“Why would anyone ever eat anything besides breakfast food?” – Leslie Knope – Parks and Recreation

Waffle day is coming up. It’s on Monday, March 25.

I just so happened to read a book on personal finance (PF).

Shocker right?

In the book, it talked about how the person would always think about purchases in terms of her favorite food. Like how many donuts would I be able to buy instead of this item type of thing, right.

So it got me thinking 🤔. I love waffles. My favorite food is breakfast. So how many waffles would I be giving up to buy this item?

If you have been reading my blog, then you know I am on the journey to build a $500,000 investment portfolio.

You can check on my previous posts on the topic.

My $500,000 Journey…The Beginning

The Road is Paved with Financial Hurdles

Still Hustling, Still Grinding: Continuing on my $500,000 journey

After working my way up to $100,000, I started thinking what else could I do.

It was like Dave Ramsey said, “being wealthy isn’t about what you are willing to do, it’s about what you are willing to give up.”

In order to get to $100,000, I started with $5 dollars. I switched jobs because they one I previously had did not include benefits. I started investing 6% of my pay and got a company match of 3%.

By the time I left my 401k had gotten up to $8,000. However, I lost part of the money in the market and another 60% of my match dollars due to not being fully invested. Therefore, my account went from $$8,000 down to $5,000.

With my new job, I started investing 3% and worked my way up to 25%. This and giving up trips and nights out at the bar allowed me to slowly build my stock portfolio. It also helped that the market was on a tear after the financial crisis in 2007-2008.

If you were invested from 2009 – 2020, you made a mint as that has been the best recorded stock market returns in its over 200 year history!

When I would get any type of windfall, like a tax refund, it went to savings and investments or paying off debt. I also decided to rollover my old $5k 401k and invest most of that money in Apple in 2013. One of the best decisions I ever made. I got an excellent return. And I used some of that money to buy hundreds of shares of Google and Amazon.

I went from $25,000 to $50,000 in a few years. And I steadily increased my 401k contributions by one percent or more each year. Within a short time, I made it to over $100,000.

After paying off my $448.65 car payment, I directed all of this money to my investments every month. Within six years, I had $150,000 in my 401k.

I had to give up getting a new car, clothes, vacations, nights out on the town, eating out, and shopping. I knew if I wanted my freedom, then sacrifices would have to be made. And like Leslie of Parks and Rec, I like diners. Since many of them serve breakfast all day. My favorite being Silver Diner. And I love their waffles!

There are times I go would I rather have a fancy $200 lobster dinner or spend $8 bucks on a waffle and invest the difference. About 9 times out of 10, I go for the waffle.

I want the new M.A.C lipstick. That will be $30 crisp dollar bills. How many waffle dollars is it? I would have to give up three waffles.

I remember brown bagging lunch or eating subway sandwiches just to save a buck. We don’t all work at Google and get free meals. I had to watch friends and family take exotic vacations to exciting locales like Hawaii and destination islands while I was eating salads at Applebee’s 2 for $20.

However uncomfortable that may have been for awhile, it all paid off. Within a few years of making it to $150,000, I doubled my money and had a portfolio of over $300,000! I had made it to $333,000. I was one third of the way to a million dollars and was close to reaching my goal of $500,000!

What helped me get there was not buying a new car or bigger home. This saved me tens of thousands of dollars that could get invested instead. I would spend money on experiences, health-related costs and education, but not things that would depreciate in value.

I learned that earned compound interest is my friend and paying interest was the enemy.

Getting a second Master’s degree for half the price of the first one was a good deal. A half-off sale at Nordstrom was not.

I also picked up extra work where I could. Whether it was being a cashier or stocking food items. I’m not too good to work. Scrubbing floors is not beneath me. Not if it puts food on the table and helps keep a roof over my head. I put most of those dollars to work.

I know Nvidia is now worth more than Google right now at a $1.82T versus $1.76T, respectively.

If you don’t start a business, you can definitely own shares in one.

A $10,000 investment in Nvidia 10 years ago would have given you a $322,000 balance. However, a $33,000 investment would have netted you an eye-watering million bucks!

I’m just keeping my eye on the prize and continuing to save and invest.

I recommend everyone keep at minimum $10,000 in savings and investing at least the equivalent to one hour a day of your pay to get yourself on the path to financial independence (FI).

Therefore, if you make $80,000 a year, that’s around $40 an hour.

With this FI formula, $40 (one hour of work) x 365 (days of the year) = $14,600 to be invested. Invested in an S&P 500 index, at a 10% return, then you would have $919,836.49 in 20 years.

Then just think how many waffles I could buy with that!