*Note: The Journey Cake was our 1st year wedding anniversary cake made by my mother-in-law, Midge Winger, she was pretty special.*
Ever since I was a kid I have been interested in money. My first paying job was shredding paper as a 5 year old with my sisters, I believe we made 4 quarters an hour. I remember opening my first bank account at 10 years old, back then my savings account was returning 4% interest(and interest on homes could be in the double digits, yikes!). I worked weekends, summers and after school throughout high school. When I went away to college I still had two jobs while carrying a full load, and I despaired as my bank accounts from summer working would deplete throughout the school year. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Physics I made my way home. When it was all said and done, four years of post-secondary schooling, because of scholarships and grants and working as a Resident Assistant for 2.5 years, I walked away with $14,000 of student loan debt.
After my epic graduation trip, my parents asked me if I would work with them temporarily, and I agreed. I also lived at home for the subsequent three years. During this time period I worked a lot, learned bunches in the motorsports and marine industry, and began reading some financial books I picked up. You may have heard of them: Suze Orman’s Young, Fabulous, and Broke, Robert T. Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal, and Thomas J. Stanley’s The Millionaire Next Door. My biggest expenses in this time of my life were medical insurance ($500/month), gas, car insurance, and student loan payments. I was interested in investing in the stock market, but not sure how. I heard about the amazingness of Roth IRA’s and how you don’t have to pay taxes on the interest they earn, so I went down to my favorite credit union, where I had held an account for more than 12 years and opened a Roth IRA. (side note – don’t do this, the potential earnings are very low, open a Roth IRA in a brokerage account – I now hold mine at Vanguard). My dad suggested I talk to his broker at Morgan Stanley Dean Whitter more than a couple times as I would ask him questions, but I never did. I was intimidated and thought he would charge me a bunch for speaking to me.
After a year and from the influence of my oldest sister, I decided to go back to school and become a teacher. I decided to work towards a masters degree in teaching secondary (7-12) science. Before I began my teaching program I would have to go back to university and take additional courses in Biology, Earth/Space Science (I needed 12 credits each in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Earth/Space Sciences) I was working full time and going to school, between 6-15 credits a semester, and falling in love with my now husband. In 2006 I began my student teaching at a middle school (20 hrs/week in the fall, 7 weeks on my own, and then phasing out during 4th quarter.) I graduated in May of 2007, and over the summer I applied for teaching positions but didn’t hear back until August. In August I applied for a new position, was offered the job and decided to take it. I was still working full time through all this. The first few years were H-A-R-D, so many tears were shed, I almost quit once officially and many more times in my head. These are stories for another time.
During this time, my expenses were low, my greatest expense being gas. I was saving, saving, saving, for what I did not know yet, I didn’t know how to invest, I was just watching the amount in my bank account grow. I wasn’t budgeting, just knew I was spending less than I was taking in. Over this time I read part of David Bach’s Smart Women Finish Rich and Kiyosaki’s Cash Flow Quadrant. I joined a friend’s mlm (multi-level marketing) business where I spent money each month for life books and dvd’s. I joined a different friend’s mlm business for lady focused products and I joined a different friend’s mlm business for vitamin’s and supplements (full disclosure, I still use and enjoy these products). 2009 was a banner year as we closed on our first home, got married, and my dear husband’s boss expanded his business from three to five stores. In the background, the 2008 financial crisis was occurring, I was still in a Roth at my local credit union, money was being deposited in my retirement accounts, ,and I didn’t understand what they were invested in, or how I could choose investment choices.
When I was 31, there was an American Fidelity Insurance agent at my school and when I told them my Roth IRA was housed at my credit union, they convinced me this was a bad idea. I rolled my funds over to their business, maxed it out each year and somehow didn’t remember or realize that it was allocated 20% Total Stock Market, 20% money market, 60% bonds. (side note – I would not suggest having your Roth IRA or other investment accounts with a business that is primarily an insurance business, mine was invested in a Variable Annuity and I had a 1.5% mortality fee I was paying every year). For the next 7 years I still didn’t pay too much attention to our finances. We were living within our means, our largest expenses being our mortgage and with the addition of AJ and LAKOS, daycare. Each year we had about $10,000 left over that wasn’t earmarked for bills, expenditures, or other allocations. Every couple years I would put a large chunk of savings towards out mortgage because I didn’t know how to invest in the market. In December 2018, I discovered the Financial Independence movement, listening to a podcast called Choose FI. In the following months I binge listened to the more than year’s worth of episodes. I took action and made changes, entered the market, six months later I rolled my ROTH IRA into one at Vanguard. I left a review for the show, the first time I have left one for any podcast.
I won the book by JL Collins called The Simple Path to Wealth for leaving this review, read it as well as The Index Card, and many others and now I’m intentionally on the path to Financial Independence. I’m starting this blog as a record for myself and a resource for others. Thank you for reading!
As Ever, SOS
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