to speed up my FI journey. 

10. Do you take advantage of tax advantaged accounts offered to you?  If so, which ones and how so?  Do you have a game plan to be able to withdraw from these funds when the time comes or is the plan to live solely off passive rental income? 

I honestly haven’t done extensive research about my withdrawal strategy. When the time comes, I’d probably use my cash first. I plan to build some money for at least two years and then sell my funds from the personal investment account first. In the future, when I don’t have a full-time job, I’d convert my traditional IRA to Roth IRA to be in a lower tax bracket. MadFientist wrote a great article about how to access retirement funds early.

11. Speaking of withdrawals, what is the withdrawal rate you plan to use when you withdraw from your portfolio?  Are you a fan of the “4% rule” or something else?  Why?

I’d want to be flexible with the withdrawal rate, not necessarily 4% per year, but hopefully a little bit less than that because I want to be on the safer side. Maybe I’d sell a bit more when the market is doing well and less when it’s a downturn. I might have a part-time job by then and this would supplement the withdrawal. Probably not the most comprehensive answer since I haven’t used any money from my portfolio. 

12. What are your post-FIRE thoughts/plans regarding health coverage?  As a reference, what do you currently pay annually or monthly for health related costs (be it insurance, co-pays, deductibles, etc.)? What do you estimate your post-FIRE health costs to be per year?

I have to say that I’m still researching this, but this would be my option if I decided to do FI/RE in the US:

• Get health insurance on the health marketplace, which would be expensive and my least preferred option.
• Enroll in DPC (Direct Primary Care) – it is a monthly subscription model with no insurance in between, and we get a consultation in exchange. But we still need an insurance plan to cover testing, procedures, or medication. Mr. Money Mustache wrote a good article about this. 
• Enroll in a Christian healthcare plan. I heard a positive review about the program, so I enrolled my mom. Last year, she got COVID and was able to get her bills reimbursed. If I keep having a positive experience, I’ll probably go with the cheapest option (the bronze plan costs ~$70 a month at the moment). 
• Get a part-time job to get health insurance. 

 Another option is to move to Canada or a European country with a decent healthcare system such as Portugal. Last year, I got two job offers in Sweden, but I decided to stay in the US to build my FI savings. I plan to visit Portugal with my husband next year, and if we like it enough, we will very likely move there. 

Currently, I’m paying about $100 a month for high deductible insurance. The deductible (the amount you pay for covered health care services before your insurance plan starts to pay) is $2200, and the co-pay ranges between $20-$30. It is not terrible, but not the greatest either. 

13. If you could go back in time and change things, what would you have done differently?

I’d max out my 401k and invest in an index fund as soon as I can. If I had done this since I first started working in the US, obviously I’d have been a lot further along. There was a period when I kept lots of cash in an online savings account, and I didn’t know what to do with that cash. I thought I’d buy a house, but I actually never did.

14. Has discovering financial independence changed how you view your job and life overall? 

Absolutely. I used to be scared of speaking up for my needs at work. Particularly when I was on a visa. Now that I’m not too far from FI and gained my permanent residency, I care less about getting laid off or losing my job. It reduced my BS tolerance. I started speaking up about what I needed at work, such as less workload and working from home. I never wanted to climb the corporate ladder anyway, but I used to be very dedicated at work (such as working late). Not that I’m being lazy at work now, but I will only perform enough that I’m not getting in trouble.

 Overall, I feel more hopeful about life. At the same time, I hope to keep the balance between living in the moment and planning for the future. I want to still enjoy life now and start making progress on things that matter to me even before reaching FI. 

15. Have you come out of the FIRE closet yet? Meaning, do your friends, family, co-workers etc. know about your financial independence goals?  If so, how did you bring it up and what were their reactions?  If not, why not?  Why do you struggle with this conversation and why do you feel that money is such a taboo topic? 

Not really. I don’t think I’ll ever want to involuntarily tell my family or friends. I’m not sure how to handle it. My guess is there will be some form of judgment or jealousy. So it is probably better to avoid it 🙂 But if they are curious or want to learn, I’d absolutely share what I know about it. 

16. What pieces of advice would you suggest to someone who is just starting out or someone who is working toward reaching financial independence? 

I’d first find out if I can cut my expenses and invest any surplus. There are lots of ideas you could find on personal finance blogs but I’d pick ones that make sense for you. For instance, many blogs advised me to buy a used car but I bought a new car instead. I bought a used car before and unfortunately, that wasn’t a good decision. This flowchart is a good starting point if you live in the US. 

