The Beginning 

It all started normally enough.  

I grew up in a comfortable lower middle-class household. We never really discussed money. My parents weren’t flashy by any means, but they saw it as a matter of personal pride that we never went without. 

Looking back, it’s fairly clear that there wasn’t any significant money being put into savings (other than for holidays and new cars!). I now know that any savings my parents did have was all held in cash. My Dad has a fear of the stock market – he has a very conservative approach to money!

The mindset I had been encouraged to adopt was that of the majority of people in my scenario; work hard at school, get a good job, settle down and have a family in a nice big house with a shiny car. After all, it’s not surprising when that’s exactly what my parents have achieved.  These examples were the start of my money journey.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking that lifestyle. My parents are very comfortable and have very happy lives. My Dad has been the main breadwinner since their first of 2 kids was born. He seems to have enjoyed his work and he is now able to retire imminently in his 60s. That’s mainly thanks to a generous final salary pension.  

That’s what I have grown up aspiring to. I guess I never questioned it – it just seemed to be what people do!

University 

Having left sixth form with good grades, I got into my chosen university. I spent 4 years studying an engineering degree and loved it. At the same time, I was desperate to get into the world of work. I had been lucky enough to have industry placements in all of my summer holidays from uni. The last of which offered me a job on graduation (I still work there 7 years on!). 

These placements allowed me to save a few thousand pounds, but I never really had an aim for that money. I had no idea financial independence was even a thing at this point. I was on a trajectory which included working for the next 40+ years. So what difference would a couple of grand make?!

A random conversation with some uni friends towards the end of our final year led me on a path I certainly didn’t expect. As I explained, my upbringing was conservative and risk averse. So it was of great surprise to my family (and myself to be honest!!) when I announced I was off to Africa with 2 friends. 

Africa!

So that was that – all of my summer placement money gone in one month-long trip. Do I regret it? Absolutely not! This was my first proper taste of travel. I had only ever done ‘normal’ 1-2 week family sun holidays before and I loved the new-found adventure!

I left this trip with incredible memories and a real determination to continue exploring the wonderful world we live in. 

While this wasn’t the ‘sensible’ option from a financial perspective, I would do it again without question. In fact, we’re going to a different part of Africa again this summer, 7 years on! This time I’m very excited to share the experience with Miss Way. We are viewing it as a way of testing the water as a FIRE Trial Run.

While I was lucky that my parents insisted on paying for my accommodation costs while at uni, I still entered the working world with a student debt of £20,000. In my mind this was certainly worth it. I really enjoyed the uni experience but also, my chosen career required this degree. 

Independence 

So I was finally independent of my parents, earning a typical graduate salary. I was beginning my own independent money journey and the world was my lobster!

In the only way I knew, I moved into a modern apartment (albeit shared) close to work and went about my business. Thankfully, as I was close to the office, this encouraged me towards my car free lifestyle. I was spending a large proportion of my wage on the basics. Anything left in my bank at the end of the month would be spent on video games and the likes. 

To me, at this stage, savings meant the money I put to one side to be spent
in the near future – on a holiday or other expensive item. 

I was also saving into a pension, but this was merely the company default. A 3% contribution from me with a 3% match from them. At that rate, it would have been 62 years before I could retire!!

The FIRE Journey 

Since starting work, I had always been somewhat uncomfortable looking ahead at a 40+ year career. But it was the only way I knew and I thought that was just what life looked like! 

Luckily, a couple of years into my working life I began talking to a colleague in his 40s. He had forged a rather different money journey. He had worked abroad for a ~5 year period earlier in his career. At the same time he amassed a property business in that country, worth a significant sum. His financial organisation inspired me! I looked up to him as somewhat of a mentor.

The step which really kickstarted my FIRE journey was when this colleague introduced me to a book. ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ by Robert Kiyosaki* changed my way of thinking. This new way of looking at assets and liabilities really clicked with me. It set me off on a path of discovery and learning.

Books!

I spent all of my free time devouring books, podcasts and anything money related I could get my hands on. Another book which really cemented my new way of thinking was ‘The Richest Man in Babylon’ by George S. Clason*. This classic book imparts financial wisdom through a series of short stories about a man in ancient Babylon. We both loved this book for its simplicity and clear lessons! 

Around the same time, Rich Dad Education were running seminars focussed on property investing. I dragged a reluctant Miss Way along – we hadn’t long since met!  

We were interested in going along this path, but didn’t have the capital available at the time. Instead, my reading also lead me to investing in stocks & shares.  

Early Investments

I began subscribing to Investor’s Chronicle (a popular share analysis magazine in the UK) and taking it quite seriously. My fledgling portfolio was even analysed in the magazine by a panel of experts!  This was the start of the investing part of my money journey!

