My Hot Take on Personal Finance
My early career coincided with the 2009 recession. It was a challenge to see so many colleagues lose their jobs. As well, it was a battle to keep my job. During that time, I read The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton, a no-nonsense, digestible take on personal finance that said you can still save while living within your means. I learned how important it was to save. I took advantage of the tax-free saving and investment programs that were available to me. This book changed my perspective on personal finance.
Living within my means and saving guided me through that recession and even through the years of economic growth where overconsumption and living beyond one's means became more commonplace. When faced with marketing that targets our most basic of desires, it can feel almost impossible to have everything while also saving to get ahead financially. I felt those pressures too.
More recently, we have seen the emergence of The Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement. It is popular in many financial circles and the basic premise is to save a large portion of your yearly income. This means living below your means to retire well before the magical age of 65. Some versions of FIRE would allow you to retire in your mid-30s! At first, I was intrigued by this idea and the lifestyle I could live if I retired early.
After some thought, I realized I was interested in saving in order to be able to do something meaningful with those savings; my end goal was not to retire early. I did not want to leave a fulfilling career; I wanted to continue building it. And the best way to do that was to use my savings to invest in myself and my personal development.
There are many of us that enjoy our careers and retiring early is not something we consider, but we are motivated to save now for our futures. We enjoy the challenge and competition of our careers. We thrive on pushing ourselves and achieving that next thing on our list. Over the next four posts, I will discuss where I have invested in myself and how this contributes to my advancing my career. First up, will be all about dressing well.
Dressing Well
Keeping Comfortable While Traveling
Investing in Learning
Healthy Living
Global Business Travel Account Growth Director/Salesperson/Business Development/ Transient/Groups & Meetings/Team Motivator/Trade Shows and Conventions
3y👊
Project Leader at St. Lawrence Seaway Corporation
3yNice article Brendon! Finding the right ratio of saving/spending that works for you is definitely a tricky one, specially when you have kids! 🤑 My sav/spend ratio is certainly variable depending on what I perseive to be important.
Corporate Travel Program Lead at Kinaxis | Finance * Views held are my own*
3yI am looking forward to your next articles on this topic. Will you be discussing the new buzzword in investing, cryptocurrency?