On board the podcast today is Jade, who is on track to graduate debt free!
“After paying off $17k in credit card debt and growing my net worth to $50k at 22, I realized I had strategies that could help the masses achieve financial freedom.
Finance for Fire
Introduction to Jade Johnson from Finance for FIRE
Onboard today is Jade Johnson, a student from the USA who is on track to graduate University not only debt free, but with a huge investment balance. Jade shares her money journey and experience investing as a student, and just how she is graduating debt free through a combination of part time work, scholarships, side hustles and her money coaching business. Jade Johnson started her blog Finance for FIRE early 2020 to document her own financial journey. After paying off over $17,000 of personal debt and subsequently growing her net worth to $50k by the incredibly young age of 22, she realized that she had strategies that could help everyone achieve financial freedom. Jades business finance for fire focuses on teaching budgeting, paying off debt, raising credit, and investing so others can create generational wealth.
Podcast – Jade the student investor
Show Notes
- Check out Finance for FIRE here
Transcript of Jade Johnson Finance for Fire podcast
Captain FI: [00:00:00] this morning, I’m chatting to Jade who blogs on her social media and blog finance for fire. Jade’s joining us from overseas in the USA. Jade. How are you going?
Jade: I am doing so well, thank you for having me.
Captain FI: So whereabouts are you dialing in from?
Jade: I’m actually in Miami right now. And I live pretty close to where I go to school, which is really cool and really close to where I work, which is even cooler.
Captain FI: Ah, that’s a big tenant in the fire community, of course living. That’s awesome. No, Jay, we connected on social media on Instagram. I noticed you posting a lot of really cool content about personal finance and investing whilst at college and while studying.
And am I right to say you’re actually on track to graduate? Not only debt-free, but with a healthy investment portfolio.
Jade: Yes. So I do have a full ride scholarship through the ROTC program. [00:01:00] So that was pretty cool. And I actually have a few other scholarships as well. And the ROTC program and the school that I attend actually has.
Kind of a little deal worked out, or it’s a pretty nice incentive to join the ROTC program there because they give you about 20% back on tuition. So I actually get around 10,000 back every semester. So I’m getting paid to go to school which is also.
Captain FI: Fantastic. That’s really cool.
I totally want to that cause I have no idea what those acronyms are, but before you get get started, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself, Jayde?
Jade: Yes. So my name is Jay Johnson and I like to call myself like a personal finance advocate enthusiastic. I’m a money coach.
I’m like a Jack of all trades. I really love entrepreneurship. And just like dabbling in different things, maybe one day, like all. Sell t-shirts and then the next I’ll be a money coach. I don’t know. I feel like there’s a lot of things that I like to do. But money is definitely [00:02:00] something I’m really passionate about and spreading the knowledge and awareness around money and personal finance is something I’m passionate about.
So right now I’m on Instagram. I’m also on clubhouse. I plan to start a podcast soon, which I’m super excited about, and I’m also going to be rolling out some live group programs in the next one or two months. So I’m really excited about that as well. Yeah, I basically just love to talk about money and helping people with their finances.
Captain FI: That’s great. So you’re studying, you’re working you are doing a lot of stuff. When it comes to blog and personal finance, do you have time for any other hobbies .
Jade: This is literally it, but I wouldn’t want anything else because everything that I do, I feel like in my life is very methodical.
It’s very strategic. And it might not be very fun. People might not think oh, you have a lot of fun or you have free time in your life. But working on my business, that really does excite me, like being able to let out my creative juices and design Instagram posts, or come up with ideas for my [00:03:00] program or work on worksheets, work on client, work, stuff like that.
That is fun for me. It’s also like productive and Makes me money and is helping me build my own legacy. So it’s just killing two birds with one stone. Between school ROTC, working as server in the restaurant industry, and then plus money coaching and doing the whole social media thing, there’s really Not much for anything else, but I do have a Belgian Malinois who is my life she takes a lot of time and energy taking her out and walking her.
I guess she would be my hobby. And then I guess my boyfriend, because he takes a lot of time too.
Captain FI: Look, I absolutely love dogs. I used to have the best Cocker spaniel ever. A lady used to come flying with me all the time. I can’t wait to get another one.