I was researching companies, reading their accounts and investing very small amounts (low 3 figure sums!) to learn the ropes. Luckily, fairly early on in this game, one of the companies I had invested in was involved in an accounting scandal.  

This taught me a vital lesson. No matter how much research you do, you can never predict the long-term performance of an individual company.   

Around the same time this was happening, I stumbled across a strange sounding website. I immediately devoured almost every article Mr Money Mustache had ever produced. Things had finally started to click and I knew this was the way I was going to succeed.  

Miss Way, having been sceptical about both the property and individual share routes, was fully on board and understood the benefits this could bring to us both. 

The Good Stuff

MMM quickly led me into a whole host of FIRE related reading around 2014-2015. I began to really step up my index fund investing. Having started off investing ~15% of my net pay, I soon started increasing this.

Luckily, while this was all happening, my career was progressing very well. I was able to gain my professional qualification a couple of years later. This has hopefully further improved my longer-term earning ability. My profession is by no means one of the higher earning career paths and I am still a basic rate tax payer. Having said that, as my salary progressed from graduate levels, I was lucky to be able to avoid lifestyle inflation and increase my savings rate.  

One of the main drivers for starting this blog was to prove that it is possible to pursue FIRE with much more ‘typical’ earnings. We are a young professional couple, without the 6-figure salaries often quoted by others online. We hope some of you can be inspired to follow our money journey!

Today 

So now we’re pretty much up to date with my money journey. The last 5 years or so, since first reading ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’, have been a real journey of discovery and learning. I’m able to maintain a steady savings rate of slightly over 50%. Although, due to our African adventure, this will be drastically reduced this year!

The spending side of the equation has also been a focus recently. Roughly 4 years ago we bought our first home. That turned out to be a great decision! We managed to avoid the advice we were given to buy the biggest house we could afford! Instead, we picked a sensible home in a convenient location for our lifestyle. 

We are continually making small changes to our lifestyle to optimise from both a spending and happiness perspective. This process is really exciting and we love the challenge of getting the best value for our money!

We recently started this blog in the hope that we can share some of this knowledge we have developed. We also hope to use it as a platform to learn from others!

The Future

So what does the future hold for us? Well, in Our Version of FIRE we outlined our longer term aims. From a personal perspective, I’m hoping to reach financial independence in my early to mid 40’s. 

This may well change, as we hope to start a family in the near future. We obviously can’t foresee the exact costs of this, although we’re sure it won’t be as expensive as it is for most of our peers! Another aspect of this decision is that I may well take a step back from full time work in order to spend more time with potential Baby Way. This would clearly extend my FIRE horizon, but is something I think I will be likely to do at this stage.  

All in all, we will continue down the path of discovery and learning. We like to live by the principle of CHALLENGE EVERYTHING. This means not following the ‘expected’ path, but making sure every decision works best for us.  

Equally, we always try to BE PRESENT. We are doing our best to find the balance between achieving FIRE as soon as possible, while also enjoying the journey.  

Whatever the future holds, it will certainly be brighter due to the changes we have made in the last few years. For that we will forever be grateful to the FIRE community! Our plans may change, but we have made a very positive start and put ourselves in a good position to adapt to whatever we desire. 

Takeaways

So what are the key lessons I’ve learnt from my money journey? 

Role Models 

Firstly, I would stress the importance of role models. I mentioned the colleague who started me off on this path above. I have also looked up to my Uncle, who has significant investment assets and knows a great deal about the financial world. He has been an important role model from a financial perspective, but also in a more general sense. For example, he uses his free time to come and help us with DIY tasks. That is something I would love to do with my FIRE status for my family in the future!

Learn from the people who you aspire to emulate in life. Most people would be delighted to give you advice, if you ask. You can often learn a great deal from their example. But also remember to look elsewhere. It’s really important to get a wide range of opinions. This allows you to make an informed decision on what is best for yourself. That brings us nicely on to the next point.

Continually Learning 

Always look to learn, from every possible source. Whether a good example or a bad one, there is always a lesson to be learnt. Challenge everything and do whatever works best for your situation, no matter what advice and pressure others may apply. 

Take Action

While we like to stress the importance of doing lots of research, it is also worth mentioning that nothing beats diving in when you’re ready to do so! It can be easy to get caught in ‘analysis paralysis’ and delay taking any action. Getting stuck in and learning real life lessons is an important process.  

As an example, the investing part of my money journey started in a less than ideal way. I was trying to beat the market and now know that would have been a path to financial failure. I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to keep up! But if I hadn’t got started, I wouldn’t have these important lessons ingrained in my memory. I probably wouldn’t have started with my index investing so quickly.

The End 

So that’s my money journey so far. I’m incredibly thankful to all of those who have helped me reach the point I’m at today and feel like I’m in a very good position to approach the future. 

What has your journey been like so far? Have you made any important decisions – good or bad?

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