What Separates Us From What We Want?

What's the wall that separates us from our dreams & goals? Is it fear (of success or failure?)? Responsibility? Lack of support? Lack of a clear vision?

I've been thinking for a while about turning this blog solely into a FI or FIRE blog. For those of you unfamiliar with the terms it means Financial Independence or Financial Independence and Early Retirement. I'm not sure I'm on target to retire early. Many of those that are in the FIRE community are saving 40% or upward of their take home pay, as well as having other avenues of passive income. Last year I saved 27% of my paychecks. While being better than the average American of saving 5% a year, it is still a far cry from the 40% savings rate many would say one needs to become financially independent.

I have set a saving goal of 33% for this year.  And hoping to increase to 40% and 50% in the very near future. Two prime objectives are putting most of my savings towards my fully funded ROTH (yearly limit of $5500) and then additional savings towards paying down my mortgage. I have one very large expense of over $11,000 involving a roof on my home coming up next month, I will take from my previous savings from years past.

However, obstacles remain for me in my path to FI and this is the short lists of those obstacles:

1) I don't want to deny myself of every luxury I have. While many of my friends would describe me as frugal, I still feel like I indulge in eating out, donating money to causes I believe in, and purchasing things that aren't really "necessary". Can I "up" my savings rate and still partake in these things that give me joy?

2)I don't feel like I have the support of friends or family. While my immediate family has always been financially conservative they are not big on non-traditional life-styles. Working over 30 plus years for one company and receiving a pension seems "safe" to them. (I"m in year 22 of working in my career.)

3) At this point, I don't really have a defined plan for what I would do if, indeed, this would ever happen and I'd get to retire early and become financially independent. I love to create- in whatever fashion that takes on. I love to give to causes I believe in, though the causes seem diverse and unrelated at the moment. I love the thought of the freedom to do whatever I feel like doing rather than continuing the hamster wheel of the daily grind.

Not sure where my dreams might take me, but keep reading as I figure out how to overcome the obstacle that I face and define the future that lie ahead.

Free Money End of the Year 2017 Review

I am pleased that my expectations were exceeded in my Free Money Adventure for 2017. Originally, I believe my goal was to acquire between $1,500-$1,800 in what I considered free money for the year. At about the mid-way point I adjusted my goal to be between $2,000-$2,500. Giving the goal a range instead of an exact number helped me to be realistic and not be fixated on a  particular number.

I've attached a snap shot of my excel chart below:

Again, I know that some people may argue that some of these categories aren't actually "free". However, I felt like I included the topics in which required some effort on my part, but where money was actually on the table to receive. 

Obviously the largest category of free money was bank promotions. These were easy to find due to websites I had mentioned in my earlier blog, but at times tricky to redeem due to the conditions of the promotion. I also learned that while soft inquiries do not effect your credit score, you may exceed a particular amount of soft inquiries for opening up new accounts which would result in being declined. I kept my new accounts to reasonable amount (6) for the year. I could have possibly gone higher, but I wanted to error on the side of safety.

 As I set my goals for my 2018 Free Money I may continue to keep the new accounts I open on the low side. Many of the bank promos have a restriction as to "one redemption per calendar year" or "only open to new accounts within the past 90 days". Currently, I am thinking of a number between $1,500-$2000 because I'm not sure realistically if I can continue to keep up a $2,700 with the avenues I've been pursuing. It's a fun challenge and continues to amazing me how with a little effort there's always money out there. 

I've also found helpful the web presence and podcasts of the FI (Financial Indepences) or FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) community. I'll come back and add the links. These endeavors have both been helpful and inspiring. You don't have to be conventional in your thoughts about money and career. Financial independence is not greed, but very much the opposite... freedom.