One of my big goals is to retire ASAP! Have you heard of the FIRE movement?
F – Financial
I – Independence
R – Retire
E – Early
I’m not talking about retiring tomorrow although, I think I could handle it if it was in the cards. LOL! I mean, I am trying to get my act together so that I can retire sooner than later.
I recently read something about many senior citizens have no choice but to work because they don’t have a retirement fund. They would end up living on social security and I know that this is the reality for so many people I personally know. In the end, unexpected events happen and they are forced to “retire” and live on a fixed government income.
Completely not what I have in mind!
If I wait to retire until I am physically broken down then how will I enjoy retirement? I want to continue meaningful work, whether it’s what I am doing now as a physical therapist or doing something different. But I want to change the TERMS of this work. I want to travel. See places. See family and friends. Work from home or while traipsing around the country. Wake up late, take exercise classes in the middle of the weekday. Maybe work only before lunch and on Thursday nights. Who knows! It can be completely flexible and be what I want it to be.
I see retirement in phases. As a stop, start thing. Or maybe a part-time thing. I like to keep busy, and motivated. I also like being around people and not stuck behind a computer all the time.
So, right now you are thinking, how do I do that? Sign me up!!!
Perfect, come with me!
I never thought I could even dream of such a life. Well, I have been studying. It started with trying to find a savings account with interest higher than 0.03% that I was getting.
Enter ChooseFI… (dramatic music)
More about that in a bit.
Okay, so far my posts have been about my son and his health challenges. I also want this blog to be a little bit about all the other things that I have been working toward. Ever since my divorce, I have really changed my focus on what the next steps look like.
My number one goal is to not be a burden to anyone else. That means I need to get my finances and my health in order. You may have already read some of my story in the about me section of this website. Well here is part two.
Growing up we never went hungry. My mom and step-dad seemed to spend money on very random things and some expensive things. They took out loans against the house to buy what they wanted. There was not really any savings or emergency fund. They were not especially educated about finances.
I suppose most people aren’t either and we might be able to blame that on our education system. But that’s probably another post! They bought things that were not very sensible and seems frivolous to me. Like a Pontiac Fiero (you remember. A little red, two-seater sports car from the ’80s!) or a jacuzzi. But they didn’t have the money to send me to camp or even contribute to college.
So I didn’t have a really good handle on what it meant to be financially independent. In my own way, I was already trying to figure out how to get what I wanted. I did go to camp. I went as a dishwasher working 30-60 min after each meal. The rest of the time I was with everyone else. When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time babysitting. I saved up enough money to pay my way to be an exchange student for a summer in Australia. You could say I was frugal, but I would say stingy was more like it. I was driven by a feeling of fear of scarcity and of not having enough. This feeling has persisted and driven me to continue to live frugally and maybe a tad too OCD about it.
When I was married, my husband pretty much had the same mindset as my parents. If there was money in the account then he could spend it. He didn’t really think about the future and his goals were always in the moment. We were very opposite but I did not have any way to get him to see my side. At one point I found the personal finance guru, Dave Ramsey. His teachings about money resonated with me and I bought one of the VHS tapes (yes… VHS!) about credit cards and how it affects your future. My husband finally got it! Well, kind of. It helped at the moment but it did not last. We saved a bit in retirement funds and started a college fund for our son. But it was not enough for the future I wanted. Eventually, I gave up on the money and my goals for the future. I figured we would just keep working forever. sigh…
So fast forward to now.
Now I am in complete control of how my money is working for me. I had not really paid much attention to what was happening in the retirement accounts. I definitely did not put enough away for the future and now that’s all I could think about right after the divorce. So I started learning.
There are so many places to learn about finances and what to do with your money. First I started with my budget. What was I spending my money on? I started to use a program I have had for a long time, but I didn’t really understand how much it could help me. It’s called YNAB or You Need A Budget.
I had used YNAB for years but mainly just used it to balance my checkbook. As I was learning about where to invest my money, I learned more about some basic money principles. YNAB has a ton of educational videos and articles about… money, duh!
I learned that I was actually using the YNAB program all wrong. I should have been using it to do what is called a “Zero Based Budget.” What’s that? All money coming in gets placed in a particular spending category of my choosing. I have it set up automatically so that I’m not tempted to put any extra in some categories. Hmmm, I know how my mind works, LOL! So when I get a paycheck, YNAB automatically distributes money into preset categories.
Once I had a better understanding of where my money was going, then I started to learn more about how to make it work more efficiently. I became more aware of categories where I was spending more than I thought. So I made some big adjustments. It took some time to understand the program and customize it to fit my needs.
Okay, now I was actually seeing some extra money that I was able to save! But my savings account had an interest of about three cents a month. I knew I could do better than that. I started learning more. There are a ton of websites out there with lists of high-interest checking and savings accounts. Most have some hoops to go through but nothing that is too crazy. Things like direct deposit, a minimum number of debit card uses, and such.
I ended up with a savings account that was at the time 3.3% interest. Done!!!
Then I learned more about travel rewards. And investing. And where to invest. I learned more and more. I am not interested in hiring a financial planner. I’m too stingy to give someone money to handle my money when I am capable of doing at least the basics myself. I am making choices I am comfortable with. Over time, I hope to set up a page on this website with links to everything. All in due time.
So, I plan on writing more about my future plans. Be on the lookout for more on what I have going on. Because I definitely want to share the tools I am discovering! So, where am I discovering all these tidbits of gold? So glad you asked!
I love podcasts. And podcasters love to talk about the podcasts they listen to. So, one thing led me to another and that’s when I found ChooseFI. Their website has so many tools to help anyone start no matter where they are on their journey to FI. I suggest you start here at their podcast at episode 100. They redid their intro episode and I just love the motivation I have after listening. I promise it’s addicting!
Okay, so after listening to the episode, you want to get started. I completely suggest that you need to know what your money is doing right now. Don’t start on something new like opening up a brokerage account until you know that you can set aside money on a regular basis to put in it!
YNAB is one tool you can use to budget. There are other tools out there. Some free and some paid. Some people like a good ’ole spreadsheet. Okay, great! I love free but I don’t like numbers. And I like my time so YNAB was well worth the cost.
If you’re interested in trying out YNAB for yourself, then I would be so grateful if you would use my referral link. Everyone gets a free trial of 34 days to use it just from starting at the homepage. But if you use my link and decide to keep using YNAB after the free trial, then you get a full FREE month added to your subscription! Full disclosure, I also get a free month. That saves us each either $8.25 or $15 depending on your plan.
I have a few more blog topics spinning in my head. This post is all about where I first started. Don’t forget to check out ChooseFI and start learning about how to take control of your finances!
