Why did someone with zero financial qualifications and minimal savings or assets decide to start a financial independence blog?
Here we go then, the first blog post of this website. Better make it a good one!
This blog has been set up for a combination of selfish and helpful purposes.
I hope that keeping this blog it holds me accountable for keeping me on track for my goals. If I have a responsibility to write about my financial journey it will make sure the goals I have set don’t become distant memories. Similar to a journal it will be my space to reflect on what is working, what isn’t and a brain storming platform on where I can ‘show my working’ to change it.
This journey is going to be long, and I will no doubt have a variety of ways I tackle my financial goals, so writing these down should mean that I remember the things I am doing. Research has shown that if you write something down when trying to learn it you have a better chance of remembering it. I believe if I remember it I will more likely apply it.
I have started keeping a journal this year and I find it a real useful tool for reflection, but also for planning what I aim to do the next day, week or even month. It means the ideas aren’t jumbled up in my head taking up space making me overthink or worry at times. I hope that this blog offers the same in terms of a planning platform.
A place where I can log my plan it gives me a way to throw up on a page what is in my head, and then go back through and make sure I am doing what I set out.
So these are all the shellfish reasons I am doing the blog.
The other reason for this blog is to help those in a similar position learn from my experience and apply the tactics I have found helpful.
During my very short journey of financial independence there seems to be an abundance of great content coming over from America with a real range in the type of people and their scenarios delivering this information. For example you have high and low earners, those who are single and those in a family, people living the frugal life and those with expensive hobbies. From the UK there is still that great quality but without the huge diversity of people that I can relate to.
I never truly felt I could model other peoples plan or experiences to my own if it was so different to mine. I understand that each path is individual and you will never find someone who is doing the exact carbon copy as yours – I get that.
But if you are trying to follow the advice from someone earning 3 times your salary, who has a fraction of remaining mortgage compared to you, and family situation is completely different, well then the tips and actions they recommend are going to be really tough to apply or have the same amount of benefit perhaps. Obviously you could take elements of what they are doing and tweak it to your scenario, in an almost watered down format and of course that will help. I also appreciate this take could be looked at in a defeatist sort of way but at times I feel like I am comparing apples to oranges.
This isn’t to say in the UK you can’t get helpful info from already established individuals. I am subscribed to Damien Talks Money on YouTube and have recommended his videos to many, along with MamaFurFur she offers a fresh holistic approach with some great real life examples, and Meaningful Money with Pete Matthews is another subscribed channel who simplifies almost any topic in finance – a great skill to have.
So there is obviously great content from the UK but my hope is that I may offer a perspective this group and many others do not.
So that's the why taken care of, find out in the next blog update how I got to this position and where the journey started. Like most people who started, it took over my life and I fully immersed myself into the cult that is F.I.R.E!
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