After hearing that I want to retire early several people have tried to talk me out of it – saying that I just haven’t found the right career or job. “What do you like to do?” they ask. “Personal finance” I respond. “Why don’t you become a financial adviser?” they say. My original response was that I do not like the idea of my pay being linked to giving biased or bad advice. Continue reading “I Don’t Want To Be A Financial Adviser”
Year: 2017
Eating High Fat Made Me Like Cooking
I’ve never enjoyed cooking. I’ve always seen it as a chore. I cook something for an hour, dirty many pots and pans and since I’m a fast eater scarf it down in about five minutes. This does not seem like a great use of my time. Bad ROI 🙂 . Now that I’m eating Low Carb, High Fat food while doing an Uber Frugal Month challenge I’ve discovered something weird. I don’t hate cooking anymore. I haven’t done a full 180, but I don’t mind cooking. I usually do it at least once a day. I make my breakfast from scratch: 3 scrambled eggs cooking in half a tbsp of butter, an ounce of mozzarella cheese, an ounce of an onion (high carb/sugary – who knew?) and whatever treat I want to put it in: yesterday it was pesto (yum), today it was avocado (YUM!). It takes maybe 10 minutes and I eat it slowly with my tea in a sun-soaked living room. Continue reading “Eating High Fat Made Me Like Cooking”
Dietary Musings Part II: High-Fat, Low Carb
I’m surprised by what my brain absorbs and clings onto. I just re-read my original Dietary Musings post. It was two years ago when I looked into a vegan/whole food plant based diet. I planned to record my ailments that the books I was reading claimed would be resolved by eating this way to track my progress. It….didn’t go well :). Cutting all animal products out of my diet made me tired, constantly hungry and didn’t cure anything. I dropped it after less than a month of creating unique recipes that frankly didn’t taste like much of anything at all and went back to my original American diet which includes bouts of low calorie eating combined with overeating at restaurants and binge drinking. Continue reading “Dietary Musings Part II: High-Fat, Low Carb”
Dodging Bullets: Work Edition
It might be the tumultuous nature of ad agencies, but I seem to have accidentally dodged some serious bullets in my career. In the moment a lot of situations have looked less than ideal, but in hindsight (like most things) they look amazing. My Mom truly believes there’s a reason for everything and each step is pointing you in a positive direction. I’m less optimistic, but it’s a nice thought and looking back at my career it seems to be very true. Continue reading “Dodging Bullets: Work Edition”
No Sunday Blues
Something strange has been happening since I started my new work from home job. I no longer get the Sunday Blues. Sunday just feels like a weekend day instead of a countdown to another work week. I actually used to get Saturday blues in school because we’d have to do all our work on Sunday before classes started on Monday. College was better since we set our own schedule and I usually did all my work during the weekdays so my weekends were truly free. Since entering the working world the Sunday Blues has been very real. It feels like Saturday is the only real weekend day. Even if I felt the Sunday Blues to a lesser extent Sundays were usually spent doing chores: laundry, cooking for the week, errands etc. But now things feel different. Not only do I not get the Sunday Blues, weekends hold less magical appeal than they used to. Because now I work 8 hours a day on my couch, usually with my partner nearby while taking breaks to cook or take a walk. Weekdays feel less like weekdays. They don’t involve being away from home for 10-12 hours or commuting or being around distracting people. It involves comfy clothing and the time to think. Another unexpected benefit of working from home.
The Power of an Emergency Fund
“I heard there might be layoffs” my colleague said to me, her eyes wide. “Cool” I replied while turning back to my computer. She looked at me in shock. Apparently that wasn’t the normal response. I’ve worked in ad agencies all of my career and I have been laid off three times in five years. The shortest time I’ve been at a company is two weeks. The ad world is extremely turbulent. We are at the whims of other companies (our clients) and their budget. It’s a service industry and if big companies are tightening their belts in response to a recession, for example, there is a lot less ad money and agencies have almost yearly layoffs as a result. And who gets laid off? The newest, youngest hires AKA me 🙂 .
Maxing 401K in 4 Months
I seem to always inspire weird looks in my HR departments :). Apparently they see 62% contribution to 401K and think I forgot a decimal point. At my new company I’ve been asked I believe 3 times in a 2 month period if my election was correct. Yes it is :). When I started at my new company on November 15, 2016 I calculated what election percentage I needed to max my 401K by December 31 despite being funemployed for 4 months. And that was 62% so I made it happen and I maxed it (within a few hundred that the no decimal point awarded me). Continue reading “Maxing 401K in 4 Months”
The Results of an Uber Frugal Month
This January I embarked on an Uber Frugal Month with Mrs. Frugalwoods. You basically cut out or down on all unnecessary spending. I’m very happy this coincided with my new low carb, high fat diet. It made me not even want to eat out which is unheard of. Continue reading “The Results of an Uber Frugal Month”