I have been taking some time lately to go over my financial records, and I thought that it would be fun to look back and see how I actually got to a number of major financial milestones and what the time frames were.
Much like many people, I imagine, I spent a decent portion of young adulthood staring at the inside of very drab office walls for the duration of a relatively low paid shift. During my teens and early twenties, I held several jobs but my consumption dramatically outpaced my earnings, and I didn't save much.
Historically, my work philosophy was always that I would stay clear eyed about my relationship with an employer and the process of wage work as a whole. I am selling time and labor, but I have control over my conditions and I can and will leave if they aren't met. That often meant that I would do part time or casual work, or take a term limited full time job, depending on the overall compensation that the jobs could offer me in financial and intangible ways, like training and contacts.
I relocated several times and eventually got into a financial situation in my mid twenties where I could afford to aggressively invest, so I set up a budget to live off of and attempted to save or invest the remaining amount of my income.
I was actually able to invest my first $10,000 within 5 months of saving aggressively , even though there were some serious hiccups along the way. I had automatic payroll deductions set up for a retirement account through my employer, I set up direct deposit for my weekly wages, and I also put money into a few of the projects that I have detailed in the past, such as chasing bank account bonuses, collecting sign up rewards, and stacking discounts to minimize expenses and generate opportunity for resale profits.
With an average or slightly above average income, I was able to hit my milestone of $10,000 invested after five months of saving.
This included a generous 401k match of $2000, 401k contributions of $6000, and a cash balance of $2000 in a Roth IRA held at a now defunct investment platform that offered zero dollar maintenance fees and $7 trades.
What lessons did I take from this?
1. Sometimes you really do need to do different things to get different results.
2. Riding a bike is nearly free, and cars cost money to buy, maintain, legally operate and insure.
3. Relocation can be a great way to reset your expenses, expectations and psyche.
4. Lower fixed expenses means higher discretionary income
5. Oftentimes the hardest things are the best for you.
6. Workplaces can assist you with your goals, but you need to set your priorities and monitor their progress or you could get sidetracked.
