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Top 50 FIRE Influencers

Mr. Money Mustache

 

Mr. Money Mustache is the pseudonym of a 45-year old Canadian Blogger, Peter Adeney who uproared the internet through his early retirement. He and his wife once worked as a software engineer with a $67,000 gross income, which they spent prudently and invested frugally, causing them to retire at the age of 30. 

Over the past year, the concept of retiring early seems to meet the mainstream. The problem is, people have focused on ways where they could sustain their lifestyle at a lower expense. To retire is primarily to quit their jobs, but not stop making money.

His first few years as a blogger was a struggle. People ignore them, thinking that all were just fallacies. They started questioning, how in the world did he retire at the age of 30 and managed to live cosy? Hence, he remained positive and continued to write blogs, appeared in TV guestings and podcasts, and from there, he made his name.

He immersed online by writing blogs on how to afford your current lifestyle, even better, which just 50-70% cost. Which leads us asking, How did he managed to support his family, with their normal salaries saved and no other funds or resources? Answer is, he saved. Earlier in their lives, they have started saving 50% of their income unknowingly. But, how? They lived a comfortable life, focused on their needs, and dismissed those they just wanted. They started by eliminating their debts and live with their means. They started investing their hard earned money and as of 2016, his retirement income comes from asset allocations, a bunch of index funds and Betterment. 

His ways and magics, as he says, awed me. I was amazed on how he became one of the most sought-after bloggers with his simplicity. Living his life conveniently and simple, so to speak. Happiness is self-contentedness, and  contentment is the core of simplicity. On a financial aspect, finding contentment does not lead you into wanting more. Uncontrolled spending leads to debt, so spend what you can afford. Again, your attitude can make or break you. And his key to stardom? His positive outlook that made him deal with personal experiences which he converted into writing. Experience is the best teacher, indeed. 

 

Retire by 40

 

Once worked as a computer engineer, Joe Udo had a hard time keeping his pace in a more modern technology, thence he exited the corporate world at the age of 40 and decided to become a stay at home dad. He once described his job as dreading, exhausting and his health slowly deteriorated. He wanted freedom, time and flexibility, thus he decided to stay at home. A year after he retired, he started to write blogs about his journey, How his life went after he quit his job and where he is as of his writing. It was enjoyable on his part, something that he did not achieve on the corporate world. He felt like he has shared his voice and his passion. He was known for being fully responsible for looking after his kid, which he includes on his blogs; plans to save for his son’s college and  his fallback meals, just to name a few. He commenced writing articles about his early retirement trip and how he handled his finances to sustain his families’ needs, the best of frugal life as he mentioned. But how long can he stay unemployed? At one point of his life, he felt like his family was being deprived, and he owe them a bigger future.By the way, those are also written on some of his articles. He read blogs on how to make money by blogging, which he put his heart on. He has been consistent of his topics and posts them by schedule. A blogger full of passion, I must say, genuine. He was a mediocre but has found his amity on writing. I felt like he was not a single person, and that he has tons of interests, passions and desires that he was able to put into all of his works. He keeps reaching that way, leveraging a portion of his soul. It was not just him, but his heart talking.

 CHOOSEFI

 

A paradox of wisdom and reality – Jonathan Mendonsa and Brad Barrett. Jonathan, at the age of 28 graduated as a Pharmacist and clawed his way out of Financial Independence four years after. Brad, on the other hand established his financial recognition as he is a Certified Public Accountant himself. Both living a frugal lifestyle in a corporate world, both were keen to financial independence. But how are two individuals had one goal and became known? 

Recognition. They initially built a podcast and took the risks. In a clever world, you have to be the first to create, if not, you have to be different; that they have to pivot to gain listeners. First few months were tough, as they have to ask their friends and family to listen and review and rate their show to be on track. 

Discover. They took several ways for people to find them, and that is through tagging the title of popular podcast and the author. They considered it spam, but they did that for a couple of days, if not so, months, just to build a market. Ask, what kind of people would you like to find you? What are they looking for? 

Research. Ask, Are there any particular podcast in your area? Or any blogs that deals with the same blogs that you have? In their scenario, they have discovered several podcasts with the same business. Why would people what to listen to them despite of hundreds of podcasts? They built their own niche and stood differently.

Choose a keyword and own it. Create your article with care and spend time. And do not publish it unless you are sure about it, competitively. If you have the power to edit and create your own content, use it on your own advantage, not everyone has the power to do so.

 I consider this as a very informative one; precise and detailed. Their goal was to create contents that are inspirational and accurate, cliche as it may seem,but it was pretty entertaining.  They are living proofs that we shall not compete to be the first, but to be distinct. Two brains are better than one they say, we have Jonathan and Brad to prove us right. 

 

Millennial Money

 You need money to make money”, this has been proven otherwise by Grant Sabatier, who went from being broke to being rich. Sabatier is the founder of Millennial Money and author of Financial Freedom. After being laid off from work and with nearly $2.26 on his pocket, he has set his goal to become a millionaire and become financially independent as quickly as possible. How? By the power of internet – mainly google and youtube. He has learned to run Google Ad campaigns by watching online streams in YouTube. He considered his blogs as a platform for different brands – a money making machine. But initially, he invested time and patience for the first few months. He spent time following bloggers and commenting to their blogs, just so to build connection. Thus, building traffic takes time.Find people who can reciprocate your goodwill, people who will help you reach your goals. The number of people who believes in you will create traffic for you, thus creating money.  Keep looking for places where you can promote and guest write. Posting your content in front of the right people makes traffic, hence creating a huge difference. We are living in a generation where the edge of technology lies at the tip of our fingers. Any individual who has an access to the internet has the ability to write, but your content needs to shout.  As for me, there is no shortcut to success and it takes  a different level of tenacity to become one. Grant is a paradigm of patience and perseverance. He once failed, but he failed better.

Mad Fientist

FI. Financial Independence. Fierce – As he claims himself to be. A former software developer, Brandon, chose to be financially dependent at the age of 34. He is a canny spender, in fact has built spreadsheets of his spendings and taxes. Back then, they were struggling financially, when he got so excited to invest his money and got killed by the fees, not a good time to invest during that time, which turned out to be a huge mistake. He then took his goal seriously and spent his money wisely, read blogs and listened to podcasts of bloggers like Millennial Money and Mr. Money Mustache. He then wrote his blogs based on his personal experiences and learnings, while giving credit to those who has been his inspirations. His contents focus on Financial Independence and exploring ways on how to achieve it, as quickly as possible. He took time to research a variety of topics that plays a huge impact in everyday lives, like tax avoidance and travel hacks.He then entered the world of podcast, and what made it even more interesting is he started to interview individuals who have achieved financial freedom and how were they able to do it, including Mr. Money Mustache.He then took his knowledge in software development to access financial independence. He built a web application that tracks your growth and early retirement. I personally find Mad Fientist as an epitome of a learner who is determined to wade through achievement. He believed in his icons’ success and made it himself. He followed their advice, one step at a time and worked hard to earn his success.

Early Retirement Extreme (ERE)

 A good starting point to convince yourself that you don’t need millions to retire. Includes example budgets” – Jacob Lund Fisker, a recovering physicist currently working as a quantitative analyst. He wrote blogs about early retirement, and eventually published a book of the same topic. Life was never easy to start with after retiring at a very early age of 30. He was able to categorize his budget; the amount he spends, and the amount he keeps. His goal was to decrease the former and increase the latter. He maximized his expenses by cutting down his costs, like mobile plans and house rental. He started writing blogs way back 2007, an era where blogs we shunned and people have limited knowledge in technology. He wrote a few, and began recycling posts and turned on the comments section, which started a forum for his readers, in which he actively responds, gaining a mass of followers. It was 2011 when he published a book of the same title but with different foci, the book tackled more of what became the ERE Philosophy, and his blogs was a chest for new ideas, mostly coming from his readers. His contents were a combination of his personal thoughts and philosophies and his viewers’ experiences and establishments.  In this endeavor, to be a good speaker, you have to be a good listener, that is often missed by some. I personally think that is what made him successful – communication. Given the fact that he was an expert on his field, he interacts with his commenters and learns from them. People wants to have a reciprocal conversation, which he did pay attention to. Goes to show that a good communication is essential in a relationship, evenso in a corporate life. 

