Category Archives: Financial Independence

financial freedom

Financial Freedom

Down the Financial Freedom rabbit hole: $303,980.45 down {$196,019.55 to go}

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`Curiouser and curiouser!’ cried Alice – Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

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My sentiments exactly Alice! As I watched the Suze Orman show trying to learn about personal finance, that is exactly what I thought to myself.

What is this strange new world called financial freedom? The more I watched her show, the more I wanted it.

Essentially, do I take the blue pill or the red pill?

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As the title of this post implies, I took the red pill.

Financial Independence. I wanted the ability to do what I wanted, whenever I wanted without being tied down to a 9-to-5. But how would I do it? I needed a plan.

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Much like the Scooby gang needed a Scooby trap, I was going to have to plan my way out of the rat race and into financial freedom. A financial road map. That’s what I needed.

Official Discussion Series] Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (Oct. 31) : r/Scoobydoo

It was like what Gail Vaz-Oxlade of Til Debt Do Us Part would always say in the intro of her show, I needed to go from red to black. My investment picture of over more than a decade is listed below.

Here’s a sneak peak behind Greenbacks Magnet financial magic curtain. Up first, from red. Then fade to black. Or in my blogs case, green.

Financial chaos bleeds. Here’s the red.

  • Oct, 2023: -$16,000 (market + house value ↓ )
  • Sep, 2022: -$22,000 (market crash + loss of 2nd income)
  • Sep, 2021: -$15,000 (market crash)
  • Apr, 2020: -$20,000 (market crash continues + pandemic)
  • Feb, 2020: -$19,000 (market crash; where the bleeding really starts)
  • May, 2019: -$10,000 (market crash)
  • Dec, 2018: -$14,000 (market crash)
  • Oct, 2018: -$10,000 (market crash)
  • Feb 2018: -$4,900 (market crash)
  • Jan, 2016: -$4,000 (market crash)
  • Aug, 2015: -$5,000 (market crash)
  • Jun, 2013: -$4,000 (market crash)
  • Sept, 2012: -$14,000 (market crash + cash crash + got a new home!)
  • Feb, 2010 -$1,000 (market crash + got a new job!)
  • May 2009: -$3,000 (market crash + laid off)

Financial triage has prevailed. Here’s the black.

  • Nov, 2023: +$27,000 (market rebound + 2nd job + house value ⬆)
  • Oct, 2022: +$17,000 (market up + mad hustlin’ 2nd job)
  • Mar, 2022: +18,000 (market up + bought condo)
  • May, 2020: +27,000 (market rebound; the green starts rollin’ in)
  • Jun, 2019: +$9,800 (market rebound)
  • Jan, 2019: +$10,000 (market rebound)
  • Aug, 2018: +$6,300 (market up)
  • Feb, 2017: +3,900 (market rebound)
  • Mar, 2016: +$5,000 (market rebound + tax refund)
  • Oct, 2015: +$6,000 (market rebound)
  • Feb, 2015: +3,300 (market up)
  • Aug, 2014: +$2,000 (market up)
  • Jun, 2010: : +$4,000 (market rebound)
  • May 2008: +$2,000 (market up)
  • Dec, 2006: +$1,000 (got a new job!)

First, I got rid of any payday loans and made a promise to myself to not ever sign up for them or any car title loans. Done.

Second, I needed tp pay off my car loan and stay away from car payments. So I paid off my SUV and freed up that monthly payment of $448.65 in 2009. I have not had a car payment since. Done.

I needed to get rid of the $20,000 personal loan I took out for $333 monthly. Done.

I needed to increase my income. So I finished my bachelor’s and got a higher paying job. Done.

I needed a goal to aim for. I decided upon one short-term and one long-term and one sensational dream goal.

Short-term I needed a $10,000 savings emergency fund. Done.

Long-term I wanted to retire a multi-millionaire. So I needed at least $2 million. Sensational dream goal is $10 million. I decided to break this all up into smaller goals. Therefore, I would start by having investable assets of $100,000. Done.

Then $250,000. Done.

Next was $300,000. Done.

Although, having over a quarter of a million-dollars is an incredible feat in itself, I had no time to rest on my laurels. I must keep going.

Then I started to press on toward my next goal of $500,000. After that is accomplished, I will set my sights on $750,000. The next leg in the journey would be $1 million.

At that point, I would be a 401k millionaire.

The next goal is to double my money. I would get to my next several money milestones by increasing my 401k contributions by 1-2% every year.

No vacations unless they were paid for with cash.

I also got a second job to bring in more income.

I signed up for credit card and checking account bonus offers that brought in thousands.

