2001 – Graduated high school. Decided to go to a state university on scholarship (great decision!)
2004 – Completed undergraduate studies with no debt (yay!). I skipped a year in undergrad because I went to a combine 7 year undergrad and medical school program.
2008 – Graduated medical school with $128,000 in debt (not too shabby). Matched into an anesthesiology residency in Los Angeles. My residency experience was amazing. I had a lot of fun and lived lavishly despite a relatively frugal lifestyle.
2012 – Moonlighted as an attending and started aggressively paying down medical student loan debt.
2013 – Finished residency and a fellowship then took a half year off to travel. And boy, did I do some amazing traveling that year including:
- A mission trip in India (in the Himalayas!) being the anesthesiologist for plastic surgeons performing cleft lip and palate surgeries.
- Taking my anesthesiology oral boards in Ft. Lauderdale then partying it up in Miami with my co-residents right after.
- Touring Cambodia and volunteering for a mission trip in Vietnam taking care of underserved children with limited access to care.
- Going on a Caribbean cruise with my parents and siblings.
- Living in Germany with my bestfriend where we visited friends and family, lived like locals, learned some German, and experienced the magic of Christmas markets.
2014 – Accepted my current job at a large medical group in San Diego, California.
2015 – Married my best friend, soul mate, and love of my life. In a span of a month we had an amazing wedding, an unforgettable honeymoon, and moved into our dream home. Oh yeah, I also paid off all of my medical student loans too!
2016 – Our first year as a married couple was transformative. Together, we made some deliberate lifestyle changes including:
- Going vegan (because we are both animal lovers) and adopting whole food, plant-based diet (because we are both health nuts).
- Living a more minimalist lifestyle free of clutter (thanks Marie Kondo) and full of the things we love.
- Became more conscious consumers.
- We also took a trip each month which was awesome. This included first class flights to Europe and first class Suites to Asia. Despite traveling so much (and in luxury too!) we only spent about $10,000. This is primarily due to travel hacking using credit card points and miles.
2017 – Started to DIY our finances and fired my financial advisor. Started this blog.
2018 – Our daughter was born! What a life-changer. I cut back my hours to 1 FTE at work. Accepted a “Buy Nothing Challenge” for the whole year. Lived on a grocery budget of less than $200 a month.
2019 – Milestone net worth of one million reached. Became a project manager in my hospital’s physician wellness committee. Took my in-laws a dream trip to Paris in business class.
2020 – Achieved financial independence (according to lean FIRE standards, at least). Started investing in real estate syndications for more diversification.
