Afford Anything | Make Smart Choices About Your Money, Time And Productivity

#139: Five years ago, at age 29, Kim E. started her first professional, salaried full-time job, working as a firefighter for the City of Austin, Texas. She received a starting salary of $42,000. Today, five years later, she has saved: - one year's salary ($40,000) in an emergency fund - one year's salary ($42,000) in a workplace retirement fund - more than half a year's salary ($27,500) in a Roth IRA She also paid off her student loans ($10,000), paid off her car loan (roughly around $16,000-ish), and contributed to an H.S.A. account ($6,000, half of which came from an employer match.) Oh yeah, and she also bought and renovated a rental property. Translation? Kim has saved (or repaid debt of) $141,500 within five years, as a firefighter with a starting salary of $42,000, excluding the additional money she's invested into her rental. **She's saved more than 3x her starting salary, within her first five years on the job.** And she's done this while earning a middle-class public service salary in an expensi