Financial Freedom in 3 Years (Cody’s FI Journey Explained)

2024-12-11

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Someone recently asked me: “How did you reach FI?” I didn’t have a great answer for them that didn’t take 30+ minutes to explain. So, I recorded a podcast episode outlining my entire FI Journey – all the numbers, all the income streams, all the expenses, year over year. Below are the notes I created to guide the episode. 2016 Read the 4-Hour Workweek Started my first real business, Arsenal Discs Learned how to build a website, marketing, sales, networking, negotiations, pricing, product design… all the HARD way 2017 Discovered FI through Mr. Money Musta...

Someone recently asked me: “How did you reach FI?”

I didn’t have a great answer for them that didn’t take 30+ minutes to explain.

So, I recorded a podcast episode outlining my entire FI Journey – all the numbers, all the income streams, all the expenses, year over year.

Below are the notes I created to guide the episode.

2016

Read the 4-Hour Workweek
Started my first real business, Arsenal Discs
Learned how to build a website, marketing, sales, networking, negotiations, pricing, product design… all the HARD way

2017

Discovered FI through Mr. Money Mustache
Started listening to podcasts like ChooseFI and Afford Anything
Read books like Simple Path to Wealth and Your Money or Your Life
Learned about side hustles, taxes, the 4% rule, etc.
Despite all this, didn’t really have any money since I was paying for college
Locked in job for July 2018, plan was to work 7-10 years to hit FI

2018

Went to CampFI in January and FI became “real”
Lived in Australia with lots of time on my hands and started side hustling after being unable to find a regular job
Blog launched in April 2018 to document my journey
Started working as a commercial RE lender in July 2018 once I returned to the U.S.
- All-in comp was $80-85k
- Knowing that FI existed was a blessing and a curse
Launched podcast in August 2018 (nothing else like it)
FinCon 2018 (CampFI on steroids) – met Grant and others
By the end of that year, I had tried a dozen new side hustles (blogging, podcasting, freelance writing, building websites, editing podcasts, affiliate marketing, digital products, etc)
Income: $44,000, Net worth: $75,000, Stock market: -6.24%

2019

Quit my corporate job on January 31, 2019 with $30,000+ saved
Side hustles were bringing in $1,200 per month, but my expenses were the same ($450 rent, paid off car, super frugal)
Financial Freedom book tour March-May of 2019
Teamed up with Julie to launch Gold City Ventures in June 2019
- So many people asking for 1-on-1, wanted to teach at scale
- Most of my time after that was spent working on Gold City Ventures
- Practicing my craft to teach better
- Managing a community, recording & packaging content, hiring people
- Originally launched E-Printables, a blogging course, and a freelancing course
- LOTs of learning lessons from this business
Income: $96,000, Net worth: $179,000, Stock market: 28.88%

2020

Went all-in on digital products (dropped blogging and freelancing from GCV)
- Etsy shop, Shopify store, templates, etc.
Continued to live extremely frugally (spending less than $25,000/year)
Bought 3-unit house hack in September 2020
- $235,000, we lived in the basement, rent $2,200, expenses $1,700
Bought duplex in November 2020
- $170,000, rent $2,250, expenses $1,350
Bought 3-unit house hack in December 2020
- $315,000, we moved to 1BR/1BA, rent $2,600, expenses $2,100
- First house hack jumped to $3,000 in rent once we moved out
Income: $198,000, Net worth: $392,000, Stock market: 16.26%

2021

Started freelancing for Motley Fool (who acquired MillennialMoney.com)
- Extra $10K/month, SEO, “thinking big”, awesome team
Bought triplex in May 2021
- $245,000, rent $2,900, expenses $1,900
~$200,000 in down payments came from digital product income
Gold City Ventures continues to grow rapidly
Income: $403,000, Net worth: $1,035,000, Stock market: 26.89%
Financial Freedom!
- Had RE making $3,000+ in cash flow, $500,000+ invested in the stock market
- In addition to the semi-passive $20,000+ per month I was earning with digital products

Since I reached financial independence, I have continued to work on my main business, Gold City Ventures and invest 90%+ of my income into index funds and real estate.

Links from the Episode

CodyDBerman.com (previously FlytoFi)
The FI Show (first episode)
Gold City Ventures

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