My Three Phase Journey Toward ERE

[Sublimation2026]

1. Work full-time for someone else and work for myself as a tradesperson while I learn tattooing (this is where I’m at now).

I want to continually improve my financial literacy and communication skills. My goals are to learn how to make money work for me, learn to establish a consistent clientele for my businesses, and figure out how I’m going to live off my investments without needing to work. I can read one hour a day for the financial literacy and communication skill component. Currently I’m doing an apprenticeship in construction and on the side I replace broken windows and offer any other glass-related service. This is a healthy stream of income that will eventually become my primary income stream. My tattoo business is still in its infancy as I’m studying the technical side of it.

2. Work for myself as a tradesperson and work for myself as a tattooer.

At this point I will know exactly what numbers I need to be working toward so that I can live off investments without needing to exchange my time to pay bills. As for tattooing, I will either be doing an unpaid apprenticeship at a shop or renting out my own studio space with the primary focus being building a clientele (and of course getting better at tattooing - but no matter what enterprise I undertake there is an undying desire to be improving).

3. Work on my novel full-time while I do tattooing and glass furniture/art pieces as a break from the neurosis of working on a novel.

This is the wonderful sublimation I’m working toward. I want to be deep friend in writing a novel while I read with a voracious appetite. Tattoo and glass are mere hobbies that invariably make me money with my investment portfolio paying all the living expenses.

2021: PHASE ONE

Set up my business making at least $500 a week. I anticipate this will just keep growing.
Set up google ads for my business.
Set up website for my business.
Get the rest of the tools I need and a new toolbox for my truck.
Holiday with girlfriend
Begin tattooing designs I like, real or fake skin.
Save $200 a week, every $2k put into portfolio.
Start reading books on how to sell, communication, etc a la Rich Dad Poor Dad.
Make one piece of glass furniture.

2022: PHASE ONE

Have all debt paid off.
Buy uniforms for my business.
Add glass furniture and art pieces as another part of my business.
Start tattooing people for money.
Increase my savings rate.

2023: PHASE TWO

Become qualified in my trade.
Quit job and work for myself.
Either start my own studio or work unpaid at a tattoo shop and learn.
Continue to increase my savings rate.

2024: PHASE TWO

To be updated

2025: PHASE TWO, FINAL PHASE?

To be updated

2026: FINAL PHASE

Living off a 4% SWR.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All while this is happening, there is the possibility that I will rent a place with my girlfriend and I. Undoubtedly my rent will increase and I will be spending money to furnish the place. I can see myself with her longterm because she has amazing taste, but is definitely a minimalist. A true artistic sensibility when it comes to the material world. I need to tread carefully here as this is the formula for being stuck in the rat race: income and expenses go up together.

INCOME

Employment: 4k after tax
My own business: nothing at the moment, waiting for my glass rack.

EXPENSES

Housing (rent): 456
Food: 480
Fun money: 1,400
Utilities: 124
Phone: 60
Truck payments: 110
Personal loan payments: 160
Truck insurance: 1,350 for the year, will need to be paid in two weeks.
Truck registration: 900 for the year, paid last month.

TOTAL: 2,790

ASSETS

Truck: 20k
Tools: 5k
Tattoo machine: 100
Investment portfolio: 1,120.78
Emergency fund: 500
Superannuation: 12k

TOTAL: 38,720.78

LIABILITIES

Truck loan: 17,756.16
Personal loan: ~9k

TOTAL: 26,765.16

This month, I am going to:

• Cut fun money in half

• Track my expenses

• Finish Rich Dad Poor Dad and begin The Barefoot Investor.

Financial priorities in order:

• Pay off personal loan

• Pay off car loan

• $8k into emergency fund

• The rest into savings

Thank you for reading.

EDITS: I update this as needed. This post is my motherboard.

[RoamingFrancis]

Welcome! Sounds like the start to an interesting journey.

[Andy Dufresne]

Trades are a very good way to get to FIRE. I suggest you read this now defunct blog for an electrician cum lawyer turned landlord:

http://lackingambition.com/

My one piece of advice - the money you get for your time "working for the man" or for yourself later - invest as much of it as possible - compounding is the sine qua non of FIRE.

Good luck!

[Sublimation2026]

Since I began this journal six days ago I feel FIRE is actually truly possible for myself.

I alluded toward FIRE sentiments without outright saying FIRE to my girlfriend, and she seemed open to it. I also spoke to her about the desire to cut down on partying expenses - she was OK with it too. Big relief.