 Also, I’d not stay for too long in the same job. I’d find a higher-paying job if possible. I thought that a well-paying job means higher stress, but that’s not always the case. It heavily depends on your team and your manager. 

 Learning about FIRE taught us to be more financially educated. But FIRE probably won’t fix your problem 100%. It will give us more options and it can be a huge help in many cases. But it won’t fix a more subtle yet perhaps important issues like overthinking, assertiveness, and perfectionism for instance. I dealt with and have been dealing with this, and I noticed it is only getting better when I’m actively working towards a meaningful project instead of trying to escape from it or distract myself with other activities. I also noticed that I feel more content even though I don’t know if I will ever achieve/overcome it.

 I’m not sure about other people, but when I become super obsessive with my numbers, it makes me unable to enjoy life. So, I made a plan to save 60%-70%, invest early and often, roll with it, and be patient. There will be a set of new problems after FIRE anyway, such as lack of structure and social interaction, so I try to make the most of what I have now – for instance scheduling meetings regularly with my favorite leaders at work to learn from them and giving a presentation when I can (but I suck at presentation btw :D). 

17. What does the word ‘success’ mean to you?

I have to think about this a little bit. I think success means having good relationships with family and friends and making progress towards things that matter to me. It also means pushing myself even when I don’t feel like it. There are times when I want to become one with my bed, and in this case, success could mean that I’m able to get up and sit in front of the piano and play any song for at least 15 minutes. I used to think success was associated with money, fame, or promotion, which of course it can be for some people, but I’m hoping that I won’t focus too much on the outcome, but rather on the character that I’m building in the process.

18. Are there any books, blogs, or podcasts that you would recommend for our readers to check out?

Here are resources that I recommend:

Personal finance:

• Simple Path to Wealth Book by Jl Collins book or blog. 
• Madfientist blog for tax avoidance strategies.
• EatSleepBreaththeFi –  the FI school lesson and how much does it cost to live the FIRE series is super informative!
• Investing with Rose Youtube Channel.

Personal growth:

• The 5 seconds rule by Mel Robbins 
• Big Magic: Creating Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

19. How can people get in contact with you? 

My email address is happythrifty.too@gmail.com. Here is my blog, youtube channel and instagram page 😊. English is my second language so please forgive me if I made grammar mistakes.

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What a great interview, Vi! Here were my key takeaways from this interview:

Thank you again Vi so much for being a part of our FIRE Community Guest Interview Series, we really do appreciate it! In our next FIRE Community interview, we’re heading back to Canada to hear about an early retirees story of how they got there in a not so early fashion.

Did you enjoy this interview? Any thoughts or additional questions for Vi? Please let us know in the comments below

Thanks for tuning in and check back next month for the next interview.

We love highlighting other members of the FI community. Please contact us if you’d like to be a part of the FIRE Community Guest Interview series and we’ll see if we’re a good fit!

And in case you wanted to read the previous interviews that make up our FIRE Community Guest Interview Series, here you go!

• FIRE Community Guest Interview # 1 – Empowerment Through FIRE
• FIRE Community Guest Interview # 2 – We Quit Our Jobs To Retire Early & Travel The World
• FIRE Community Guest Interview # 3 – Dividend Investor Reached FI By Living An Intentional Life
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #4 – Pursuing FIRE With Multiple Passive Income Streams in Australia
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #5 – Driving to FIRE Through RV Living
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #6 – From High School Drop Out to Retired at 35
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #7 – Medical Professional Family With 3 Kiddos In The Pursuit of FIRE 
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #8 – Calculated Engineer Family Utilizing Geo-Arbitrage to Reach FI
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #9 – Lessons from a Fimigrant – Let Experience Be Your Teacher
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #10 – From Entrepreneur Making $36,000 to Multi-Millionaire In His 30s
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #11 – Hybrid Dividend and Index Investor Who’s Mastering the FI Mindset
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #12 – Proving Financial Independence Is Possible With Kids In A High Cost of Living Area
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #13 – Making An Impact On The Way To FI
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #14 – Badass Momma Knows Her Worth And Became A Millionaire At 36
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #15 – PhD Couple Reached FI at 40
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #16 – Mindful Minimalist Family
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #17 – FIWOOT: Financial Independence Work On Own Terms
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #18 – French Expats Growing Their Real Estate Empire in the US and France
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #19: Money Savvy Teacher With 9 Properties
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #20: Canadian Expat Supercharging His Family’s Path to FI In the Middle East
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #21: Young Retired Couple Have Mastered The FIRE Lifestyle
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #22: Building Multiple Income Streams To Design Their Dream Lifestyle
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #23: A Single Mom’s Journey to FI

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