Afford Anything

 According to founder/blogger, Paula Pant,You can afford anything, but not everything – where you have to spend money, time and energy. After she finished school, she had a job like any other, went to vacations and enjoyed her earnings. During her travels, she thought that this is the kind of life that she wanted, freedom and flexibility, something that she won’t be getting in the side of world that she is currently in. She left her job with her savings, bought a three-storey house, lived in one door and rented out the other two. She invested on other properties, and the flywheel continued. She is a passionate writer, and it was 2011, when she started writing articles- her first five articles. She described them as a dismay, she kept on thinking, what was wrong? Nobody dares to read her blogs, not even her family. She hired a team, listened to podcasts and took it from there. Blogging, for her, is a matter of management, market and money. Her blogs as she define them, were researched,possible, easy to read, entertaining and well-marketed. She spends hours in writing a blog, more competent than writing several blogs in an hour. She keeps keypoints bulleted and her sentences in a subject-verb-object order, written in short paragraphs, more often just one-lined. She started putting images on her blogs, with the same font, color and style – cohesive branding. People will easily recognize through pictures and it should be the first one to be impressive and attractive.Using a tool called Content Analytics, she was able to track which topics gain more audience and which ones do not. That is when she realized she is writing the wrong stuff, and began writing more sensible topics, which gained a higher variety of audience.What I like most about her blogs? Straight to the point and simple. Easy to read and understand, no jargons, no smart lines. She is inserting stories, anecdotes or short jokes which makes reading entertaining. Proves to us that reading – whether short notes or long ones, is not boring. 

The Money Habit

 

After 28 years living in a corporate world, she finally had a nest big enough for her to retire early and she goes by the pen name J.P. Livingston. She grew up in a poor family with her father working as a software engineer. She has a big heart in writing and wants to become a writer someday. But later, she realized, that it was an uneasy job, unstable, and has no enough means to support her financial needs. She then heard of finance writers and wanted to become one; thus she had a job, retired early and started writing her own blogs.A week after her retirement, she found herself at the peak of her happiness. While travelling outside work when she was still employed is enjoyable, the feeling while travelling with freedom is a thousand more satisfying. In other words, subtracting stress and pressure in everyday lives is much happier than adding activities into it. Being someone dedicated in writing, she started her own blogs about her experiences. It was a fun hobby at first, without any hype of monetizing them. Sooner, she connected with other writers and readers who are interested with personal finances and she started making money from it, enough to pay her bills and expenses. She then began to share products online, which she gets a portion of the sale whenever she gets one. She learned from other bloggers about advertisement by placing banners and ads. She approached publishers for spotlight pieces, offered writing for their products, hitting two birds in one stone – she, gaining a mass of followers and the company, promotes their products. As your business grows, companies will approach you , welcoming you to other concept marketing ideas that helps you widen your coverage. They started consultations on the side to help other starting bloggers too. If you would ask me, this could be one of interest to me. It all started with a hobby that became a habit. Her goal was just to write, but by meeting a community of like minded folks, she gained readers that turned her habit into income. She did what she loved, followed her heart and invested time to herself. Strangely enough.

Physician on Fire

 PoF- Physician on Fire, a doctor and a husband, retired by the age of 39. He had no plans of retiring early, but the hospital went bankrupt, leaving him with no choice but to leave. He worked few years after in a place closer to where they live. A desirable job, he said to himself that would be his last job as a doctor.He invested money while he was working, preparing him for early retirement. Over the course of few months, he read blogs from Money Mustache, The White Coat Investor and the like. He applied what he has learned and became financially independent. It was an initial plan of posting 3 or 4 blogs at first, but he loved dropping words and wrote blogs more often. He was posting 13 blogs in 22 days, making noise online, garnering thousands of followers. A month after, he posted 11 posts and was published to FIRE by Joe Udo, and few more were boosted by The White Coat Investor, multiplying his followers into three.He schedules his postings Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays to avoid conflicts with other bloggers. He looked for a theme for his site and had a series which he named “Sunday’s Best”. Bloggers and MD’s published some of his works which helped him gain more viewers. In a year span, he has increased his viewers to more than 400,000. He had donated some of his profits to charitable institutions and added this feature on his site. He has a corner for guest bloggers, interviewed some with the same experience and feature their stories on what he call “Christopher Guest Post Series”. He has been keeping his identity and has plans of doing so, which made him more like of a mysterious type, which made me belief, that is one big element that caught his viewers; curiosity. Nowadays, it is rare to see such professions who are into home business like blogging.  Imagine someone who uses stethoscope change his passion. That alone is a catcher. He has been consistently sharing his stories and learnings, which made us wonder who really is. He has given his followers a “series-like” feeling, something that makes you look forward to his next writing. Impressive.

 1500 Days to Freedom

 A family guy living in Colorado set his goal to retire in 1500 days after he turned 43. He always max out his income to retirement, never spend them on material things that he won’t be needing. Glad that he has found a partner who share the same goal and belief. He never really cared about dollars or cents, or the amount of money that he was bringing to the table. He eventually invested in stock markets, refurbishes old houses and sells them. As an aspiring journalist, He started writing blogs of how he decided to retire and a story of his everyday life. For him, it is just a way of expressing his ideas and track his progress. He read blogs from Money Mustache and JD Roth, did the trafficking trick which is to leave a good comment citing his URL to provide a backlink of his own works.Slowly, he was gaining his own set of audience. He has guest posted on some sites too, publishing his best blogs to attract followers, which he found effective. He had a serious media and print ad coverage after, started using AdThrive as his network and acquired traffic through Google News. He continues to manage his social media accounts and provides link to share by his readers.Writing has always been his first love, and to my mind, if you do one thing that you really love, passion will follow. His idea of making himself really good at something that is valuable to him, lead him to satisfaction. He did not stop learning, he managed his skills and has looked for ways to improve. His satisfaction lead to small victories, and that aspires him to work hard even more. And he was getting paid for what he is doing – as he is giving more than enough to people who values him.

Frugalwoods

 Meet Mr and Mrs Frugalwoods, a couple with 2 kids. It all began wayback 2014, long before they had children. Her main goal was to write about saving money, soon enough she has tackled income and investments as apprentice to financial independence. She wrote a series of contents about her life as a parent, her adventures and everyday activities and how it is correlated to their finances. Mrs. Frugawoods started writing April 2014 with an audience of 4 people. She initially felt like she was wasting her time, but since writing is a fulfillment to her, she wrote week after week, and it made her feel great and happy. She then published her book about being financially independent through simple living. It was a hard decision for her to pen a book without any experience and readers, but she took the risk. Afterall, she considers it a great achievement, a fulfillment of her dreams.She has no specifics in writing, she types what is on her mind and what she thinks will be of great help to others. She would jot down anything, as long as it pops into her mind, spontaneous as you may call her.I think what made her successful is her desire to take risks. Although she loves to write, she has no idea of blogging, nor even publishing her own book. It was never an easy start for her, I can tell, but she dived in into her dreams, cling unto her beliefs and did what made her happy. Do what made you believe, and do it big, otherwise, there is no point of doing it at all.

Go Curry Cracker

 This site was founded by couple, Winnie and Jeremy. Winnie, the photographer of the team, loves to travel, and magically turns her adventures to pictures. Jeremy on the other hand, is the blog writer. He loves to travel, according to his lifestyle. They retired from work on their early 30s and travelled the world. They wrote blogs about their journey for a small circle of friends, that accidentally grew into hundreds and thousands of readers. They were just a normal couple raised by low income family. They finished college through student loans and built a family of their own. While working they were saving 70% of their income until they were ready to live completely off from the corporate world and rely on their investments.Their goal was to travel the world and share their adventures to friends, which unexpectedly, gained them audience. Then they started to blog using bluehost as their domain and installed wordpress. They installed plugins like Akismet, Link Within, Pretty Link Lite, Sociable, and Yoast SEO. They also used services like Convert Kit, Media.net and Affiliates and Making $ to increase traffic. They started an email list to subscribe people to their blogs.Their current goals? To grow and create a forum for thread. They were not able to manage to reply via email, so building a forum would be a great way to establish a strong connection to their viewers,hence increasing their income.Their site is a good read for beginners, as they tackle a step by step process on how to start your own blogging career. They continue to share their plans on how to improve their site and gain more audience. They also offer help to those who are thinking of building their own blog sites. Helping others to pursue their financial independence is their main goal, but to be a part of their success through writing is another story. Thumbs up for me!

