- This is not a parenting blog
- I do not have any children (yet)
- This blog is for me, but you are free and welcome to get whatever you want out of it
All right, now that we've got that out of the way. I just found out in the past week that I no longer need to work for money. No, I didn't win the lottery or get a huge insurance payout (quite the opposite actually-I got into an accident with a driver who was both at fault and had no insurance. My vehicle was declared a total loss, and my insurance will only cover up to $3500, which results in what probably will be a $5-7k loss for me, assuming the other driver isn't going to give me money. Which I think is a good assumption).
My husband is both amused and slightly annoyed by this revelation. He's annoyed because this is literally what he has been telling me for a year, and the life plan that he's been telling me about for 4 years. But, like the part-time Sheeple that I am, I chose to believe that he was off his rocker and that we actually needed a bunch more money to be comfortable and secure in life. My parents have been telling me that we need at minimum $3 million dollars in assets before we can comfortably retire, which has been reinforced by lots of articles on the Internet (which means it must be true!).
Enter Mr. Money Mustache.
After sinking about 20-25 hours reading his blog over the past few days, some basic math checking, and a few rounds of extremely skeptical probing of our actual finances and expected expenditure for 2 future children, I have indeed confirmed that I no longer need to work for money. What the fuck? Really? Why didn't anybody ring a giant NYSE stock bell and shower confetti on me?
The problem is that I was looking at my "income needs" and not my actual expenses. BUT.... there's no such thing as an income need since the whole point of an income is to fund your expenses.
Bad logic: A comfortable software engineering salary is $90k/year so my post-retirement income also needs to be at least $180k/yr to account for a two-income household which means I need assets of $4.5 MILLION.
Good logic: We spent almost 60k last year because we took a honeymo so my post-retirement income needs to be about $60k/year just to be sustainable.
The problem is that I was looking at my "income needs" and not my actual expenses. BUT.... there's no such thing as an income need since the whole point of an income is to fund your expenses.
Bad logic: A comfortable software engineering salary is $90k/year so my post-retirement income also needs to be at least $180k/yr to account for a two-income household which means I need assets of $4.5 MILLION.
Good logic: We spent almost 60k last year because we took a honeymo so my post-retirement income needs to be about $60k/year just to be sustainable.
Elation ensues. Everything that I do from now on I will choose to do because I believe it will be the most enjoyable and beneficial use of my time.
So what am I doing today now that I've found out that I'm free from the shackles of every having to earn a living again? I'm emailing an old manager about a job at a new company he's at. Because it looks fun, involves really good people, and can potentially have a lot of really wonderful impact for other humans. Oh, I'm also continuing to do work for my contract as a software engineer for a startup. Because I like my colleagues and don't want to dick them over.
These are both excellent reasons to do something.
Now, a little bit of explanation about what I would like this blog to be about....
I've gotten some very good advice (Ray Dalio's Principles, Mr. Money Mustache, my husband in general and my parents on occasion) and a lot of pretty bad advice in life (any advertisement/commercial ever, anybody who was under the influence of an advertisement/commercial, almost all Chinese relatives). Sometimes I get OK advice, and a ton of the time I get good advice that is to vague/uninspiring to actually improve my life ("eat better and exercise more").
I was nicknamed "Tigger Mom" at my old workplace because Amy Chua's best-selling Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother came out right as I started my job and one time I decided to dress up in a Tigger costume on a random Friday to try to boost my spirit during a particularly rough patch of work (it worked somewhat). This is actually perfect because parenting is something that I find fascinating, exciting and absolutely elusive. Speaking of people giving you advice--I've never heard so much contradiction on one subject!
As human beings (read: living organisms) our most basic purpose in life is to ensure the survival of our genes in some way (either directly or by fostering the reproductive activities of close relatives, which is what bees do). As Richard Dawkins would say, congratulations, every single one of your direct ancestors since the beginning of life on Earth has managed to successfully reproduce offspring.
As I set off on my own reproductive journey, I want mostly to just sort through all the bullshit and figure out what being a good parent is really about. Since the journey to being a good parent really starts years and years before you actually reproduce--as you gain wisdom and experience, stock up on funds and find a good life partner--I figured I should start writing now.
In a subsequent piece, I will dedicate an entire post to Mr. Money Mustache, but for now I just want to explain how MMM really got to me: He was the first person in my life to directly connect money I spend right now with how many years I would give up not being with my children. $500 iPad now == 3 extra weeks of dropping off my kids at daycare at 8AM and not seeing them again until 6PM instead of finger-painting and building sofa-cushion forts with them. That's a lot of forts. With that kind of motivation, I get a big warm and fuzzy feeling every time I figure out how to spend less money for equal or more happiness (known more commonly in America as "depriving yourself of something expensive you deserve since you work so hard").
Now, a little bit of explanation about what I would like this blog to be about....
I've gotten some very good advice (Ray Dalio's Principles, Mr. Money Mustache, my husband in general and my parents on occasion) and a lot of pretty bad advice in life (any advertisement/commercial ever, anybody who was under the influence of an advertisement/commercial, almost all Chinese relatives). Sometimes I get OK advice, and a ton of the time I get good advice that is to vague/uninspiring to actually improve my life ("eat better and exercise more").
I was nicknamed "Tigger Mom" at my old workplace because Amy Chua's best-selling Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother came out right as I started my job and one time I decided to dress up in a Tigger costume on a random Friday to try to boost my spirit during a particularly rough patch of work (it worked somewhat). This is actually perfect because parenting is something that I find fascinating, exciting and absolutely elusive. Speaking of people giving you advice--I've never heard so much contradiction on one subject!
As human beings (read: living organisms) our most basic purpose in life is to ensure the survival of our genes in some way (either directly or by fostering the reproductive activities of close relatives, which is what bees do). As Richard Dawkins would say, congratulations, every single one of your direct ancestors since the beginning of life on Earth has managed to successfully reproduce offspring.
As I set off on my own reproductive journey, I want mostly to just sort through all the bullshit and figure out what being a good parent is really about. Since the journey to being a good parent really starts years and years before you actually reproduce--as you gain wisdom and experience, stock up on funds and find a good life partner--I figured I should start writing now.
In a subsequent piece, I will dedicate an entire post to Mr. Money Mustache, but for now I just want to explain how MMM really got to me: He was the first person in my life to directly connect money I spend right now with how many years I would give up not being with my children. $500 iPad now == 3 extra weeks of dropping off my kids at daycare at 8AM and not seeing them again until 6PM instead of finger-painting and building sofa-cushion forts with them. That's a lot of forts. With that kind of motivation, I get a big warm and fuzzy feeling every time I figure out how to spend less money for equal or more happiness (known more commonly in America as "depriving yourself of something expensive you deserve since you work so hard").
