I took over Personal Finance Blogs in 2024 with a desire to continue to grow the site into a resource for regular people who are looking to increase their financial knowledge and gain fresh motivation for their journey to build a strong foundation with money. My wife, Traci and I, live in Spokane, Washington with their two children. My day job is as a pharmaceutical process engineer and Traci has a thriving career as a realtor in Spokane.
Our Financial Journey Got off to a Slow Start
Our story started when we both worked for a Christian college ministry and raised all our own financial support. We started off very simple and didn’t really focus much on money other than making sure to pay the bills. When we moved to Austin, Texas and welcomed our son into the world, a switch flipped in my brain and since then I’ve been focused on the financial health of our family.
I thought teaching was my path until I taught high school for a year and then worked my way through various jobs in biotech during our time in Austin. The work was always enjoyable, but I’ve often wondered if I chose the right career.
We have navigated from a very tight budget in those early years when each paycheck was stretched to the max and so we have a keen appreciation for people who are simply trying to make it through each month. The years we spent in Austin were focused on making sure we stayed out of debt and on fixing up a small starter home that we bought in 2011. We learned to really enjoy life on a tight budget and now I look back fondly on these years. Living frugally actually opened us up to a slower pace of life and a focus on the things that made us the happiest.
When things Broke Through It Happened Quickly
In 2016, we moved to Spokane, Washington to escape the ever-increasing Austin housing market. Our time in Spokane has seen my career grow and Traci’s real estate business completely take off. We’ve quickly gone from a paycheck-to-paycheck family to investing in real estate in a few short years. We have one rental in Spokane and a smaller unit in Austin which is one big reason that I write often about home improvements and real estate. This transition has now made me appreciate the earlier decisions we made as part of laying a foundation for our current success and has me conscious of the risk that comes with suddenly having more money to spend. As more money has come in, now we are navigating how to avoid lifestyle creep and investing wisely to set ourselves up for the long term.
We have made a few smart moves in real estate and in our careers, but all the things we’ve learned are very transferrable. That is a big reason I took on Personal Finance Blogs. I want to share my insights from what I’ve learned so far and share as we continue to grow towards our goal of living our life on our own terms as we head towards the end of our 40s. I also love the fact that the site is already pulling together the insights of a whole bunch of other bloggers that are simply looking to share what they’ve learned with the world.
I Hope What I’ve learned Can Help Others Along the Way
Here are areas where my experience in life has given me ideas I hope to share:
- Overcoming a slow start financially
- Learning to enjoy a frugal lifestyle
- Mastering Simple Home Improvements that add major value
- Making the Right Decisions in Real Estate
- Career growth without sacrificing family life
- Understanding how a healthy life supports the budget
Here’s My LinkedIn Pages if you want to see all the places I’ve worked along the way on this meandering journey