I invested my old car payments in index funds like the VTSAX and individual stocks like Apple, Google and Amazon.

And every time I got paid I would put a small portion in my Roth IRA.

I also make sure to keep track of my investments every month.

I’ll breakdown more of my behavior on how I went from $0 to over $300,000 in my next post.

Stay tuned…

Financial Independence

Waffle Dollars: Buying waffles or stocks on my path to $500,000

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“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?

Ten Times Leslie Knope Made Us Fall in Love with Waffles

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!

Financial Freedom

Still Hustling, Still Grinding: continuing on my $500k journey

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In my 20’s, I started watching the personal finance show hosted by money expert Suze Orman.

The show ended in 2015, but I learned a ton about managing money from her. Continuing on my $500k journey, I knew if I wanted to be rich, that I had better invest my money.

Suze was hilarious though in her approach of telling people what they could and could not afford. It was watching this segment of “Can you afford it,” that put me on the path to conserve versus consumption.

I rejected buying new cars and instead invested that money. I started reading every book I could on investing from the Automatic Millionaire to the Millionaire Next Door. I would go to the library and browse the personals finance sections on read the books while commuting to work and on weekends.

Like Ramit Sethi, I like to ask the “$30,000 questions.” Personally, I really like to ask myself $10,000 questions. Meaning what in my life can I get for $10,000 less. How can I spend $10,000 less?

I want low fixed expenses. I didn’t need a $70,000 Tesla to make me happy. No offense to your boy Josh there in the video. I would rather have $70,000 invested in the market than driving around in one simply to go to target and have a nice fancy car to drive around in while I pick up my toothpaste.

That’s right Colgate, feel this leather and enjoy this new car smell while I take you home in my $1,200 per month shiny new car. Screw that! Let me make this money work for me. I want to earn $70k in dividends and interest, not pay interest on $70k.

Don’t get me wrong, I prefer the finer things in life…when I can afford them.

As a teenager, I worked as a telephone operator and a waitress so I know the value of dollar. I really didn’t know a lot of people that were socking away huge amounts of money in savings or investments. I just knew I wanted to have money to be able to take care of myself and not have to spend so much time worrying about how to pay the bills. I took the advice of Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Instead of buying $50,000 cars, luxury vacations, expensive clothes and $500,000 homes, I poured my money into stocks. I started with $5 dollars. Then slowly worked my way up to $100,000.

Financial Freedom, Financial Independence

The road is paved with financial hurdles

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Like I said, I didn’t learn about investing until I was in my 20’s. So guess what? I was broke! Every dollar that came in went out.

It wasn’t until I saw a Kiplinger magazine on the boyfriends table and read it that I started to understand what it meant to manage money. Like a lot of folks I did not grow up learning about finances. It was not taught in school. And it was not talked about much at home.

Pretty much everywhere I went money was a taboo subject. I learned so much about money in that one article that I was hooked. I went to the library and checked out about five books on personal finance.

I know in the beginning it was a lot of Suze Orman and people I saw on television like celebrities whose books I read. Then I moved on to money experts like Peter Lynch, Warren Buffet and John Bogle. I also found books by money bloggers.

I remember over time going from $5,000 to $150,000. I increased my 401k contributions every year and eventually got to saving over 25% of my income! I knew that it was not enough to just open an investment account. I had to also invest that money.

A huge misconception is that if you open a brokerage account for Roth IRA then you are investing. Wrong. You have to tell the money where to go. If you don’t, its like putting popcorn in the microwave, shutting the door, and then saying to the microwave now pop without setting the timer telling it how long to actually cook the food.

I didn’t know this either. I just did what my 401k told me to do. Pick a fund. And that’s okay. You are just getting started.

What really helped me go from $0 saved to slowly making my way to over $250,000 in investments was watching a show on CNBC it was called…The Suze Orman show.

Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, Wealth

My $500k Journey…The Beginning

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They say every journey begins with a single step. Well this one also began with just $1. Actually $5 whole dollars!

It’s like one of my favorite comedians said (Martin Lawrence for those folks wondering), “I got a dollar and a dream to make myself some cream.”

The first thing I needed was a J-O-B! After, I found one with a good match, I picked the ultimate goal of a one million dollar net worth.

However, its a marathon and not a sprint. I’m doing the long-play of investing my money over time. Money not quickly acquired tends not to be easily lost.

I’m going to take you from my early days growing up with my siblings in a two-bedroom apartment to buying a condo with the Roth IRA!

I started off as a telephone operator and waitress making $2.38 plus tips as a teen to getting a job at one of the most prestigious and richest universities in the world.

