Reasons to FIRE: Job Experience 2

* WARNING! This series of blog posts is my way of airing grievances I have with my current job, previous bad experiences throughout my career, and horrible bosses and/or coworkers I've had the misfortune of dealing with. These experiences are chief motivating factors for why I want to achieve FIRE. If you don't want to read negative remarks from an adult who has come to despise his work/job, then I am giving you ample warning in this disclaimer to turn back now.

Here is the first post in this series

I know there are a lot of people out there who like their job and some actually love their job. That's great. Good for them. However, I'm not one of those people. I haven't been one of those people in a very long time. There was a time when I enjoyed my work, something I'll touch on in a minute. Unfortunately, I no longer find satisfaction in what I do, which is my main reason for pursuing financial independence. I dream of the day I'm able to walk away from full-time work where someone else dictates what I do in order to earn money.

In this post, I'm going to talk about my current circumstances, which, not long ago, was much better than it is now. Thanks to a new boss, my work environment has become nearly unbearable.

November 2016 Update

It's been a month since my last update and, wow, has it been busy. Lots of things going on in my world lately; good and not-so-good things. But, I'm sorting them out and moving forward. Anyway, that's why I'm a day late posting this update. It also explains why I haven't posted anything since my last financial update. I've simply been too busy elsewhere in life. I guess I should stop beating around the bush and get to it, right? As of now, my net worth is...

October 2016 Update

Well, I'm a day late with this month's update. To be honest, I was preoccupied with watching television with my wife. We've developed a routine of watching movies and old series every night starting at 7pm. Also, my work schedule has changed so that I no longer have the luxury of working from home, which means I have to get up earlier to drive to work every day. It also means that it takes me longer to get home, thus lengthening my workday. The combination of these things has left me a bit unmotivated to do anything other than relax when I get home. After all, I call myself Lazy FI Guy for a reason. For me, blogging isn't an activity I consider relaxing, but I've made a commitment to document my progress. So, let's get to it, shall we? My net worth this month is...

September 2016 Update

After a crappy week at work, this is one of the little things I was looking forward to. (The weekend was another.) A chance to sit down and gauge where I stand after another month on the path to financial independence. It looks like it was a pretty good month. Let's get to it, shall we?
My net worth (officially) as of today is:

Advice From a Former F**k Up

Recently, I've been doing some introspection into my past, my present, and where I'd like to be in the future. This caused me to look closely at why I've done the things I've done. Mainly, what was the reasoning behind some of the more pivotal decisions in my life. Something that kept recurring is the fact that I'm very self-reliant. And it's this trait, I think, that has gotten me where I am today. And what a long, interesting road it's been (so far).

August 2016 Update

It's that time of the month again (no, not that time! Get your mind out of the gutter), which means it's time to check my net worth. I'm a little bummed that the S&P was down for the third straight day before this post because it means my number has dropped since I last checked it. It kinda reminds me of a song: You take the good. You take the bad. You take 'em both and there you have...The Stock Market. (Did you sing the theme to The Facts of Life? Good for you, if you did.) Now let's get on with it.

Differences of Opinion

Everyone is an individual and each individual has his or her own opinion about something. Whether it's politics, religion, education, corporal punishment...the list goes on. With 7 billion people inhabiting the planet, that's a lot of opinions. In some areas, there may be many differences of opinions, but when it comes to financial independence, there seems to be 2 camps: those who embrace the pursuit of FI and those who are against it (for some reason or another).

July 2016 Update

Another month is behind us, which means...time for a monthly update. This was a good month. According to my spreadsheets, I surpassed my projected amount by several thousand dollars. Woohoo! As of today, my net worth has crept up to:

One is the Loneliest Number

When you embark on the path to financial independence, more than likely, you're going to find the journey is a lonely one. After all, people aren't trampling over each another to do this thing the way they're trying to get up the corporate ladder.

You Have to Walk Before You Can Run

One of the things you'll often hear when starting out on the path to financial freedom is: The first 100K is the hardest. I've heard this a few times and wondered if it was true. While I haven't yet reached that milestone (though I'm getting close), I've looked at a bunch of other people's net worths posted online, and I want to offer an opinion on this.

June 2016 Update

Another month is in the books, folks. And what a month it was! Despite some turbulence this month, things turned out much better than I thought they would. Let's skip the pleasantries and get straight to the business you came here for. Today, my net worth is:

And Then Brexit Happened

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've no doubt heard that Britain voted in favor of leaving the European Union. Yeah, they voted to do. I'm not going to get political in this post as I'm not current on all of the political ramifications and it's fallout is still unfolding. However, one of the things I'm most concerned about is how it affects the global economy.

Reasons to FIRE: Job Experience 1

One of the chief motivations, I think, people seek out the FIRE lifestyle and/or set out on this path is due to becoming unhappy in their job. That's not always the case, of course, but I suspect it's definitely a motivating factor. I know when I'm feeling glum about what I do (which is more and more often), reading someone else's workplace horror story is a way of commiserating and understanding that I'm not the only one who experiences this.

Paper Or Plastic?

If this title conjured up thoughts of the supermarket, I'm sorry. That's not really what I'm here to talk about. Er...well, I will mention buying groceries, but really, this post is about the advantages and disadvantages of using credit cards instead of cash.

May 2016 Update

I try to post monthly updates on the first day of the following month, but this one is being posted on the actual last day of May. Oh well, close enough, right? I was eager to post my progress report, so here we go. As of today, my net worth is:

Hi, I'm a Tweaker

I never cared for spreadsheets. To me, spreadsheets were boring. The word was synonymous with drab offices equipped with a maze of cube-farms for number crunchers. Dot-matrix printers (who remembers those?), chewed pencils, and stuffy suits. Droning presentations about abstract "stretch goals", yada, yada.

Yeah, yeah. I know. That title can sound bad in the wrong context. When discussing FI, though, being a tweaker isn't necessarily a bad thing. At least, not in my opinion. Let me explain.

Welcome to FI Club

The first rule of FI Club is: You do not talk about FI Club.

Yeah, I know. Kind of sucks, doesn't it? I mean, here you are getting your financial house in order, watching money accumulate in your accounts (stealing years of future freedom away from the daily grid) and you can't discuss the overwhelming joy you're feeling.

Where There's a Will...

I wasn't always good with money. Heck, I wasn't always concerned about money unless I was behind on bills, which was often. It wasn't until 2014 that I first opened a Roth IRA at Vanguard, and even then, I wasn't maxing out my contributions. I've turned all that around. My previous self wouldn't recognize the person I am today.

April 2016 Update

April was kind of a shitty month, financially speaking. I was hoping to reach the 50k milestone by month's end. However, I found that I owed taxes and that offset the positive growth of my assets and I basically played catch up. So, my net worth is:

Examining the Nuts and Bolts

It seems that, on the road to accumulating wealth, we're all basically the same: we obsess over making our stash grow quickly, or we're looking to commiserate and motivate ourselves. If you're here, you probably want to see graphs showing a large stash to give you motivation or you want to glean some tips or tricks to help grow your own stash more rapidly.

The Path Less Traveled

Hi and welcome to my humble little blog. If you're here, then I can only assume that, like me, you're interested in financial independence.

There are a lot of financial blogs on the internet these days and mine is just one of many. However, with this blog, it is my intent to chronicle my own journey to financial independence and, eventually, a quasi-early retirement. I say "quasi-early" because I'm already in my forties and I've only been on this path for slightly more than a year.