About Me
I’m a software developer/Atlassian administrator living in North Carolina with my wife and dog. I studied Management Information Systems at Alabama (Roll Tide) and currently work for a Fortune 40 retailer. I plan to retire from my corporate job at age 29 in 2021.
From a young age I’ve always been a natural saver. I got my first job at 16 at a small amusement park and have been saving over half my income ever since. It wasn’t until I was in college that I realized how much people struggle with money. Student loans were everywhere, but I was fortunate enough to avoid them. My wife and I met when we were kids and we married after college. After graduation we spent the next few months saving money and she was crushing her student loans. A year later we were debt free and plan to stay that way.
After one particularly boring week at work I was listening to Clark Howard‘s podcast and heard a reference to the now-famous blogger Mr. Money Mustache. Clark told a caller how many millennials are retiring early and I concluded that could be me too.
Our Fire Journey
After hearing that call I started thinking about what life could be like as an early retiree. I discovered other blogs about finance, I began optimizing my expenses and credit cards, and I created a plan. Over time I’ve developed a low tolerance for inefficiently. Money is infinite, but our time is not. How can I optimize it?
Americans as a whole do a very poor job of managing money and time. We spend too much, save too little, and we don’t prioritize the things that will give us purpose and happiness. I’m on a mission to fix this.
I discussed my new found purpose with my wife, and realized she had a similar plan. She was excited about saving money and investing, not to become wealthy, but to help people. Suddenly we were on the same page. Game on.
We’ve always been saving money, but after this we got crazy. We now save well over half our income. We stick to a strict budget, and track all our expenses with everdollar. I’ll be retiring at some point in 2021, but my wife will continue to work beyond that.
What we hope to accomplish on wagfree:
- Encourage and inspire other to crush debt, spend less, give more and wag free
- Track my journey to early retirement
- Share amazing pictures of my dog:
