I’ve Reached Flamingo FI! Now What?

I can’t believe it, but it’s happened! My biggest financial independence (FI) goal since starting this blog, Flamingo FI (in other words, half of the traditional FI number, or one-half of 25x yearly expenses), has been achieved! Read on to hear more about what this means to me and what I’m planning to do now that I’ve unlocked this milestone.

If you’ve been a long-time reader of the blog, you know that my big financial independence goal was always to hit Flamingo FI, one of the many milestones along the path to traditional FI. You can read more about what Flamingo FI is and what it means to me in this post. But in very basic terms, Flamingo FI is equivalent to half your traditional FI number (like a flamingo standing on one leg!). And if you’re new to the personal finance space in general, a traditional FI number (in its most simple form) is equal to 25 times your yearly expenses. Once you have that amount invested, you could withdraw 4% per year (according to the Trinity study) and have your money last the rest of your life. This is also the point at which you become work optional (the name of one of my favorite personal finance books).

If you’ve read my story, you know that traditional retirement was never what drew me to the financial independence space. I never dreamed about not working. I simply dreamed about not having to work and being able to work on my own terms. Now, after learning about slow FI and with a little bit of lifestyle design work along the way, I know how I’d want to spend my time if I wasn’t working a 9-5. Or at least, I know what I think I’d want to be doing. I have what I call my Financial Freedom List, a list of things I want to try out/pursue on the journey to and after downshifting from full-time work. And let me tell you, the list has become quite long. In other words, I know for the most part how I would spend my time and the experiments I would try out as soon as I didn’t have to work full-time, every day anymore.

I could have technically started downshifting, possibly going to part-time work or just making less in general, a long time ago. In fact, when I started this blog, I had already reached what is called Coast FI, the point at which the money you have invested will grow to reach your financial independence number when you hit traditional retirement age (65). All you technically have to do when you reach Coast FI is cover your expenses. You don’t have to save another dollar if you don’t want to.

But Coast FI never felt quite right to me. It didn’t feel safe enough for someone like me who tends toward a scarcity mindset. And even though “retiring early” isn’t the most important driver for me, I also didn’t want to have to wait until I was 65 to retire. Being the slightly risk averse person I am, and with a spouse to also consider in my life equation, Coast FI just never felt all that compelling. But when I discovered Flamingo FI? Something just clicked. Maybe it was the way Money Flamingo (the blog behind the concept) wrote about it, but Flamingo FI seemed like the perfect fit. I knew I didn’t need (or want) to wait until full FI to take my foot slightly off the accelerator, but I needed a bit more of a cushion than what Coast FI could provide. For me, Flamingo FI was the ticket.

And a few weeks ago, even though I knew I was somewhat close and may hit this goal in 2024 sometime, I was overcome with emotion when I did my quarterly check-in and saw the numbers. A huge milestone, one I’ve been working toward for years, was reached!

Now what?

Well, the boring answer is that I’m not doing anything drastic right away (hopefully some of you, especially those in the FIRE community, can relate?). For example, I don’t plan to immediately tell my W2 to f*** off. I also don’t plan to go down to part-time immediately. The great thing about lifestyle design is that, for these last few years, I have been designing my best life along the way to FI. I have found a job that pays well and is low stress so that I can keep a high savings rate. I have added things in to my life that make me happy around my job. And things are going well! I’m on a path I’ve chosen, and reaching Flamingo FI is just another stepping stone on my path.

But I also know there’s so much more. So much more life to live and experience. Having reached Flamingo FI is making that “more” feel all the closer.

The good thing is that, as I’m always writing about on the blog, gaining financial freedom gives us so many options. And this is what I’m most excited about right now, having reached Flamingo FI. I’ve always known I have plenty of options, but they feel even more endless now.

So let’s get into some of the changes I’ve already made or am thinking about making now that I’ve reached Flamingo FI.

Changes to my money strategy

One of the most exciting parts of reaching Flamingo FI is thinking about all of the options I have when it comes to my money strategy. I can shift it any way I want.

Before I reached this milestone, I had been almost maxing out my 401k, contributing to my Roth IRA every year, and putting the rest of my monthly savings into my taxable brokerage account.

Although I don’t plan to change anything regarding my 401k strategy while I’m still working a W2, at least right away, I did make a big change to the savings I was putting into my brokerage account.

I immediately stopped them! It was sort of serendipitous because Fidelity had been telling me for awhile that in order to make any changes to my automatic investments into that account, I’d have to either call them or just cancel the automatic investment and create a new one. So I took advantage of the opportunity. I canceled my automatic investment, and I didn’t create a new one!

It felt exciting and exhilarating. Even in just a few weeks, I can already see the accumulation happening fast in my checking account. The first action I’m going to take with that cash accumulation will be to max out my Roth IRA for 2023 (I have until April 15th). After that? I’ve been daydreaming about what to do.