When I ended that’s a move. So when I settled down and get a place, I’m definitely going to be getting another puppy. The Belgian Malinois they’re pretty energetic dogs, not like giant sounds you might have to be running around the block every morning .
At
Jade: least three times a [00:04:00] day.
I had no idea what I was getting into and now, I wouldn’t want anything else. I literally want this breed for the rest of my life. A lot of people don’t know what they’re getting into. Just like I didn’t. And then, they have to , rehome the dogs because they just can’t physically keep up with them.
But luckily for me, I have a really big yard and I am young and do have the energy to take care of her and give her what she needs. She’s crazy.
Captain FI: There’s a lot of Belgian shepherds used in the aviation industry. Working dogs security.
So we do quite a bit, but , it’s a shame whenever, I’m at work at the airport and all you want to do is pad it, you’re not allowed to go near it.
Jade: Yeah. And that’s what these dogs are for they’re bred to be a working dog. So it was a transition for me to treat her like that more at home, because if she doesn’t have a purpose and doesn’t feel like she.
Has a need to do something, then she’s just going to be destructive and get into something that she’s not supposed to. So she needs to have that purpose and job of watching the house or else she’s going to be a little mischievous devil.
Captain FI: It’s like [00:05:00] personal finance as well. I think just like with the dog, you need to have a purpose. You need to have a strategy. Otherwise you end up doing mischievous things like credit card debt and all sorts of other nasties. Yes. So Jade, what got you interested in finance and why did you start your business?
Jade: I started about a year and a half ago. And it was because I ended up having a miscarriage as you can imagine, that was very, just completely awful. It was for the couple of months, I was just really depressed and. I blame myself and I was just like, wow, this is completely terrible.
And then something shifted in my perspective and in my life. And I was like, you know what? I’m going to use this situation to help me level up and get better in all aspects of my life. So that the next time I’m able to have a child that I can be completely ready for it. And I can give them the best life.
So I really wanted to get my finances together and pay off the debt that I was in having an emergency [00:06:00] fund, start investing, doing all of those things. And then I also wanted to get into a better job because right now, like I’ve been serving since I was 16 and that’s what I’ve done like in college, but I also started feeling like I didn’t want to just join the corporate world after college.
So I was what am I going to do instead? Because I don’t want to join the corporate world. I don’t want to work for a marketing firm, anything like that, but that’s what I’m getting a degree for. So I was what do I do? When I was going through my own personal finance journey and I was really like paying off my debt, stuff like that, I just started sharing my own.
Progress in my own journey on Instagram. And I started getting a lot of positive feedback on that. And then at the same time, I was also starting to get more into entrepreneurship and the world of social media based businesses and online coaching and course creators and things like that. I started taking some trainings and I realized
and this could be possible for me with personal finance, because I was already getting such positive feedback about. My money [00:07:00] journey and, asking for tips and help and stuff like that. So that’s when I realized there was a need for that. And that could actually be my life. So then I just started going from there and I started investing in different programs and courses to really help me do this, scale my business and get systems in place that I needed.
Then it’s just been going up ever since.
Captain FI: That’s awesome. I can really relate to you wanting to have that public accountability. I think that was one of the main reasons why I started my financial journey and started blogging about it. Yeah, all I can say is keep doing what you’re doing, because you’re already achieving some pretty cool accomplishments.
And it’s just going to grow and get better and better from there.
So earlier Jade, you mentioned that you had won a couple of scholarships. So I’m guessing that is part of your. Strategy to be graduating. Debt-free I was wondering if you might be able [00:08:00] to elaborate a little bit more on just how you’re graduating debt-free and what are the different tools you’re using?
Jade: Yes. I took high school very seriously because I really wanted to get out of my house, leave my small town that I was in, do my own thing. And I knew I needed to go to college because that was like the only way for me, to escape in my mind at the time.
But my parents couldn’t afford so I always knew that if I wanted to go, it was. By scholarship. And I also knew that I never wanted to go in debt for college and thank God, I didn’t have to. So I took it very seriously in high school.
I actually did a program called J R O T C, which stands for junior reserve officer training Corps. And this is basically like a military program here in the United States. They have it for different branches, they have it for the air force. They have it for the Marines and then they have it for the army.