Three day holiday in August will cost probably $900 all up. I haven't been on a holiday like this in my adult life before, so I'm sure it will be eye opening.

The goal is $375k by 2026, most of which I will make through compound interest (and fixing a lot of broken windows). Instead of putting Spartan effort into cutting my costs, I'm going to put the Spartan effort toward increasing my income. Fortunately with my trade I can name my price seeing as what I do is relatively niche.

Still, I do need to make an effort to cut my costs down. I'm going to put all my expenses into a spreadsheet for the rest of the year to get an idea of where all my money is going, then for 2022 optimise all my expenses to only spending 15k pa.

@Andy Dufresne

Thanks Andy. I had a quick read of this blog. I found it difficult to relate to his journey toward FIRE as property in my country is expensive. I small one bedroom apartment will costs $300k. I'm not sure if property is worth it yet, but I'm open to it. I could rent out an apartment like that for $280-$350 a week, but how much am I making after paying property tax & property management fees?

[Sublimation2026]

After just two weeks of tracking my spending in a spreadsheet. I spend money without a thought. I told myself this month I would track my expenses which has made me aware of whenever I'm about to spend money. So now, I'm going to simplify things. My weekly budget for living expenses will not exceed $400 and all the other money I make will first go toward paying off all my debt then into an investment portfolio. The debt should take around 8 months to pay but I'm aiming to get it done as soon as possible.

Finished Rich Dad Poor Dad, reading Think and Grow Rich and The Intelligent Investor.

If anyone has any reading recommendations for any books about business and the stock market, please let me know!

[Sublimation2026]

I've been spending my mornings before work investigating and researching the ways in which I will manage my money once I've hit ERE, without planning or trying. It just happens and it feels good. Every day I grow more and more disciplined with money. Work doesn't feel like a drag anymore. I work with people that get utterly absorbed in anxiety over factors above and beyond them, and instead of joining their hysterics I watch them and wait until they get over it so that we can start the next task, although sometimes they start and stop this process, over and over again, and this can be quite frustrating. It has been good to listen to an audiobook during days like this, because it keeps me rooted in why I am where I am in that moment, so I sorta just have a hazy, calm and quiet demeanour. In short, because I have stated definitely in writing that I am using work in exchange for precisely what I want to be doing with myself, I take work for the wild ride that it is and learn what I can in the process (the biggest skill I will obtain from this job is that I'll be able to stay calm amid chaos, and that I will be able to move quietly in a room full of vultures). As I said to a friend, I'm just spending my twenties working hard so I can own my time post thirty. I have noticed about myself through contrast of my friends that I know what I want to do with my life unequivocally and I should not feel bad or guilty about this. It is truly a strength, it is a very positive force that I ride at the best of times but let wipe me out at the worst of times.

Glass rack paid off. Just waiting on a day to get it installed on my truck, then next week I'll be getting some materials and advertising. Next month I'll start the website. I'm very excited about all this. Once I have a consistent rhythm with this, I'm going to begin organising a custom mirror idea I've had in mind for the past few months.

I organised my portfolio so that the dividends reinvest back into the stock. I find the platform for my stocks a bit confusing. I have an index fund, an ETF and individual stock in an energy company, and I would like to aggregate them all into one platform (theyre currently spread over two different websites). As time goes on I'll get a better grip on all this, so I'm not too fussed about it at the moment.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, mixed with having a journal on the forums here, have fortified my drive toward ERE. It doesn't feel like a ridiculous and unrealistic goal like it always has in the past. Instead of thinking about it as 'saving money' and seeing it as 'paying myself first above all other bills' has helped me put away money without touching it. Big breakthrough for me. The enormous power of a perspective change is an act of sublimation.

Halfway through The Little Book That Beats the Market. Once I finish it, I need to sit down with it for a few hours and take some notes. I'm going to read these books, in order, for my financial curriculum: One up on Wall Street. The University of Berkshire Hathaway. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits. The Intelligent Investor. The Essays of Warren Buffett. Security Analysis. Jacobs startup curriculum. I'm aware that these books are written for technicians but to start from a basic point of view is how I learn and create. As much as I'd love to start with Jacob's curriculum, I just can't do it. Not yet at least. Believe me, I've tried. Anyway, I will still purchase large-cap stock, most likely using the dogs of the dow method, but won't touch small cap until I feel like I have a better grasp on the stock market. As for books on selling and communication, that can wait. I may even attend a selling seminar at some point in the future.