Think, Save, Retire

 

Built by Steve Adcock, who used to work at Rockstar Finance. At first, he was a careless spender, never really after his income and payments. But everything changed when he got married. He adapted his wife’s frugal spending and started to think of their future. Their goal: to retire early without needing a dime from their retirement. He has found his love in blogging, web development, photography and videography.He began hosting his blogs through Digital Ocean, which according to him has more customization options compared to Blue Host. For his website images, he is using photo shop and pixabay, following a template – changes the background to black and putting text on it. He uses wordpress and plugins to affiliate links to increase traffic. He then installed Google Analytics to keep track of his audience. He was able to see the number of “hits” and “reads”, so he knows what sort of topics he should be writing and how long his readers stay on his page. 

 Building traffic is not an easy process. He started to wane off and lost interest, so he wrote topics that he likes reading. He started to leave comments, meaningful ones,on blogs. He kept an eye on what time do people normally views his site and organized a posting schedule from there. His posting schedule were Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 6am EST.  He started to look for authority sources, like Penny Hoarder, Rockstar Finance, Business Insider and Forbes, creating a huge amount of traffic and views. How did he start doing that? He is leaving insightful comments on blogs and shared links to his own blogs. People noticed his comments and was invited by Forbes to write an article for them. What I think made him successful is he is writing what he loves to read, something that excites him as an individual. He pens, not just to write, but to share and entertain. What I like most about his blogs is that he keeps them short and direct. He believes that most of the time, people prefers to read short but meaningful articles than long ones. He keeps his fonts readable, bold and italic to emphasize. He refused to use jargons, as he prefers his articles to be direct to the point. He does not overanalyze, he just writes.

Millennial Revolution

 Established by IT couple,Kristy and Bryce, who became financially independent by the age of 31. They were living the norms without considering their future. But, inflation struck them hard, mortgage prices kept increasing, causing them so much stress. They looked for ways on how to keep their pockets full despite leaving their job, hence they read about FIRE. They invested money on house funds and continued saving, wrote articles and built their site.The idea was not bought by some friends even family members. They were criticized for quitting their jobs and not buying their own house. But they continued to join FIRE society and wrote blogs to meet and convince people with the same goal as them.When they started blogging, they questioned themselves,” Do I like to write?”, “Am I committed?”,”Can I stick to blogging schedule?”, “Can I interact with commenters?”, “Do I have something useful to share to others?”. All of those were answered, YES. To blog is to love and it is a commitment, thus picking up a schedule for postings. Regular postings give your audience the impression that you are committed to what you are doing, plus they know what day should they come back for a new article.They had fun names for each day that they post, something for the readers to look forward to.Social Media Branding is the main source of their traffic. They interacted with bloggers like J. Money and Mad Fientist, to name a few. They built friendships with them, and they were invited to guest post, some even shared their articles.What made them successful? As for me, they have chosen their market well. Not only that they are inflicting thoughts on the other bloggers’ contents but they built a strong connection,which made their articles shared by popular writers. They believed in themselves, chose people who believed in them, and proved their non-believers wrong. 

Camp Fire Finance

 What makes it different? It is an open site for writers who want their blogs to be published. It also curates the best blogs under FIRE Movement, a one-stop shop for those who are looking for financial independence.How it all started? They say setting up a blog is easy, running one isn’t. Blogging is like nurturing a baby, and in order for it to grow, you have to give it proper attention and time. If you are not that dedicated to blogging, then this isn’t something that you should consider.They use Siteground as their host, giving them a more protective,faster access which is perfect for people who wants to start their business. They are using wordpress too for their site. But more than the systems, it is you who makes it more successful. Blogging is not just about writing, but being in love and attached to it. Bloggers from this site post anything, something that makes them happy and interests them. Consistency is also one of the keys to writing, they normally post blogs Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Blogs take time to nurture, give it time to grow.I see this site as an open discussion to the community and a roaster for new writers. They feature blogs, 3 in a week, to be published that would be a big help to those aspiring writers to boost their contents. What I like most about this page is the neverending, new set of ideas coming in from different minds. This is a perfect resource for those who wants to learn something new, but does not have the time to go from one page to another because this site has everything-all in one.

HisandHerFI

 HisFI and HerFi, Charles and Bethany dedicates this site for couples who have the same goal as the. Charles used to work as an Electrical Engineer and Bethany has a Master in Education major in English and Art. Living in a comfortable life, they spent too much on travels and never really cared about their future. Soon, they started tracking their spendings, learned how to travel hack and changed their mindsets.Juggling jobs and their blogs was uneasy. But, they are determined to handle both work and writing. They read different articles and joined clubs and forums.Like any others, they chose WordPress to power their blog and SiteGround for hosting.  For web images, they use Canva, Snappa or Sketch. They recommend Pexels for stock photos and ShortPixel to edit pictures.What WordPress plug-ins do they use for SEO? Yoast, Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner to name a few. Amongst the tools, they recommend Soolve, which automatically suggests keywords for multiple engines. If you are looking for a tool for keyword research, domain and keyword tracking, competitor analysis, backlink miner, they highly recommend Mangools.To manage broken links and redirects, they use Broken Link Check, Dr. Link Check and SEO Web Page Analyzer. For website optimization and site speed, they use WP Rocket and Cloudfare. When it comes to social media management, they use Smart Queue and Buffer. What is the best Mail Management tool for them? MailChimp, Convert Kit, Active campaign. They highly recommend Active Campaign for advanced bloggers. For outreach, productivity and email tracking : they use Bananatag, Boomerang, Gmelius and Mixmax. These tools are for email scheduling and email tracking analytics.How do you build a better content and headline? They use Coschedule Headline Analyzer to create appealing headlines and Hemingway to check content for better language. In my opinion,what makes them unique is their way of writing. If you would notice on their page, there is a her and his section, where in they write articles, his and her way. The good thing about their blogs is that it just don’t deal with finances, they also write hacks for travel or holiday gift giving tips. They also built podcasts by interviewing couples who share the same goals interest as them. 

Our Next Life

 “Work-optional, Purpose-filled”, built by couple Tanja Hester and Mark Bunge who retired 2017 at ages 38 and 41. Tanja, the author, is longtime political communications strategist, a, activist, and a health coach. She is also the other half of podcast, The Fairer Cents. Mark is a longtime pollster and a president of a local avalanche, the accomplice. They enjoy outdoor activities and loves photography.It was a hard start for the couple, being spenders and shoppers. They were never frugal to money unlike any bloggers on FIRE. Since they love outdoors, they never really cared about spending too much on food and travels. Until then they have decided to retire that they knew the value of money. They started to track down their expenses and changed their spending habits. What made them successful bloggers? There is a major difference between being yourself and pretending. So speak the truth and do not curate. We are all guilty of curation of some interesting topics and there is nothing wrong with that. But it is more interesting if you would share your own experiences, ideas and thoughts.Always become a better version of yourself. Never stop learning. Even experts needs to learn from non-experts too. Continue to practice writing. Re-read old blogs and know what needs improvement. Treat your articles as story to tell, not just to impress. Take time to respond to comments and communicate with your viewers. Focus more on engagement not just on traffic, aim for interaction, not just on a one-way reaction.They use Twitter for promotion,three to four posts in a day, and most of their time was involved with communicating with their readers. They started following people and engage with others. First impressions last, so write a descriptive title that would make them click and read your blog. Listen to blogging advice and disregard some. It is a matter of trial and error, what works for them, may not work for you. So it is important for you to track down your schedule and the number of words.This site provides a more theoretical analysis on how to become successful in writing. It is an important factor for you to become real in everything you do rather than pretend someone you are not. You tend to express yourself better through your articles. What also makes them different is that they do not think of monetizing their contents, rather be engaged on their followers and create a conversation scheme. 

