Francis’s answer to the question of how you can retire early is: Don’t.

He worked tirelessly for years to attain FIRE (financial independence, retirement early). However, most people don’t want to work for their entire lives. He learned this lesson himself when he retired at 37.

Francis said that “pursuing FIRE” is not a good idea. He requested anonymity to keep his name private. Francis spoke with CNBC Make It. I doubt most people are looking to retire young. Most people desire a sort of sabbatical. People are disillusioned with their jobs and want to be able to go on a sabbatical for a long period of time. Perhaps a year.

The same frustration led Francis to quit his job as an electrician, where he was paid a base salary of $120,000 and equity bonuses of $30,000-$60,000. Francis says that life is “really boring” without a job. Francis decided to pursue his YouTube passion full time and earns money by making videos for his 350,000 subscribers.

Francis left his job with $1.2million in investments and savings. After hearing about FIRE, he decided to pursue it. He found that spending as much money as possible was the key to his strategy for early retirement.

First, he paid off his mortgage. It cost him $22,000 per year. He also tried to reduce his expenses as much as possible while he dealt with this.

Francis says that he had to jump through hoops to reduce his expenses and save money. Francis cut costs by avoiding streaming and using every food item from his fridge, as well as avoiding any short-term trips without a phone.

Francis says going mobile “did not work very well”, but that he thinks it is important to push too hard and be uncomfortable. Francis finally managed to reduce his annual expenses to below $15,000.

Because of his background in electrical engineering, he was able to cut household expenditures. When the electricity went out, he installed his water heater himself and repaired the garage door. In his back yard, he also constructed a solar panel system that gives off a small amount of free electricity.

Francis states, “I don’t call a handyman. I’m the handyman.” Because they don’t break, all my appliances are very old. They can be fixed if they do break and then they are as good as new.

Francis is also a master at collecting credit card points. He employs a process known as churningYou can cycle between credit cards in order to get more points. There are currently over 20 credit cards.

According to him, “To be eligible to obtain these credit cards you must have a very high credit score.” He also said that his score was 835. It’s not easy for everyone, but it is for me.

Francis experienced boredom after two years’ early retirement. He enjoyed the time off work, and even made it a point of traveling. Francis’ solution: He got back to work.

Francis has been increasing his YouTube presence and releasing videos every day since 2019. He began his career in the beginning. the channelIn 2013, there were videos about everything from making a cake to how to do it. imitation shark fin soupTo strategies beating the popular game “2048.”

He turned his attention to investing and credit scoring topics. He saw his views grow and his earnings increased. Though his workload fluctuates depending on his mood — some weeks he works almost full-time while others he does as little as eight hours — he has built up a following of more than 350,000 subscribers.

He earns close to $10,000 per month in YouTube revenues during his peak months. The $15,000 annual budget is still intact and he uses his income to cover his daily expenses. Rest goes to his investments accounts.

This project brings him joy and is something he will continue to do for the next few years.

Francis remarks that “I no longer consider myself to be a’retired’ person because I put my all into YouTube.” I’d love to do more and help it grow. “I think it is a work in process.”

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