Cheers To 4 Years Of A Purple Life: Highlights & Answering Your Questions

According to the calendar that I’m becoming increasingly reliant on since I don’t know what day or time it is 🙂 , it’s been 4 years since I took this blog public! In that time, I’ve published a post at least every Tuesday. That’s as long as the longest job I’ve ever had – wowza :).

So to celebrate, I thought it would be fun to go through the highlights of my year blog-wise, some cool opportunities I’ve had, some I’ve declined and generally, what’s been going on behind the scenes around here. Some of these are things I’ve mentioned in my monthly updates, but I find it helpful to put everything in one place, so that’s what I’m doing today 🙂 . After that, I’ll answer some questions that people submitted on my Twitter and Instagram. So let’s get into it!

Blog Highlights

Here’s some of my favorite things that happened this year on or because of the blog.

I Created The First FriendCon!

I was randomly in Austin, TX at the same time as FinCon, so I set up the first “FriendCon” at a coffee shop down the street. I had people sign up with Calendly (because I’m neurotic like that) for coffee dates, and got to catch up with people I hadn’t seen since FinCon 2019 – or ever. It was fun to see my money nerd friends once again!

I've been in downtown Austin less than 15 minutes and already accidentally ran into finance people. I guess we've taken over🤣. pic.twitter.com/J37txtxWOk

— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) September 22, 2021

Meeting Readers

In addition to finally seeing some of my fellow personal finance creators, I also started meeting readers during my travels! I had meet ups in Santa Fe, Austin, The Catskills, Saratoga Springs and other places I’m forgetting 🙂 . It’s been super cool to connect with my community in that way. If you want to chat with me over coffee and notice I’m going to be in your area, let me know!

I Was A Plutus Award Finalist

This past year I was a finalist for the Plutus Awards in 2 categories: Most Entertaining Content Creator for my (apparently hilarious) Twitter and Personal Finance Blog of The Year! I was SO honored! Thank you everyone who nominated me, voted for me, or even just thought of me 🙂 . That was super cool to see.

I Completed The 2nd Annual PurpleMas!

After the success of NaNoWriMo, I was able to get ahead on posts enough to do PurpleMas for the second year in a row! For the month of December, I wrote two posts a week instead of my usual one, and it was a challenge, especially right after NaNoWriMo. As a result, I’m assessing if I’ll do this again this year. We shall see 🙂 , but overall, wonderful comments like this do tempt me to continue this streak:

🥺 https://t.co/fSLzKs6Z7x

— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) December 30, 2021

During December, I also tried something new. I wrote the “How Did I Get Here?” Series (linked below) cataloguing my 9 year career with all the numbers, juicy drama, ups and downs that led me to early retirement. That series was a departure for me because it was more of a storytelling style instead of the stream of consciousness I usually do. It was fun to try something new 🙂 .

Hearing Things That Warmed My Heart

Here are some unexpected things that happened in the last year that made my heart feel warm 🙂 .

[Hearing about this interaction secondhand from my Mom made my month 😍💜🥰]
Random Woman in ATL: Have you heard of FinCon?
Hairdresser: Yes! My friend A Purple Life went and told me about it.
Woman: OMG YOU KNOW PURPLE?!
Hairdresser: Yeah I'm Mama Purple's hairdresser
Woman: 😱

— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) August 11, 2021

Something else shocking that happened was this:

Well, I never thought my name would be tweeted by CNN, but I guess today is full of surprises 🤷🏾‍♀️🤣 https://t.co/wt9q3pS0iP

— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) May 7, 2022

As a result of the podcast I mentioned in a previous update, CNN tweeted about the episode after the fact. Wild. I also got this comment on the blog, which made my heart soar:

Well, just make my entire year why don't you🥺 pic.twitter.com/OIYfn9MrAR

— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) May 18, 2022

In addition to that, a local theater in Santa Fe that’s owned by George R. R. Martin, used one of my photos (with credit) on their Instagram feed! This was the first time that’s happened and I felt honored and like a part of the Santa Fe and film lovers community 🙂 .

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jean Cocteau Cinema (@jeancocteaucinema)

In a similar vein, a delicious NYC ice cream shop used my photos with credit on their Instagram page. Am I a good photographer now 🙂 ?!

Press

In addition, I was featured in 5 media articles. Check them out below:

• Conde Nast Traveler – Four Black Women on What It Took to Retire Early and Travel Full Time
• MSN – Want to Retire Early? Learn from 30-Year-Olds Who’ve Done It
• CNBC– This Bronx-based Book Club Shows How Community Can Help Anyone Build Wealth At Any Age.
• Business Insiders – I didn’t join the FIRE movement to escape the working world. I did it to build a life my ancestors could only dream of
• Bella – 當「提早退休」成為新風潮，該做足什麼準備？6 個迎接優雅老後的哲學

Podcasts

I was asked to be a guest on 5 podcasts:

Opportunities

I was also asked to take on random opportunities and accepted some, such as being:

