More About Me
So I didn't let you in too far to my personal details in my first post (see here for more on the reasons why), but on second thought, I think it would be helpful to someone reading this blog if I wrote a little bit more about myself.
After some reflection, I realized that without any idea of who I am - my age, where I live, what I do, etc. - you don't have the proper point of view to decide whether anything I'm saying on here is even valid. For instance, with no idea of how old I am, or how long I've been in the workforce, someone would have no clue if I'm on my way to retiring given my asset balances and income levels. Have I been saving $100 a year? $1,000 a year? $10,000 a year? Or if you didn't know where I lived, you may think that my heating bill of $150 per month may be a bit outrageous depending on the temperatures where you're from. Am I really as frugal as I say I am? Or do I just love to keep my heat pumping out in the hot weather? I'm sure you get the point without any more of my rambling.
So let me paint a picture for you, to give you some perspective as you make your way through this journey with me.
-
I'll start off with a quick bio of myself - anything I think could be relevant when deciding whether what I'm doing could work for you as you read through my various ideas, strategies, and investing activity. I'm in my mid-twenties and live in a home that I purchased in the last few years. I am unmarried, and provide only for myself. I reside and work just outside one of the major cities in the Midwest United States.
I work in public accounting, and have been working full-time for about three years now after earning a bachelors degree in Accounting at a public university and obtaining my CPA license. When I started my job out of college, I was making a salary of just north of $50k per year. I am now in my third year of working at the same firm, and have had an average yearly raise of ~10%. Not doctor money, but definitely enough to support yourself, and then some, where I live.
But if you read my Welcome post, you know that I would like to eventually get out of this job. If it pays well and enables me to eat, pay off my home loan, take a nice vacation every year, and still save and invest, why would I want to quit? For anyone who doesn't know much about public accounting, let me tell you something - it is very seasonal. During the months of January to March, we work a lot of hours. Like, a LOT. There is this thing in public accounting called "busy season", and it is just that. Busy.
During busy season, you wake up, drive to work when it's dark outside, work frantically to meet whatever deadline is approaching, take some short breaks for lunch/dinner/crying (did I say that?), and then finish up for the night around 9 PM on a slow day. During the heat of busy season, when all your clients' deadlines are hitting you at the same time, it's not uncommon that I am in the office until the AM hours. Hell, I know people that haven't gone home at all some nights, just sleeping a few hours at their desk before picking up where they left off the next morning. Those nights get linked together, one after another, for weeks straight, and then months. Six days a week. Up to 75-80 hours a week. No overtime (we're salaried exempt employees). Three months out of the year. Every year. Your mind can only handle it so long.
So I want to take a step back for a second. I want to make something clear after the above couple paragraphs. I am very lucky and thankful to have a job where I feel safe, warm, and appreciated. If I make a mistake at work, nobody dies. I make enough money to support myself, and if I had a family of my own I could support them too. I like my bosses, and I like the people that I work with. I feel very grateful that I can say all those things. But the reality is, this work can very exhausting - mentally and physically.
Now that you know my motivations for why I'm trying to make my way out, let me tell you more about how I'm trying to make that happen.
I am naturally a frugal person. As a kid, I loved going to the bank after my birthday or Christmas to deposit any cash into my savings account. I had a little passbook, and I loved getting that thing stamped to see how much interest I earned. I thought it was crazy that I was making money by doing absolutely nothing! What a great deal! Granted, interest rates are far lower now than they were back then, but I still love this idea of passive income. You are getting paid to do absolutely nothing. NOTHING. Just let that one sink in.
Passive income might not be the quickest way to bring some extra money in. Maybe you've got a really great skill that you can turn into a side hustle, or maybe you borrow some money and go flip some houses. But with the small amount of free time I have, and the travel demands of my job, it can be very difficult for me make much much side income from 'active' sources.
A former coworker of mine was really passionate about this idea of using frugality coupled with passive income to set himself up for an early retirement. I thought he was crazy. He kept talking about it, and after some long car ride discussions, the wheels in my head started turning a little bit. I started getting more serious about investing for income, rather than trying to pick a hot stock. I made sure all my dividends were set to reinvest. This idea of early retirement started sounding less and less crazy after getting a little further into his strategy. Though we no longer work together, we still keep in touch. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to have such a great mentor to bounce ideas off of, and to introduce me to the whole idea of financial independence.
My brain literally works differently now. I think about ways I can save money, I keep mental stock watch lists, I am always tracking to make sure I'm staying on pace and improving. Some people might think it's not good to think about money as often as I do, but I really think it's great. You don't have to be planning to retire early. Maybe you just want to make sure your finances are in check in case something were to happen to you or a family member. Maybe you currently break even every month and just want to start saving, planning for the future. Maybe you've got this revolutionary business idea, and you just need to save up the capital to spring it into action. Or maybe when I have a family, I'd like to spend all the time I can with my kids instead of working ungodly hours, and spending every other week at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. Is that so bad? So often people dwell on the fact that money can corrupt people, rather than the fact that money, along with good habits and intentions, can be a powerful tool to make you feel secure, comfortable, or happy. Money can give you control of how you live your life, and what you choose to do with your time. I have never felt so in control of my own future before.
If I can help one person improve their saving habits, and open up their eyes that they can control their own financial destiny, that would be amazing. Hell, if one person even reads this post other than myself, that would make my day. If you've somehow stumbled upon my blog and like what you read, please stick around. I plan on getting further into the nitty gritty of my investing strategies, frugal habits, and any crazy ideas I have at the moment in my future posts. If you have any questions, or feedback on something I can do better/something you'd like to hear about, please drop a comment below!