I’ve gone from wearing holes in my shoes to staying at the Ritz Carlton and shopping at Prada (however, I did not but that $1,000 cashmere scarf!).

I went from reading about blogs, to writing my own and riding shotgun to dinner with none other than JD Roth of Get Rich Slowly. Sound interesting. Do you want to know more? You just have to keep on reading or listening to my videos on Tiktok to find out.

My earliest memories with money was watching my father go to the local liquor store to cash his paycheck. He would always give me a few dollars to buy some snacks.

I thought money is wonderful. It allows you to buy things.

That was my first taste of sweet, sweet freedom. The freedom to buy the things you want. I learned how to save to buy the things I wanted, but I needed to learn how to earn money.

I got my first real job as a teenager making $10 bucks an hour as a telephone operator. However, I would not learn about investing until I was in my 20’s.

Financial Freedom

Debt ceiling bill signed: U.S. will not default

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America will be able to pay its bills.

The House of Representatives and Senate voted to pass the bill and President Biden signed it into law today.

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The market has been on a tear once the debt-ceiling bill passed.

The Dow went up 700 points on Friday and Google is up, way up!

As of 30 May, GOOGL stock price was up almost 40% year-to-date. That is great news for investors in the stock. GOOGL opened 2020 at $67.42 on 2 January 2020 and would close at $86.81 on 31 December, a 28% rise.

In its Q4 2021 earnings report, Alphabet announced its decision of a 20-for-1 stock split by way of a one-time special dividend on each share of the company’s Class A, Class B and Class C stock. Stockholders recorded in the company’s books at the close of business on 1 July 2022 received 19 additional shares of the same class of stock that they already held by the close of 15 July 2022.

Keep in mind that GOOGL was trading at $2,200 a share just before the split. The stock closed at $2,255.34 on 15 July 2022 and opened at a split-adjusted price of $112.64 on 18 July.

The reason they proposed the 20-for-1 was to make shares more accessible. If you invested $10,000 in Google’s IPO is more than $300,000!

Although, that much exposure to one stock can be pretty risky as anything over 10% of your portfolio can result in more losses than an investor would like.

That would mean you would need to have a $3 million-dollar portfolio to have this type of exposure to one stock. You may likely want to diversity in index funds such as the VTSAX or VFIAX to keep things more level.

My suggestion is now that we have averted a financial meltdown is to go and buy some stock. The upside can be tremendous if the market continues its upward trajectory.

The easiest method to increase your stock holdings and limit the risk is to invest in a total stock market fund like the VTSAX. It has a market cap of over $1 trillion.

For those investors that could not afford to buy GOOGL or Amazon at their peak price of over $2,000, this is your moment.

Both AMZN and GOOGL are poised to go higher with more people online than ever.

What makes GOOGL special is their powerful search engine. GOOGL handles over 90% of all search queries worldwide, Google is dominating the global search engine market share.

There are 8 billion people on the planet. An estimated 37 per cent of the world’s population – or 2.9 billion people – have still never, ever used the Internet. Therefore, GOOGL has no where to go but up. Get a ticket to this ride as fast as you can.

Personally, I feel the stock is undervalued.

Maybe that is why the company board of directors just approved a $70 billion-dollar buyback in April of this year. What that spells for investors…Cha Ching!

GOOGL also owns YouTube, which just closed on an NFL Sunday ticket access deal worth $2.5 billion. They are making money hand over fist.

Their balance sheet is so healthy because they are flush with cash and so little debt. Alphabet had $12.9 billion in debt in December 2022; about the same as the year before. However, it does have $113.8billion in cash offsetting this, leading to net cash of $100.9 billion.

That is why they can afford a $70 billion dollar stock buyback. Typically, when this occurs the stock price goes up in value due to less shares being available.

Your girl has got in on this by buying shares throughout the last year. Even with a modest stock split in the future, I would own thousands of shares.

At that point, I would likely diversify some this into index funds to limit my exposure to losses in case the market does a swan dive.

As of 30 May, according to Coin Price Forecast, Alphabet price could hit $155 by the end of 2023 and then might reach $163 by the end of 2024. Analysts estimate it could rise to $219 within the year of 2025, and was anticipated to reach $252 in 2026, $302 in 2029 and $362 in 2033.

GOOGL is minting millionaires.

GOOGL can help facilitate the American Dream.

Instead of hoop dreams or being a movie star or Rockstar, you can be a financial Rockstar. You can be a stockstar!

Therefore, if you have champagne wishes and caviar dreams, then this is the place to be.