Year End Wins 2025 (Part 2)

My journey officially started in January 2024. My husband and I had gotten out of debt and had saved a significant amount in a no interest savings account. But I felt stuck, I didn't know the next steps until I found the FI community. All of 2024 was the exciting whirlwind of maxing out retirement accounts, cutting expenses, aligning all of our expenses and tracking our net worth. In early 2025 I negotiated for a long overdue raise, increasing my salary by $25,000 a year. We have a small business that also does pretty well.

Here's the big win: We've been wanting to buy a house since before covid but it's never been the right time and being in a HCOL area, we couldn't see buying a house here as the years passed and the prices got higher and higher. We decided to relocate to another state in about 18 months when our youngest graduates high school. The big win was that we've been able to keep our expenses very low (we rent) and sock away 50% of our income for the last almost 2 years.

We've been able to max all the retirement accounts, save a significant down payment into a high yield savings account, and add money to a taxable brokerage account. This past October we went house hunting in the state we want to move to and found our dream house. We were able to make a very strong offer with a 30% down payment and we also negotiated a large seller concession which effectively brought the price down by $20,000. We closed escrow in late October and started moving a few items in. We won't move in for another year and a half but we plan to rent it out as a short-term rental until we are ready to move.

Thanks to all the wonderful advice on your podcast and others we are in a great position where we can afford the rent where we live currently and the mortgage on the new house and still be able to continue to save into retirement accounts. I can't thank you, all of you, enough for the wonderful advice and ideas on how to design not just our finances but our life. We're probably 5 to 10 years away from traditional retirement and no longer have uncertainty or fear for the future. We have our map and we know where we are going!

— Monica

My year end win was paying off my mortgage in 14 years. Cut back my hours at work. Timing was perfect because now my 85 year old mom is living with us.

— Jackie

This year, my husband and I welcomed our first baby into the world! The past few years we’ve worked really hard to pay off all debt and this year we saved, saved, saved for a baby fund to help pay for expenses as they come up for the next few years. We decided that I would not go back to work after maternity leave so I can be with him for at least the first year of his life, focus on family and give me time to decide what I’d like to do next.

It’s a huge win in our books to have the freedom and ease to make the decision to be a SAHM and shift to one income. We thank the FI community for educating us and inspiring us. As Jillian Johnsrud points out, there are seasons to life, and following FI community practices has enabled us to lean into this season!

— Cassie

I found the FI community in May 2024 so 2025 was my first full year implementing everything I have learned. This year I maxed out my work 401k, HSA and Roth IRA for the first time. I also opened a brokerage account where we’ve been investing regularly as well. I feel so empowered with all of the knowledge I have learned and am confident that my partner and I will be able to retire early (we are both 31, we’re aiming for 50)!

— Jena

This year, my wife and I finally paid off our student loans. We’ve been diligently pursuing FI since I graduated business school about 7 years ago. Our student loan debt peaked at $196,000, and as of last month, we made the final payment! We celebrated with a fancy dinner out and by buying ourselves a gift for our house (new tv and sound bar).

Now, it feels amazing to have more money each month to pursue our goals, rather than paying off loans! Our only remaining debt is our mortgage, and we are well on our way to FI!

— Emmit

Hey Brad, Just wanted to thank you and Jonathan for how you have transformed my life. I am a government employee who really went through the ringer this year. As my coworkers and I wondered if our jobs were safe, my workload increased significantly, and unrealistic, fear-driven performance standards resulted in significant burnout this past April and May.

I stumbled across a recommendation for ChooseFI sometime in June. I had heard of FI before, but it just never resonated with me. Now, with a fresh view of work and my career and a new vision of what life could be, my wife and I made significant changes to our budget, going from saving $200 a month to over $1300 a month!

We maxed out my Roth IRA as part of our emergency fund and hope to max out my wife's this year as well. The longest government shut-down in history didn't bother us at all, as we knew exactly how much money we needed to get through it and had already set that aside. Instead of getting another job, waiting on the government to open back up, my wife and I "practiced" what life could be like when we get to FI, and spent time together working on things we cared about and doing activities we never had time for. It was amazing!

It was a huge encouragement to us and has really motivated us to make moves to accelerate our path. I reached out to some people in my network, and am exploring career opportunities outside the government that will pay 30% more and likely cut our time to get to our FI number nearly in half!

Additionally, we are looking at buying a duplex in the area and trying to house-hack! Thank you both for the conversations and resources you have shared, as I have absolutely devoured the podcast. Looking back on this year, ChooseFI has been a catalyst, and I expect I will remember this year as the beginning of an intentional life.

— Josh

I’m a 27-year-old resident doctor from Montréal, Canada, and I’ve been following ChooseFI for almost four years now. 2025 ended up being packed with wins on my end. This year, I graduated from medical school completely debt-free. Med school is thankfully much more affordable here in Canada, but I still paid my way by working part-time as a math teacher during my degree. That choice has given me a level of freedom that many of my co-residents don’t have, and I’m incredibly grateful for it.

I also matched into Public Health and Preventive Medicine, a specialty that pays less, but aligns perfectly with my core values and the lifestyle I want. And honestly, having the financial clarity and stability I built through choosing FI meant I didn’t have to pick a specialty for the money. I could choose the path that genuinely fits the life I want to build. This year my net worth crossed the $200K mark, thanks to frugal living, lifelong saving and four years of consistent investing in a Vanguard total-world index fund. I’m currently saving about 30% of my resident income and plan to grow that number as my career progresses.

And for a fun win: my girlfriend and I are traveling to Hawaii next winter almost entirely on credit card points! I want to end by thanking you for everything you’ve built at ChooseFI. The podcast has shaped how I think about intentionality and long-term decision-making, and it’s played a huge role in how I’m designing a rich and meaningful life. I couldn’t be more grateful. Happy New Year, and all the best to you both!