Began listening to The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. It's a breakthrough to listen to fiction as I've never liked it in the past, but the narrator for this audiobook is magnificent. This is an exciting discovery because it means I can get my dose of literature while I'm at work.

Figured out my weekly budget and track it in my Notes app as opposed to a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet hustle is too convoluted for me at this point. Maybe I'm not a spreadsheet bandit like most people here.

Holiday with girlfriend paid. I feel like this small three-day holiday in the woods will be a time to reflect over my life post 2026. I look forward to this.

Began tracing first tattoo design. It feels good that all areas in my web of goals are bubbling with activity.

[Egg]

Began tracing first tattoo design. It feels good that all areas in my web of goals are bubbling with activity.

A bit different but in a cool way. I had my first tattoo recently (in my late 20s) and everyone working in the tattoo shop just seemed super positive and like they genuinely enjoyed what they did. I asked the tatooist how he got into it, and he said he did quite a long (informal) apprenticeship where he basically had to help out with menial tasks, and in return he'd get some mentorship from a tattooist. Sounded like a super old-school apprenticeship approach, but apparently that's how it is in the UK - there's not much by way of high-quality formal/modern training. I was also curious about how you get good at it without fucking up on actual people. Apparently pig-skin ultimately when you're almost ready to work on people. Logical, I guess.

[Salathor]

I read Intelligent Investor and liked it, but I thought Securities Analysis was a little too dense for me on my own, and heavily weighted toward bonds (which I don't buy). I still have my copy though, so I may give it another shot some day. Since you're still in debt, I also recommend Dave Ramsey's books--Total Money Makeover probably. It's a good motivator, same as this site, and maybe a good "step up" to a full ERE lifestyle.

[MeloTheMelon]

Hey, nice read and good luck on your journey.
I can't give any recommendations on investment books, but for business I loved Naval's Almanack, it's a bit focused on IT and kinda philosophical, but a pretty good read, you can also get it for free on their website, or just listen to the 4h podcast on YouTube. Other than that I recently read Nathan Latka's How to be a capitalist without capital, he talks a lot about the systems behind his businesses, how to reduce work time, automate/outsource things etc. and also has a "web" approach to his businesses. This one is super hands on and practical, he literally shows you his contracts etc. and talks about how he did things, his thinking process and so on.

[Sublimation2026]

Hi all, it has been awhile. A lot has changed. All my plans? Out the window. Sort of.

Here's what the original plan is:
1. Work full-time for someone else and work for myself as a tradesperson while I learn tattooing (this is where I’m at now).
2. Work for myself as a tradesperson and work for myself as a tattooer.
3. Work on my novel full-time while I do tattooing and glass furniture/art pieces as a break from the neurosis of working on a novel.

Here's what has happened:
I got my qualification in my trade. I have been working for myself since December, so 2 month. It has been a wonderful experience, and I recommend anyone who is thinking of starting their own business at least try it for a few months. It's a paradigm shifter.
My girlfriend and I got a place together. We have two dogs. She is 6-7 weeks pregnant.
I landed a full time job within my trade that pays 100kpa.

Here's the plan moving forward:
I will be the sole income earner while my girlfriend is heavily pregnant/being a mum with a new baby. This will be the case until the little one is old enough for kindergarten. When I am home, I will be looking after the baby while she works on her career.
Now that I have a higher income, I will be able to finally kill my debt within a timely manner. I will do cash jobs on the weekend to cover most of our living expenses.

With a baby on the way, all the important stuff in my life has emerged with clarity to the forefront of my mind. This has been helpful, because I felt I have been bogged down with too many hopes and dreams for most of my 20's (I am 28). Some of you may think to have too many hopes and dreams is a good thing, and I think I agree with that. But I have been in analysis paralysis for much of my life. It's the bane of my existence.
If the tattoo business happens, it happens. If not, that's okay too.

I am going to put the numbers down here once I get my first paycheck, which will be in a month.

[ertyu]

I'd say don't give up on tattooing. Might be hard while child is young but even if you don't make a full-fledged business out of it, it's an excellent creative hobby

[Sublimation2026]

I'd say don't give up on tattooing. Might be hard while child is young but even if you don't make a full-fledged business out of it, it's an excellent creative hobby

That is true. Thank you, ertyu. I am studying Gnosticism before and after work. I am fascinated with the correlations between eastern and western philosophy.