About Me 5

ABOUT ME

I’m a guy in my mid-twenties.  Ever since I can recall, I have been fascinated with money.  Not for the purpose of buying things, but rather I have been focused on accumulating assets.  I’m focused on becoming financially independent within the next 5-10 years so that I can do what I want, when I want to do it, and soak in beautiful views like the one shown above rather than racing out the door at 6 AM and fighting traffic to spend 10+ hours at a job I’m not in love with.

I make short, medium, and long term financial goals and track my progress.  I track my spending diligently via mint.com and spreadsheets to pinpoint my cash flow, monthly expenditures and net worth.  I am a little obsessed with spreadsheets.  While other teenagers were hanging out playing video games and dating, I spent my time reading retirement planning books and investment books in my teens.  Sadly, I’m only partially serious. 

I count the Millionaire Next Door, Your Money or your Life, Rich Dad Poor Dad, and Early Retirement Extreme as the most influential books I’ve read in regards to financial independence and net worth accumulation.  I’ve read personal finance blogs voraciously for the past several years.  Mr. Money Mustache has proved the most influential on me.  His blog posts are laced with humor, common sense, frugal creativity, and a dash of profanity which have reinforced many valuable lessons of the frugal lifestyle I embrace.  His blog has also inspired me to start my own blog to reach out to others to illustrate the power of frugality, methods to increase net worth to achieve financial independence, and provide updates of my current status to hold me accountable in my journey. I may occasionally sprinkle in some other areas of interest such as cooking, fitness, lifting weights, sports, and reading, but I will attempt to tie them in with personal finance.

PERSONAL

I was very entrepreneurial as a youngster.  I would sell lemonade, artwork, or any other thing I could think of to get cash.  I would save the majority of all this along with birthday money and other funds into my savings account.  I grew up on a farm which also encouraged and impressed upon me the benefits of frugality and hard work.  I breezed through high school and college with good grades.  I graduated from a 4 year university with an engineering degree without any debts thanks to scholarships, working, and assistance from family.  I obtained a pretty good job out school and have made between $60k-$75k for the past 4.5 years since graduating.  In that timeframe, I have managed to achieve a net worth exceeding 280k by adopting a frugal lifestyle, growing my earnings, and managing my investments. I’m proud of the fact my net worth is almost equal to my gross earnings over my professional career. I will share tips and methods I’ve employed to grow my net worth so drastically in my brief career as I progress past other milestones in my journey growing my net worth and achieving financial independence.  Thanks for stopping by.