So I was in the army program and there was no commitment or anything in high school. It really just gave you the discipline that I really needed. There was a lot [00:09:00] of programs and clubs that you could be involved in within that one organization. I was actually head captain of everything.
It was super fun for me and I loved it. In that program junior and senior year, we did so much college preparation and work because the instructor of that program was very adamant about going to college and going to college for free because of scholarships either provided from the army or, whatever.
It was honestly so insane now that I think about it now, I don’t know how I put that much preparation or work into that at all, but it definitely paid off because I ended up with a full ride and now I get paid to go to college, but But basically I got my scholarship through the ROTC program and I got the national scholarship.
Basically that means that they pay for your entire college, wherever you go. Then after that, once you graduate, you will commission as a second Lieutenant, and then you’re going to serve eight years.
So that could be in the [00:10:00] reserves or that could be in active duty.
I was actually fortunate enough to be able to pick which scholarship I wanted to take, because I did get a few different full rides to different places. And I was accepted into all of the schools that I wanted in Florida. I wanted to stick in Florida. .
So I just got to choose and I ended up choosing the one that was closest to my house so that I could be closest to my family, my little sister. And it wasn’t going to be such a long drive each way. Cause I do visit often.
So I took in high school, what’s called the ACE Cambridge program. It’s basically like an advanced placement, or a higher level college class that you’ll take in high school for extra credits. Because I took that program, I automatically qualified for the highest level of florida bright futures scholarship, which is, I forgot exactly what the specs are now. But it gives me a few thousand back every semester. So that’s cool. That pays for part of the tuition and then books and [00:11:00] stuff. I got that because of the courses and classes that I took in high school.
That takes her of my whole schooling. And then to cover how I get paid like 10,000 every semester. That’s just because the school that I go to the university of Miami, it’s a private institution, but they have a kind of like an incentive.
If you are in the ROTC program, you get 20% back on tuition. So that ends up being like six or 7,000 a year or a semester. And then after that I have the additional scholarship money from bright futures. So then that gives me around 10,000 every semester.
Captain FI: Holy moly. That’s unreal. Jade. It sounds like you’ve got this all sauced down, pat. So Evolus to just summarize what you said, you absolutely worked your ass off in high school. You’re able to get really good grades. And as a result, you’ve won some pretty [00:12:00] lucrative scholarships. You’re actually getting paid to study now.
And you’ve got a guaranteed job when you graduate with the army. Is that right?
Jade: Yes, that’s about right.
Captain FI: Wow. So I if anyone is listening to this and they’re wondering how on earth can they get ahead? Your strategy has been to just get your head into the books.
Jade: Yes and no, because now my strategy is definitely shifted a bit and I’m like, wow, I really feel like I didn’t need to go to college for what I’m.
Trying to do right now and the whole social media based business. Now I feel man, I just got myself into this whole mess and an eight year long commitment for nothing. But I also do remind myself, I am going to a really prestigious university right now. It’s a private institution here in Miami.
So I know that I’m really lucky to come here, especially since it’s completely free. Now I definitely don’t [00:13:00] prioritize books or college and learning in the typical education system. As much as I did in high school, I was all about that. Now I’m more the real world and just doing my own thing with entrepreneurship.
Captain FI: Yeah. Look I hear Jay I don’t think my scholarships, whereas as lucrative as yours. That’s awesome. I picked up a couple of scholarships and I basically had my university paid for, which was really cool. And that’s a massive part of why I am in the financial position I am today.
Cause I didn’t have these student loans to pay down. But I think we’ve both shifted to a similar wavelength. I’m really interested in entrepreneurship as well. And I’m not strictly using my engineering qualifications. So basically I’m loving getting into online businesses side hustles you name it and it’s like a whole new world out there.
It’s a whole
Jade: new world, but it’s so [00:14:00] fun.
Captain FI: Yeah. So other than your scholarships, what have been your income sources whilst you’ve been studying?
Jade: So I am a server and the restaurant industry, and that is what my job has always been, I worked a lot in high school as well. I work at a really nice restaurant in coral Gables, which is really close to my school.
