So, there's this subreddit that I go to and I love it. It's called, fat fire. And the idea is people who wanna retire relatively young with a lot of money so they can live a fat life without working. And so, basically, if you post on there a lot, the mods, the community leaders of the subreddit, will verify your net worth to make your sure you're not full of shit.

By the way, did you have a goal like this? Like, I wanna retire by x age, or I wanna be, like, this wealthy by this age? What what was your, like how did you phrase your goal?

I I wanted to have $20,000,000 by age 30.

Gotcha. Alright.

That's what I wanted. That was my goal. I created that goal when I was in my, when I was, like, 19 or 20 years old.

I mean, I can't confirm or deny, but, you know, mission accomplished is what I would say.

I I sold my company I I achieved it at 31. I sold my company at 31.

Right.

And so my that was my goal. Because I asked a a rich person who I knew, I asked them how much money do you spend a month? And they told me $60,000 a month. And at the time, I was like, I don't know. Like, I can't imagine there's a world where I'm

at work. Absurd. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm like, that just sounds crazy, but whatever. Like, I asked, like, 8 people, and this person had the highest number. And I was, like, okay. I'll just do that because I'll be conservative. And then if you withdraw only 3% of your 20,000,000, that gives you, like, $600,000 a year to spend there. That's that number. So I just F.

I. R. E. Philosophy and F. I. R. E. Stands for financially independent retire early.

So that's the

So you can you can you can spend, a percentage of your port of your liquid portfolio, and, basically, it continues to grow.

Have enough money that the earnings, the sort of compounding earnings on the money being invested in something safe, like the stock market, S and P 500 type of thing, can, can cover your burn rate. So there's 2 things that matter. What is the amount that I have invested, and what is my life burn rate? That's why a lot of people who like fire, they go move to, like, you know, bump fuck, you know, middle of nowhere, and they are like, oh, yeah. I got rid of my car, and it's great. Now I can, you know, I got rid of everything I own, and me and my wife, we only eat apple cores, and now we are retired. It's like, but fat fire is different. Fat fire is like, nah, I kinda wanna ball out. I'm not trying to, like, skimp on my lifestyle.

So, okay, what do I need to achieve, and what do I need to optimize while still not giving up, like, what I find to be enjoyable in terms of lifestyle?

Yeah. So that's how I made up that number. And I don't even I spend $15,000 a month. I mean, when I sold, I had saved a, like, 7 figures. Of course, that includes my wife and I, and she also worked at Airbnb. And so Airbnb went public, and she had worked there for a long time. Airbnb went public in December. I sold my company in February.

So it was, like, December 1st and then, like, February 1st was, like, those 2 or 3 months was, like, massive.

Right.

And so but prior to

that ignore that. Take her out because we don't wanna put her business out there. So let's just talk about you. You in your early twenties, what were you making?

So, from age 22 to probably 26 and 27, I paid myself something like $2 a month. So in the brain so the 1st year of business, I probably paid myself $20,000 for the 1st year. And then I paid myself $40,000 for the next 2 years and then, $70,000. And in the last year

That was 24 k a year and then 40 k a year, and then you said 70 k roughly.

No. It was, like, 20, 40, 40, 70. Yeah. So that's 4 years in. And then the year we sold, I paid myself close to $300,000.

Right.

And I had a few other investments, like some angel investments and, like, some weird things that kinda paid off. But, basically, like, for the longest time, I mean, I was living I the way I rigged it was in San Francisco, my rent was only $400 because I rented out this big place, and I only had $25 in my name. And I spent all of it to rent out and furnish this place, and then I rented it out to people who basically subsidized it for me. So I was living like a poor person. And, so I was able to save a little

bit of money. Living like a like a wealthy person, really. You were living in a place, and it was only costing you $400 a month, which is great example, by the way, because there's a lot of people that will be like, why do we have to San Francisco, but I can't afford it. All you're saying to me is, I lack creativity and resourcefulness, because what you did is available to everybody. Go find a place that's at market or slightly below market price. And what you did, I think, is you cut a deal with the landlord. You were like, I'll never call you for anything.

Yeah. I told you. When

it breaks, I'll fix it. You I think you lived there for, like, a decade or some shit, and you'd never call him.

Oh, my god. Like, 7 years. You

never spoke to the person.

Yeah. I never saw I had I not once have I ever seen him out.

If you showed him at the house, you wouldn't know who the heck is.

I would not. I don't even remember what he looks like. I couldn't even tell you what he looks like. I think his name was Chris. Chris.

And so you cut this deal and you're like, look, I'm you basically became the landlord.