I WANT TO BE COMPLETELY TRANSPARENT. THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS (AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU). PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Welcome to Part II of my journey to FIRE. You can check out some of my initial stumbles here. Post-college was definitely better from a financial standpoint, but there are still lessons to learn in my journey and many things I would do differently.
I graduated from college in 2012. Thanks to scholarships and help from my parents I had no student loan debt upon graduation. I did have a $15,000 car loan for a 2011 Ford Fusion, and $1500 of credit card debt to pay off, financial mistakes #1 & #2. I was fortunate to have strong role models in my family with regards to money. My father and grandfather were both good savers and investors, so their habits rubbed off on me, but I never had my own personal “why” for aggressive saving until I found the Financial Independence community, but we’ll get that that in a bit. I was very fortunate and privileged to be in the situation I was coming out of school, but I had my own issues with money that I needed to overcome.
The Real World
After college, I started my first “real” job at a fast-growing company, earning a decent starting salary and moved to a new city, Louisville, Kentucky. Now, you’d be tempted to think more money coming in more happiness right? But, that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I had a very relaxed schedule in the last semester of my fifth year of college. I took a measly six credits, had a small part-time job working a few hours a week as a busboy at a sorority house (still the best job I’ve ever had). So I pretty much spent all my days working a few hours, maybe go to class, go to the gym then the rest of the time was spent drinking and hanging out with friends. I remember my college girlfriend at the time saying to me “that’s so exciting you’re graduating and you have a job lined up, you have your whole life ahead of you.” But, I did not feel like I had my whole life ahead of me, in fact, I felt like the life I knew and loved so much was ending. The “real world” hit me like a tsunami it was not a pleasant transition, to say the least. Gone were the days of chilling with friends only to be replaced by a hectic building startup coupled with high stress, 80+ hour weeks and a crippling feeling of isolation being in a new city with the only people I knew being from work. I knew that I needed to put myself out there and get involved in some sort of community to make new friends, but the stress and long work hours left me exhausted and unmotivated. This was also exacerbated by me choosing to live by myself in an apartment instead of getting a roommate, and I chose to live close to work which was not in the “cool” area of town for a young 20 something, big mistake. I am all for saving money on rent and having a minimal commute, which is crucial for working towards Financial Independence as housing is one of the big 3, but to a reasonable extent do not sacrifice in this area at the expense of community, you will instantly regret it.
Things Don’t Bring Happiness
Instead of trying to overcome my mild depression and social anxiety by putting myself out there I decided to cope in some unhealthy ways. Chief among them trying to buy things to make me happy. Clothes, shoes, furniture, electronics, sunglasses, an espresso machine. Each time I clicked the order button and each time the package arrived and I ripped it open a little hit of dopamine but no such luck with lasting happiness or fulfillment. Here is an actual picture of Amazon boxes stacked in front of my apartment.
Getting Better…
Things eventually started to get better. Work became less stressful and fewer hours. I moved to a new apartment right in downtown Louisville, close to many great restaurants and attractions, had a great roommate to hang out with and even saved money in the process only paying $500 a month. I started dating someone. Things continued to improve, I moved again this time to a house in an even better area of town as measured by walkability to things I cared about- grocery store and bars/restaurants. I started dating someone and joined a CrossFit gym with a great community of people and had plenty of friends outside of work. I moved to a new department at work which had me on a “normal” M-F schedule with some flexibility in hours. I didn’t feel extremely challenged or motivated in my job, but I loved the people I worked with and gained some sense of fulfillment from it. Life was great and very comfortable, I enjoyed the time outside of work. I started trying new restaurants, taking more trips and going on more vacations.
From a financial perspective mid-late 2015 I was doing pretty good by conventional measures of society. I even started travel hacking to save money on said trips. Looking back life was great, I had an excellent job with some flexibility in hours, healthy relationship with my significant other, consistent, challenging workout regime and awesome relationships with people in and out of work. But, I had an underlying sense that I was ready for a change- a new job, new city, new relationship, who knows maybe all three at the same time?
Check back in for part III here.
Key Takeaways and Resources
1. Evaluate the cost of a new car vs old car or whether you need one at all. Differing perspectives: MMM, Ramit Sethi and Mr. Free at 33.
2. I mention environment in Part I here, but its importance cannot be overstated. If you are a young professional, especially moving to a new city where you don’t know many people do not live in some shitty location just to save money or have a shorter commute. Now there has to be a balance, by no means am I saying to spend 70% of your take-home pay to have some sick apartment right downtown in some major metropolis but find the perfect balance that works for you. Do you care about being close to bars and restaurants? Is being able to walk or bike to the gym or grocery store important to you?
3. Buying things is a huge waste of money and will not bring happiness, just short-term excitement. However, buying things to remove a negative in your life might improve your happiness. Buy experiences not things, cliche but true.
- All About Van Life with Casey Hogan of Towing Wild Oats | NOF #85 - October 6, 2021
- Traveler vs Digital Nomad, Freedom and Balancing Work While Traveling with Rax Suen of Nomads Unveiled | NOF #84 - October 4, 2021
- Real-Estate Investing, Turnkey Rentals and How to Stop Trading Your Time for Money with Eric Martel of Martel Turnkey | NOF #83 - October 3, 2021
Leave a Reply