And luckily I’ve always worked at really nice restaurants where I make a lot of money. I actually make like between 50 and 60,000 just as a server part-time. I know. When I tell people like how much I make as a server, a lot of people are like what? That’s not, the typical income.
But at least for here in Miami, the type of restaurant that I’m at, it’s like a pretty high end bar. And we’re just really busy I would say that I’m just a really good seller, so to make good money. Last week I made 1500 in three days, so that was pretty exciting,
Captain FI: and so I’m guessing you’re [00:15:00] stashing this cash away into various investments. Yes,
Jade: of course. So my budgeting style is different. I would say it’s like a zero-based budget. That’s how it always starts out, at the beginning of the month, but then I just track it and I don’t do everything down to the penny or anything, but I do basically close out.
My account to zero at the end of the month. So I deposit all of my money at the end of the month. And then after that, then I just put it into my Roth IRA, different investment accounts that I have my emergency fund or different savings. And then I have zero or just like a hundred dollars in my checking .
And that’s it.
Captain FI: I’ve heard the Sierra base budget strategy before I quite like it. I do something similar, but I just make it up as I go along really. Okay. So other than your main server job do you have any other side hustles or projects that you’re using to create any extra income?
Jade: Yes. So I have the money coaching, which is what I’m really passionate about. And this is what I’m really trying to scale right now [00:16:00] for my own business. It’s just an online social media based business. I plan on having live programs. And an evergreen course that I can just host on something like Thinkific or teachable or Kajabi.
And that can be there. I also want to have some type of membership, but these are all plans for the future. What I have right now is high level intensives and then a one-on-one signature program. So I’ve been able to make a few thousand dollars so far this year just from money coaching.
I’m really excited about that. And then I have even bigger plans for in the future. Within the next few months, this launch that I want to do, that I am a really aiming for a 30 K launch. So I’m really excited about that. But I guess we’ll just see how it plays out at the end of the year and what the numbers are.
But I am really excited for this year in my business. This is the first year that I’m, really taking on clients really doing the damn thing. But I’ve invested a lot in myself and in my [00:17:00] business, which I think has helped with the energetics and the mindset and just like the energy behind it.
So I’m really excited.
Yeah.
Captain FI: You sound very passionate. And I think if you are helping people to achieve what they need to achieve then your business is naturally going to grow from doing that.
Definitely.
You’ve got a pretty high savings rate from what I can see, what are some strategies and tips that you’ve used to keep your cost of living down and keep your savings rate high.
Jade: I would just say to focus on what you do, we really want to spend money on. And then things that don’t matter to you find a way to cut those out. So if you don’t care about watching TV and streaming shows and you don’t need to like be paying for your Netflix,
but if getting your nails done or. Getting your eyebrows done or something like that is important to you. You should spend money on that. So I think it’s just a lot of doing the work to see what you really value and what you want to spend money on and then be really frugal with everything else.
[00:18:00] Also paying yourself first. I know that’s a super cliche and easy one, but it really does help because if you pay yourself first and all of your money is in an investment account, it’s going to be a lot harder for you to withdraw that money. Just to spend it. So what I like to do is I to invest a lump sum, every two weeks.
I work the weekends at my job. So after the second weekend, I’ll put my money into the bank and then that’s when I’ll go ahead and pay myself first. And I just give myself a little bit of spending money, like me and my boyfriend are going to go to the movies and we’re going to go out.
I just want to like shop on Amazon for something. I’ll just give myself a small portion of the grand scheme of what I made and then the rest is going to go into investing or savings. But definitely paying myself first has been the biggest thing for me to grow my accounts so quickly.
Captain FI: It took me a long time to figure out what. Paying yourself first actually even meant. I think I’d read rich dad, poor dad about, two or three times before I actually [00:19:00] twigged that. That meant it. It’s such a powerful strategy because out of sight, out of mind. So if it’s not in your checking account, it’s not there.
You can’t spend it right.
Jade: And it almost makes me even feel better when it is like that. If I do want something, but I’m like, oh, I don’t really have any money in my account for this. And I just put 2002 investments. It makes me feel more disciplined and like I have my life more together and I’m like, no, it’s okay.
