Miguel Marquez teaches French, Spanish, and personal finance at a university in Shenzhen, China. Like many, he once viewed the path to financial independence as an overwhelming task. To make his long-term goals manageable, he broke down his strategy into a seven-stage ladder. By treating his finances like a game, he stayed consistent and focused on clear, measurable progress.
Marquez began his journey at age 38, following the completion of his Ph.D. The first milestone was simply reaching debt freedom. Once he cleared his liabilities, he focused on building his emergency fund, known as F-you money, which covers a year of expenses and provides freedom to make career changes. This gave him the stability to pursue his teaching career in China.
He then progressed through Coast FI, where his investments are projected to cover his future retirement needs without additional contributions. After that, he hit Flamingo FI, a stage representing roughly half of his total financial target. He is currently at Lean FI, where his assets cover basic living costs. His low cost of living in subsidized university housing plays a major role in this status.
His ultimate goal is not necessarily to reach the final stage of Fat FI, which supports high levels of discretionary spending. Instead, he finds satisfaction in his current level of security. By chunking out the journey, Marquez turned a daunting, decades-long project into a series of reachable benchmarks. His experience shows that financial freedom is often more feasible when viewed through smaller, distinct stages rather than one massive, intimidating number.