It’s crazy to think that I’ve been running this blog for over 12 years now. I started it shortly out of college when I was working my first job. I had some extra time on my hands and wanted to give writing a whirl. I was also navigating this whole new thing called a full-time job and all the things that came with it like a paycheck saving for a retirement insurance, etc. It’s been so fun to watch this blog grow up with me as I navigated buying a house, getting a new car, saving for retirement investing, looking at things like crypto getting insurance and of course, having children.
I had a moment a few weeks ago, where I reflected back on my 25-year-old self and wondered what he would think of me now I decided to put a little pen of paper and try to think about how he would think if he could see me now.
“Wow you still do that?”
So the idea for this article came when a few weeks ago I was walking into the office carrying my lunch and I chuckled at my 25-year-old self who probably hoped that I would not still be doing this when I’m my age today back when I started working parking was expensive and I would every day navigate around the block to find street parking and then walk 10 minutes into the office just to save a few bucks. I also was very diligent about packing my lunch even being known for my classic lunch of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with chips and three carrots.
What’s funny is that I still do basically the same things and I’m pretty sure my 25-year-old self would be surprised to find that. I’m still in many ways very frugal and disciplined in my daily routine, always finding little ways to save money. Although I’ve graduated from the peanut butter and jelly sandwich too now a salad with tuna, I still find street parking when I go into the office and always bring my lunch.
I suppose early on I developed some habits that were necessary at the time as I was trying to be diligent and thoughtful on my early financial journey and these habits ended up becoming pretty ingrained in my daily routine. I think that my 25-year-old self after he rolled his eyes would be proud of me for still being disciplined and being smart about where I spend my money.
“Wow the process really works”
I think if I showed my overall net worth and the balance in my retirement account to my 25-year-old self, his job would drop now it’s funny is it’s not like it’s an incredibly huge number or anything, but I think he would’ve been proud at the fact that I was diligent in saving and that the process worked by the process working I mean how diligent contributions with an annual growth rate is how you really grow your money over time.
Back in the early days of the blog, I talked a lot about putting your head down, committing to a process and sticking with it and it’s really cool to be a few years into the future and seeing it work. For many years, I’ve saved 15% of my salary to my retirement and even though I’ve been fortunate enough to get a few raises, I still kept my contribution amount the same I also have not done the best job at saving a lot outside of retirement, but little bit here and there in an investment vehicle that’ll grow whether it’s 4% in a savings account or at the historical rate of the stock market, which is 8% and actually the last decade has been pretty good from a stock market standpoint and I’ve been able to earn a lot more. I think it’s really cool to see the process work in my 25-year-old self. I would be super pumped.
“Ha you were right – saving now is the easiest”
One of my many mantras that I used to have back when I started the blog was how you should save now while you are young because it’s never going to be any easier to save than it is right then. At the time I knew how few obligations I had whether it be with a family or a pet or activities or all the other expenses that come with having a larger family but looking back I’m not sure I could’ve appreciated the amount of money that comes along with a larger family, just by having more mouths to feed and more activities and things to do.
I suppose there’s one way of looking at it that the amount of money that I was saving back then is so little compared to what it is now that maybe it would’ve been OK if I had spent a little bit more back of those days but given the prior point, and just knowing who I was back, then I do think I’m glad that I was saving and investing and also getting into good habits that have continued to pay off today
“Nice – you travelled a lot”
The last thing that I think my 25-year-old self would be really impressed about is the amount that we have been able to travel over the last decade. We’ve been able to do a couple of Europe trips, a trip to Asia in a few trips to the Caribbean, as well as lots of domestic travel. A couple of these have been in first class and we’ve had a chance to stay in really nice hotels and to eat at really nice restaurants. My obsession with credit cards and credit card points has continued over the last decade and kind of peaked out a year or two ago when I realized we were spending well well over $1000 an annual credit card fees it’s definitely a game and a game that is becoming harder and more time intensive, but it was a game that I enjoyed playing, and definitely reap the benefits of over the years.
I always said that you have to spend your money somewhere and if you can be diligent about saving and investing, then you shouldn’t feel too bad about having good hobbies and places to spend your money and for us travel was one of those and the memories that we’ve been able to make. I know this is cliché, but will certainly last a lifetime and has brought us lots of joy!
So it’s pretty cool to look back and think wow my 25-year-old self would probably be pretty impressed with how things have gone. Sure there’s been lots of bumps and twist and turns with lots of ups and downs but I think my 25-year-old self would be pleased that I continue to develop good habits in terms of saving and investing and trying to control my spending and to see that overtime I was able to grow our little net worth amount into something a little bit bigger!
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