All my money is where it should be right now. I don’t need to buy that.
Captain FI: So I want to dive into your personal investing preference. I’d love to hear about the structures that you use and the assets you invest in the allocation. But before we dive into that, I want to touch back to your study because it’s interesting how you said as you’re evolving, your strategies changing if you could go back and, speak to Jade back in high school, is there anything, you would tell her, or anything you wish you knew [00:20:00] before you signed on the line and started your tertiary study?
Jade: Yes, I would have told myself to not take the scholarship I really wanted to go to college. I should have gone to a community college that I could have stayed at home and still lived there. And then just done that because honestly, for what I’m doing now I am very determined to make this whole social media influencer.
Thing, my reality, that’s actually going to be my life. So for that, I don’t need a degree and I do really respect and love the military, but it definitely is. A lot. And for somebody who wants to have a family and also do all of the things that I want to do, even just part-time, that’s going to take a lot of my time doing the whole military thing on the side.
So it definitely is. Not the choice that I would like to be making now, unfortunately I’m locked in, I’ve already signed the contract. I already have the full ride, . But if I [00:21:00] actually could go back, I definitely wouldn’t have taken the scholarship. And I would’ve just
done other things. Maybe I could have gotten into entrepreneurship earlier, but I think I really had the mindset that to be successful, you needed a college degree and that’s so sad. I wish somebody would have woken me up before and told me you don’t have to do that. There’s actually all these different options, opportunities, paths that you can take to be successful.
I definitely feel like I got a little scammed.
Captain FI: It’s a pretty big realization. I think a lot of us have that sometimes halfway through studying or for me it was really. After I finished studying, I look back and go, did I really need to do that?
I guess they say life’s a learning process, and perhaps you hadn’t have started that. You wouldn’t be where you are today. But it’s still an important reflection. I think, if anyone is. Listening , and they are considering whether they should go back to uni or not. That’s some good advice and helps them make that decision. So thanks for sharing Jade.
Okay. So into [00:22:00] the really fun stuff, right? So for you and me, we’re obviously both really likes talking about money and personal finance. This is actually my favorite part of any.
Podcasts interview. Where I get to learn all about your personal investing style and preferences.
There is some differences between investing in Australia and investing in the U S But in general, it’s sort of similar, right? So you guys have your 401k and that’s like our superannuation.
And then you’re able to invest in conventional brokerage accounts.
how do you use them? How do you divide up your money? And then once it’s in the various accounts, what assets do you buy?
Jade: Okay, so great question. I actually don’t have a 401k because the jobs that I work at just doesn’t offer that, unfortunately, that is a perk that comes with like more of the corporate jobs.
But I do have a Roth IRA. And within that, I just [00:23:00] invest in low cost index funds and ETFs, the S and P 500 and just the classic ones, the total stock market. I have a couple rates. I don’t know if I’m saying that. The R E I T S the real estate investment trust.
I have a few shares of that. Cause I just wanted to start dabbling in there. I have some pretty good dividend ETFs but those are what I have in my Roth. Definitely a more safer style. I also invest in cryptocurrency and lately I have been wanting to fund my.
Regular standard investment accounts with ETFs and more value stocks. Because I realized that my portfolio is getting pretty risky. I definitely have a lot of money in crypto right now. Which I don’t mind because I’m 22 years old. I’m really young. I definitely. See the fundamentals in cryptocurrency.
And I do think that we are on a bull market and we’re going to go a lot higher than this. Even we just have to bounce back from this little thing that we’re going through.[00:24:00] So I don’t mind having a lot of money in crypto, but I do want to start putting my money more into value stocks, because I also have a lot of tech stocks and high growth stocks.
In my Roth IRA. That’s where I focus on all of my really safe investments. Then I also have my Robin hood account, which is not speculative investing, but I’m trying to focus on maximum growth. And I am going for riskier stocks. I don’t have very many ETFs in my Robin hood account.
Then I opened another account with Sophie and acorns because I wanted to get away from Robin hood after they did this whole unethical. With game stop and doge coin. So now I have so far in acorns, all of my portfolios are moderate Tivoli, aggressive, or just plain aggressive, but there I’m investing in different ETFs and stocks
in the sofa and acorns is actually a robo advisor. That’s pretty cool. I just did that because I don’t have any of my investments automated. I just do it whenever I do my finances, but I really [00:25:00] liked with acorns. They have a Roundup feature. So every time you use your debit card, you can make it so that it rounds up to.