• A speaker for the Financial Feminist Summit that Bravely Go puts on every year. That was my first time doing something of that kind. I sent in a pre-recorded talk (which was basically me talking to myself for 40 minutes 🙂 – Weird. I don’t know how YouTubers do it). Then I went on a Facebook Live on the associated Facebook Group to answer any questions people might have. It was a lot of fun and I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to try it
• A speaker for a live webinar entitled “How to retire early” by Female Invest. They are based in Denmark and have a large membership of women from 60+ countries. It was a fun experience and different from anything I’ve done before because the audience was mostly from Europe and had assumptions that don’t reflect what’s happening in the US – like the existence of pensions 🙂 . Anyway, we ended up having almost 1,000 people RSVP to watch a replay and 300 attend, which is my largest live audience to date. It was nerve-wracking, but fun
• A speaker at an Introvert Writer Summit, which was a free online event you can check out here if you’d like
• Invited to be a guest to a summer class on finances for underprivileged high school and college students in Delaware. It was a fun time and I got some awesome feedback from the students. My Mom claims I was “giving back to my community” with this call and while I won’t take it that far, it was awesome to feel like I was making a little bit of a difference in the world
• A speaker for the second year in a row at the African American Finance Book Club that I had been a guest speaker at last year

Declined Opportunities

I also declined some cool things, such as:

• Being featured in a Forbes article that someone suggested me for because I still refuse to give the media my human name – oh well. The downsides of anonymity!
• An interview on CBS, which I once again declined because of my anonymity (since that doesn’t work too well for TV I’d imagine 🙂 ), but after I declined, I thought more about it and realized…even if I wasn’t anon, that’s not something I want to do personally
• Declining being interviewed for a Christian Science Monitor article about the economy
• Being asked to be a guest on a YouTube series, which I declined because of my anonymity and Covid (it required travel)
• Being contacted by a start up that reached out asking to partner with me to understand the finance space with the opportunity to make me an advisor down the line. They offered to pay me for my time and give cash and/or equity in the company as an advisor, but it sounds like too much work to me 🙂
• A request to join a financial crime themed game. How random and fun!
• An NYC ad agency reached out on behalf of a financial client asking me to do a sponsored post and possibly paid Instagram stuff for them. I’ve never had a sponsored post on this site and I doubt I ever will so I said no. It was a cool situation though since that used to be me in my previous job (reaching out to ‘influencers’ on behalf of a client) and now I’m the talent turning people down
• A production company noticed the film reviews on my Instagram and offered to send me a screener of a new movie they made so I could review it on my platform and gave the option that I could interview the director – COOL!!! I turned it down because I don’t want to be pressured into writing a review for a film when I don’t know if it meets my criteria of being awesome or unique, but it was shocking what can come from a love of film and random, mini-reviews that aren’t even on my main platform
• A travel company reached out asking to send me a free product in exchange for an Insta post and story. Once again, I’m not going to do that because I don’t usually post about something unless I love it (and I wouldn’t know I love it before trying it so that’s a no go). Once again though, it was cool to be asked! Especially for things that align with my interests and are outside the realm of finance 🙂
• I was asked to do an interview with a Wealth Management App and declined. However, I found it interesting to see what new types of requests come through my email inbox
• I was asked to review financial products on a YouTube channel (not my bag thx), to review a new finance book that’s coming out with a childfree twist (cool take, but naps are calling me) and asked to provide a media quote 12 hours from when email was sent (obviously not lol)
• A hotel management company reached out asking me to stay at one of their hotels and review it. It’s kind of silly though because the hotels they manage are not in major cities and I’m not going out of my way to stay at a random mid-tier hotel 🙂 . It was cool to be asked though – the email would have made Young Purple (who wanted to be a travel/food reviewer) jump for joy
• I declined going on a podcast, declined the thousandth bitcoin shiller to reach out to me, declined an invite to an Instagram food influencers group and declined a partnership with a major brand that reached out to me

All Posts

Here are all the posts I wrote in the last year organized by topic. I was a bit all over the place, but that’s my favorite place to be 🙂 .

“How Did I Get Here?” Series

• $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 1 “Is This Adulting?”
• $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 2 “Avoiding My Problems With Exercise & Consumerism”
• $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 3 “Discovering FIRE…And Ignoring It”
• $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 4 “Catching A Unicorn”
• $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 5 “A Seattle Bait & Switch”
• $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 6 “Searching for Bigfoot”
• $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 7 “The Goldilocks Zone”
• $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 8 “The Boring Part”
• $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 9 “The Final Countdown”

Early Retirement

• I Recorded Everything I Did Every Hour For A Year: Here’s What Retirees Do All Day!
• 1 Year Of Early Retirement: Spending, Accidental Income, What’s Changed And What’s Next?

