I began my FIRE journey when I was 18 years old. I started with stock investing. Then, a friend introduced me to Wealthfront’s robo-advising, and I quickly invested my hard-earned summer internship money into a Roth IRA. My interest in personal finance blossomed, and I focused on developing a sound financial mindset from there. However, it wasn’t until I started working full-time that I had the means to make significant strides in my wealth accumulation.

Originally I had planned to publish this around my birthday, back in November. As that passed, I targeted this for the New Year… and now it’s mid-April. Oh, the passing of time.

The myth is that introverts aren’t good at socializing.
The truth is we just don’t want to talk to you.

Hi! I’m back with a short and sweet recap of the last 6 months of my life. 

•  May: 38-day road trip around the Southeast, ending in Tennessee 
• June: workawaying in Tennessee and Indiana, building raised garden beds, farming, and living the rustic countryside life
• July: 20 days in Kentucky, staying with C’s family
• August: tourist in SF for a month with C, short trip to LA/Joshua Tree/SD
• September: busybusybusy, a month straight of studying, with breaks only for running
• October: ran a half marathon and PRed, prepping for my next trip 😉 and big changes coming soon!

For each, I plan to dig into more detail in the future, but that’s all for now! Thank you for being patient and staying interested in what I’m up to (the few of you!).

I started my knitting journey last May, a few months into quarantine, and fell into the niche of sock-knitting. After sharing my first few projects on Instagram, I began receiving requests from friends to knit them custom socks. I had just received a shipment of yarns in beautiful, warm autumn colors and decided it was the perfect palette for a fall sock collection. This was around the time when I began my nomad trip, so I packed a few balls of yarns with me and opened shop on the road.

One year since the pandemic started, and almost a year since I (re)started this blog. A lot has changed this year and most notably, my perspective on life and what it means to me. Taking a step back from “normalcy” has opened my eyes to what normal really should be. Like many others, I was in an endless cycle of work, social events, commitments, and arrangements. I hardly had time to breathe, but that was exciting wasn’t it?? I felt like I was doing something right since I was busy all the time. Now I realize that I was busy for the wrong reason – for others and not for myself. With everything stripped away last year, I realized how blind I’ve been to my dreams. As my personal goals have surfaced through the nothingness of the outside world, I’m busier than I ever was before. And this time, just for myself, as I’m finally heading down the path I’ve always dreamt for myself.

When people learn that I bought my first investment property in San Francisco at 23, they are often surprised and curious about how I achieved this goal at such a young age. I never gave it much thought, as I just stuck to my plan. However, I recently took the time to trace its origins. Long story short, it’s been a 5-year journey of making multiple “right” decisions that put me in a fortunate position to buy a house.

Life in our modern world is easy. We no longer worry about being preyed on by other creatures, no need to hunt and gather our food, and for most of us, we have shelter every night. Many of our “problems” are self-imposed and I don’t believe there are real issues to complain about. We are so tunneled in our vision that sometimes our problems seem inescapable, but we need only shift our perspective to see the solution. When I think of my worst-case scenario, I’m not afraid; I spend all my money, lose my house, and become homeless? Even then, there are resources to help me get back on my feet. It is not a matter of life or death, but a difference in standard of living. 

Last year, I spent negative money on clothes, accessories, electronics, and anything else that falls under “shopping”. That is not to say that I didn’t buy anything all year, but rather that my profits exceeded my expenses. Profits I earned from selling items I’ve acquired over the years and downsizing what I own. 

Here is the list (ones completed are crossed out):