A dollar and then that money gets invested into your account. So it’s not automatic investment contributions, but it makes it really easy to do it every month. It’s 30 to $50 a month. It’s super easy and it’s only a dollar every month for the management fee for it to automatically rebalance your portfolio and just do everything for you.
So I’m really liking that as well.
Captain FI: Yeah, I’ve played around with the Australian version of acorns, which they renamed Raise , it’s cool. The fees are slightly higher here, that’s awesome though.
So your portfolio Jade is definitely, An asset allocation, that’s tailored towards shares.
Do you look at any defensive assets at all? Like gold cash or bonds?
Jade: I haven’t gotten to that really yet. I am invested in a few bonds, through acorns, but I really haven’t gotten into any safe [00:26:00] things like that. I’ve really been meaning to look into commodities like gold.
Because my parents are into that and I just feel like it would be good to have, so I’m definitely going to do that soon, but it just hasn’t happened yet.
Captain FI: I look at my personal journey. I’ve been really heavy on equities. And I, have deliberately stayed away from things like cash bonds, golds and other sort of cash instruments or interest bearing things because I just saw that, shares go up on average, 10% obviously you got to account for some inflation.
Over the long-term, yes, it’s volatile, but from what I can see, and from my experiments over the last, 10 years they seem to, for me be the best asset class I’m probably in a similar position to you then starting to research more heavily into things like Gold and bonds, and I’ll probably end up doing some experiments for the blog more than anything.
I think you’re on the right track there, Jade, it’s reassuring that you’ve come to that independent conclusion. Yeah. Yeah.[00:27:00]
How do you structure how much you put into our IRA versus your conventional brokerage accounts? Do you divide them 50, 50, or how do you choose.
Jade: Last year was the first year that I had my Roth IRA and I was only contributing random amounts every month. I was actually focusing more on my standard investment account. I still maxed my Roth IRA, which is for us 6,000 a year. But this year, I’m going to have a little bit of a different strategy.
I’m gonna automatically put 500 a month into it because I feel like that’s the strategy that I want to go this time. And then, whatever I have left after that 500, that’s what I’ll put into cryptocurrency and stocks and ETFs, but I don’t really have I want to go 50% here and then 50% there.
I just play it by ear, whatever I’m feeling, whatever research I do. However whatever’s on sale, I’ll usually put into that
Captain FI: month.
; Yeah. Okay. I recently fully automated my investing and it’s been the best thing that I’ve ever done. [00:28:00] Just in terms of like my anxiety regarding investments.
Now it’s all outsource and done for me. And then just like you’re saying any additional money above that I can then have a bit of a play with those more speculative investments. That’s a really good idea. Maxing out your IRA. We have a similar concept with our superannuation.
You can max out. What’s called a concessional contribution. So you basically pay tax at a lower rate rather than your marginal income rates tax at a flat fee of 15%. So it’s, yeah, people can do that to save some tax, which is good. Awesome.
Okay. That’s really cool. It’s an interesting insight into your finance journey. I love it. Maybe we need to talk more about crypto because I’m pretty new at crypto
Jade: yeah. I’d like to say I’m definitely not like one of the O G original cryptocurrency investors, but actually cryptocurrency.
Might’ve been my first investment a few years ago. A couple of the cryptocurrencies that I own I got into at really low prices. I think I just got really lucky and[00:29:00] we have a really good entry point, I do think that cryptocurrency will disrupt -the entire financial institution as we know it.
Just how it’s not regulated or governed it’s just so private. I think that it really has a lot of growth potential, and it’s starting to become really accepted and adopted in regular society now. So I definitely see big things with this and I know it is super volatile and it is super risky.
I wouldn’t really recommend anybody over the age of 30 or 40, being serious about investing into it.
I think that I was watching a video and somebody said it so well, this kind of game, takes a lot and it is for a different type of person. But if you’re not ready for that, then get out of the game.