Early Retirement Now

 Big Earn as he calls himself, Karsten was originally from Germany and migrated to US wayback 1995. He had his Master’s degree for Economics and landed his first job in Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He is married to Krystal, a Filipina nurse and were blessed with a 5-year old daughter. They both left their job 2018, after several years of working and are now settling down in Vancouver. He was exposed to early retirement at a young age. He remembered his father talking about quitting his job and how we was able to manage their finances despite being unemployed. He knew back then that he was about to follow his father’s footsteps.He started reading blogs about financial freedom and learned ways to frugal spending. He created his own strategies to FI as he find some approach not working for him or maybe too aggressive. It was 2016 when he wrote his articles about his financial approach which is a bit anti-consensus to some. He invited comments and discussions on his page by leaving comments and links on other sites.His approach is different as he claims them to be, and this could be one of the reasons why he was being noticed. Because of this,he was being interviewed by some podcasters and made a name across the internet. I guess his own scheme is something that made him stood out, as we know, people always look for something new. 

Tread Lightly, Retire Early

 Angela, a mom of 1, describes herself as adventurer, someone who loves to hike and to travel. She loved gardening that is why she became a LEED AP for a company that builds green in communities and urban areas. She has no plans of retiring yet, but she treats financial independence as a must achieve.Her biggest financial mistake was when they were spending more than what they are earning, even living in one of the most expensive houses. They started to spend wisely when her child was born, as they need to accommodate his needs without hurting their expenses.She started writing as an outlet for her thoughts and an input to some ideas about financial freedom. She has been consistently posting articles on Mondays and Fridays, and sometimes on Wednesdays too. She was surprised on how readers react to her blogs. Everything began when she first read Money Mustache, she was literally absorbing anything nor everything that she is reading online. She then joined forums and debates and has her own writings linked to her comments. It was then she purchased her domain name and became a member of FIRE.It as a struggle at first, having just a couple of views, but since she loves blogging, she just continued to write and started to know some online bloggers. She was invited by Military Dollar to join Twitter which she found her online community. As part of her goal, she then built a Facebook group inviting those who has the same goal as hers, discussing topics of the like,rapidly increasing their members. She then embarked Frugalwoods Challenge on her facebook account which was supported by her friends and family. Her foci is to be the voice of women empowerment when it comes to financial independence. I personally think that what made her popular is her goal in lifting diversity, raising women’s concerns and being an inspiration. Aside from that, she has been consistently posting every Wednesday and Friday – Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays, which she features blogs from women authors and Frugal Five Fridays, which she list down the things that happened during her week. 

Mr. Tako Escapes

 Who is Mr. Tako? He is a financially independent father of two by the age of 38, alongside with his wife, Mrs, Tako, and No, it was not their real name. They love to travel yet still saved 50% of their income. How? They describe it as “social norms”, and they believe that your society plays a vital role when it comes to your finances. They quit the rat-race after the birth of their second child, and spent more time with his family. And the reason why he wrote his blog? No one lives forever. He wrote his blogs as a legacy for his sons, as he wants them to achieve financial freedom like he did. It was a struggle for survival – how will they be able to be financially independent without depriving themselves. As they say, if luxury is a bottle of vodka, you have to take a sip and do not indulge. With this way of thinking, they were able to manage their lifestyle without cheating. He was an avid reader of blogs before he decided to write blogs himself. He is a fan of travel, cooking and incredible machine contents. He chose Squidix as his host, Why? It is just a small business that provides service for the cost. He was a follower to some bloggers, but has created his own unique way when it comes to writing.I was able to dig deeper into his blogs and in one of his contents, he wrote that he find some bloggers unreal and arrogant. The more followers you gain, the more wealthy you become, giving you the chance to become more authoritative, which he perceives wrong. I find this true, especially in the kind of world we live in, where anyone is doing well. What made him successful? His humility. Well despite of his circling name online, he does not measure his intelligence with the amount of money that he renders. As the saying goes, you are only as good as your last performance.  

Mr. Free at 33

 Jason Fieber, born in 1982 in a poor side of Detroit. His father left them when he was little and his mom was addicted to drugs, committed suicide.  He was adopted by a family but learned to work for his education. He then met with his father again, leaving him money as inheritance from his grandmother, which he used for college. But life wasn’t easy, soon he dropped out from college. He spent every single dime from his inheritance. It was a wake up call for him, and he started working in an automotive shop. Still at no luck, recession hit them hard and he was laid off from work.He then went to Florida, landed a decent job, and invested money on trading and stocks. He focused on three major things- house, transportation and food. He was able to cut down costs and live on his means. In 2011, he founded a blog Dividend Mantra to transpire his journey. Over the years, his blog was a great success and generated income, which lead him to quit his job. He then published his books: The Dividend Mantra Way and 5 steps to retire in 5 years. It was a passion project as he described them which reached readers, exploring new ways related to FIRE and how to live a happy life. He is using Bluehost as hosting and offers free coaching both for blogging and being financially dependent. I personally think that he is gaining popularity through his coaching. He is financially self-aware but is different to the financial community. Aside from the typical forums like any bloggers do, he goes on a chat with his followers and spends time lecturing them on how to be financially independent. This for me is a good strategy that set him aside from the other bloggers on FIRE, quoting “The Best 30 Minutes of their Financial Lives”.

Financially Alert

 This site was founded by Michael, retired in 2012 by the age of 36. Went from co-founding an IT Company to a stay-at-home dad, blogger and an investor. It was a realization that a 9-5 job is not his cup of tea, so he decided to quit his job and invested his money to real estate. His goal? To break free people from anxiety and stress. When he was 14 he read a book, Unlimited Power, which made him realized that we as humans have the power to control our lives, and he is choosing a life with abundance.He grew up from a broken family and both parents faced depression. As a child, he knew that his life will be different. He shut down himself to everybody and never let his emotions took over. Growing up, he told himself that he would never let his kids witness the same situation like he did. He took massive action to personal development by reading books about being financially independent and real estate investments.When he started blogging, he stated a hundred reasons as to why. For him, it was a way to connect with his friends, relieve stress and attract like-minded community. He used Bluehost for hosting and WordPress for his blogs. He follows a posting schedule and interacts with the community. He reads blogs and leave comments from other blogger’s sites. Blogging is a perfect medium for authenticity, so keep in mind that people would feel your sincerity in writing. I think that his being transparent is a big inspiration to others. He also offers coaching to the community which I find a big help to aspiring FIRE members. As he says, their success is his success.

Reach Financial Independent

 This site was built to show everyone that even with a small amount of money, you can deliberate decisions towards financial independence. Pauline, the founder of this site, was born and raised in Paris. She graduated from College, became debt-free and travelled to several countries like UK and Morocco. In 2010, she quit her job to live her life in her own terms. She started to do freelance jobs like blogging and translation jobs and have handled her finances well.Her approach is different. Her goal was to achieve financial independence not by being frugal but by saving. When she started blogging,she has no idea as to how many hours she should spend behind the scenes. She hosted her blogs to give advice, tips and a collection of ideas coming from others. And her guide to success? Content is important but you need to focus on your designs too. On her blogs, she categorized her blogs into subtopics to keep them organized. Add themes and images, as people may find them visually appealing.She kept her communication constant to her audience and manage to keep off from spammers. She used Akismet to separate “valuable wheat” from a “chaff of spam”. She also uses a tool for traffic analysis since it is a key information to attracting viewers and advertisers.What made her successful? She is following method from other bloggers, shares their contents and do guest postings too. But, she has her own ways of saving which she was able to share to others. She confessed that she had undergone mentoring and joined clubs or partnerships to improve her writing skills. She believed that it is pure will and determination that will take you to your goal. Do not close doors for opportunities and never say “NEVER”.

Abandoned Cubicle

 An anonymous blogger Cubert, his nom de plume, is living his married life with 2 kids in US Midwest. Back in 2014, with a newborn constantly seeking for attention and a demanding career, he found himself exhausted. He thought of retiring early and ran through Mr. Money Mustache’s blogs. But he was not convinced that it is the solution to his problems. He then met a friend who has plans to build a house rental duplexes. He invested money and they started out with a couple of single family homes in 2013, then eventually increased to five rentals.With the tumbling economy, he is a firm believer of cash flow over net worth, and house rentals is a good investment.He then wrote his blogs about his journey and met a few bloggers along the way. He guested on some of their sites and published some of his blogs through them. What are his steps? Know your passion. Write anything that you would love to write, treat your blogs as your diary and care about readership. Remember that it takes time before your hard work pays off. He is using Siteground for hosting and WordPress for edits. He installed plugins like Akismet, Jetpack and Yoast SEO. For image compression, he uses Imagify. He joined forums for meet-up and happy hours to share his ideas and gather advices from fellow bloggers. He is using Feedly to keep him updated with new posts. He then leaves comments and reactions from the blogs to create traffic and reached out to bloggers to guest post. Post images of your own, or something that you personally took. It is also important to carve out time to write, which he does every Mondays and Thursdays. After a year of blogging, he upgraded his tools to Studio Press for edit and themes, Pic Monkey for his images.What I like about this guy is his consistency. He goes along with his posting schedule, forcing him to wake up early to have his blogs posted. And even he draws inspiration from bloggers like Mr. Money Mustache, he followed his rules and beliefs and became successful on his own. Which reminds me of the saying, “Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you”.

