Angela Tipton – Live life on your own Terms

Angela Tipton at 19 years of age, was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, yet she refused to let her chronic illness define her. Ambitious and career-driven, Angela built a successful career with various Fortune 500 companies.

While building her career, she maximized her income, made significant financial investments, and paid off $85K of student debt in 18 months. While optimizing her savings, she learned to live below her means so that she could live life on her terms.

Angela started her first business in 2017, and today focuses her efforts on helping people achieve financial freedom through their careers at FIREYourCareer.com. She's passionate about building a career to fuel a FIRE lifestyle because she believes that everyone deserves to live life on their terms. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, running, and traveling. Angela lives in Salem, Oregon with her husband and two little boys.

Angela Tipton Vroom Vroom Veer Stories

Grew up in New York and started having stomach issues at age 15, doctors didn't know what it was…was it in her head?; finally at age 19 was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and they were eventually able to find a treatment that kept her in remission

Studied biology in school and graduated during the great recession when it was difficult to find any jobs; she did a lot of "any" jobs and finally landed a Temp job in her field which open the doors to future lab jobs

Worked with Dow and Bayer and got to travel to the Netherlands and India for work

When she was thinking about grad school an MBA somehow became possible instead of more science; she realized working head down in a lab wasn't the best fit for her personality; she wrote a fantasy novel and realized she really like writing and communicating more than lab work

Had a wake up call during a meeting with the family accountant; she realized they paid $5k on student loan interest; the A-ha moment for Angela was that could have been a cruise if they paid down that debt sooner rather than later

Most folks in the FIRE community are not talking about how to use your career (job) to work toward fire; they are talking about house hacking; rental income; etc, but those ideas may not fit all people; if you have a job or a career you can totally work toward Financial Independence

Show Summary

In this episode of "Vroom Vroom Veer," host Jeff Smith kicks off the show with excitement, emphasizing the podcast’s theme of shifting from autopilot life to one full of authentic redirections, veers, and significant changes. His guest for the episode is Angela Tipton, the founder of FIREYourCareer.com.

Angela discusses her enthusiasm for helping others live inspired lives on their terms, stating that her website primarily focuses on using careers to achieve financial independence. This allows people to enjoy their time and lives freely. Jeff agrees, noting the value of reaching financial independence early, although he mentions that this community often doesn't extensively discuss the intricacies of escaping debt.

The conversation shifts to Angela's personal story, with Jeff bringing up Angela’s early life challenges, particularly her diagnosis with Crohn's disease at nineteen after showing symptoms at fifteen. Angela shares how frustrating the journey to a diagnosis was, given the complexity of Crohn’s and its common misdiagnosis due to its symptomatic resemblance to other conditions. She describes the relief and validation of finally understanding her condition. This personal health battle played a significant role in shaping her resilience and perspective on life challenges.

Jeff relates to this with his own anecdote about struggling with undiagnosed skin conditions that were only resolved after a dermatologist accurately identified it as a form of eczema that didn’t require regular medication, just preventive care.

The discussion then veers into Angela's academic and professional journey,