You’re not meant for it. And I think it’s because if you’re in it, you can experience some serious, massive gains, 2000% portfolio return crazy, but it also super heart-wrenching because one day your portfolio can drop thousands of dollars. But if you are in the game, then you’re in it.
[00:30:00] If you can’t take it, then you just should get out because it is scary.
Captain FI: So you’ve had some really big gains. Have you considered selling down any of your portfolios and moving those across to index funds?
Jade: I haven’t yet. I don’t think we’re quite through with as far as we can go.
Definitely right now, all crypto’s are at a low it did go through my mind once, because this was a major dip that we just had. And I was like maybe we are literally crashing, but I did my research and, I really made myself feel more confident and why I think that there are fundamentals back in cryptocurrency.
So then, I of course held, I didn’t sell anything and I’m not going to do that until we hit much higher prices. Then I think I would, but I think we have some time.
Captain FI: Okay, interesting. Do you have a predetermined price that you’d sell the cryptos at? ,
Jade: I would say for Bitcoin, if I would sell any of my Bitcoin, I really want to wait to see it hit a hundred K like I really do. I really [00:31:00] think that we can get there. I think that will go beyond that. So if I’m going to sell that’s what I would sell for light coin, I think could easily go past, 500, definitely easy even.
Upwards of a thousand, pretty easy as well. And that’s a little below 200 right now, so maybe I would consider selling then. And chain-link is my baby. I started buying that around $3 and that’s, a 31 right now. That’s had a high of 56 though, and I would probably sell that one around 300.
Captain FI: Yeah, so I just have some Bitcoin and Ethereum, I have no idea how high they’ll go or how low they’ll go. I’m just in it for the long haul just to see what happens. That’s it does stress me out, even just talking to you now about trying to figure out price points for entry and exit, but
Jade: yeah.
And see, it’s a lot I don’t know, nearly as much as I want to, and need to know, but I definitely know the basics to be investing in it, but [00:32:00] it’s powerful stuff.
Captain FI: All right, Jade. So before we wrap up, I just want to ask you a couple of questions now about. Your path to financial independence and some of the lessons you’ve learned. Firstly it’s a horrible question by the way, cause it’s totally putting you on the spot, , what are your top three tips for someone who’s just starting and they’re on the path to financial independence?
Jade: Okay. Really good question. Luckily, I already thought about this one because I felt like you were going to ask me this. The first tip I would say is just to ditch the perfectionism and the whole idea of that. You have to have things figured out and just start, a lot of people will say oh, I don’t want to start investing because I still have debt or I will start budgeting once I get my cute budget planner that I want, those are silly examples, but things like that, people say a lot. And that really just prevents them from ever starting. The best time to start is today. If you didn’t start yesterday, we need to start [00:33:00] now. So that’s something that happened with me. I actually avoided my debt for over two years and I ended up accumulating $17,000 worth of high interest debt.
I don’t have any student loans or anything like that. And I get paid to go to college. So , how did I end up with this debt? That was just from me, avoiding it and not being aware of my finances. I knew that I was getting credit card debt. I knew that I was losing money every month to interest.
But I didn’t think that I knew what I was talking about. So I just would not start. I refuse to look at my bank account and my credit card statement or anything like that.
I would say that the first tip would be ditch the perfectionism and just start because it is the best time to start now.
The second tip I would say is investing in yourself is just as important as investing in income producing assets. So that’s something that I really learned, especially this year. I have spent a lot of money in business mentorship and coaches, and that has really paid back. [00:34:00] Tenfold
that is what investing in yourself does. The investment is the transformation. This is going to help you get to so many different new levels and unlock so many new things, new energy, new magic. And that’s only going to lead you to getting paid more. The more skills you have, the more certificates, the more value that you have as a person, that’s how much you’re going to get paid.
I would say Investing in yourself. However, that looks, whether that’s going to college or that’s paying for a few courses off you dummy, or, whatever definitely investing in yourself is only going to help your financial journey.
And then the third tip I would say is to incorporate millionaire money habits.
This is something that I like to talk about a lot in my private coaching, if you really want to be something and you want to do something, you really have to embody that. You have to do the things that a millionaire would do if you’re trying to become a millionaire. So some of those things are going to be checking your bank account when you first wake up or looking at your investment accounts, making sure everything’s good, [00:35:00] just budgeting, investing, doing different things like that.
