My Story… Financially Speaking

I’m 48 years old and plan to retire in 5-7 years. Ideally closer to 5 years… Sounds crazy, right?

Well, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

And by the way, this is a blog about money.

I recognize that there are plenty of blogs about money on the internet, which begs the question…

How will this blog be different, and why am I starting it?

Let’s start with why I’m writing this blog in the first place.

Why Write Another Money Blog Anyway?

I’m writing this blog to teach my kids about money and the freedom it can give you.

Right now my kids are aged 9, 11 and 13. And they could care less about money. They truly don’t understand the value of a dollar.

I’ve tried to buy them books.

I’ve told them I would match any money they put into an investment account.

I’ve tried to get them to save part of their allowance.

None of this has stuck.

My 13 year old has actually told me, “Saving money is stupid”.

Ugh. Where did I go wrong?

But if I’m being honest, I don’t blame them.

It took me almost 30 years to really get a handle on money and how powerful it is. When I was a teenager and early adult, I was fascinated by the power of compound interest and the idea that if I save $300 dollars a month for 30 years I would be a millionaire.

(Don’t believe me? Check the math. $292.55/month invested in an index fund earning 11.9% interest, which is the average return of the stock market since I was born will give you, will yield exactly $1,000,000 in 30 years.)

But here I am 30 years after my 18th birthday realizing that I never followed my own advice.

Sure, I saved money here and there and sporadically contributed to my retirement when I could. I do feel fortunate to have an investment portfolio (including real estate, if I’m being honest) that is almost $700,000 as of my last update. (I briefly joined the 2-comma club before separating from my spouse and dividing my portfolio in half earlier this year).

But I never really grasped the idea that if I lived on less and saved more, I could become financially independent at a much earlier age. If I had embraced this idea, I likely could have retired years ago.

Who I hope will read this blog

So basically I’m writing this blog to my 18-year old self in the hopes that my kids will pay attention and learn from my mistakes.

And as I write this post from a Starbucks while waiting for my son to finish soccer practice, I am just beginning my journey to FI.

I already understand many of the basic concepts I’ll be talking about in this blog, but by regularly posting about them while at the same time sharing my journey to FI, I’m hoping to provide some inspiration to my readers and intrinsic motivation (as if I needed it) to myself.

I’ve always found that it is a lot easier to connect with someone who, just a few years ago, was in the same position that I am in now.

So if you feel like you have saved some money, but at the same time have some debt to pay off and are looking to start aggressively saving towards financial independence, then my hope is that this blog will help you out and give you some inspiration that you too can reach financial independence.

Why Does Any of this Matter?

Money is an incredibly powerful tool. And if you can think differently about how you use, save and enjoy the money you earn, you can start to live a truly abundant, albeit “rich life” as Ramit Sethi would say.

For those of you that are a bit disgruntled with the “FI” community of people who preach that you must live on next to nothing so that you can retire sooner on less money, I want to put your mind at ease.

My goal for retirement does not involve living in a tiny house off the grid where I grow all my own food and have a negative carbon footprint.

I currently live the Triangle Region of North Carolina, in a fairly affluent area. As I write this, the average home value here is a whopping $612,000!

Which is to say that even if I wanted to live on less money here (which I do), it is still difficult given how expensive my little pocket of the country is.

But when I ultimately do retire, my kids will be out of the house (hopefully) and I plan to travel outside the United States a majority of the time to take advantage of geo-arbitrage and the many tax loopholes that apply to expats. More on that later.

What You Will Get By Reading this Blog…

As I mentioned before, my goal here is to teach my kids about money.

So what does that mean for you?

If you are reading this, then chances are you are interested in reaching financial independence too, and you want to know how to make money work for you.

Here are some of the questions we will tackle…

• What to do if you are in debt?
• Should you pay off your mortgage?
• Should you buy or rent a house?
• Should you invest in stocks or mutual funds?
• What are the best investments for reaching financial independence?
• Is real estate investing the way to go?
• Is travel hacking with credit card points really a thing?
• Should you start a side hustle?

And most importantly… how in the world do I get started on my road to FI?

Whether you are are one of my children, or you are anywhere between the ages of 20 and 50 and are interested in getting off the hamster wheel of work so that you can start to enjoy your time on this planet, then read on.

This was written for you.

Here are some specifics about me in case you were wondering…

1. I’m 48 years old. I think I mentioned that before.
2. I’m in decent health, but could stand to lose a few pounds. 😉
3. I’m married separated with three kids. My ex-spouse and I separated in July 2024, a decision that has and will continue to have a profound impact on my retirement goals and financial plans.
4. After 27 years, my student loans will be completely paid off in January 2025.
5. I absorbed all of the marital debt when my wife and I separated. It started at about $67,000, but is currently paid down to about $42,000, not including my car loan. I also have some revolving debt related to my business that gets paid off each month. I also have a HELOC that is tapped out on our rental home and monthly payments (as well as the mortgage) are covered by my rental income. See below.
6. I received a rental home that used to be our primary residence. It is rented out through August of 2025 and cash flows about $500/month (which is used to pay down the HELOC). My wife is renting a house, and when I moved out I downsized into a smaller townhome. My boys have to share a room which they hate, but are getting used to!
7. I have a plan to get out of debt. I am aggressively making payments of about $5,000 per month to get rid of our debt as soon as possible. My hope is that I will be completely out of debt (not counting my car loan or mortgage/heloc) by July 2025.
8. I own my own business and have since 2010.
9. I love writing about money and personal finance.

So that’s my story. For now.

Along the spectrum of life you will find people that have their financial life in order, (no debt, savings plan in place, consciously spending their money), and people that are living well beyond their means and in danger of being homeless and penniless. I’m much closer to the former than the latter.

I would love to have you join me on this journey.

What about you? Where do you stand?

Feel free to comment below and let me know.

LAST UPDATED: September 29, 2024