Monthly Recaps

• The Month Of The Northeast: Early Retirement Month 10 (July 2021)
• The Month Of New York State: Early Retirement Month 11 (August 2021)
• The Month Of City Hopping: Early Retirement Month 12 (September 2021)
• The Month Of The Southwest USA: October 2021 Recap
• The Month Of Santa Fe: November 2021 Recap
• The Month Of Family: December 2021 Recap
• The Month Of Freezing My Balls Off: January 2022 Recap
• The Month Of Thailand: February 2022 Recap
• The Month Of Spring(?): March 2022 Recap
• The Month Of México: April 2022 Recap
• The Month of Mérida: May 2022 Recap
• The Month of Seattle: June 2022 Recap

Nomad Living

• Celebrating 1 Year Of Nomad Life: Revelations And Answering Your Questions
• Lessons Learned After 1 Year Of Airbnb Nomad Life
• Nomad Coffee Supplies: How To Make Great Caffeine Anywhere
• How To Easily Meet Entry Testing Requirements: A BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag At-Home Test Review

Slow Travel Reviews

• Slow Travel Review: Mérida, México – The Land Of Color & Nature
• Slow Travel Review: Phuket, Thailand – The Land Of Sea & Food
• Slow Travel Review: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA – The Land Of Chili Peppers
• Slow Travel Review: Catskill, New York, USA – The Land Of Mountains
• Slow Travel Review: Seattle, WA, USA – The Land Of Flowers, Sea And Mountains

Travel

• A Visa Misadventure: That Time I Was Stranded in London
• How To Get A Thai Visa & The Thailand Pass Entry Process In The Age Of Covid
• A Day At A Spa In Thailand: Wyndham Grand Phuket Zana Spa Review

Medical Tourism

• Medical Tourism: Visiting a Doctor for $2.50 & Filling A $1 Prescription in Mérida, México
• Medical Tourism: A $32 Dental Cleaning in Mérida, México

Finances

• Show Me The Money: All My Financial Info & Answering Y’all’s Questions
• How I Manage My Money In Retirement
• How Laziness Saved Me From Bad Financial Decisions
• How I’m Using A Roth IRA Conversion Ladder To Access Retirement Funds Early: A Step-By-Step Guide

Personal Finance Reviews

• 1Password Review: Protect Yo’ Shit!
• Review: Google Fi – The US & International Cell Service
• Saalt Cup Review: Period Cups Are Life Changing!
• Review: Grab – The Lyft, DoorDash and InstaCart of Asia

Hobbies

• From Hate To Love: How I Became A Runner
• How I Read 52 Non-Fiction Books In 52 Weeks
• Should I Stop Blogging?
• Lessons Learned After 7 Years Of Blog Writing

Flight Reviews

• Review: The World’s Longest Flight – 19 Hours In Singapore Air Business Class
• Review: Singapore Air 737 MAX Business Class AKA “The Throne”
• Review: 21 Hours In Etihad Business Class (Part 1) – Phuket To Abu Dhabi On A 787 Dreamliner
• Review: 21 Hours In Etihad Business Class (Part 2) – Abu Dhabi To NYC On A 787 Dreamliner

Annual Posts

• How I Lived On $20,415 As A US Nomad In 2021
• How I Made $11,520 While Retired In 2021
• The Year Of Flexibility: 2021 Goals & Accomplishments

Questions & Answers

How long do you think you’ll write for?

Until it’s not fun anymore 🙂 . Then I’ll announce that the time has come and stop.

Do you make money off your blog? How much of a time commitment is it?

Yes – I document all of that in my annual income report. Here’s the one from last year where I made $5,803 directly from the blog and $863 indirectly (from speaking, my Accountability Beast patreon and a writing gig).

I used to spend a lot of my free time on the blog and now it’s a lot less. Usually about an hour for every 1,000 words so only 1-5 hours a week. That’s after establishing the blog for years though, which is the hard part that takes a lot more time.

For taxes what address do you use?

I have a Traveling Mailbox account and wrote a whole post about them here if you’re curious. I paid extra for a Seattle address.

Do you feel you could have as satisfying a retirement without your blog writing and community?

If I didn’t replace that community with another one: No. However, I suspect I would have just leaned into another hobby I have such as birdwatching or plant identification and found a community through that. Or maybe I would have just fostered the relationships I have now more. I’m not sure how I would have done it, but having a strong community has been wonderful in retirement.

When are you going to reveal your real identity?

Maybe never 🙂 . I might reveal my face when my partner retires in a few years, but the cons outweigh the pros for putting my name on the internet while my entire financial life is on there as well. If I did reveal my identity, I would most likely have to follow in other bloggers footsteps for privacy/security reasons and stop sharing exact numbers, which I don’t want to do since I think that’s very helpful.

What makes you happiest about FIRE life? Do you miss anything from your old 9-5 life?

Having the time and energy to pursue my passions and to be the best version of myself. I’ve never been this mentally or physically well or happy. As for missing anything: Absolutely not 🙂 .

Conclusion

So that’s a year of the blog in a nutshell. I hope answering some of your questions here helped illuminate some of what happens behind the scenes. I’ve had a lovely year continuing to publish blogs while retired, and am excited to continue for the foreseeable future. Thank you for being here 🙂 .

Do you have any other questions for me? If so, drop them in the comments below!