The Green Swan

 The Green Swan is a metaphor used to describe a deliberate approach in managing and investing money which results to a major effect, like wealth accumulation. Thus, JW Brooks used this term as a representation of his style and approach towards his financial goal. He was raised in a small town in America, finished college and worked in a bank. Shortly after, he married his best friends. He was then affected by economic depreciation, took his MBA, and worked hard to advance his career. He maintained his frugal lifestyle and invested his savings.Blogging is not something that he thought doing, but as soon as he invested his money, he followed some like-minded community which encourage him to read articles. He then wrote blogs of his own and was invited to publish his articles on their sites. He linked his blogs to his site, which generated traffic on its own.It takes 2 to 3 hours of his time writing a 1500- word blog, a conservative amount of time and words for a blog as he consider. He continuously researches his contents, formalizing his strategies, and questions himself. He did not stop learning and evolving in many ways. He consider reader emails and post comments a big help. Sharing thoughts and ideas with strangers and getting unbiased comments and experiences from them is a huge benefit to his site.My thoughts? Green Swan started out with a mission to help people with finances and encourage them towards financial independence, which is a cliche, since we know that those 1800 bloggers have the same goal too. What differs him is his eagerness to learn and improve his ways and remain active. He helps both followers and his fellow writers as he continue to aspire and inspire. 

Tawcan

 Tawcan – Taiwanese, Canadian Bob Lai dedicated this personal blog as a chronicle of his quest to financial independence without sacrificing his happiness. Raised by frugal parents, he learned to spend his money wisely at a very young age. At his early 20’s, he invested his money on mutual funds and stocks as per other people’s advice. He then started to read books on personal finance to increase his investment knowledge. As a father of 2 kids, his goal is to raise them to be financially responsible individuals.He experienced a mild depression. He came to a point where he felt nothing but madness and anger, never even want to get near his family, not even his kids. He suffered from mental illness for quite some time. His wife asked him to list down things that makes him happy and what he wants to do during his free time. He began doing those and was able to fight his depression. He realized that he only needs time for himself.He has been a writer for some various sites for 11 years when he decided to host his own site. He used Bluehost and WordPress to start. Just like any others, his goal is to share his ideas in managing finances while living a meaningful and joyful life.I think what made him successful is his consistency. In a span of 1 year, he has published a total of 107 blogs, quite plenty compared to the others. I noticed that he is keeping is blogs short, and at the end of each blog is a comment or suggestion box, or a newsletter subscription which may helped him increase his audience. Any feedback, good or bad, is a feedback and it is something that you should be thankful for.

Ms.Fiology

 This site is described as a messy-but a transformative one. Deanna, the author of the blogs, once became sober and addicted to alcohol. In 2009, she regained her faith in God and was able to conquer her addiction. In 2014 when she started working again and was able to pay all her debts 3 years after. She began sharing her story and her financial struggles and advices.She discovered FI through ChooseFI and knew back then that this is something that she really needs. She started writing blogs for ChooseFI too before building her own. Her goal? To become useful to readers, not just to serve as an inspiration.She was born a writer. She loves to write journals, poems, short stories and the like.She started writing just one blog a week which she upped to two blogs per week. She followed some bloggers and followed their advice. She guest posted to some sites after then,she was reached by some to have her articles be published. She also joined some scholarships for new bloggers as recommended by her fellow writers. This woman is really an inspiration to many. I personally think that her redemptions are her keys to success. It is hard for a person to admit that she was once a failure, but not on her case. What inspires people the most is her redemption form her addiction and how she turned it around financially. She is a person full of stories to tell, which made her a great writer and speaker.

 

Waffles on Wednesdays

 This is a story of Mr. and Mrs. WoW and their journey to financial freedom. What’s with the name? As cliche as it is, Sundays are mornings without an alarm, a day when you enjoy a nice breakfast without the hurry or the need to go to work. Their goal is to make “Waffles on Wednesdays”, unstrapped with a 9-5 work schedule and experience the things that life can offer.They were not internet savvy to start with, and it was a struggle blogging at first. The first step is always the hardest but you have to look forward to what it would be like till the end. They chose to write anonymously, not because they have something to hide, but they wanted to stay private and different. They joined FIRE and met people along the way. They were featured on guest posts to some sites and were invited to podcasts by the others. This site is a a real duo. From what i see, the way they manage their site is a partnership wherein both parties write articles. I find their blogs written in a very conversational manner, where in they feature their conversations as a couple and personal chats. Their blogs are more of short stories which is very interesting to read. I find it a perfect combination- enough to help each other evolve.

Can I Retire Yet

Coming from a family of navy, Darrow Kirkpatrick was raised with integrity and knows how to value work. He graduated as a Civil Engineer and soon discovered personal computers. He built a software company which he sold to Haestad Methods which eventually was sold to Bentley Systems. He retired from Bentley in 2011 after 29 years of programming and managing software.He began saving and investing on his 30’s and retired at the age of 50. His goal? To help others become financially dependent through his personal writings. He is now living his life frugally with his wife and his son. He always knew that writing is his public persona. He was into it since he was young, as well as public speaking and presentations.He joined a conference of bloggers and met several writers along the way. He has been consistently reading articles about Financial Independence. He responded to emails, joined social media, met with potential blog advertisers and even got a chance to be interviewed for a podcast. He writes articles about financing, investment portfolio and travels.This guy pretty much writes about anything that can be an effect to financial freedom. He writes 1 blog every week on a specific day. On my personal view, what made him successful is his consistency. If you come across his site, you’ll notice a pattern on his posts. He is writing articles about his favorite blogs yearly, Best of the Web every month, and his investment portfolio every year. Everything is pretty organized and readable, if you are looking for a certain category, you will be able to find several topics under the same bracket which makes his articles easy to read.

Minafi

 Minimalism + Financial Independence = Minafi, built in 2016 by 35-year old Adam.He grew up in St.Petersburg FL. Graduated by the age of 23, his mom passed away, and while he is cleaning out her belongings, that is when he realized that he wanted to live a minimalist life.He was left $100,000 which he invested and with good planning, he became financially independent.He left his job after 8 years of working.With roughly $1 million in stock, there’s a question of what he would do with it. He saved up enough sum and followed the 4% rule, with his wife still working. It was a tough journey for him, leaving his job without any assurance of where he is heading to. He struggled with pushing himself very hard, but then realized that is worth it doing nothing once in a while. He started investing wayback 2008 and lost 80% of his value. His net worth went down from $340k to $60k in just one year. He opened up a vanguard account and put his savings there, continued investing for a year and added brokerage for additional funds.He began writing his blogs in 2016 about the first month of his retirement. He read books about FInancial Freedom, listened to podcasts and wrote reviews about them. He shared blogs from other FIRE bloggers and points out what he liked about the blogs the most. He started working on wordpress but is using Ruby Side for his blogs. He shared his stories and allowed his readers to share their stories as well through his site. He has been writing blogs 3 days in a week with a constant Pinterest postings. He then launched books and podcasts in 2017 and attended conference along with the other FIRE bloggers.What I like about him is his being organized and his methodical ways to his financial independence journey.  Dipping into small steps while still working will help test whether you are even going to enjoy those big visions you imagine for yourself in retirement. 

