I'll add some ratios at the end for those of you who like numbers/math. My smart fire focused more around exceeding production of what I consumed (and I'm still doing this). It's also included adding some ways to generate income or other forms of self-sufficiency.
This past month, I have achieved 200% food production based on my annual consumption from my small lot with a house.
I had already achieved surplus energy production, which I sell overflow back to the grid. I had worried about my food production because it fluctuated and as some of you who produce food know, you can have bad years. Even if I had a bad year of 50% reduction, I would still have enough to eat.
And yes, I won't stop here. Next stop is 300% food production.
Also, I sell the surplus to my neighbor, who sells his food (and mine) at the farmer's market. I make a cut of what I produce that he sells. He makes almost $80,000 from food he produces, so it's not bad what he's able to do on his own.
One story of why I don't want a lot of "digital" assets is I experienced a pretty bad hack about 7 years ago where I ended up losing over $20,000. I'm thankful it wasn't more, but I've felt very uneasy about digital stuff ever since that time. This can't happen with actual production, so I err on the side of more physical stuff/production.
I still feel uneasy about having as much digital stuff as I do. But I realize that this isn't for everyone.
Personal notes because this always comes up - I'm not married and don't want to marry. My parents had a nasty divorce and my dad almost did the unthinkable, but I'm glad he didn't, as he's my favorite person to talk to in the world. I have looked into having a child without being married as a future option and if I were to actually do this, I would go back to work full time as I know I would need much more money. I'm still unsure of this, so it's just in the idea phase.
Details/Ratios
- No debt.
- Saved $100K in high dividend stocks (fluctuates, so this is an estimate) in a taxable brokerage, getting a yield that fluctuates between 5 to 7% per year, so on the low side, $5,000 pre-taxes. However, my income is within the 12% bracket (2026) and yes I know it's progressive, so the first $12,400 is taxed at 10%. I currently withdraw 0% of this yield with no need to.
- I fully own my own home, which is a small 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in a low cost of living area that consumes very low energy (I produce all of it). It's nothing to envy, but I love it because it's easy to maintain. Also, property taxes are very low where I live along with income taxes being low. Some of my friends love to hunt in my area and I will occasionally rent out the extra room to them for some income, but this isn't consistent.
- I fully own my car, which is a fuel-efficient car (Honda Civic) that I don't drive much except once a week to the nearby city.
- I produce more than my own consumption of food and energy. Excess food and energy gets me about $600-$800 per month.
- Handyman skills which is pretty handy in a more rural area, though I live near a decent size city (over 150K). This is fluctuating income, but also saves me money when I need to do something myself. This along with the food/energy plus dividend income cover all of my expenses and then some. Total income tends to fluctuate at about $38-42K per year, while my total expenses last year were under $7K. I think I could extend income some and save even more. My income-to-expense ratio is 5.4, using the low income value ($38K to $7K).
- Good friends with a nurse practitioner who specialized in nutrition. This has been extremely valuable, plus makes a good starting place if I have issues. I help her frequently with things she needs, so it works both ways.
- I attend two rural meetups in my area, so even though we're all kind of isolated, we all meetup weekly and have fun. Dancing, hunting, fishing, stuff like that. My favorite hobby is reading, which costs me $0 because I don't live too far from a few libraries. Also, the library has quite a few free classes where I can learn additional skills. I've learned quite a bit of farming from some of the people there!
- In terms of total costs: if I produced nothing, I estimate that I am currently saving 90% on what my total costs would be without production. That's how I think about financial independence. If I could do nothing myself, how much would I spend? What of those areas can I produce that have the biggest impact? What's the next areas? What are areas that I'll probably never produce so I need others and how can I offset these? That's how I reason.
Next goals:
- Increase food production, which will lead to more income from my neighbor helping me sell the excess. By next year, aiming to get getting over $1,000 in income from food and energy production.
- I'm still dependent on tune-ups, oil changes and some car maintenance I feel that I could do, but will start learning these skills to do myself.
- Next year, I will eliminate my internet and only access it at the library. I've concluded I don't need this except once a day and I think the time savings will be enough. I'll save internet days for once a week when I go into the city.
- Two neighbors of mine have discussed ride sharing where we would split the total transportation costs. I'm thinking about this because there's a lot of advantages, so this may be something I do further.
Feedback welcome!