— Jérémie

I discovered the financial independence movement almost 2 years ago and have made big strides in towards my goal of being completely financially independent: I am now credit card debt free, which has taken a long time to achieve and I never want to be in credit card debt again. Despite being unemployed for almost 2 years, I have had a job for the last year and now have a $1 million+ net worth. I’ve also met wonderful people at my local ChooseFI meetup and went to one CampFI and will be going to Econome in 2026 to build more friendships and inspiration!

— Jennifer

I want to share my year end win with you. On September 8, 2025 I joined the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) millionaire club. According to TSP it typically takes someone about 28 years to get there. I started federal service on January 10, 2011 but it took me approximately 14 years 8 months.

9 of those years, I maxed out the contributions. From my previous jobs, I rolled $58893.99 into TSP. Total contributions came up to $254,125.70 including the rollover. It's amazing what the matching (5%) and compound returns have catapulted my account to.

We are debt free after paying off our home in 2023. We have paid off cars and pay off our credit cards every month. This is all on my income as my wife has stayed home since 2016 to raise our 4 children. We don't have the biggest house, but we have something I value more, a secure financial life. That helps me sleep well at night.

Thanks to you and Jonathan for putting out the podcast and forums. Countless people are helped with sharing these strategies for a better financial footing.

— July

My year-end win is becoming a half-millionaire well before I expected to! My husband and I only started investing four years ago (when I was 37!), but after learning about FI and hustling to increase our incomes, we hit $500k in our investments a full six months before we thought we would. Now, we're toying with the idea of coast FI so we can regain time in our lives for things we're passionate about. Immensely grateful that I learned about FI and am living proof that you can make a LOT happen in a short period of time!

— Meg

This year my wife and I spent 12 weeks traveling with our 1 year old. We saw a lot of mountains, animals, friends, family and it was awesome.

11 weeks happened on unpaid leave from work. We threw a party for 120 people in the middle of the trip. We took a cruise. We stayed in expensive hotels in Colorado; only half of the time paying with points. After spending like it was 1999, our net worth grew anyway. We started the trip with 14.1 years of expenses invested. We finished just shy of 15.

All the memories, time with people we love, but we dont see often enough, and being able to share this precious time in our baby's life with them. Watching our baby learning to walk and becoming a social person. Totally worth it.

It blows my mind that we still came out ahead financially. I know this is a lucky draw. Not guaranteed. It is priviledge we get for being rich. But we got rich in good measure by following ChooseFI principles. So I celebrate our win with the rest of the ChooseFI community. Let's keep the FIRE spreading!

— Jose

This year at work was tough and I was getting burned out by the time autumn came around. So when I got laid off at the end of October, it was actually a blessing in disguise. And thanks to FI I've been ready for it, prepared with 12 months' savings in cash and a side hustle that will help me retain a portion of my income and keep me connected to my industry.

I know these are challenging times for many people, so that makes me extra thankful to have these free end-of-year days I can put to use on my own house and creative projects instead of having to worry about paying bills or getting another job right away. It's times like this that make the FI journey so, so worth it.

— Ana

2025 was a huge year for my family! My son was born in November 2024 after three+ years of fertility treatments. A few months before he was born, I learned that my job was likely going to be consolidated due to a merger at my university. I spent my maternity leave interviewing for new roles, and ultimately started a new role in April 2025 at my same institution. Not only do I have significantly more job stability, which is still a large uncertainty for most folks as our institution is facing 9% budget cuts, but I also negotiated a 10% raise and went from working remote 1 day/week to 4 days/week. My new boss is incredibly supportive and encouraged me to go for another promotion cycle this fall; if all goes well, I should receive another 10% raise next fall.

When my wife went back to work in February, we quickly figured out that she wasn't able to spend as much time with our son as she would like. After running the numbers, we learned we were at Coast FI, and my wife dropped from 40 hours/week to 36 hours/week. While these additional four hours/week were great, she still wasn't happy at work due to multiple HR issues, stagnate pay, and lackluster PTO/sick leave. My wife worked at her pediatric outpatient clinic as a speech pathologist for nearly a decade, but since having our son, her priorities had changed.

Once again, I ran the numbers, and figured out with my new job, we could likely afford for my wife to accept a new job working in the schools and take a $10k pay cut. She interviewed and accepted a job working for a local school district this summer for...a $10k pay RAISE, $300/month stipend to stay on my health insurance, access to a 457b with a 9% employer match compared to her 4% match at her previous employer, gas and cell phone reimbursement, and school breaks. She now works 35 hours/week making more money than she ever did at her old employer, she can pick up our son every day from daycare, and she will now have all school breaks off.

We spend so much more time together as a couple and a family, with even more financial security, because we understood (a) what our life costs, (b) had saved aggressively since we got married in our mid 20s, and (c) knew how to negotiate our worth.

So, thank you to Brad (and Jonathan) for all that you've done through ChooseFI. My family's life is exponentially better because of the lessons we've learned and implemented over the course of the last five years since I discovered your podcast.

A final thank you to my dad, who got my wife and I a copy of The Simple Path to Wealth for Christmas the first year we were married. This is a gift I will never be able to repay him for, but I promise to pass these lessons down to my son for second generation FIRE.

— Marissa

In May, the condo above ours had a major fire. Putting the fire out caused a lot of water damage in our unit. Demolition and inspections have kept us out of our home for six months. What's the win? We've been able to thrive through this whole ordeal. Our monthly expenses have been kept low so we can save for retirement, but now those monthly installments are paying for an Airbnb so we can be comfortable through this process. Frugality has made it possible to pay our mortgage and pay for a second home without any disruptions. Living below our means has allowed us to handle this emergency on our own terms.

— Brian