JLCollinsNH

 Mr. Collins is a senior executive with extensive P&L experience and a proven track record of growing revenue and profitability, integrating acquisitions, launching new products, developing and implementing business plans, creating powerful marketing strategies, building strong customer relationships and building effective teams.  He is experienced in a broad range of markets including technology, automotive, investments, design engineering, electronics manufacturing, construction, horticulture and energy.When he was 8, he sold flyswatters and had a first real job when he was 13 at an ice cream parlor. He had several jobs after, in fact he may have tried it all. And this brought him to places around the world. He earned his degree in literature in University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He left his job in 2011, same year his daughter graduated as Summa Cum Laude in college.He wrote his blogs for advice, investment counseling and a few stories for his daughter. He has no intention of being famous but little did he know that he is making a name online. He reads blogs from Fire bloggers like Mr Money Mustache, share his blogs and write reviews. He was then interviewed on their podcast and video sessions. He listed down some systems that he use for his finances and blogs:

  • Personal Capital- for monitoring his finances. With great visuals you can track your net worth, asset allocation, and portfolio performance, including costs

  • Betterment – tool for short-term savings approach

  • YNAB – for budgeting

  • Vanguard.com

 He then published a book “The Simple Path to Wealth”, with the help of Mr. Money Mustache.This guy is an example of a “rags to riches” story. This kind of stories are meant to motivate anybody that they can reach their dreams. Education, wise investments, and access to opportunities unavailable to most people make it easy for anyone to become successful.

Fly to FI

 This site is built by Cody Berman, a 22-year-old entrepreneur, where he focuses on financial independence, personal development, and life optimization. He quit his corporate banking job at the age of 22 and his mission is to share his knowledge and help others with financial freedom.He was raised by a single mother in a low-income household. He knew the struggles back then and told himself that he won’t allow experience the same struggles again.  As he grew older and started working, he managed his finances. He thought debt is a norm,so he had a hard time being debt free.He built his own site through SiteGround as domain and WordPress for his website. He wrote blogs about his success, followed bloggers, and shared their contents. He appeared in podcasts and guested on some FI shows. He became active on social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linktree,Pinterest and Finance Forums or websites(Rockstar Finance Forums). These sites helped him interact with other fire bloggers and shared topics and contents. He uses Crowdfire / Buffer to schedule his postings.He is consistently monitoring his financial progress along with his blog reports and feedback through Google Analytics Dashboard. He then published books and became motivation speaker and money coach to many.I admire this blogger amongst many others. Who would ever think of retiring at the age of 22? Proves to me to never despise humble beginnings. They are what make you into what you are today. As the saying goes,”A diamond in the rough is not shiny or polished in the beginning. Pressure and time however, change it into a spectacular and priceless object”.

Reluctant Frugalist

 Reluctant Frugalist – a wife and a mother of three, became frugal at the age of 36. They live in HCOL area in New England with no plan of moving as she value her children’s education and the community they are involved in. She left her job of 20 years because she felt unhappy She felt like it was not challenging anymore and that it hinders her career growth. Why she built a blog? She wants to grow a circle of like minded people. It is a fact that very few are open to talking about money and finances, especially when math and calculation comes in. She wants to share her financial life,  creating an outlet for all of her FI thoughts, and sharing FI information that she has learned. He wrote blogs as stories of her journey to financial freedom. She wants to have an outlet of her freedom that is flexible and challenging for her. She started by building a domain through Bluehost and Create and Go Course Link to learn about blogging and creating a blog that makes money. She managed a plan and entered some ventured outside of the box- Podcasts, Blogs, Businesses, Groups, Coding Bootcamps without sacrificing her time with her kids. She now offers coaching sessions about Financial Independence.This blogger is an eye-opener for me. Commitment is a huge sacrifice – just imagine her leaving her comfort zone for 20 years. But that move is worth all the sacrifices. Never stop challenging yourself into something better.  Make a lateral move, explore your area of expertise more, you never will know what is in store for you at the end of it all.

Root of Good

 Justin retired by the age of 33, built this blog in 2013, which was joined by his wife after 3 years. When we was young, he sold candies for a living and worked part-time way back in highschool which saved his ticket to schooling. He sent himself in an engineering school and decided to took law after. He continued doing side hustles to send himself to law school. Late on he realized that he wanted to earn money,yes, but not in the expense of his life outside work. He and Mrs. Root of Good got married and they both had decent paying jobs. They practiced frugality in order to save money for the future. His salary jumped big time when he earned his Professional Engineer’s license. They saved money for health and the kids’ educational plans. Then they invested some of their savings to Fidelity and Vanguard. Being a father of 3 kids, it is uneasy for him to spend money on a budget, but he knows his limit and kept track of their expenses. He wrote his blogs after his retirement to mark their journey of being a millionaire in 10 years. He followed some bloggers advice, like Mr.Money Mustache and Early Retirement extreme to name a few. Those were his guides and he has been reading and sharing their blogs consistently. His blogs are composed of “micro contents “- meaning his main topic (how i went from zero to millions in 10 years) has been divided into several blogs showing a step by step process on how he has gained such amount.I find it descriptive and very detailed. If you are someone who wants to venture in Financial Freedom, his blogs are definitely a good read.

Dash 2 Retire

 The writers behind this blog were American citizens living in Canada. Back in 2011, they moved to Canada for a better job opportunity for her husband and to escape the political and government issues in the US during that time. She left her job to become a full-time mom,and in 2014 her husband decided to join her in early retirement. It was a tough decision for them as she is scared that she might lose everything that they have.The start of her married life is uneasy, living in an apartment and with her husband just earning the right amount for their bills. They then understood the need for saving and investing through her dad’s mentoring.This means that they shouldn’t spend money on expensive restaurants, exotic vacations, luxury cars, fancy clothes or anything that they won’t be needing.Every disposable dollar went to savings and investments.It was a slow paced growth to but they never failed to perform a yearly analysis of their finances. Slowly but surely, the bottom line increased,that never stopped them from learning.She started writing to find a community of like-minded people who also have a love of personal finance. She designed her own website and worked on improving keywords on her contents. She contacted ESI Money to take a look into her website and her articles, which was a great help for her. A blogger then shared her blog into her twitter account which boosted her followers.This couple is an epitome of failure and perseverance. They never stopped learning and training for financial independence, afterall, it is never about competition. You should never be focused on being on top of anyone else.Your goal is to be better than you were, and to finish strong.As they say, the greatest skiers in the world all started out on the bunny hill.

Route to Retire

 Jim, the man behind this site – at a technology company wayback 2000 where he stated as an engineer. He has attained a middle management position until he felt like he is too tired to work. He quit his job 2018 and took the route to financial freedom. His family is deciding to move to Panama where there is a lower cost of living that could help them stretch their savings.He wanted to become financially independent for a long time, but he has his daughter in 2010 and it hindered him from doing so. He felt the need of going to work while wanting to spend a little more time with her. He decided to become FIRE when his daughter is 8, a much better time for him.The biggest reason he started this site is because he enjoys talking about finances and helping others to get on the right path. He felt the need of sharing his learnings and spread awareness to those who wants to take the same path. He started following FIRE bloggers, in fact a bunch of them. He asked for their advice or comments about his site in order to improve what he got. He then gained followers with the same drive.Commenting on other posts helps add value to the author’s site and helps you create relationships with other bloggers.  Chances are, your site will be visited by those bloggers.  And hopefully, your comments will draw the interest of the readers which brings traffic to your site. According to him,it is must that you respond to ever comments or reactions that they do. He is using social media platforms, especially Twitter to boost his page and Hootsuite to schedule his postings. He is doing email blast through MailChimp which sends updates about new articles on his site.I saw how driven this guy is. His “time to make some donuts” commercial video is a bit catchy. If you think you are someone who is tired of doing the same thing everyday then his blogs could be a great help.

Guy on Fire

Guy on FIRE is a 20-something named Drew living in Washington DC. Guy on FIRE plans to retire in his late 20s or early 30s to pursue his passions in life; biking, fishing, hiking, traveling, cooking and enjoying the simple things in life. His site is about how he went from being in debt to building $500,000 net worth in four years.He graduated from college in 2013 and had his luck and got an entry job in a company. From then, he dreamt of climbing the corporate ladder in 40 to 50 years, and become a millionaire- with expensive cars. He lived in his parents house while working, where he became frugal when it comes to spendings. He focused on saving on an emergency fund being a Finance Major he is.  A year later, he switched to another job, where he worked almost 80 hours in a week. But his hard work did not pay off. He then focused on his investments- he now owns two properties under his name, and is planning to acquire more so he can leave the corporate world.He has followed several FIRE bloggers and joined their community. He then started to write blogs, mostly about financial reports, his investments, mortgage and lease updates regarding his properties. He also has a guest post series which gives opportunity to fellow bloggers.I find this guy different from the others.Unlike any fire bloggers, it is okay for him to retire and be in debt of $1,000,000 just as long as it goes to investments and properties-which returns the value in few years time. I find his blogs detailed and resilient, given the fact that he is a Finance Major and that he has a better understanding of finances. It is a good read for people who are thinking of investing into properties.

