My name is Eric and I’m a married, 40-year-old teacher and father to two girls. That’s my identity wrapped up in one sentence.
I live in a cold Canadian city where sub zero temperatures dominate half the year. My skin is incredibly dry and my hands bleed from small cracks on my knuckles. I know, I need to moisturize more.
Growing up, I learned four things about money; save it if you can, , don’t take on credit card debt, invest with a financial advisor and get a job for 35 years so you can retire one day. I thought that was the only path. While this isn’t necessarily bad advice, I realized there is another way.
My interest in finance started shortly after I purchased my first home and my first daughter was born. But I started slow, very slow. For the first time in my life I had real bills to pay with real consequences of not paying.
I’ve always been naturally frugal but that was because I never made much money. My frugality never translated into any real savings or position of financial strength.
I spent loads of money on food and alcohol. I could save up money but I would end up spending it on something stupid like a new stereo or cell phone. Only when I started to learn about personal finance, was I able to take actionable steps to notice real change.
Like many people in the financial independence community, my interest began because I had a bad work experience, and couldn’t imagine doing the same job for another 30 years.
I’ve had two critical moments in my career where my work situation was causing me immense amounts of stress. I felt trapped and helpless.
It was important to me that my wife be able to stay home with the our young kids. I didn’t have the option to quit or at least that is what I thought. I would often wake up in the middle of the night feeling pure dread about the day ahead. Not a great routine to have and definitely not sustainable.
This blog is about my journey to financial independence, the mistakes I’ve made, the lessons I’ve learned, and how to live an intentional life.
My whole life, I’ve always needed someone to employ me. I’m grateful for the job I have and I’m actually in my dream job right now. But that won’t always be the case. Things change and dreams end. When they do, I want to be in a position to make the best choice for my family and mental health.
I’ve never thought of myself as a writer and I have little belief in my writing skills. It takes me unusually long to write emails and text messages because I’m constantly worried about how the message will be interpreted by the reader. This fear has held me back for a long time.
I’m writing this blog to help keep myself accountable and to digest and synthesize everything I’ve learned.
This blog will focus on saving, investing, and intentional living. My hope is that posts will help improve peoples’ lives and support them on their path to financial freedom.
I want to help readers and I’m happy to answer any questions that come my way.
I welcome comments and I’m excited to discuss posts with anyone who finds their way to this blog.
Happy Intentional Living, Everyone!