While I’m still working full-time, I’m thinking about shoveling that extra cash into more accessible savings than investments. I already have a hefty emergency fund (way more than 3-6 months), so I’m planning to get more intentional about that. I’m thinking I will earmark an emergency savings account with 6 months of expenses, then create some additional sinking funds (savings dedicated to certain topics). I’d like to save up an ~1-year cash cushion for when I go to part-time, and potentially even a 2-year cash cushion for if I decide to freelance. My cousin also recently moved to Germany, and I have a goal of going to visit her. Lately, I’ve been daydreaming about a longer visit (maybe a month or so, since I’ve never been to Europe). So, perhaps I will start a sinking fund for that travel. My car is also over 10 years old, and while I love her and believe she’ll give me at least another 5 years, the truth is that we never know. It may be time to start saving up a sinking fund for when I’m in the market for another car.

In addition to these alternative saving strategies, who knows, maybe I’ll even let myself get a little spendy (on an intentional level) with the extra cash. That $4-a-pop open pickleball play I’ve been avoiding because I fear I’ll become addicted and waste all my money on pickleball? Well, this week, I let myself try it on for size! That $20 yoga class I’ve been avoiding because of the money, even though I’m craving more in-person community and in-person yoga classes? I went to my first class on Wednesday!

And I’m sure at some point I’ll even set-up another recurring investment into my brokerage account, even if it’s smaller than what I had been saving in the past. But at least it’ll be an intentional decision, for whatever phase of life I’m in at the time.

What I can tell you is that I LOVE thinking about the possibilities. It’s exhilarating. It’s empowering to think about how far I’ve come and how I never would have dreamed about having these options that I do now when I was in college or even early graduate school. 

I also really thought it would be hard for me NOT to continue saving into investments once I hit Flamingo FI, since I’ve been so deliberate about saving for so long. However, I’m already feeling like that’s not the case, and I’m pumped about it. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the lifestyle design work I’ve done, as well as the mental mindset shifts I’ve already gained along the journey. I’ve done so much work to figure out “my why” for my FI journey and what’s important to me. I’m so much better now at spending in alignment with my values and being intentional with my money, spending on things that bring me joy and add fulfillment to my life in ways I never thought possible. I’m hopeful that all this work is the reason that not saving as much has been initially easier than I thought it would be. We’ll see how this goes in the long term.

And sure, I likely could have made any of these changes I mentioned above earlier on in this journey, but it was always my mindset holding me back. Even though I never needed the permission, Flamingo FI has been the catalyst I needed for allowing myself to make some of these changes.

Changes at work

So, what about work? Long-time readers of the blog will know that it has always been my goal to downshift to part-time work once I reached Flamingo FI.

Don’t get me wrong, part-time work is still my ultimate goal. But because of all the lifestyle design work I have done in the past few years, I am in no big rush.

Within the past year, I got a new job that is relatively stress-free, high-paying (ie, can get me to FI faster), and has a career track for individual contributors like me. I just had my annual review with my manager, who let me know I am on track for promotion this year, which would come with a $15k pay bump.

So, while things are still good at work, I want to see if I can get that promotion before going to part-time. It would be huge for my FI goals to get that pay bump before downshifting. And right now, I’m ok with continuing on that path.

The difference now that I have reached Flamingo FI is that if that promotion doesn’t happen, or if I get restless/burned out at work, or if I simply find myself wanting more freedom in my days, I can make a change. There’s no need for me to get that promotion from a financial standpoint. Or even a life standpoint! (in other words, my identity is no longer tied to my job). And that thought is incredibly freeing.

Final thoughts

In a nutshell, for now, I’m making very few drastic changes. I credit this to the slow FI lifestyle I’ve adopted. I’ve already taken steps to design my best life RIGHT now, not some day in the future when I hit some magic FI number. Ultimately, designing our best lives on the path to financial freedom is what this blog is all about!

However, I am also about to start another big experiment. Something from my Financial Freedom List. Something that I believe may lead to me wanting to spend more of my time away from my paid work. Depending on how this experiment goes, a lot could change. But a major thing this slow FI journey has taught me? Not to fear change, but to get comfortable with change. Because it’s how we grow.

And as we change and grow, that becomes our most important work. Not necessarily making more money but living the lives we were meant to live. And we can use money as a tool on these life journeys.

If money was all that mattered, we would all likely be miserable. The way the stock market works, my investments may dip down tomorrow, making it look like I haven’t reached Flamingo FI at all. In fact, this will definitely happen at some point! If all I cared about was money, this would send me into a downward spiral. But because I’ve done the work to figure out why I want to reach financial freedom, I can enjoy the journey along the way.

It’s not the exact number that matters, it’s what we choose to do with our lives on our way toward that number.

Having reached one of my big financial goals of Flamingo FI, I can honestly say that I’m content with the choices I’ve made to design my life on the way. I’m glad I haven’t let money hold me back. And I can’t wait to see where life takes me on the 2nd half of the way to financial independence.

---

Where are you on your financial independence journey? Are you just starting out, or are you fully financially independent? Have you reached a milestone like Coast FI or Flamingo FI? Let me know in the comments or send me an email to [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you!