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Afford Anything | Make Smart Money Choices

Pain, Grief, and the Pursuit of Financial Independence, with Jillian Johnsrud

Afford Anything | Make Smart Money Choices

Paula Pant | Cumulus Podcast Network

Entrepreneurship, Investing, Business

4.73.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2020

⏱️ 68 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

#246: At 19 years old, after completing her first year of college, Jillian married her husband.  During their first year of marriage, they lived in a camper and earned a combined salary of $12,000. One year later, Jillian's husband graduated college and joined the military. They relocated to Washington D.C., where they earned a combined $60,000 per year. They saved half of their income and used that savings to chip away at $55,000 of debt. At 22 years old, Jillian and her husband adopted a son. Not long after that, they had a biological newborn. At 24 years old, they accumulated their first $100,000. Jillian and her husband remained committed to saving half of their income. This allowed them to buy a house in cash, invest in two rental properties, and invest in index funds. At 32 years old, Jillian and her husband achieved financial independence. All on a modest five-figure income.  How did Jillian and her husband live on $12,000 per year? How did they save $100,000 after three years on a $60,000 per year salary? What sacrifices did they make? And how did they transition from saving to spending? Find out in this raw, emotional interview. ____________ You'll enjoy this episode if: You earn less than six-figures and question your ability to reach financial independence Guilt prevents you from spending the money you’ve saved (“I can’t spend on X if I want to achieve FIRE!”) You want a relatable, realistic take on the journey to financial independence For more information, visit the show notes at https://affordanything.com/episode246  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You can afford anything but not everything.

0:10.6

Every decision that you make is a trade-off against something else and that doesn't just

0:13.8

apply to your money.

0:15.1

That applies to your energy, your focus, your attention, your time, to every limited resource

0:20.2

that you have to manage and that leads to two questions.

0:23.4

Number one, what's actually important?

0:26.0

Not what does society say should be but what really matters in your life?

0:30.5

And number two, how are you going to make decisions on a day-to-day basis that reflect

0:36.6

that?

0:37.6

How are you going to make the trade-offs that you need to make in order to live your best

0:40.8

life?

0:42.1

Answering these two questions is a lifetime practice and that is what this podcast is

0:46.1

here to explore.

0:47.6

My name is Paula Pant.

0:48.6

I'm the host of the Afford Anything Podcast and today, Jillian John Sred joins us to

0:53.5

talk about how she and her family reached financial independence despite the fact that

1:00.1

they started in an extremely modest situation and despite the fact that they didn't make

1:06.8

very much for the majority of their careers.

1:10.3

Jillian was 19 years old when she got married.

1:13.7

She had just completed her freshman year of college and her husband had just finished

1:18.4

his junior year of college.

1:20.6

During their first year of marriage, they were both still college students.

...

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