- FI Anon
After some reflection, I realized that without any idea of who I am - my age, where I live, what I do, etc. - you don't have the proper point of view to decide whether anything I'm saying on here is even valid. For instance, with no idea of how old I am, or how long I've been in the workforce, someone would have no clue if I'm on my way to retiring given my asset balances and income levels. Have I been saving $100 a year? $1,000 a year? $10,000 a year? Or if you didn't know where I lived, you may think that my heating bill of $150 per month may be a bit outrageous depending on the temperatures where you're from. Am I really as frugal as I say I am? Or do I just love to keep my heat pumping out in the hot weather? I'm sure you get the point without any more of my rambling.
So let me paint a picture for you, to give you some perspective as you make your way through this journey with me.
-
I'll start off with a quick bio of myself - anything I think could be relevant when deciding whether what I'm doing could work for you as you read through my various ideas, strategies, and investing activity. I'm in my mid-twenties and live in a home that I purchased in the last few years. I am unmarried, and provide only for myself. I reside and work just outside one of the major cities in the Midwest United States.
I work in public accounting, and have been working full-time for about three years now after earning a bachelors degree in Accounting at a public university and obtaining my CPA license. When I started my job out of college, I was making a salary of just north of $50k per year. I am now in my third year of working at the same firm, and have had an average yearly raise of ~10%. Not doctor money, but definitely enough to support yourself, and then some, where I live.
But if you read my Welcome post, you know that I would like to eventually get out of this job. If it pays well and enables me to eat, pay off my home loan, take a nice vacation every year, and still save and invest, why would I want to quit? For anyone who doesn't know much about public accounting, let me tell you something - it is very seasonal. During the months of January to March, we work a lot of hours. Like, a LOT. There is this thing in public accounting called "busy season", and it is just that. Busy.
During busy season, you wake up, drive to work when it's dark outside, work frantically to meet whatever deadline is approaching, take some short breaks for lunch/dinner/crying (did I say that?), and then finish up for the night around 9 PM on a slow day. During the heat of busy season, when all your clients' deadlines are hitting you at the same time, it's not uncommon that I am in the office until the AM hours. Hell, I know people that haven't gone home at all some nights, just sleeping a few hours at their desk before picking up where they left off the next morning. Those nights get linked together, one after another, for weeks straight, and then months. Six days a week. Up to 75-80 hours a week. No overtime (we're salaried exempt employees). Three months out of the year. Every year. Your mind can only handle it so long.
So I want to take a step back for a second. I want to make something clear after the above couple paragraphs. I am very lucky and thankful to have a job where I feel safe, warm, and appreciated. If I make a mistake at work, nobody dies. I make enough money to support myself, and if I had a family of my own I could support them too. I like my bosses, and I like the people that I work with. I feel very grateful that I can say all those things. But the reality is, this work can very exhausting - mentally and physically.
Now that you know my motivations for why I'm trying to make my way out, let me tell you more about how I'm trying to make that happen.
I am naturally a frugal person. As a kid, I loved going to the bank after my birthday or Christmas to deposit any cash into my savings account. I had a little passbook, and I loved getting that thing stamped to see how much interest I earned. I thought it was crazy that I was making money by doing absolutely nothing! What a great deal! Granted, interest rates are far lower now than they were back then, but I still love this idea of passive income. You are getting paid to do absolutely nothing. NOTHING. Just let that one sink in.
Passive income might not be the quickest way to bring some extra money in. Maybe you've got a really great skill that you can turn into a side hustle, or maybe you borrow some money and go flip some houses. But with the small amount of free time I have, and the travel demands of my job, it can be very difficult for me make much much side income from 'active' sources.
A former coworker of mine was really passionate about this idea of using frugality coupled with passive income to set himself up for an early retirement. I thought he was crazy. He kept talking about it, and after some long car ride discussions, the wheels in my head started turning a little bit. I started getting more serious about investing for income, rather than trying to pick a hot stock. I made sure all my dividends were set to reinvest. This idea of early retirement started sounding less and less crazy after getting a little further into his strategy. Though we no longer work together, we still keep in touch. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to have such a great mentor to bounce ideas off of, and to introduce me to the whole idea of financial independence.
My brain literally works differently now. I think about ways I can save money, I keep mental stock watch lists, I am always tracking to make sure I'm staying on pace and improving. Some people might think it's not good to think about money as often as I do, but I really think it's great. You don't have to be planning to retire early. Maybe you just want to make sure your finances are in check in case something were to happen to you or a family member. Maybe you currently break even every month and just want to start saving, planning for the future. Maybe you've got this revolutionary business idea, and you just need to save up the capital to spring it into action. Or maybe when I have a family, I'd like to spend all the time I can with my kids instead of working ungodly hours, and spending every other week at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. Is that so bad? So often people dwell on the fact that money can corrupt people, rather than the fact that money, along with good habits and intentions, can be a powerful tool to make you feel secure, comfortable, or happy. Money can give you control of how you live your life, and what you choose to do with your time. I have never felt so in control of my own future before.
If I can help one person improve their saving habits, and open up their eyes that they can control their own financial destiny, that would be amazing. Hell, if one person even reads this post other than myself, that would make my day. If you've somehow stumbled upon my blog and like what you read, please stick around. I plan on getting further into the nitty gritty of my investing strategies, frugal habits, and any crazy ideas I have at the moment in my future posts. If you have any questions, or feedback on something I can do better/something you'd like to hear about, please drop a comment below!
- FI Anon
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