TuppennysFIREplace

Tuppenny and her partner Mr2P is  the couple behind this site. Tuppenny has been a single mom for quite some time before she met her partner. They are planning to retire early and will migrate to Columbia. Her blogs is about how she survived being broke, what steps she took to make ends meet and to start saving.Her few months of bloggings were tough. He knew from there that something is amiss,though it was not her intention to monetize her blogs, she must do something about it. She has kept track of her report and became keen of of the details.She has created an extra pin created in Pinterest which boosted her viewers. She then wrote a guest post on The Money Whisperer and posted a blog on Women and Investing.  She was then featured in Rockstar Finance newsletter and Defined Sights weekly round up of noteworthy content.Since Pinterest is driving traffic to her site, that is where her focus is. She now provides guest posts for at least 3 bloggers to approach them with new ideas that could help building their site. Step up commenting to bigger bloggers, subscribe to their mail list and respond to their emails as soon as you can. She mails out monthly newsletter to her subscribers to keep them updated if she has a new article on her site.This site is a great inspiration to new bloggers. For me, she is doing a great job considering that it is relatively new. One thing I learned is that persistency really pays off. Focus on your strength and convert your weakness,which she is doing consistently.

Early Retirement Dude

ER Dude retired at the age of 36, he is now 48, and living 13 years of Financial Freedom. He knew ever since that 9-5 work schedule is not for him, so he worked, kept money and put it to work. His wife worked as an engineer, with an income of $60,000, while he, started working as a front manager and was then promoted as a senior director.His company went through downsizing and that is when he decided to leave. The maxed out their savings, and when his retirement came in, it went to investments and stocks. He started this site not to give financial advice but to help people navigate their options when they think of retiring early.He is consistent when it comes to writing his blogs. He has followed some famous bloggers including their ways and shared his learnings through his contents.He has been consistently writing more than 5 blogs in a month. He promotes books published by his inspirations and gains traffic through Amazon advertising. He is know to have 10 commandments to FIRE.Personally, I find his blogs simple but direct to the point. As for him, FIRE is not for everyone, not even an escape route when your are just tired of working. His blogs are meant for anyone to navigate and explore their options towards retirement. A good read for people who considers retiring early but does not know where and when to start.

 FI Fighter

FI Fighter is a blog by Jay- A filipino who graduated school w/ an engineering degree and started working at 23. He started investing in a Roth IRA during his senior year of undergrad and have been funding on that from then on. He worked as an engineer and worked for the most part, however he came to a realization that he does not enjoy working anymore – weekly status reports, meetings, conference calls . Thus, he enjoys working with other people – and he wants to make sure that he can keep on mentoring others after he exits the corporate world.He wanted to maximize his time – spend most of it for travels. He read over 20-30 digital nomad/marketing/entrepreneurship books, joined communities, talked to nomads, and learned about how to generate passive income. Three of his favorites are 4-Hour Workweek, Rich Dad Poor Dad and Digital Nomad Wannabe. He began freelancing and working on multiple income streams. He reduced his spendings and followed the advice of those he read.He started his blog way back 2012. He invested into real estates and properties, that is why his blogs were mostly about investments. He has been consistently writing several blogs, 2 or more blogs in a month. He is sharing contents from the FIRE bloggers that he is following and write reviews. 

He wrote various blogs,I think more than any others. If you are someone interested in real estate and mining stock investments, this could be a great avenue for you to start. I think his love for travel plays an important role to his blogs.He has been residing in the Philippines and goes back to CA every one in a while could be a an advantage to him as he writes blogs about places he has been to and provides travel hacks as well.

Freedom is Groovy

This site is created by Mr. Groovy alongside his wife, Mrs. Groovy. They left their jobs in 2015 and started blogging ever since. They lived in Calgary, Alberta for over a decade,and has no plans of leaving the place. But serious bumps were along the way – mortgage,loans. He declared bankruptcy with serious debts, having no stable job to pay for what he owes.They sold their house and used the money to buy a smaller house in Charlotte, NC and pay some of their debts. They still have to pay a couple of dollars more. They spent frugally since then-focused on their needs and gave up trips and travels. They sold their RV, used it to pay for some of their debts and spent almost 10 hours everyday to write contents. Being a blogger is a blessing for him. It was not an easy path to take, but he pointed out some tenets if you consider blogging.Set an example to others, share your knowledge and reach out to those who are struggling. Be eager when writing comments and emails to your readers. He writes for people, not just for page views. People can determine genuity through your posts so it is a better idea to be clear and genuine. And his best tool for his blogging – his Marriage. He guest post on some bloggers’ site and published a book of his own.What I liked the most about this couple is the story behind their success; that behind Mr. Groovy’s success is his wife and her support to every decision that he has made. As the saying goes, a good partner is the key to success in anything: in business, in marriage, and especially in investing. A good read for starting couples.

Leisure Freak

Tommy,the person behind this site, retired as a Lead Engineer at the age of 51 after dedicating 31 years to a career in the Telephone industry. He built this site after his retirement as he finds his freedom to pursue what makes him happy. And freak, as he is obsessed with leisure which is retirement as of the time being.He did some part time jobs like working at a vacuum store, a pizza/beer joint, for a Bank as a proof-operator, a Semi-Truck paint shop sanding the big rigs, and went to H&R Block school to be a tax preparer for them. He started writing blogs about his early retirement and his side hustles. It is also a good idea to write articles in newspaper- for free. He did this to for a wider audience and to get new job opportunities too. He enter Amazon Self Publishing too. With the creation of Amazon Kindle publishing (KDP), publishing your novel no longer means having to send off hundreds of letters to publishing houses and receiving the same amount of rejection letters back. Self-publishing on Amazon is now easier than ever  and far-reaching too — by using Amazon KDP, your work could reach a global audience.  If you fancy passing on your wisdom and learning to the next generation, then you should consider writing your own online course.The course you create depends, of course, on where your knowledge lies.It could be a story on how to become successful in your field,or simple tutorials that you think are needed to be shared.This site is perfect for those who are thinking of retiring early but still wants to gain more income. He did not just focused on investments but in considering doing side hustles too, like baking, cooking or writing. It gives you ideas on what you can do outside retirement and if there are any areas that you need to improve on,or ways to rediscover yourself. This way, you will be able to know what options are available for you and work on talents that can help you along the way.

 The Escape Artist

The Escape Artist– built his investment portfolio and quit his job in 2014 at the age of 43. He is married with 3 kids. He  highly trained financial commando. I have a degree in economics,  a qualified accountant and  had a 20 year career in corporate finance.It was an uneasy journey for him but he wanted to become financially free, he had his emergency fund covered and paid off his mortgage. He was struggling but it was not deprivation. He enjoyed the process of building wealth. He started reading MMM, did the math himself,and saved money. He wrote blogs and put adverts onto it. He offers  financial coaching and help people to achieve financial freedom, plan for early retirement, career change or just manage their money better. He do most sessions face to face with people in central London or in Farnham, Surrey and run sessions through Skype or by phone to people who live faraway. He has been consistently writing contents, often about 4 to 5 per month.Over the course of 4 years, you will be able to find different contents on his site, which is a good catch for people who are relatively new to the industry. I personally find his writings entertaining, clear and easy to read. 

Four Pillar Freedom

This was created in 2016 by Zach,  a data scientist by day and a blogger by night. His blogs are meant to share philosophy, psychology, work ethic, and finance. He is known for his “four-pillars” to Financial Freedom: philosophy, psychology, work ethic, and finance.He started his blogs before he graduated from college. He started working, continued writing his blogs, and did side hustles like tutoring to pay for his loans and debts. He proceeded to open a TD Ameritrade brokerage account and fund it with $1,000 he had in savings.First he bought stock in XPO Logistics, sold a few months later, bought Visa, Hershey, and Disney, holding each for a few months and sold it after they rose a few dollars. He read books about finance, investing, and hustling, and was able to increase his income. He spent frugally and mastered the art of being content, doubling his savings and investments. His blogs were then featured in Yahoo, CNBC, Business Insider, LifeHacker, and Rockstar Finance November of 2017,all featured his Early Retirement Grid on their sites in the same week, driving tens of thousands of eyes over to his site for just a few days. He follows the same schedule when it comes to writing and posting. He writes blogs at 6AM everyday before work at Panera Bread. This routine helped him write over 185 articles.What made his site different is he continue to work and do side hustles while blogging. Proves to us that a high-income mentality and minimalism, it is possible to save an insane amount of money in just a short period of time. And it is a good guidance to anyone who wishes to be financially free in the future without worrying about their finances. Continue working till you can, be content and save all the money that you can. 

