A Purple Life is retiring next year on a $500,000 FIRE number.

She is currently 29 years old, and living and working in Seattle. She's managed to reduce her expenses to $18,000 per year, and splits costs with her partner. She is also successfully living on a keto diet and is planning on going travelling next year once she hits her FI number.

You'll love her story.

We also chat about...

Moving from New York to Seattle
How she reduced her expenses to $18,000 per year
Why she does not combine finances with her partner
Living a keto diet
How she calculated her FIRE number
Life goals

Enjoy this chat with A Purple Life, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!

Show notes and links from today's episode

Blog: A Purple Life
A Purple Life on Instagram and Twitter
Broke Millennial
How My Partner Convinced Me to Retire Early
Meet the Women of the Financial Independence Movement

Key takeaways from our chat with A Purple Life
1 - In the long run, living in the city is actually cheaper
Gwen and A Purple Life both agree that living in the city is actually cheaper. This is simply because it's easier to optimise expenses - transit is cheaper and you can do a ton of free things for entertainment. A Purple Life explains that she only spends money on what makes her happy - if she's meeting with someone she doesn't know she probably won't go to a restaurant. She also takes advantage of happy hours and makes sure her spending is intentional.
2 - Sometimes you're better off not combining expenses with your partner
A Purple Life and her partner have independent lives. They don't plan on getting married or on having kids, and since they both value different things they have agreed on keeping stuff separate and having different allowances. They won't be reaching FI at the same time and therefore have different plans for the future. A Purple Life explains that this has actually made her life way simpler and easier when it comes to planning.
3 - The benefits of having a public blog
A Purple Life used to be a private blog, but she turned it public 6 months ago when J convinced her to. She is very honest about her numbers and uses it as a diary to FI. She is very glad to have made it public - she's been able to make more connections and the transition has helped her realise who she really is. She even says that doing so she finally found what she wanted to 'retire to'.
4 - That unicorn job might still not be perfect
A Purple Life was looking for the perfect job, and she finally found it. But then a few months later, she realised she didn't want to continue working there. Thanks to this she realised that she simply did not want to work anymore and looked for other opportunities (hint hint, FI). Her partner introduced her to the FI concept and soon she will be free to do the 'non productive' things she likes doing (taking photos, cooking, travelling, etc). Go her ?
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