A photo from when we were driving on our honeymoon.
When I had started my first full-time job out of college in 2011, I felt miserable. I did not like my job and I felt trapped with what I had considered a poor starting wage with few options to move as my wife was on her final two years at college. The job itself was related to collections on taxes. To be honest, I did not go to college to be in collections. I wanted something more. I would say that I even became mildly depressed as this feeling of being trapped grew. Because of my sour mood and poor habits, my weight had increased substantially. I am only 5′ 7″ and being 225 pounds is not an ideal weight for someone in their mid-twenties. My wife and I were eating out constantly our money seemed to barely stay afloat. Something had to change.
As I started this career with a low wage I wondered how could I save enough to retire? How much did I need to save? Why are all of these professionally written articles claiming different amounts, what if my income changes dramatically because of the lower earning position I was in? Someone had to know this answer.
That is when I had stumbled upon the personal finance blogs with an article about MrMoneyMustasche. Finally I was able to get answers as to what was actually needed for saving for retirement. None of this nonsense about saving for a target percentage of your income or saving some odd percentage of your earnings that may or may not include an employer match. There was finally someone with some answers. And thus the transformation began.
After what had seemed like two of the longest years of my life, in April of 2013 I had finally got a new job back towards where I had grown up. This was just a month before my wife had graduated and starting working in Grand Rapids. We were finally starting to make progress financially rather than merely staying afloat. I have now started tracking spending, eating out less, exercising some, and doing more things myself.
Going through this slightly rough financial patch in my life was difficult at the time, not so much financially, but more emotionally. But I feel that it has made me much more knowledgeable about personal finance. It is empowering me to strive to be better and be more independent than I may have otherwise been. Had life been grand after graduating where I received the income I expected to receive I may have not sought out more knowledge in personal finance. Now I have a great desire to learn more and to do more myself even if it is difficult at first.
Although I do not hate my job, I actually enjoy the variety it brings, but I still know that there is more out there with financial independence. My journey from here may not be a straight line towards this goal, but I believe it can bring a greater level of fulfillment than being in a 40 hour a week job can bring.
This blog is meant to be my story towards financial independence. I hope that it can encourage others to persevere and over come. I do not know what life will bring at my during this journey, my wife and I have some plans for our future, but plans can change. But financial independence is something I feel we should strive for in any situation.
Thank you for reading and I hope that you will follow my journey.
Welcome to the blogosphere, Kipp!
Thanks! Going to work on the content as I tweak the layout some, main goal is content and being there are so many options on the layouts, I just need to see how things look once I get a few posts on here. Thank you for stopping by!
Kipp,
Great to see you blogging. Wishing you the best here. And let me know if I can help!
That’s a great story. Sounds like you made a great decision to reverse course and focus on what matters. Your future self will thank the you of today.
Best wishes!
Thank you for the kind words Jason! I hope to get some more content up in the coming weeks. Starting a blog has been on my mind for a little while so I have a few things to post and now I am excited to start some experiments to be more frugal in the future.
-Kipp
I am very impressed that someone so young is already thinking about being financially independent. I wish that I had the resources available to me when I was young that many of you are providing for your readers now. All we were ever “told” was “get a job, find a husband that can support you, raise a family, buy a house, a new car, and charge if you need to.” I do hope schools are doing a much better job teaching kids today that they can only depend on themselves for their financial future. Good luck with this blog and hopefully the young and not so young will learn and be inspired.
Thank you for stopping my and giving me encouragement Mojo. To be honest, I never really learned from school or my parents what to do with money… which is why I sought out to what to do. Even though I am now in my later twenties, I am in great position to be financially independent in my mid to late forties. People are proving it can be done. Then you have the option to work how much you want to. I see my dad wanting to quit work now in his later fifties, but can’t. I desire not to be in a position where if I want to leave I can’t.
Hey Kipp,
I can tell you the percentage of money you need to save – as much as you can.
For me it was reading over on Financial Samurai about “Save until it hurts, then cut back a little”. I was saving more than most articles I read so I thought I was doing good. But my current savings rate at the time still allowed me to buy things without really considering each purchase because I still had money to just get things that I wanted. Once I cranked up the saving to where I really had to consider each purchase otherwise it would slash my savings goal for the month, I made better purchases. I can still buy things that I really want, but I think about it more and weed out the crap. I realized I also didn’t miss any of the smaller purchases that I would waste money on.
It sounds like you’re on the right path, I look forward to reading more in the future!
-Zee
Thank you for stopping by Zee. It is AMAZING how much you can cut and not even notice. There are some things, such as soda, that I miss cutting back on, but it is healthier for me which actually gives me extra motivation. Eating out on lunches… I still have a subway gift card I got in February on my birthday, because, after a while your desire for these things disappears. I have enough on that card to get 1 or 2 more subs (haven’t used it in awhile so I really don’t know), and I will at some point I am sure… maybe before my next birthday!
-Kipp
Kipp,
Great to see you caught the financial independence microbe at a young age and welcome to the blogosphere from one brand new blogger to another!
I hope you’ll find emotional stability and enjoy the FI journey. Keep it up!
Cheers,
NMW
Thank you for the encouragement No More Waffles! I think I am a much better picture emotionally than I was when I got out of college. When things aren’t the way they were expected to be it can sometimes but you in a bit of a slump, or a shock, or both.
Right now things are looking good and I have a purpose for working and saving. Although I do not have a high income and my path may take longer than others, I am looking at improving every step I can.
You sound like me! I, unfortunately, have weight to lose too, and finances that need to get in shape as well. The fact that you’ve realized you need to change is half of the problem. Now, you just have to learn and grow in order to actually make the changes. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for the encouragement and stopping by! It is a process, but figuring out how and where to improve is part of the fun!
Weight has been going quite well actually, better than expected. Started the year around 215 and as I mentioned on my goals I am just above 185 currently. I think the big part is not over eating, but increasing activity is helping as well.
Kipp, great story!!! Welcome to the blogging world – you’ll learn many things and find some great friends here.
Thank you Laurie! I think even just the process of trying to go through and rationalize decisions helps, because if it doesn’t make sense to you when you put it down why would it to someone else? But the support in this community is great too!
Hi Kipp,
I’m commenting here because I just backread through all your posts
Followed a link off the Rockstar net worth list. Congrats on getting on top of things while you’re still in your 20s — it took me much longer than that! Blogging is a really nice way to think through what you’re doing financially, so I hope you keep enjoying it.
Thanks Cecilia! I agree, it is a good way to compare options and process information, because you have to write down the reason rationally. So it helps me and it may help someone else, kind of a win-win!
I just went over to your blog, it looks like you are killing that debt! Good job!