{"id":93664,"date":"2026-04-20T00:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T05:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/?p=93664"},"modified":"2026-04-20T00:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T05:36:14","slug":"3-major-milestones-to-financial-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bricktowntom.com\/blog\/04\/3-major-milestones-to-financial-independence.html","title":{"rendered":"3 Major Milestones to Financial Independence"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The journey to financial independence is a long and difficult road for regular people like you and me. After 25+ years of saving and investing, we achieved financial independence. Our passive income exceeds our expenses, but it is precarious. The last few years have been tough on our passive income. Our dividends income decreased because some companies cut dividends. Our rental income also got hit due to Covid. Fortunately, our real estate crowdfunding investments helped fill in the gap nicely. We also reduced our expenses so that helped as well. Now, I want more margin in case the economy goes south again. <\/p>\n

So how did we achieve financial independence? We never had any big windfall so our wealth was built solely on our income. We had to build our passive income from the ground up. Also, we reduced our spending quite a bit over the last few years. The average US household annual expenditure was $61,334 in 2020 according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. That year, we spent $40,030. That’s 33% less than average. Our big 3 expenses (housing, transportation, and food) are much lower than average by design. You can read about how we minimized our big 3 expenses<\/a> here. <\/p>\n

Anyway, many of you are slowly working toward financial independence<\/a>. There is a beginning, middle, and end to this journey. Let\u2019s take a look at these 3 major milestones to financial independence.<\/p>\n

*Written in 2015. Updated in 2022.<\/p>\n

1. Spend Less Than You Make<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Spending less than you make is the first step on your journey toward financial independence. It sounds simple, but it’s difficult for many people. Let’s look at our son for example. He is 11 years old and won’t be making any meaningful income until he graduates from college. Hopefully, he won’t have a lot of student loan debt, but that’s unusual these days. Many young college grads have to make loan payments and it’s tough. <\/p>\n

It can be difficult to spend less than you make even when you have a high income. A lot of people fall into the consumerism trap and spend more than they can afford. Luckily, we always lived within our means and rarely spend more than we make. Hopefully, we\u2019ll be able to impart this important step of the journey to our son by the time he is a young adult.<\/p>\n

Here are the important steps in this first milestone.<\/p>\n