Basically. Just anything that is going to make your money work for you. So that you can not work as hard physically. That would be my third tip incorporating millionaire money habits. I think that the habits and the intention that you have behind what you do in your finances is really important. .
Captain FI: Yeah. That’s awesome. I’m a big fan of the millionaire money habits. Actually. I love the millionaire next door series. There’s a bunch of surprising habits in there that, a lot of people might not associate with being wealthy, but that’s the trick, isn’t it sometimes looking wealthy is different from being wealthy.
Exactly.
All right. And okay. The last thing I want to ask you, Jade who, or what has been the most influential people experiences or books that you’ve had on your money journey?
Jade: So I started getting into personal finances off of Dave Ramsey. And now I realize his method isn’t really my favorite.
I’ve definitely moved away from him. But at first that was a really good, starting [00:36:00] block for me. I was listening to his podcasts and watching him on YouTube. So that was really helpful. Now I watch other people. I listened to So money by Farnoosh Torabi, who is a best-selling author, a podcast, or just she’s really big in the personal finance space.
I also, like deeper than money with Chloe Elise. She also has an Instagram and her podcast is really fun. And I also like the college investor because they have really short. To the point, podcasts that really just hit you with the facts.
I don’t really read as many books as I want. I’m reading one book right now, which is I will teach you to be rich by Ramit Sethi, and then I’ve read rich dad, poor dad, but I really need to start reading more or getting into audio books or something. And then as far as.
Let me see those books, podcasts, YouTube, hers. I like Graham Stephan. There’s also someone called she talks finance, which is a smaller account, but she [00:37:00] is amazing.
Captain FI: There’s so many awesome ways that you can consume finance content out there. And that’s awesome. I appreciate all the recommendations Jade I’ll link everything in the show notes on the captain FI blog and while we’re on the topic, there’s actually a pretty.
Vehicle list of books that you can jump on and check out as well. Jade, if you’re looking for more investing and personal finance books there’s over a hundred there on my radar. Check it out. Oh
Jade: yeah. I’ll definitely check that out. I need to,
Captain FI: Speaking of show notes as well, shade where can our listeners get in touch with you or check out your blog?
Jade: Okay. So I am most active on my Instagram, which is finance for fire. I also have a blog which will be coming out soon. That’s going to be on finance for fire.com. On my blog, I’m going to be talking about all things, money mixed with a little personal stuff. I also am on clubhouse, which is finance for fire as well.
And I have a YouTube set up just ready for me to post my first video. But if you want to go ahead and [00:38:00] subscribe to that. While you’re waiting for the first video that is also finance for fire. Basically everything’s finance for buyer.
Captain FI: Oh, that’s awesome. Hey, wasn’t your first tip? Ditch the perfection and just make it happen.
You should video come out Jade.
Jade: I, yes, you’re right. I need to make that happen. I actually just moved recently, so I set up my office and I set up an accent wall for filming for YouTube. The setup right now is so gorgeous and pristine. I am ready to do it. I just need to do it. Yeah.
It will come very soon.
Captain FI: The exact same procrastinating from releasing it. You should videos for so long. I’ll do it. If you do it,
Jade: What is holding me back is I know that the editing is going to be a bitch. So I don’t want to get into that, but I know once you do it, it’s all easy.
And you just have to get the flow of everything, I know that’s going to be a learning curve for me because I really suck at technology.
Captain FI: You, you and me both, you remember, look Jade, thanks so much for making time to come on the show [00:39:00] today. I really appreciate it. It’s been awesome. Learning a bit more about your journey and all of your ups and downs.
I’m really looking forward to staying in touch and seeing how your business grows. And I wish you all the best with it.
Jade: Thank you. Me too. I’m so glad we did this. I really enjoyed it.
Captain FI: Yeah, no dramas. I’ll catch you later. All right.
Captain FI is a Retired Pilot who lives in Adelaide, South Australia. He is passionate about Financial Independence and writes about Personal Finance and his journey to reach FI at 29, allowing him to retire at 30.
