The Financial Mutant Manifesto (Start Here)
Your guide from $0 to $1M.
By joining the Financial Mutant Community, you are declaring that you have the cajones to grab life by the balls.
You combine hard work, discipline, and strategy to create a life of abundance for yourself, your loved ones, and your community.
1) Financial Mutants combine hard work with strategy to increase their earning power.
You recognize that the most valuable asset is you. And that the acquisition of specific knowledge increases your earning power.
You’re also aware of the premium that soft skills like creativity, curiosity, and lifelong learning have in the global economy. You actively strive to improve your soft skills to be an in-demand employee.
You also recognize that of all the soft skills, focus is the most valuable in the 21st century. Having a strategic mind to focus on the right things with set you apart. Having the ability to focus deeply on one thing at a time will make you unstoppable.
2) Financial Mutants know the value of a dollar and spend their money well.
Rather than pinching nickels, eating beans and rice, and clipping coupons, you find ways to get the most out of life. You know how to ball on a budget. Especially in your first leg of the journey to $1M. You know how to get that proverbial financial snowball rolling. And create moments you’ll feel nostalgia for later in life at the same time.
You also know when to splurge. For your expensive tastes, you know exactly what you like, why you like it, and what’s worth spending a little more or a little less on. You have the financial self-knowledge to know that grilling the $20 Costco steak at home is better than buying the $60 ribeye from the steakhouse downtown. And that the $30 sushi buffet is light years better than the $6 sushi from the grocery store.
You’ve figured out your “enough”. Which could be $10M living in a beach house in Seabrook Island. Or $600K living in a trailer next to Barton Creek in Austin.
Whatever your definition of “enough”, you have the cajones to define it and get it.
3) The Financial Mutant applies timeless financial advice to the new economy.
You’re aware that with enough time, the path to $1M at retirement is a mathematical certainty. But the cost of living is higher than ever before. And $1M at 35 is jaw droppingly more useful than having $1M at 65.
The faster you become financially free (without missing out on life), the longer you get choose how to spend your time, give back to others, and pursue meaningful things — whether it’s reading every American classic novel on the beach in Milos, Greece. Or continuing to work the same high paying job without regard for the paycheck. It’s entirely your choice. Money gives you the option to choose.
You use brute force to reach the mathematical halfway point to $1M ($250K invested). And let the snowball roll, baby, roll. You have the patience to allow it to keep rolling. And toss on more snow as it crashes down the hill until it’s the right size for you.
Above all, you recognize that money is a tool. It’s neither good nor evil. It’s a reflection of your character, so you the luckier you get, the more generous you become.
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My Story
My first “oh shit” financial moment of my adult life came when I was 22 years old. I was living in Austin working for a big company in the tech industry. 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 actually 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 eventually kicked them out. That, combined with making 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 two promotions, four raises, and many 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 later of hard work and frugal living, I’d saved up $100K.
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 blog 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.