My Story
My first “oh shit” financial recalibration of my adult life came when I was 22 years old. I was living in Austin working for a big tech company. They say you should “act your wage”. I was 100% not acting my wage.
My high rise apartment, twice a weekend outings downtown, and frequent trips to Terry Black’s BBQ had me living paycheck to paycheck. I had this superb entry level job, but would be in dire straights if I had to make a $1,000 repair on the car I was paying off.
Three months into living this carefree lifestyle, I crunched the numbers to figure out what it’d take to save a 6 month emergency fund. With my spending and earning at the time, I’d literally never have a 6 month emergency fund saved. I was essentially running in place. I guess that’s why they call corporate America a rat race.
Determined to turn my finances around, I had two options: (1) Spend less. (2) Earn more. So I got to work. If there was a personal finance report card, I’d have gotten an A+.
I traded the high rise for a cheaper apartment with a different roommate. As fate would have it, a pack of rambunctious homeless people were actually squatting in the apartment below my roommate and I. One night they tried to break into our apartment while my roommate and I were sleeping. Eventually, I confronted one of the homeless squatters while he was trying to repair a moped. When he admitted he wasn’t paying rent, apartment management kicked them out. That, combined with going on camping trip adventures with friends at church rather than going out to bars, and eating $6 Don Juan’s from Juan In A Million (and the occasional smoked turkey sandwich from Terry Black’s) fixed my “fun” budget.
To increase my earnings, I worked longer hours, and became laser focused on improving my skills to be the best employee I could be. I also explored different avenues to grow within the company. My hard work was rewarded with several promotions, raises, and big bonuses for closing high profile deals.
With lower expenses and higher income, I saved my 6 month emergency fund, and then some. After three years of hard work and frugal living, I’d saved up $100K. Since then, compound interest and increasing my savings by increasing my income kept picking up.
Pinching pennies was exciting at times. And I often look back fondly on the memories that I made during those days. But I’d have done a lot of things differently if I could do it again with the knowledge I have now.
Paying a little more to rent an apartment that homeless people weren’t trying to ransack is definitely one of them. Which brings me to why I’m even writing this blog.
Why I’m Writing Financial Mutant
Since the early days in Austin, I’ve had quite a few life changes. I’m 29 years old and married. The financial game has changed because now I have a lot of competing priorities. I’m in what some call “the messy middle”.
Even though life has gotten more complicated, the root is still the same: (1) Spend less than I make. (2) Increase my skills. (3) And find contentment through it all.
I finally landed upon Financial Mutant for the title of this blog because this is a self-reflection on my own journey of building generational wealth. Because I‘m striving towards my first million dollars, maybe some of the lessons here will help you earn your first million, too.
As always, thanks for reading.