Mr Crazy Kicks

Mr. Crazy Kicks, retired at 34 is the one behind this site. At 14, he started working at a coffee shop and Walmart, before he landed being a land mower, earning enough to cover his tuition fee.He worked as an engineer for 14 years. He was happy with his job, with good friends and was earning a decent amount. But, something so constant needs to be changed. And the idea of waking up the next day, doing the same thing does not excite him any longer. Mr and Mrs Crazy Kicks  got married in 2018. Their goal is to retire by the year 2020. His wife, left her job to become a teacher, while he left his job in May 2016. He began raising chickens on his yard and built a garden.  He was trading in and out of stocks, using options to leverage bets, but eventually closed all his trading accounts, and went to index investing. It took them years, and better decisions.He never liked writing, but since he left his job, he considered writing as one of his hobbies, and ofcourse, a source of income. He used Bluehost for his domain and WordPress for his website. He chose Crazy Kicks as pseudonym- as he wore kicks to work when he is nearing FI. He followed famous bloggers when it comes to investments and guested on some sites.He is posting blogs once, or twice a month, lesser than the others but I find his writings entertaining. His blogs were not just about tips or his finances, but on how he enjoys his freedom, working on new hobbies and discover new places through travels. Truly is,that you don’t work for money, let money do the work for you.

Montana Money Adventures

 

Montana Money Adventures is the blog of Jillian Johnsrud, became FI at the age of 32. She had a decent job that pays her $30k-$40k a year, but she works every weekend, even on holidays, 45 hours in total. They were on track with their finances but never thought that she would travel through 27 countries, adopt 4 kids, or own 3 houses. And most definitely not have a 1/2 million plus net worth. She puts in about 20-30 hours a week, and is doing about 30% of what she should  be doing. For the first 6 months of blogging, she has spent around $500-$700, but have made $0 in return.Every Monday she send out an email to her community, to catch up and share a resource like new PDF. Start by reading and commenting Via email or Facebook live. Do a reader group Skype chat or book club. She connected with other FIRE bloggers and asked for feedback to her contents.She started hosting Skype chats for bloggers. We all gather on a video call and share stories, ideas, and a little piece of life together. 40 minutes once a month

She joined platforms like Twitter and Facebook .She was featured in Rockstar Finance and guest post in other bloggers site.

 

This site is relatively new compared to other sites. She is posting 3 to 4 blogs per month that focuses on investing, passive income and passion to financial freedom.  She converted her passion into purpose – which is to inspire others to FI. 

 

Birds of a FIRE

Runs by Olivia Bird, a 25 year old woman living in New York City .She currently works in finance and believes that there is more to life than earning money and monetizing life. SHe plans to retire by the age of 30.She created this blog to share her knowledge in full hopes that anyone can take advantage of FIRE. She wrote blogs and was lucky enough to be featured on Military Dollar’s Summary Sunday, DefinedSight’s Hump Day heat and RockStar Finance’s Rockstar Rumble. She created platforms like FB and Pinterest.Pinterest is her main platform. It’s filled with pins that lead to blog posts, and people on Pinterest love that. They’re looking for blog posts to answer their questions, and that’s perfect for you. Set up Pinterest, Apply for Group Boards with at least 1000-2000 followers. Using Tailwind, it only takes a few hours to schedule pins 2 weeks at a time. It also suggests the best times to pin and just slots your pins for those times. Once you have a bunch of followers, you can use Boardbooster to automatically loop your existing pins on your personal boards.For email list, she is using Convert Kit and offered a giant course for free. It is a good idea because most visitors will leave your site and never come back. They might come by through Google search, Pinterest, or Twitter for an interesting article, but might not subscribe. If you offer them a small freebie or opt-in, they’re more likely to subscribe, and they’ll know when you write future posts.She published two guest posts from Finance Stoic and Hiro from Twisted Paths. Her journey to FI is quote amazing. She initially shared her ideas to some of her friends but was laughed at, saying FI is impossible. She believed in herself and know that it is possible for her to achieve her goals. She was able to prove that is possible and now convinced her friends to join her to FI. It was not an easy journey for her to start with, having no support coming from her friends. But she believed in herself and turned the impossible to possible.

Firethe9to5

 A 40 year old, single parent of 2 from UK, is the person behind this site. She works as a Finance Manager at a global corporation Monday to Friday. She works hard – revolving her world around the demands of her job. But the more she works hard- the bigger she keeps. She works hard to save harder. In time, that money will blow up and reproduce and will be able to support them in the future. She left her job December 2016. It was a hard decision for her for it was her bread and butter. The salary, the benefits, the flexibility to work, the gadgets, the free food, the gym membership, the family healthcare were all positive. But she felt like a part of her is owned by the company and she is missing her kids’ time.She followed the FI principles of spend less than you earn and invest the difference. She is an introvert, even during her stay in the corporate world, she is relatively shy. But she dipped her toes in Twitter and took a lot of reading from the FIRE Community. She followed advice from some of her fellow writers and started investing. She listened to podcasts of famous ones; MMM, WhyofFI,Michael Kitces and The Voice of Reason.She also read some books like The Simple Path to Wealth and The Millionaire Next Door to name a few.I personally think that her decision to FI is a bit of a struggle, being a single parent and an introvert, it was a risk to take. But, she found her family with the help of like-minded people. Reminds me of a quote.“People who are more socially connected to family, friends, and community are happier, healthier, and live longer than people who are less well connected.”

MoneyMow

MoneyMow is the blog of “Carl”, a 27-year-old from Denmark. He works as a management consultant in an international consulting company, following the demands of his work.Through his work he became quite skilled at solving complex problems and making strategies for Fortune 500 companies. He is living  normal and safe life with his wife, with free healthcare and education.He joined FI because he wants to spend more time with people he loves and to have more flexibility to choose when and what I want to work on instead. He started to write blogs. Like the others, he chose a domain name and build a website through Bluehost,Siteground, and wordpress.He committed to at least six months of blogging when he started– most blogs fail within the first year, so make sure to commit to a regular blogging schedule for the first six months to get into the habit. He connected with other bloggers through email and comments- building a relationship and connected to others. Respond to their emails and comments,always. He planned his posts ahead- at least two months before the schedule. He used platforms like Facebook and Twitter to boost his audience and used Mailchimp to  e-mail list from day one for newsletters and new posts. He committed himself to regular posting schedule.If you happen to visit his site, you will see monthly updates about his financial journey. And for me, it is a good way to track down your finances and convince your audience that it actually works. I consider this a good read for those who wants to keep in track of their finances and consider blogging as side hustle.

Aussie Firebug

An Australian in his mid-20s is the brain behind this site. Growing up from a poor family, he was taught to be responsible to his finances-big thanks to his Dad. He has been interested in wealth and money since he was a kid. From then, he knew that he would hit a million mark in time.He started reading books about FI and real estate investing. Keep buying assets that make money, with compounding interest, the more you buy, the easier for you to buy again. He was able to read about 15 to 20 books in 6 months and started to subscribe to online blogs of people who had already reached FIRE. He went to seminars in Melbourne on the weekends to meet people who had achieved financial independence. He became obsessed with the idea and kept learning. He created this blog to track his journey from $0 net worth to FIRE with detailed information and analysis on saving , investing, mindset, struggles and anything else that is relevant to reaching FIRE. He has joined podcasts ang featured guest FIRE bloggers like Mad Fientist and investors like Steven Ryan. I can see that it has always been his passion to build wealth and inspire others. As he share his learnings, he never stopped learning and is open to new ideas. And I think, that is an advantage, as the fire community flares up, it is a  never ending cycle of ideas and thoughts that could build a better community.